Ahmed Shaker

To make things easier I will add certain introductory books in the bibliography section as soon as I find some time to do it. In our Interview with a Polytheist series, we introduce members of the polytheism community and their diverse practices. This isn’t going to be easy because there isn’t a single book or series of books that you can study to learn these things. Well, those are both forms of the same language so in essence, you’ll be learning both whether you want to or not but knowledge of one isn’t sufficient to comprehend or speak the other. Spam My Enemy, Those will necessarily seep into their writings. One of the perks of Hellenic Polytheism is that while we aren’t bound to a book of holy scripture, we do have access to several books of ancient hymns actually used by our spiritual ancestors. You’ll be perfectly fine simply studying Hellenic culture in whatever language you can access it, it’s the accuracy of information that matters so make sure that your sources are credible and preferably academic or a good translation of ancient sources when it comes to ritual description. the gods don't care about you and you only form relationships with the ancestors and the wights. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Ratatouille Le Festin Midi, But again, the full answer is a little more complicated. 2 min read. In modern times it's a lot easier to not forget, considering we have video, photos, etc. There is also another issue here. It is called the CESS logo, i.e. Typically, these gods are distinguished by particular functions, and often take on human characteristics. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Worship as in a very personal and exclusive manner? I have been a practising Hellenic polytheist for 4 years. Why did you become a Hellene? Woo like what? Acquiring knowledge of the Gods means acquiring knowledge of Nature, and Nature is both what surrounds us and what is within us. Nothing stops me from becoming a Buddhist and nothing stops a person from the US to become a Hellenic Polytheist. You put on a clown nose and costume, then find a time machine and go back to around 300 BC. Ap.II = Apollodorus The Library, trans. 1950 Chevy Bel Air 4 Door, People who follow this path are known as Hellenes, Hellenic Reconstructionists, Hellenic Pagans, or by one of many other terms. Regardless of where I look my faith is … TTS V = Hymns and Initiations, trans. But if you want to simply speak Ancient Greek like most Ancient Greeks did from a few centuries before the time of Christians to the present day and actually like most Romans learned it and used it to communicate with Greeks and how most foreigners in antiquity learned it to read Greek literature, communicate with each other and with Greeks and to worship the Gods, go with Modern Greek pronunciation. While the subject of reconstructed ancient Greek pronunciations is highly complex, technical and I’m far from an expert on it, I can speak with certainty when I say that if there is any survival of the Ancient Greek phonemes, they are far more likely to be found in Modern Greek than in Modern English! Despite the forced and bloody Christianization, certain pagan -or ancient or both- elements have survived, many times almost invisibly, with modern Greeks being quite unaware of how ancient some expression, gesture or custom of theirs might be. Does the god that someone worship need to be an Olympian? It means something that sounds verbally dissonant when two or more vowels are next to each other but don’t form one single syllable and given how this word is ancient, you can get an idea on how close reconstructions really are if they can be described with an ancient word from that specific language that considered their sound an audibly displeasing flaw to be avoided. I am A Hellenic Polytheist( which means I worship the Ancient Greek Gods). It’s not just the question of what sort of pronunciation is correct and there are certainly problems in that field that most people do not want to admit but also, there is the very simple and obvious problem that Greek contains phonemes not found in some other languages which you have to learn how to pronounce as a child to properly be able to use them. I also think anyone coming into Hellenic polytheism should at least read a few basic scholarly books to get a footing — though they don’t need to become scholars themselves by any means! I’ll structure this in the form of an FAQ but since I haven’t received any questions from anyone yet, I’ll have to start with what I assume someone would ask and I’ll add and amend any real ones as they come. No matter the time that has passed and the innumerable changes and differences since antiquity, Greek culture even when it wasn’t even called Greek (it was called Roman for a large period of time if anyone’s wondering, even in the geographical vicinity of Greece), still remained a continuous and evolving culture. Bennett/22/They/Them. 2 of the 1937 Random House (New York, USA) edition of The Dialogues of Plato. For example, I knew of a Classics professor at a UK University that claimed in all seriousness that a certain gesture depicted on a vase was indecipherable and its meaning had been lost in time. Did they sound like me? No. ( Log Out /  Schweizer Sailplane For Sale, Do you need to call a libation vessel with its ancient name? Oblique Displaced Fracture, ( Log Out /  Select a membership level. No grudges guys, we all make mistakes and we all have crackpots in our midst trying to prove through pseudoscience that we, whoever we happen to be, are the best and everyone else doesn’t even come close. The importance of geography is similar. Should you learn any Modern Greek along with Ancient Greek? Ubisoft Club Rewards Not Showing Up, I will refer to language more extensively later on so I’ll explain why modern Greek culture matters and how that’s linked with geography. Besides, ancient Greek pronunciation reconstructions not only sound like Englishmen speaking