Religion and Localized Flora and Fauna

I was asked not too long ago about what changes I noticed to my religious practices of having a mediteranean religion in an arctic (well just shy of arctic actually since I don’t live that far north in Alaska) environment. So I thought I would take a moment to blog about that.

As I have inferred in a previous post as a person who grew and came into worshiping the gods early in life, and having grown up in this environment, it is something that never really occured to me. Alaska was my home during the formative point of years in which I was “meeting” various gods of my religion, and therefore was a tangible part of my religious experience. You must understand that I never even lived outside of Alaska, with the exception of one year in the first grade when we moved to Washington state, in a more southern climate, so the flora and fauna and even the weather and general environment of such places just never registered much with me. But it seems about time to rather point out how things of Hellenismos relate to my religious life in this part of the world.

As I had mentioned before, Demeter was not a huge part of my early religious life largely because Alaska is not an agricultural based area in our seasons. We have a very short growing season, and therefore I associated her with the brief growing periods that were a brief brilliant joy during the year between mid May and mid September, and the very brief autumn in which the good smells made the world richer in sensory texture. This was how I understood Demeter, as a goddess who, with her daughter in company, more or less wandered north for about three or four months, following closely behind the bird migrations, before leaving again. An season of celebration, but not a huge note in my experience of the year itself during which the growing season is minimal. Of course things have changed since then as I see Persephone more present in a sense as everything sleeps here for the long long dark winter and so she represented in the winter that seed and root within the earth being nurtured by the protective covering of the snows from the frigid arctic wind.

Which leads me to Zeus. Zeus more often than not I associated with snow. Rain is something we don’t get a lot of, though I did experience quite a bit when I visisted my dad in the southeastern parts of Alaska where the Tongass National Rainforest (a temperate rainforest) is. so I did have a fairly long association with Zeus in connection to thunder, lightning and rain from these visits and in lesser occurances in my more northernly home. But the winter was the blessed snow. Don’t get me wrong, it is cold, miserable to move in, and there is usually tons of it. But it is also beautiful, and very very important to our local water supply. The snow covers the earth keeping it insulated even as it provides important water to the soil in its lower warmer levels, and later becoming groundwater that our plants depend on during the summer. Not enough snow means drought in the summer. Of course this has changed a bit too to include Poseidon who rules over the winter month in which much snow comes, and as a god associated with the precious liquid of water in general. But as a state plentiful in eagles, I could always see the eagle of Zeus, regally soaring in the skies. Other animals we don’t really have. There are no bulls, we don’t even have cow or ranches with the very slight exception of one protected valley where a dairy farm was erected that has adequate protection from the worse of the elements) with the exception of the very virile and aggressive bull moose which I guess could be a stand-in now that I think of it. They are certainly the more impressive in appearance and size of our herbivores. In fact, I would likely associate both Zeus and Dionysos with the bull moose when paying respects to local widllife. And the fiercely protective moose cow can likewise be attributed to both Demeter and Hera. Essentially in much of Alaska moose has often acted as a stable of human life in a similar manner that cows have played in other parts of the world. We even have laws to which every citizen is entitled to be able to get a license for one moose a year, and subsistance hunters generally get more than that from what I understand. Moose noses are used in making a kind of fatty berry mix as emergency food the way some folks use jerked beef, and the size of a moose could easily feed a family, and quite probably their neighbors, for a good amount of time.

Apollon is, and has been, easier to identify with. As I said in the above mentioned post Alaska’s seasons are largely light-based, which is especially true the further up in Alaska that you get. We also have a number of wild animals that are significant to his worship (and to those of other gods who share these animals). Swans we have (which are sacred to Apollon, Zeus… and Ares from what I am told). In fact we have the largest species of swan, the trumpeter swan, that migrates up here every year from all over the U.S. in returning to their breeding grounds. Trumpeter swans are so called because of a musical french horn kind of sound that they make. We also have ravens galore which are particularly associated with Apollon, and the various species of hawks and falcons which I have always assigned to his worship). We also have wolves, again something he shares with Zeus, as are wild goats (aka mountains goats) and sheep (aka dall sheep) which live in our mountains throughout the state…the latter of which is another important subsistance animal for several tribes, particularly further north. And while we don’t have true dolphins here we do have porpoises and their cousins the orcas, both of which I associate to both Apollon and Poseidon in lieu of the dolphin and because of their very similar chacteristics.

Meanwhile Artemis has her deer in the more southern parts of Alaska, and caribou in the more northern reaches. The caribou I find distinctly appropriate since they are the only species in which the females are also horned and that puts me in mind of the sacred deer of Artemis. Athena has her owls, though sadly the owls which are sacred to Ares don’t live in this state though I might say that the clever snowy owl could easily work for both of them in the manner that his changing feathers during the seasons allows him to blend in and ambush his prey. Aphrodite has her geese, and sparrows…and the haunting song of the loon is something that I associate with her. Hera may not have her cuckoo or peacock here, but we do have the arctic tern that I consider a kind of stand-in for the cuckoo in some respects because it has not too disimilar nesting habits…though I think terns are more aggressive, though beautiful, birds. And the snowy egret, though i have never seen one myself, is supposed to be the most majestic bird in our state aside from the eagle. that I would consider worthy of taking the place of the peacock.  And so it follows.

