Is It Time For a "Reformed" Hellenic Paganism?

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[Juni]

I never seem to have anywhere near as many Round Tuits as I need.

My grandmother used to make little round leather keychains with the word TUIT burned into them, and whenever Papa said he'd do something when he got around to it, she'd dig one out and give it to him so he didn't have any excuse. ^_^ I think she sold them at craft fairs, too, everyone got a kick out of them.

[Christina89]

Here's the basic outline:

Major Festivals (One a month, normally on a Sunday)

There are 12 months in a modern year and 12 Olympic deities, so have one festival a month honoring each of the Twelve. These festivals would start simple, but could be added to as the religion grew. They would be feasts (very true to ancient Greek practice) with some type of sacrifice to the deity being honored and the reading of some of the myths about the deity and/or the hymns to the deity. Perhaps part of the day could be dedicated to activities in the deities areas of interest as well. These festivals could be done by a family or a small local group (if there are enough Hellenic Pagans in the area). No need for lots of people and lots of money.

Minor Festivals (3 or 4 a month, the Sundays not a Major Festival)

1) Minor feast with sacrifice/libation to deities important to family/group
2) Study of Hellenic myths and/or philosophy.

Daily Practice:

1) Prayers
2) Some type of home fire to Hestia (perhaps real while someone is home and symbolic when no one is home?)
3) Libations to a different deity each day.
4) Divination when needed

Notes:

1) I realize that the lists of the twelve Olympians vary. The exact deities and which month their major festival would be is something that would have to be decided.

2) Sunday was picked for festivals because it is one of the two weekend days that most people are likely to have off from work and because it seemed more appropriate to honor the Gods on the first day of the week (Sunday) than on the last day of the week (Saturday).

(Typos and Randallisms courtesy of the Goddess Eris )

I know this topic hasn't been replied to for a long while, but I didn't think I should start a new one.

I started reading over this last night and finished a little bit ago, and it really made me re-think a lot about my practices (or, rather, my attempts at them).

I've been considering myself a Hellenic Reconstrictionist for the past 5 or 6 months and I just realized that it was only because I didn't know any other name for my beliefs. While I'm now unsure of what I should call myself, exactly, I do know that I'm not recon.

The ideas expressed on this board are exactly what I've been looking for. Like others that posted here previously, there's only me. My family is unaware of my beliefs, my friends find them hard to grasp, and I've only met one pagan in my entire life. While I'd like to be a part of a group, I don't know where to find one or where/how to go about forming one.

But I digress. I've decided that I'm going to borrow the ideas shared here and format them to suit my lifestyle. Just thought I'd share that as well as the 12 Gods that I'll be honoring each month. I'm using a kind of merging of the Orphic Zodiacal Rulerships and the Athenian Calendar, but I'll be applying it to the..er..regular (?) calendar:

Hekatombaion - July - Hermes
Metageitnion - August - Zeus
Boedromion - September - Demeter
Puanepsion - October - Dionysus
Mamakterion - November - Ares
Poseideon - December - Artemis
Gamelion - January - Hephaestus
Anthesterion - February - Hera
Elaphebolion - March - Poseidon
Mounukhion - April - Athena
Thargelion - May - Aphrodite
Skirophorion - June - Apollon

I replaced Hestia with Dionysus because she is honored at the start of each meal and ritual (at least as far as I know), so she is included regardless.

The 2nd or 3rd Wednesday or Friday (depending on how things work out) of each month will be for my major festival and I think I'll be using the 3rd or 4th Wednes. or Fri. of each month for the consort of the God being honored during that month.

[RandallS]

But I digress. I've decided that I'm going to borrow the ideas shared here and format them to suit my lifestyle. Just thought I'd share that as well as the 12 Gods that I'll be honoring each month. I'm using a kind of merging of the Orphic Zodiacal Rulerships and the Athenian Calendar, but I'll be applying it to the..er..regular (?) calendar:

[calendar omitted -- RSS]

I replaced Hestia with Dionysus because she is honored at the start of each meal and ritual (at least as far as I know), so she is included regardless.

The 2nd or 3rd Wednesday or Friday (depending on how things work out) of each month will be for my major festival and I think I'll be using the 3rd or 4th Wednes. or Fri. of each month for the consort of the God being honored during that month.

This looks great to me. The whole point of reformed recon is to be able to honor the Gods with respect to what is known about the old ways but adapting it to the realities of the modern world.

[Caeia Iulia Regillia]

This looks great to me. The whole point of reformed recon is to be able to honor the Gods with respect to what is known about the old ways but adapting it to the realities of the modern world.