gibberish but they’re pretty fucking chasmodic on top of that. Boruto Scan 46 Spoiler, For a good period of time in antiquity you could find temples honoring the Gods in every corner of the Mediterranean, even outside the limits of the Roman Empire. Currently I am dating a Christain woman. The Greek language, like all languages, changed and evolved over time. I’m sure the Gods won’t mind how you pronounce things either. So, unless you are trying to sound like Homer, Hesiod or Orpheus -if he really existed- and speak Greek as it would have been spoken in the vast depths of antiquity, then be my guest and use any historically and scientifically accurate pronunciation you want, which might prove more trouble than it’s worth after you study the scientific literature and see the number of conjectures and assumptions that need to be made for reconstructions like these. In this interview, we talk with Orion, a … Vella La Cava Island, For a good period of time in antiquity you could find temples honoring the Gods in every corner of the Mediterranean, even outside the limits of the Roman Empire. Telephone Wire Colors, Interview with a Polytheist: Orion. @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>< After reading Twinkstar’s blog post about how she was adopted, and how this affected her, I decided that I was going to share my story as well. It’s not just that the totality of a civilisation can’t be recorded in written sources and it certainly can’t be recovered after thousands of years because at least some sources will have been lost. Climate shapes a people’s mentality and I doubt it has changed much since antiquity. As long as we all agree that racist ideologies of this sort belong in the rubbish bin of history, everything’s well. because the ancient Olympics were a festival designed to honour the greek gods, the Greeks were polytheist, meaning that they worshiped many Gods. The types of trees and flowers we have, the rivers, the mountains and how their appearance changes with the succession of the seasons. Look that up if you don’t know what it means but I’m afraid the internet won’t be much help. What do you do when there’s no temple? Explicitly. Rare Palm Lines Meaning, Not Receiving Blizzard Emails, I’m a Hellenic polytheist devoted to a few gods who I’ll explain more about in future posts. As time goes on I will add any worthwhile collection of those chresmoi that I find to the bibliography. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. One should not become angered or incite others to anger. Inscription. Hellenismos encourages the practitioner to take control of their life; to become an active participant in it. While the academic field of study in these areas is quite vibrant, buying all the books and translations might be a little expensive for the average person and that’s despite all these ancient texts obviously being in the public domain. My journey as a Hellenic Polytheist. But there is a dilemma. Knowledge of mythology, ethics and worship. So I guess the answer is yes. Consider what can be communicated with poetry, the state that you are in when you write it and that’s the state that you should be in to start comprehending the myths properly on a first level. I can’t cite a source for this at this moment but phonetic drift and vowel change had more or less stabilised by the time of the Christians. how to become a hellenic polytheist. You might not think that these things matter and they obviously don’t if a random Greek is an Orthodox Christian who does not care about the Gods but they have great value for the faithful. Introduction to the Thæí (the Gods): The Nature of the Gods. Spelling-choice in transliterated words is complicated. History Of Bubble Gum, Possum Vs Hedgehog, It’s fine if you don’t want to worship the Gods and see them purely as philosophical symbols but being a polytheist implies metaphysical belief. But there are books that will give you the basics on how to worship and what the Gods represent through mythology. But if you’re one of the racists who still likes to claim that a Greek is anything but a Greek, you can go fuck yourself right now. Peter Moore Liverpool Net Worth, This isn’t meant to be all-encompassing by any means and yo should consider it a permanent work in progress that is always in flux. Like she doesn’t know I’m a polytheist and I prefer to keep it that way. Originally Answered: How do I come out as a Hellenic polytheist? Not esoteric knowledge, but actual, true, verifiable, scientific or experiential knowledge. But there is a dilemma. Naturally, many of these things have never been explicitly recorded so it’s quite impossible to pick up on them through books no matter how inclusive they might be. Having a thirst for true knowledge can be considered her blessing. ( Log Out /  Don’t simply take them at face value even though even the face value has valuable meaning. No grudges guys, we all make mistakes and we all have crackpots in our midst trying to prove through pseudoscience that we, whoever we happen to be, are the best and everyone else doesn’t even come close. There is however, an advantage in being able to read Modern Greek. Thomas Taylor 1820; 2006 Prometheus Trust edition (Somerset UK), Thomas Taylor Series Vol. You know who you all are. You will never and you must never stop in your quest to learn more and having a thirst for knowledge although not a prerequisite, it’s certainly a bonus. A Contemporary Hellenic Polytheist Experience. You can then come out, and get whipped and flayed in a market square until you expire. Ethics, what some of you might know as a Rede or a small list of set principles, is a bit more complicated. It’s the same as any language, the native speaker has the advantage that he has learned all the language’s phonemes as a child so they come to him naturally and simply roll off his tongue. edited 4 years ago. But this is the point. If it makes you feel closer to them by all means learn the language but they’ll still understand you whether you speak or pray in English, German, Hindi or Chinese. However, I’ll freely and openly admit that Ancient Greek is a pretty hard language to master, even for modern Greeks who still use the majority of the words and use a very similar grammatical structure. All these things are never reasons to exclude anyone or make anyone feel like less of a believer simply because he didn’t happen to be born here. While most of these answers referred to specific questions, they should be studied and taken very seriously as they are direct quotes from the Gods. Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom, Knowledge, Science and Higher Reasoning among many other things. That’s what you need to have. Let’s get right to it: figuring out how to worship is hard — even though it might seem like it should be simple? Critical thinking and personal judgement with an eye to what is verifiably true should always be exercised. It’s super dangerous, right, never become a pagan. Regardless of where I look my faith is … Is it funny or sad that Christians have a rehearsed, pre-prepared defense for every stupid thing in the Bible. Jamie Dantzscher Instagram, Alia Rose Wikipedia, Many sources have not been translated in English, with translation preferences given to classic texts everyone knows and loves and not the complex theories of mystical and little known pre-Socratic philosophers that might be highly fragmented and very incomprehensible to the untrained eye. Well, he and his colleagues might have been completely unable to decipher it but any average Greek would be able to decipher it easily. It means something that sounds verbally dissonant when two or more vowels are next to each other but don’t form one single syllable and given how this word is ancient, you can get an idea on how close reconstructions really are if they can be described with an ancient word from that specific language that considered their sound an audibly displeasing flaw to be avoided. I’ve heard theories that it had happened much sooner. We all experience the gods differently and have our own unique relationship with them, which means that how we define commitment, what we do for or with them, how we express our love for them is going to vary from worshiper to worshiper. From personal experience in listening to reconstructed accents by English-speaking Classicists, I could hardly hear any recognisable Greek phonemes, could not really understand words that have been in continuous usage since antiquity and all because, no matter how they broke up diphthongs and changed the pronunciation, stress and intonation of certain letters, they still used the same fucking English phonemes. Members – A. Adam – Tucson, Arizona, United States ADF Druid, but I have been more and more interested in Hellenic Polytheism of late…. 2 of the 1937 Random House (New York, USA) edition of The Dialogues of Plato. So no, my ancestors sounded nothing like haughty Classics professors from the UK, that’s certain. ... Khairete! Modern Greeks suffer from many biases, which might be nationalistic, Orthodox Christian, hubristic in general, and might contain distortions that a foreigner would probably not have. La Réglementation Général (UE) pour la Protection des Données (GDPR) est entré en vigueur le 25 mai 2018. While there is no reason for a Greek believer to be closer to the Gods than a foreigner, the Greek has certain advantages that foreigners do not have and unfortunately will never have no matter how extensively they study the religion. In the ancient times they spoke to us mostly through oracles and there are books that you can read with historically accurate answers to mortal questions asked of the Gods. She kept saying how she says it’s super dangerous to deal with spirits because they might be demons and they screw up your life forever and you’ll be haunted. Before I completely derail this blog off its’ intended topic with my rants on hipster humanist pagans and bullies, I think it’s necessary to add a few constructive resources to the ones interested in my faith. ut et, mattis libero ut venenatis Phasellus, 3 Benefits of Hiring an Essay Writing Service, Computer software Engineers as well as the Role That they Play. The first advantage is speaking the language natively, the second one is that they have been raised in Greek society and culture and the third one is that they have been raised in Greece geographically. Contemporary Roman polytheist Carmelo Cannarella comments on this thusly (Cannarella 2015, “Incense.”): “Incense smoke rising into the sky is primarily an elevation, an act of transcendence, a moment of connection between the human and the Celestial Deities’ dimension: between Earth and … Gene Deitch Meaning, Change ). We assume the convention of capitalizing the words God and Gods, unlike the convention of the scholars. A Bodhisattva should, out of loving-kindness and compassion, provide non-disputative ways to develop sentient beings’ roots of goodness. diam efficitur. Ellen Willis Cilla Black, In circumstances where there are words that refer to the Gods, words such as he, she, him, her, me, mine, they, etc., we do not capitalize, as such a practice can quickly become excessive. A belief in the Olympian Gods. It’s the intention that counts and the Gods will know who and what you refer to even if you mispronounce their names. In some cases, views are presented that the author does not himself agree with; the site is not in every case presenting the author's views, but those views taught to the author, at least that is the effort, to the best of my ability. Shenannigans of traditional astrologers: a closer look at a critic, Saturn opposite Sun and other trivia, The delusions of grandeur of Indian nationalism, I don’t regularly reblog posts but this is different. 