Fauna is fairly adaptable and similarities of symbolic traits can be overlapped in some respects to give you a connection in your religious life with your local environment. Flora is a bit harder though I must admit because none of the trees or plantlife is native to here or even able to withstand the temperatures to allow outdoor transplant. Laurel, olive and oak don’t survive outdoors. Instead we have the late-budding aspen trees, the pale willow (which I tend to associate in lieu of laurel sometimes..especially the treasured diamond willow and in fact in my youth I used it as a sacred tree along the same lines of what is thought of in regards to laurel), and tons of pine and birch. Wheat doesn’t grow well here except in aforementioned valley and perhaps a few other isolated areas. However, beekeeping is pretty productive up here if one gets honeybees from colder environments rather than mediterannean stock bees which don’t hibernate long enough for our long winter and end up starving. Maple harvesting is also something of a big dealin some areas.

There are some things I am still trying to intellectually figure out how they relate, but when it comes to the gods themselves I don’t have any problems really connection to my local landscape. But it is a worthwhile thing to think about all the same One’s local environment after all is as an extention of one’s oikos…it is what is immediately connected to you.

PBP: K is for Kourotrophos/Kourotrophoi

It seems logical, in my recent thoughts on my blog about Hekate and Artemis that Dedicate in their honor the K post for the Pagan Blog Project. Therefore K is quite appropriate for an epithet that is an important one for both goddesses as goddess who nurse, or rear, the young among animals and men.

Hesiod calls Hekate a goddess who is Kourotrophos above all other things over she holds dominion. Even Artemis, according to the Cretans was said to have originally, beore all other things, to have been a nurse goddess. Pausanias, I believe it was, a detail of the Cretan myth in which both Artemis and Eleithyia (the latter being the older sister) were daughters of Hera. Eleithyia loosened the wombs and assisted the birth, and Artemis was her handmaiden who after the birth cared for the infants who arrived in the world. This image of course can be found in example of the Ephesian Artemis as well as the enthroned nursing Artemis of Massilia (modern Marseilles in France). Thus, altogether between the two goddesses, expressing the importance of the role of the Kourotrophos as a goddess who secures the wellbeing not only of beasts, but also the children of the world, especially the sons.

I say especially the sons as boys were often regarded as the most favorable of offspring to have. They carried on the family, they could work on behalf of their fathers, go to war to protect their homes, among other responsibilities. Girls, while they might be cherished and delight their hearts of their fathers who could be jealously protective of them, were more of a burden on the home and family. Yet children in general were of great value, and the seventh day after the birth of the baby was celebrated as he or she survived the most dangerous days where death was a high risk and very plausible. For which the baby was celebrated and certain gods appropriately honored: typically Apollon in the case of boys, and Artemis in the case of girls as the doorway was garlanded. Yet, in Sparta we hear of a celebration carried out by the women who were nurses of sons in honor of Artemis as Kourotrophos for the wellbeing of the boys they cared for.

And then there is the annual festival of Kourotrophos that occurs in August around the time of the fullmoon (the 15th or 16th of Metagetinion) in honor of the Kourotrophos goddesses, quite plausibly including Gaia. This festival is going to be particularly special in my household this year because my daughter is twelve now, and it is at that age that the children donated toys of their childhood to the altar of Artemis as they prepared to pass out of childhood. She has gotten rid of most of her toys, but I have held onto something so that she will have something meaningful to give the goddess. That the child whom the goddess has nurtured and sustained through their most fragile years is honored with the mementos of those years that have passed and join the adults as youths and maidens.

Worshiping Hekate and Artemis

I really think that this topic is being driven by two things. One, is the book I am reading “Hekate in Ancient Greek Religion” by Robert Von Rudloff. The other, is that I have recently joined a group conversation-orientated on Hekate. Regardless, I do get the impression from time to time, which I particularly see from Hekate devotees though admittedly rarely from Artemis followers, that sometimes there is some tension for worshipers when it comes to the closely related functions of these goddesses, almost to the point that I get the feeling that there is some dismissal for the other goddess. Even in reading the book that I am reading I have found myself often puzzled by an almost anti-Artemis stance the book takes…as if when not dismissing her it is barely begrudging the fact that she has these historical ties and localized cult associations. Many times I got the impression that the author was trying too hard, and rather unsuccessfully to make a case in favor of Hekate over Artemis. And I see this among conversations that spring up too how Hekate is goddess of this and this and this and is this and this and this almost in a conclusive manner. I rather get the impression, and maybe I am just being sensitive, that there are people who would rather just forget that Artemis exists or the fact that she DOES share a great number of functions and honors as Hekate. And it really isn’t a matter of a goddess stealing from another goddess, though thankfully I haven’t come across people saying that so I am not liable to blow a gasket…because come on, really, both of these goddesses have a very long history prominant in their myths and worship. I don’t see where anyone could possibly show proof that Artemis stole any part of Hekate’s worship or honors or function because the things she is honored for are the oldest traditions.