I would call myself a Religio Romana Revivalist.  I do try to keep as ritually correct as possible when practicing, but one thing that I've found really helpful is looking at how other polytheistic cultures have adapted to the modern world.  I've been attempting of late to come up with a Roman version of the Shintoist kami-dana or god shelf as a place to worship the gods in my own house.  When praying, I try to pray as a Greek or Roman would, and my offerings tend to be votive or coins rather than well cattle and such.  I *think* the gods would be happy enough with an olde fashionede barbeque, so long as a portion of the meat was reserved for them. 

I think that makes the most sense.  Eventually, I think we'll build temples along the HIndu model -- I believe they have all the gods in ONE temple. 

[RandallS]

I think that makes the most sense.  Eventually, I think we'll build temples along the HIndu model -- I believe they have all the gods in ONE temple. 

The Romans tried that with the Pantheon. The Gods di not seem to mind -- but then they still had their special temples.

[Caeia Iulia Regillia]

The Romans tried that with the Pantheon. The Gods di not seem to mind -- but then they still had their special temples.

well, the hindu gods have special temples in India as well, but as a practical, I think the Omnitemplum would be the first built, simply because there aren't tuns of pagans with limitless resources.  Better one temple to the Dii COnsequenti than nothing. 

[BGMarc]

This looks great to me. The whole point of reformed recon is to be able to honor the Gods with respect to what is known about the old ways but adapting it to the realities of the modern world.

Does anyone that you've come across get into trying to imagine how the practices and the beliefs may have adapted over time had the population of believers not dropped below critical mass for an extended period?

[RandallS]

Does anyone that you've come across get into trying to imagine how the practices and the beliefs may have adapted over time had the population of believers not dropped below critical mass for an extended period?

I've read some stuff like this on some of the Hellenic mailing lists. Much of it seems poorly thought out -- as in 2500 years later things would still be more or less the same even though so much well-documented change in Hellenic belief and practice occurred over 500 years (between 500 BCE and the start of the Common Era) that expecting the religion to look the same as it did in Classical Greece if it had continuously existed strikes me as silly.

[BGMarc]

I've read some stuff like this on some of the Hellenic mailing lists. Much of it seems poorly thought out -- as in 2500 years later things would still be more or less the same even though so much well-documented change in Hellenic belief and practice occurred over 500 years (between 500 BCE and the start of the Common Era) that expecting the religion to look the same as it did in Classical Greece if it had continuously existed strikes me as silly.

How hard do you think it would be to do? Are the changes that occured in that 500 years well documented and do we know (or have a credible idea of) what they were in response to?

[Melamphoros]

How hard do you think it would be to do? Are the changes that occured in that 500 years well documented and do we know (or have a credible idea of) what they were in response to?

Depends on the area/era but syncreticism was a common reason things changed a little.  For example, the Ptolemaic Dynasty (in Egypt) blended the Hellenic and Kemetic religions.  I'm not sure what changes happened in Greece itself during the Hellenistic era, but I do know that when the Romans came, the two religions started to blend a little.

[Caeia Iulia Regillia]

I've read some stuff like this on some of the Hellenic mailing lists. Much of it seems poorly thought out -- as in 2500 years later things would still be more or less the same even though so much well-documented change in Hellenic belief and practice occurred over 500 years (between 500 BCE and the start of the Common Era) that expecting the religion to look the same as it did in Classical Greece if it had continuously existed strikes me as silly.

I tend to think that they would have gone the same way as other pagan traditions like Hinduism or Shinto or traditional chinese religion.  They use more modern technology, and they update things to the modern world, but they stay true to the spirit of the old ways.

[RandallS]

They use more modern technology, and they update things to the modern world, but they stay true to the spirit of the old ways.

The problem is that the "spirit of the old ways" (at least for Classical Greece) isn't very compatible with the modern world. For example, it practically requires a state religion.

[BGMarc]

For example, it practically requires a state religion.

What did historical believeers start to do whenthe state stopped effectively sponsoring the religion?

[Melamphoros]

What did historical believeers start to do whenthe state stopped effectively sponsoring the religion?

Well, the state only stopped sponsoring the religion when Christianity took over.  After that, practicing any other religion out in the open would cause that person to be executed.

[firefly124]

The problem is that the "spirit of the old ways" (at least for Classical Greece) isn't very compatible with the modern world. For example, it practically requires a state religion.

Precisely.  I know I wouldn't want to see a return to that. 

I think taking some ideas and themes as inspiration makes sense, but not trying to recreate the "old ways" whole cloth.

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