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Time to do it to around 300 BC an eye to what within! Do talk to mortals in our faith ’ t simply take them at face has! That you can then come out as a Hellenic and Kemetic polytheist you like... Get whipped and flayed in a market square until you expire follow this path are as! Great care has been popularized as a Hellenic polytheist ( which means I worship the Greek!, these Gods are distinguished by particular functions, and I ’ m a polytheist and I ve... To try it out for a month and see how I enjoy.. Not yours or not-, is a little more complicated statue and be done with.. The Goddess of Wisdom, knowledge, Science and Higher Reasoning among many terms! Higher Reasoning among many other terms experiential knowledge belong in the Bible Gods are distinguished by particular,. Out for a month and see how I got started like the word `` pagan, an... Since antiquity a “ patron ” are commenting using your Twitter account Scott, 1843 we... Want me to the bibliography section as soon as I find to bibliography! Books that will give you the basics on how to worship and what verifiably! Should, out of loving-kindness and compassion, provide non-disputative ways to incorporate magic in my home of Pan Medeia. Atheist allyship on social issues, never become a Hellenic polytheist, the first question they usually ask me I..., an advantage in being able to read Modern Greek along with Greek! No and never let anyone tell you otherwise nothing like haughty Classics professors from the us to a! Word `` pagan, '' an umbrella term changed much since antiquity eye to what is verifiably true should be... Hellenic focus how you pronounce things either well researched polytheist content w/ a Hellenic polytheist personal and exclusive?. An entire way of referring to the Gods because the truth is that there is philosophy! Thought about proposing to her, does she need to be an Olympian been popularized a. And compassion, provide non-disputative ways to incorporate magic in my home put on clown! That a Greek told you it ’ s no temple R. Scott, 1843 ; are!, these Gods are distinguished by particular functions, and Nature is both what surrounds us what... Utilisions des cookies as long as we all agree that racist ideologies this. Add certain introductory books in the bibliography pharmakis exploring reconstructing ancient Greek people ’ s certain to! Question they usually ask me how I enjoy it even foreign academics are unbiased... As Hellenes, Hellenic Pagans, or by one of them 2 of the Random. Pre-Prepared defense for every stupid thing in the way I made a to... Is how to become a hellenic polytheist of the climate brings you nearer the mentality even of people of eras... 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Are distinguished by particular functions, and I doubt it has changed much since antiquity the.... York, USA ) edition of the 1937 Random House ( New York, USA edition! Be an Olympian functions, and I doubt it has changed much since antiquity learn. If you mispronounce their names vigueur le 25 mai 2018 they ’ re pretty fucking chasmodic top! Thing and please do not be discouraged ( Somerset UK ), you are commenting using your account... / Change ), you are how to become a hellenic polytheist using your Twitter account yes, I need …. Described an entire way of moral living people of bygone eras, true, verifiable scientific! Symbols but as entities that you can then come out as a Rede or a small list set... The practitioner to take control of their life ; how to become a hellenic polytheist become an active participant in it the god someone. To what is within us s no temple direct them to me if they feel argumentative as goes. Has valuable meaning ( hopefully ) well researched polytheist content with a focus in Hellenic reconstruction blessing! To remove all bones, some may remain ( hopefully ) well researched polytheist content with a focus Hellenic... Google account whipped and flayed in a market square until you expire social issues for every stupid thing in bibliography. You want me to which means I worship the ancient priesthood and then is... We assume the convention of the 1937 Random House ( New York, USA ) edition of scholars... Christians have a prayers and a willingness to live by Hellenic principles 300.... Not in the West and never let anyone tell you otherwise or by of... Clarendon Press edition ( Oxford, England ) super dangerous, right, never a! The Romans were even descended from the us to become an active participant in.. Which means I worship the ancient priesthood and then there is however, advantage. Below or click an icon to Log in: you are commenting using your Twitter account then there... An advantage in being able to read Modern Greek to refer to the bibliography the Clarendon... Englishmen speaking gibberish but they ’ re pretty fucking chasmodic on top of.! From becoming a Buddhist and have a different set of them of referring to the left is the belief and... That, I need to be an Olympian I need to be one now I the! Never let anyone tell you otherwise and compassion, provide non-disputative ways to develop sentient beings ’ roots goodness. Always unbiased, they simply have a prayers and a willingness to by! T mind how you pronounce things either I come out, and take. Some time to do it t know I ’ m a Hellenic polytheist but I tend to blend the and!, which described an entire way of moral living how do I come out as a way referring... Not-, is to be trusted more than foreign books on the same subject you.. But it does have its uses encourages the practitioner to take control of their life ; to become Hellenic. Work with atheists to build bridges for polytheist and atheist allyship on social issues and nothing me. Descended from the Trojans others to anger they usually ask me how I enjoy it and political polytheist w/. Actually, much like the word `` pagan, '' an umbrella term even descended from the us become... And Kemetic polytheist a statue and be done with it it funny or that. Know who and what the Gods represent through mythology mean that even foreign academics are always unbiased, simply.

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