Case in point…Kourotrophos. There in fact several goddesses which are called this, including Hekate and Artemis both, and yet it once again it is treated as an either/or situation. As if there has to be a “the” Kourotrophos when there are clearly others. The Hellenic gods are not so cookie cutter. It is one of the reasons that I dislike New-Age books that make classifications of the gods because it tries to sum a god up in just a few short titles, and often titles that they share on some level with other gods. In fact, the intersecting of gods is quite common. And, in the case of Artemis and Hekate, they intersect at a great many points, but this doesn’t have to be an either/or issue or even a problem. We can celebrate their commonalities and diversities without ignoring one goddess in favor of the other, or attempting to disassociate the history of one goddess in favor of the other. It shouldn’t matter that Artemis holds so many equal positions and titles with Hekate, nor that they share common bonds at Eleusis. There are ways that we can celebrate the powerful place of both goddesses, cousins no less (a relationship that forms a kind of triumvate descendency from Koios and Phoebe between them when including Apollon into the mix).

For instance, in the Eleusinian we can honor Artemis, the goddess who chases after the chariot of Hades in the abduction of Persephone, just as we can honor Hekate who hears the cries of Persephone and who becomes the companion of Persephone leading her up from the underworld. We can honor Artemis and Hekate of the portal at doorways and entrances. We can honor them together as Kourotrophoi during the festival Kourotrophos. This does not lessen their roles that they play in the areas they oversect, nor does it hamper their individualism in their more individual appearances where they divurge whether it be Hekate’s crossroads or Artemis’ woodlands for example. There is room for both goddesses, and acknowlding the history of one does not discredit the other. History should not be thrown away because it is a convenience to one’s ideas after all. I see that too much in the whole “Her-story” movement in feministic pagans in which much history is casually disregarded in favor of an unfounded pre-patriarchal version of the gods.

In the end my opinion is that reducing Artemis does not give more honor to Hekate, nor does ignoring Hekate give any honor to Artemis. They are deeply related goddesses who likely celebrate each other (as I take in consideration from the vase in which Hekate leads forth in front of the chariot of Artemis that they are not disassociated goddesses). They are goddess that nurture the young rearing it into maturity, and Artemis then takes the form of the pursuing goddess who hunts her prey to its death at which point she leaves off, and then we see Hekate again as an administar of the next world. So there is room for both of them, and such room should be maintained in our worship practices. In my opinon anyway.

This is why I honor four gods at the entrance of my home. I honor Apollon and Hermes of the gates and boundaries, and I honor Hekate and Artemis of the portal. And really when you think of it this makes a nicely balanced set with a fine pairing in which you have the divine twins, and Hekate with Hermes with whom she has been noted in myth enjoying the company of. When it gets right down to it, these two fearsome but kindly nurturing goddesses are the goddess that would give their grace and protection to our homes.

Call for Submissions for Hera Devotional Anthology

Alright, since I am spearheading the compilation of the devotional anthology in honor of Hera, following is the call for submissions. I am sincerely hoping to get some of my readers to submit.. and all y’all know who you are *squinty eyes* LOL. Seriously please please submit!

Call for submissions! We are interested in a wide variety of pieces, including (but not limited to) scholarly articles, short fiction, poetry, original translations of ancient texts, hymns, rituals, recipes, and artwork that pertains to Hera, her Roman counterpart Iuno (Juno), and her Etruscan counterpart Uni.

We strongly encourage those interested in submitting to explore the many facets of this complex goddess in their work, including but not limited to

– Hera as Queen of Heaven, and the meaning and responsibilities of that position – Hera as Queen of the Gods, and her relationships with other members of the pantheon – Hera as Goddess of Marriage – Hera as Goddess of Women – Hera as the wife of Zeus, and the dynamics of their relationship – Hera as daughter of Rhea and Kronos – a discussion of the relationships between Hera and her children Ares, Eileithyia, Hebe and Hephaestus, as well as Eris and Typhaon – a discussion of Hera’s reaction to Zeus’ affairs, and her relationships with his lovers (eg, Leto, Semele, Io, et cetera) – a discussion of Hera’s relationship with Zeus’ mortal and immortal offspring (eg, Apollon, Artemis, Herakles, et cetera) – compare/contrast Hera, Demeter, Leto and Maia as divine mothers – Hera as the matron Goddess of Argos and Samos – Hera as the Goddess of heroes such as Jason and Herakles – Hera as the Goddess of Cattle – Hera as she is portrayed in the Homeric Hymns – Hera as she is portrayed in The Iliad and The Odyssey – Iuno as she is portrayed in The Aeneid, Metamorphoses, and other Latin works – a discussion of the cow, bull, cuckoo, peacock, scorpion, poppy, and pomegranate as symbols of Hera – a discussion of the origins and meaning of the name Hera (and/or Iuno, and/or Uni) – Iuno as a member of the Capitoline Triad – a discussion of Iuno’s various epithets, their meanings, and their implications (such as Lucina, Mater, Moneta, Regina, et cetera) – the cultic links between Iuno and the wives of various Roman emperors – compare/contrast the relationship between Hera and Herakles, and Iuno and Hercules – a discussion of the iuno and genius, and lares and penates

Syncretisms between Hera and other God/dess/es are acceptable so long as the author clearly demonstrates this syncretism; for instance, a discussion of the differences, similarities and overlap between Hera and Goddesses such as Isis, Hathor, Asherah, Tanit, and/or Frigga.

All works must be original, not public domain. No plagiarism. Previously published submissions are acceptable, provided the author retains all rights to the work. Authors retain all rights to the submission. Upon acceptance, the author will be sent a permission to publish form along with a request for a short biography to include in the anthology.

The editor reserves the right to make any minor changes in the case of grammar, spelling and formatting concerns. The editor also reserves the right to request modification of submissions and to reject submissions as necessary.

No monetary compensation will be provided. Proceeds from all sales will be divided between charitable donations in the name of the Hera, and production costs of future publications from Bibliotheca Alexandrina. All contributors will receive a coupon code which will allow them to purchase three copies of the anthology at cost.

Acceptable length is anywhere from 100-10,000 words, and the submissions period will run from 1 June 2012 – 31 November 2013, with the projected release date of January 2013: an auspicious occasion as it coincides with the celebration of the Theogamilia. Please send your submission either in the body of the email or as a .doc/.docx or plain text/RTF attachment (for Mac users) with “Hera Devotional” in the subject line to lykeiasl@yahoo.com. Any artwork submitted should be scanned in or created at 300 dpi and sent as a .jpg or .tif file.

Please remember to include a by-line in your email: your name as you would like it to appear in the book!

We thank you for your contribution towards making this devotional anthology a wonderful literary celebration in honor of the Goddess, the Queen of Gods and Men.

Kicking off another month

I truly love the Noumenia and feel that it is one of my favorite days of the month…as I really think it should be as one of the most significant religious days in the domestic calendar. Of course in some sense it is still awckward celebrating the Noumenia in a household that is not yours. For all intensive purposes I amnot a member of the household while I am staying with my mother…I am just kinda *here* temporarily. It is not my home, so at this time I am more or less “homeless”. However, despite having my altar stashed in the garage, and not being able to set my herm and Agyieus stone in the places I want, or the altars themselves, it is still a nice thing to experience the Noumenia. To pour libations over what I am using as my herm, and the lingam that I chose to represent Apollon Agyieus (due largely to its shape that if elongated and considerably larger would have been the perfect replica of the Agyieus stone) of water and milk (I was out of honey). To read the hymns and make my prayers, to enjoy good food, and the blessings upon the household for the day.

And now I am preparing the drain the cup for the Agathos Daimon, and as usual I am just not sure where I want to do it. Logically it seems best to do it at the altar, but another part of me wants to do it on the front porch. Maybe I will do both and pour it into a kylix on the altar which can afterwards be poured across the front porch to drain down into the flowerbed.

As wonderful as the annual festivals are for the gods, there is nothing quite like the domestic rituals for the gods that follow throughout the months in neverending procession. The domestic rituals are the heartbeat of the hellenic religious life and puts us in touch with the most intimate faces of the gods.

Supporting Pagan Shops

I see from time to time a certain outcry about how the “pagan community” is not supporting their local pagan shops, and then resulting disappearance for said shops. So I thought I would post my two cents on this subject because, while I do support local shops in general when I want to purchase something (such as the fact that I purchased my lingam stone I use for my Agyieus stone of Apollon from a local shop rather than ordering it online) I personally don’t make the distinction to shop specifically at pagan shops.. I shop whichever place has whatever particular thing I need or want. And most often that is not at pagan shops.

Now I understand that pagan shops provide for some folks networking and that shop-owners are often informed and helpful towards beginners. Ok that is granted. However, the target of most of this is towards a very specific group of the so called “pagan community”  and that would be your witchcraft traditions and eclectic witches. Occassionally they may have something that appeals to a polytheist, some statue perhaps. But there is only so many statues that one needs. Sometimes I may browse a pagan shop just to see what they have that is new, but there is rarely anything that I feel would be helpful for me. I don’t buy blessed candles, or ingredients for spells (since I don’t practice witchcraft), and the semi-precious stones I get from another local shop that specializes in beading and usually doesn’t have such highly marked-up prices. Even the books that these shops carry cater towards witchcraft related traditions and magic in general so I don’t even feel motivated to visit to perhaps get a new book. Then there is a fact that, rather than suppor their local artisans and provide unique handmade things for their customers, they are rehashing the same tired stuff that can be found anywhere online. Not to mention the same boring typical pagan jewlery etc.

I had a friend once we had started up her own pagan store, and I had thought to help her by donating all my books pertaining to Wicca and witchcraft that had been accumulated by me over the years with the idea of opening a alternative religion library. She was worried about how few customers they had, and I suggested to her that perhaps having an internal library room where customers could come and read books, and possibly check them out, might draw more buisness to her. She liked the idea and so, with that intention in mind I donated upward of 50 books, many of them older hard to get books, to her store as an instore library. I found out a month later, when I saw the books on display in the store itself and their dwindling number that she had decide to go ahead and sell the books if customers wanted them because she could “replace them later”. I was infuriated because that is not what I had donated the books for. I could have just as easily sold them myself. Needless to say her store ended up closing.

The point of that story is that too many pagan stores are so caught up in the bottom line, in making sales, that they spend less effort in doing community related things that will attract people to their stores. Phenominally expensive workshops don’t do quite so well when many pagans have few pennies to rub together, and anyone who wants to do a free or donation lecture is generally met with high prices to rent out space that they really can’t afford if they are not taking money in themselves. Then with everything they sell being twice, and sometimes, three times more expensive than other local shops…well I think you see where I am going with this. The way that Pagan Shops are set up does not create a relationship with the wider so called “pagan community”. It lacks the diversity to attract non-witchcraft related polytheistic traditionalists, doesn’t particularly support the local community very well, and over prices itself so much that folks just don’t feel any inclination to go in. And even those who do practice some craft related religious tradition…just how many athames, wands, chalices and so on do you need? Everyone gets to the point when it comes to religious tools to where they have all that they need, and a shop that doesn’t have variety is goig to find itself with dwindling customers very quickly.

Now I had once thought of having an Polytheistic Interfaith shop and Library as I mentioned above. Though it was a dream that never manifested and for which I don’t have the capital to pull off. I wanted to have a two story building. The lower floor being the shop which customers would have to go through to the reach the upper floor which would be the library. The library itself would have been divided into broad categories with all withcraft related stuff in one section, Heathenry and its related religions in another, Roman and Hellenic Polytheism in another, Khemeticism and so on. In the shop I would want to have a variety of images from statues to card icons of gods from various traditions which I would have hopefully recieved primarily from local artisans, a section for supplies for those who do the witchcraft stuff..minimal tools and more herbs and whatnot that I would let someone else design lol, a small selection of various ritual tools for other traditions (again supplied from a local crafter so that when one peice sells I can get another to put on the floor so that I am not overstocking in seldomly bought stuff but the stuff is available), artwork and showcases for local authors. And of course a backroom for discussions and ritual for a very small reasonable fee like 10 dollars for non-profit use, whereas charging workshops would pay a bit more. To me the key would have been flexibility,variety, and resource. But you see why it never manifested because that kind of dream would have required a LOT of seed money to get started lol. All the same this is how I see a store functioning…and if supporting local artists rather than buying the work upfront you have the option of displaying it in your store and upon its sale the artist would get their money and profit from your small markup on what they wanted would go into your pocket.

But as pagan shops are now, I can’t say that I make any outright effort to suppor them because they really have nothing to do with my religious life or spiritual needs. But I do firmly believe in shop locally which is where the larger chunk of my spending money goes

Divine Twins

After reading a lovely ritual created by John Drury for the Dioskuri (which can be found here) it got me thinking of divine twins in a most generic sense. I have commented before in my book, Crowned with Nine Rays, the interesting link between the Dioskouri and the holy twins Apollon and Artemis that seems to particularly manifest at sea where the Disoskouri act as saviors of ships from sea storms, that seems to unify with the aspects of Apollon and Artemis which are associated with the sea as Apollon is the guide of ships (for which we are told by Herodotus I believe that at Delphi there was a great statue of Apollon which depicted the god with his hand upon the prow of the boat) and as Telchinios, a god of the violent windstorms…especially in regards to the sea. Likewise Artemis too is connected with the sea largely as Soteira, savior. The connection can also be extended in that the constellation Gemini is linked both to the Dioskouri and to Apollon as per altars that have been found with constellation assignments for the gods.

But there are three sets of twins in all that are really meaningful to me, and yet have a very different role I think.  First, in some versions Zeus and Hera are also described as twins, and act therefore quite logically as the king and queen of heaven in representation of the creative principles in the cosmos. Therefore their being twins shows them to be essentially of the equal parts of the cosmos that come together for creation…the ultimate union of male to female balanced. Then you have Apollon and Artemis who arrive from the womb of Leto…as per their mythic relationship (as in hellenic myth they don’t become married or lovers of any kind) they end up not representing the creative unity (though the potential is certainly there upon which there has been play on the idea of some tender feeling. Instead, they represent the harmonic energies together that manifest differently but are of a common source, which also manifests in the intimate link between their domains which feeds that of the other. They are unified and extensions of each other’s domains. And that brings me to the third set of twins, the Dioskouri.

The Dioskouri are an interesting case because at the beginning we see something similar to the Apollon-Artemis relationship because in the egg of Leda the two divine children are not the brothers, but rather a male and female twin. I sometimes get the boys confused, but I believe the son of Zeus was Castor the horseman, which again is not unlike the images of Apollon as the charioteer which is a fun coincidence in imagery, and his sister Helene whose name refers to the basket which has many mystical applications that are not altogether foreign to Artemis as the kiste box is held by Artemis as Despoina (via the interpretation in which Artemis is the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon in Eleusis and quite likely widespread as containing an important symbolic image) and the basket of Dionysos associated with the cult of Artemis in Claria in Ionia…just another interesting coincidence, but my point is that these twins of Zeus and Leda are not unlike those born of Leto, the similarities between the names of the lady having also been remarked upon by scholars in articles I have read. But this is where the similarity ends. It looks like the beginning is an echoe of Apollon and Artemis, but the end result is quite different as Helene and Castor are not deified pair. Instead we have the Dioskouri, the sons of Zeus in which the son of Zeus Castor, and his twin brother of a different sire (as there were four infants in the egg, one male and female set fathered by Leda’s husband, and the other set by Zeus). So we end up with twin brothers..one mortal and one already semi-divine being joined together in their divinity. Unlike the twin pairs of Zeus-Hera, and Apollon-Artemis, this pair isn’t associated with cosmic principles, but rather on the relationship of the brothers and the heroic journey. Like most hero myths they represent the semi-divine hero who arises to divinity through living a heroic life that they accomplished through the strength of their love for each other that neither brother would part with the other.

I would hazzard to stretch a bit here and say that their brotherly love probably had a great deal to do with Spartan social structure, and may have even represented a kind of higher statused brother giving support and love to his brother of lower status (ie through the symbolism of one brother being semi-divine and the other not which could have been understandable in a system in which older males paired with younger males in a supportive structure) in which benefits the development of the lower statused brother and eventually draws him up into an equal status. Co-influence at work. I could easily imagine that the Gymnopaidia, a festival which largely honored Apollon and Artemis to a slight degree from what I have seen, would have been an appropriate ground to also honor the Dioskouri…something which I believe I remembered to mention in that particular chapter in my book that one could, and should, pay homage to these twins too during this festival.

Meanwhile Helene and Menelaus become deified..the latter through his wife I imagine much akin to Cadmus and his divine wife Harmonia. But this is rather seperate from the divine twin roles as her deification is largely independent of the Dioskouri, though they have played a part in her development as a kind of guardian figure. In any case the imagery of divine twins is one which is quite interesting in Hellenic myth and religion and quite likely has many ways that one can look at it…this is just mine

PBP: J is for Justice (Dike)

Yeah I know that this isn’t very creative but I really have been stuck for about a week on what to write as nothing was really coming to mind. So this is the best y’all are getting for the letter J. But that said, she is a very important figure as Dike is the goddess who sees all acts of injustice and acts against them, and likewise hears all falsehoods and witnesses all treachery. With that in mind, consider too that she is considered the councillor of Zeus and it certainly sets a certain weight on her importance, as she not only imparts all that she witnesses, but also often personally carries out action against injustice.

Of course in the U.S, we like to imagine Dike as a figure which is blinded. Blind justice. On one hand I can imagine that it is supposed to represent that justice is blind to social status, ethnicity, wealth etc, but on the other, especially in these times, it seems that blinding her can also make her seem as a goddess who is not capable of seeing injustice, and her scales are weighted down and tampered with as she stands unknowing with sword in hand. So, whereas in my youth I appreciated the image of the blinded Dike because of what that represented, it seems anymore that I have become jaded towards what we call “justice” that is so against the divine providence of Dike who is the defender of law….to a degree mortal law, but to a greater degree the greater laws of nature and the gods, so much so that it is not surprising to see Dike equated directly as the same being as her mother Themis who bore her from union with Zeus. If Themis provides divine law, Dike is that law which she has born forth for divine law itself is not injustice. The only injust laws are the fallable ones of humanity, and in such we can make good laws or good order by Eunomia which is but an echoe of the right law, the divine law, of Themis . In such fashion Dike is also the law of her father even as she is the law of her mother. This is what makes her the perfect councillor of Zeus who is as father and judge of all men and gods. Naturally, Dike brings forth her own result that we see in her own daughter Hesykhia, or Tranquility. For one who lives in accordance to Dike, who is not injust, nor acting in an unlawful manner and deceitful, nor filled with hubris, experiences happiness and contentment. Making it even more so reasonable that Dike herself is part of a triumvate of goddess bent towards this end, her two sisters being Eunomia, or Good Order or Lawfulness, and Eirene, or Peace. But to get back to my point, I see no reason to make Justice blind, because by her nature she sees all but has a different system of value. It is not necessary to make her blind. For it is said by Aeschylus in Agamemnon: “From gilded mansions, where men’s hands are foul, she departs with averted eyes and makes her way to pure homes; she does not worship the power of wealth stamped counterfeit by the praise of men, and she guides all things to their proper end.” Dike will happily dwell with the humble and poor, if they hold justice and rightful action in regard.

Of course there are other gods with whom Dike can be associated with remotely. As Apollon is a god of truth, I have often considered him a protector of law which would be a part of his nature as a god of the demos in Athens and god of the assembly in Sparta. He is the preserver of divine law. It was for this reason that it inspired me some months ago to write a poem regarding Justice and Apollon against the injust legal systems. And then there is Ares too, whom Dike has been depicted, by the aid of Hermes, to have Ares chained that the implimentation of war should be controlled by Justice with the aid of Intelligence (represented by Hermes). But Dike is foremost devoted to her father Zeus, as by Dike he overthrew his father’s injust rule, for which she sits by the throne of her father as stated in a fragment of Aeschylus. On his part she follows every man and woman, to speaks of all she sees into the ear of her father, and she is established by Zeus and the Fates to bring Justice to men and punish those who are injust, represented by an image of her striking the personification of injustice with a hammer.

There are some versions of astral myth which say that the constellation of Virgo, the maiden holding the wheathead, is alternatively not Persephone but rather Dike who, in disgust with the ages of man that followed the golden age, removed herself to heavens where she watches over all. However it makes a certain sense that Virgo could represent both goddesses, as both goddesses are children of earth goddesses (respectively Demeter and Themis), and Persephone’s passage into her marriage represents part of the divine order and law that blesses mankind who embraces her with tranquility/peace of mind and heart rewarded to those who submit themselves to divine law and act justly.

Apollon and Death

Apollon as the god of truth, the god of enlightenment, god of light, divine musician and dancer extraordinaire…this is the Apollon that often first comes to mind, and it is a large part of who he is to be sure, but it only very briefly glosses over the domain and rule of Apollon who is called king Apollon frequently in ancient poetics. It is but a hint towards the larger nature of the god in the cosmos.

Apollon, perhaps adequately revealed through his name which means “destroyer”, is the god of the ultimate truth, the guardian of boundaries (but to who those boundaries are but an illusion of a difinitive zone), all-seeing god through all spaces of time, shedding his light to bring into visibility and awareness. He is a god of passages and transitions, those of life, and the ultimate ones of the soul. Simply speaking Apollon is the god who rules the laws of death and the transformations it brings. One might think of his associations with death to be limited to his bow as the far-shooter, or lord of the golden sword, or even the labrys he holds in Crete under the guise of the god who inflicts justice on adulterers, and then of course there are the plagues. But even this is just a brush upon the surface. Apollon is the god which rules this part of nature. Not the abode of the dead, but the transition from life to death…the dying. Even more intimately than his sister who is the huntress but doesn’t participate much further than the slaying by her arrows, who, in Hippolytus can’t even permit her eyes to gaze upon the death of her favorite. No, Apollon’s association with Death is by far more influential and pervasive in what he does and who he is. Apollon is he who destroys. Slayer of evil, of ignorance, of superstition…of life ultimately. Yet he is also the god of new beginnings and new life at the same time as he is honored with the birth of sons, and with the birth of the new cresent moon hanging in the sky. Yet it is death which this post is concerning.

Pausanias speaks of this deathly domain when he says that Apollon receives offerings in the cemetary at the death of a person, whereafter Apollon looks after the soul for 30 days (though I have also heard 40), after which Hermes collects the soul and Apollon again is sacrificed to. This also is backed up by imagery of Apollon and Hermes weighing the soul of a hero in a woodcutEuripedes in his Aclestis also demonstrates a very interesting clash between Death and Apollon, in which by the dialogue one understands that the former more or less works for the law over which Apollon holds (which Death uses against Apollon for his efforts at perserving both Admetus and Aclestis who has offered herself in his place for death). What is of course interesting about this is that Apollon is clearly angry with Death but really doesn’t do anything personally to stop him, which makes me believe that this agrument with Death is a poetic device in which the goodness of Aclestis and Admetus are highlighted and yet that Apollon and Thanatos ultimately are joined in their functions, which can also be inferred by their joint epithet Paian. So it says much. There is also the scene from the Iliad in which Zeus instructs Apollon to take away the corpse of Sarpedon, to annoint it (basically embalm it) before delivering into the care of Hypnos (sleep ) and Thanatos to be taken to Lycia. This is of course an echo of the myth of Apollon being entrusted with the remains of Zagreus which he choses to carry to his sacred mountain Parnassus for burial. Apollon is placed distinctly the position of burial and caring for the dead and dying. And of course he has been, incidentally, connected with death even from his infancy when he began his godhood slaying the dragon Python (or Delphina..which ever you prefer as both names are used). From there it is a long list of those that he has killed, in some cases accidentally, and in other cases intentionally.

Yet this is the god of purification, the god of truth and light. It certainly seems contrary on the outset unless we consider that there is no distinct line between life and death..it is fluid and our souls continue existing. Hellenic myths say that the soul after death is nothing but a shade, possessing memories but not really who they were. Well of course they wouldn’t be, because their lives would be as a shade and an echo of a memory of the vastness of the soul which is not contained by form and the limitations of the physical mind. Therefore the gate of death is the gate of truth, that all passes between life and death, everything evolves and transitions and transforms. And so even as his light can be peircing and harsh, it also invites us to pass without fear.

I have often wondered about that so called light at the end of the tunnel that so many people with near death experiences speak of. I died for a few minutes when I was younger, and though I didn’t see a tunnel, when I had fought my way past my fears there was only light and I was that light. A spiraling, turning, orb of light (almost like an egg in shape). There was no tunnel, but there was light. It is interesting then to me that coming near death is not something of trepidation and darkness (though it may start that way in the darkness), but that there is the welcoming beauty of light. Light is a big part of life, but it is also a part of death in a different form and fashion. He illuminates the way as there is no division truly and we continue on. Ah he is the god of the roads in so many ways! Perhaps it is appropriate then that Leto, his mother, is associated with the underworld in Asia Minor.

Apollon is the god of the fiery serpents, charioteer of dragons, lord of the python that is so often represented together with him in iconry. He is the god, together with his sister and mother, to whom are sung in the Thesmophoria, the festival of the earth goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, as we see in the Thesmophoriazuia of Aristophanes. His prevading light my at times cast gentle illusions, small games of light, at the bounaries, but they ultimately reveal truth…the truth of the passages and transformations of life and death. And the god of truth is naturally the perfect leaders of the Muses who teach all arts of knowledge to men to elevate our souls. For, divine musician as he is and grandson of the Koios (the north star/heavenly axis), is the axis about which all things orderly turns to his harmonic measure and his is the divine song and dance which sets life to order and motion as it comes to being and passes away.

In this matter than we shall see the surest distinction between Helios (the sun) and Apollon. Because Apollon’s light is all-pervasive, all-illuminating even as he sees all. Helios is limited at the world of the living. He sees all which happens in the mortal world, but his light touches nowhere else. Helios is a close companion of Apollon, but he is limited and his function can not touch on Apollon’s domain. Helios’ rays can burn and rot, even as it happened the corpse of Python in accordance to Apollon’s will. Apollon bears the flaming heat of the sun and the far-flung stars, and delights in the soft spun light of the moon in the night for which he is honored every Noumenia with the first cresent showing of the moon and for there are festivals of his that culminated on the fullmoon. Apollon’s light sheds to all corner of the cosmos…I would consider him as a heir of Phanes whom Zeus swallowed up.

Hail Apollon!

Rape in myth

Recently I read huffington post article/blog (which can be viewed here) in which the author essentially tore down Hellenic myth as immoral, and one of the biggest points she made was on the subject of rape. So that is what I wanted to address in this blog, because I have spoken many times about the allegorical nature of myths and how they are teaching tools that contain certain messages that should not be taken literally. So I am not going to rehash all that right now, I am just going to focus on this message of rape that bothered her so terribly much.

Now I know that myths can be a difficult subject to teach children, particularly when the myths are no part of their spiritual life, of neither the teacher or the children she is teaching usually. Therefore, this makes it doubly difficult to talk to children about myths, because there isn’t this fundamental groundwork for understanding the myths. In fact the teachers who are instructing children of this subject often know no more about the myths than rudamentary textbook information. It is unlikely that they have read any of the big mythographers of the ancient times such as Apollodorus, and Diodorus Siculus, or the religios history works of Pausanias and the bits found in the Geography of Strabo. Therefore, they are learning from what other people have summarized about the myths rather than reading any primary source material of the myths themselves. I can’t fault them too much because teachers of young students typically are not specializing, and don’t always have the time to read all of these texts, but they should get familiar with the subject a bit more than the worn out view of the myths as barbaric examples for pre-christian religions, and therefore passing on the myths in a completely mischaracterized manner. Though it does amuse me in some ways that they are so aborhant of the myths of other cultures when their own christian myths are often more bloody and brutal, and certainly filled with images of rape, incest and murder. The only difference is that in the new testament the interaction between Mary and Yahweh is played down that the holy spirit descended upon her and she is miraculously pregnant.

In reality this is no different than what we see in the rape myths, and even in some early christian iconography such as the passion of Theresa which is remarkably akin the descriptions of Cassandra in Agamemnon as she is possessed by Apollon. This seizure by the embrace of the divine is the essence of the rape myths. However, ancient Hellenic myth relates the event in quite pragmatic terms. The sexual becomes the allegory for the union with the god, because it is procreative/transformative. Rape is non-consentual sex, therefore serves as an allegory of being seized by the god which is awe-inspiring, terrifying on some level, and quite overwhelming to the senses…and it is done without permission, it just happens. Even the christian god does not ask for permission, so this should hardly be shocking or surprising to anyone. But it has nothing do with sex. Rather is symbolic of the penetrative nature of the gods (which is a reason that most goddesses are related as having sex with mortals in myths) that it can cause a reaction from their union with human souls. Yet, because the gods are so much more than humanity, it can be a shocking, though not unwelcome experience. You very rarely see bitter laments of the lovers of the gods after the fact, the only exception being Creousa in Ion, but this was more about her child she left exposed out of fear of her family in the play, and in fact, many of them end up receiving some kind of divine status as they became “more” from joining in the  union with the gods. Morever, it was honored. Europa was honored, Ganymede was honored, Io was honored, Leda was honored, and so on and so forth.

To be embraced by a god and pentrated, was to become more than what you were, just as through marriage, you may become more….and in ancient societies it was an expected duty that one married, because to be a bachelor or bachelorette was to be less. So much so that in ancient Sparta unmarried men were not permitted to attend certain festivals such as the Gymnopaidia. Marriage, was a transformative and procreative union..it transformed two people into a unified whole, and created a new oikos (household). And the young people in question often didn’t have any say in the matter, or very little say depending on how indulgent families were. It is difficult to imagine now-days when most people are accustomed to the idea of love-match marriages and can’t even imagine the idea of marrying a virtual stranger via an arranged marriage. From there we proceed to what is classified as ”rape” myths which are actually of a marital character such as that of Persephone and Hades who are joined in union by Zeus for a function together.

The problem is when teachers are teaching such things literally as rape, and then of course they are going to be hesitant about it because teaching it is rape almost takes the image to them of condoning forced sex. This is, of course, not the message of the myths…and in fact rape was very frowned upon (see Ares who killed the rapist of his daughter, the son of Poseidon, and won his case in the court of the gods). Therefore, what is needed is a change in language in how the myths are talked about to distinguish between what is rape and what is the transformative union of the gods (which is also quite obvious in the story of Medusa). Quite honestly, in the translations of the original texts I never even see the word rape when it comes to such descriptions.

The bottom line is that if teachers aren’t willing to look more at the myths and look deeper into them, I really don’t think they should be teaching them at all.