Questions from a new Hellenic Polytheist

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[Kratos]

1. How do you pray in Hellenic Polytheism?
2. How do you meditate in Hellenic Polytheism?
3. Is there any way to create an oracle?
4. Is it disrespectful to pour alcohol on the lavendar and grain you're sacrificing to Athena because the damn sacrifice isn't burning?
5. Every list needs a five.
6. Are there any spells, and what kinds are there?
7. How do you communicate with the Gods?
8. My altar is (because of my lack of religious supplies) a picture of Athena with a small bowl in front of it where I burn the sacrifice. What else should I add to win the Goddess's favor?
9. Can I ever physically meet the Gods and Goddesses?
10. Yay, the second five.
11. Please tell me about your own religious experiences, okay?
12. Is there a way to control spirits to do your bidding? (again, I'm BRAND NEW to this religion)
13. How do you burn lavendar without alcohol on it?! It's driving me crazy!
14. Is it natural for someone to ask all these questions?

[Aetius]

1. How do you pray in Hellenic Polytheism?
2. How do you meditate in Hellenic Polytheism?
3. Is there any way to create an oracle?
4. Is it disrespectful to pour alcohol on the lavendar and grain you're sacrificing to Athena because the damn sacrifice isn't burning?
5. Every list needs a five.
6. Are there any spells, and what kinds are there?
7. How do you communicate with the Gods?
8. My altar is (because of my lack of religious supplies) a picture of Athena with a small bowl in front of it where I burn the sacrifice. What else should I add to win the Goddess's favor?
9. Can I ever physically meet the Gods and Goddesses?
10. Yay, the second five.
11. Please tell me about your own religious experiences, okay?
12. Is there a way to control spirits to do your bidding? (again, I'm BRAND NEW to this religion)
13. How do you burn lavendar without alcohol on it?! It's driving me crazy!
14. Is it natural for someone to ask all these questions?

Gosh, I just can't be bothered to burn sacrifices. It's not practical for me. I leave them on the altar for an arbitrary time, and then out they go as a feast for the woodland creatures.

I guess I'm not exactly Captain Recon...probably in a number of ways.

I also wouldn't expect to meet any of the Deathless Ones in person. It's always possible, though. My money says that a God or Goddess will appear to you as an unknown stranger...so be polite to strangers unless they give you cause to do otherwise.

Google Sannion's Sanctuary, or Hellenismos, and you'll probably find lots of good info.

[fiamma]

Whoa there, that's quite a list...

1. How do you pray in Hellenic Polytheism?

How does anyone else pray? To my understanding, prayer generally was spoken out loud, with hands in front of you palms up when praying to gods of the above world (Or, if a statue or other image is present, hands facing towards the statue), and if praying to a deity in the below world, palms down, or in the case of a very emotional prayer, the worshipper down on their knees, pounding on the ground.

Myself, I generally pray silently unless it is part of group ritual. If in front of my altar, usually kneeling because it makes the most sense with the height of my altar. I also do personal ritual in silence....I find it much easier to express my thought and emotion this way- the English language is just not sufficient sometimes, and the gods still understand.

2. How do you meditate in Hellenic Polytheism?

There is no specific prescribed method for meditation.

3. Is there any way to create an oracle?

There are many. Here is an example of a simple oracle that was used in ancient Greece based on the Greek alphabet:
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/GAO.html

4. Is it disrespectful to pour alcohol on the lavendar and grain you're sacrificing to Athena because the damn sacrifice isn't burning?

Hmm...that's a new one to me. Have you tried using charcoal (not the barbeque charcoal, but the stuff created specifically for this purpose)
Also...how dry is the lavendar?

I honestly don't know if this would be considered disrespectful or not, though my initial thought is that if you try it and she does not like it, she will let you know. Also, if you do, be very careful. Make sure that you're using a fire-safe container and a well-insulated surface, and that no flammable materials are nearby. </fire safety nazi>

6. Are there any spells, and what kinds are there?

Magic is one of those subjects that gets extremely varied treatment among contemporary Hellenists. Some completely abhor it, others practice magic separately from their religion...I don't think I know of any Hellenic polytheists who practice magic as part of their religion, though I'm sure there are some. Spellwork, to my understanding, was not part of the religion back in the day, and depending on who you talked to and when, it could have been seen as completely taboo, or it could have just been seen as a separate, non-religious activity.

7. How do you communicate with the Gods?

Mostly through prayer and meditation. They seem to like to muck about with me extensively in my dreams lately, and I get a lot of the direct "voices in my head" type communication from them.

8. My altar is (because of my lack of religious supplies) a picture of Athena with a small bowl in front of it where I burn the sacrifice. What else should I add to win the Goddess's favor?

What else have you done to try and build a relationship with her? How long have you been working on this? What do you mean by "winning favor"? Are you interested in building a worshipful relationship or are you just hoping that she'll take a liking to you and bestow all kinds of blessings? I'm going to be honest here, some of what you said seems to be coming across as rather flippant, but that may be due to the shortcomings of communicating by text, and you say that you're new to this so I'm not going to make assumptions.

9. Can I ever physically meet the Gods and Goddesses?

Erm....I don't think so, not literally. I have heard of one or two folks who have had brief encounrters with people who look exactly like they envision their deities who beleived that said deity was using that person to make some communication, but that's the closest thing I know of to "meeting them physically"

11. Please tell me about your own religious experiences, okay?

Hmm...ok, what exactly are you looking to find out here? Whenever I see a request like this, there's a little part of me that's always tempted to launch into a novel-length description of some of my more disturbing experiences to show people that "religious experiences" aren't often what we expect them to be...but I generally restrain myself from that. So...what sort of information or understanding are you hoping to gain from others telling you of their experience?

12. Is there a way to control spirits to do your bidding? (again, I'm BRAND NEW to this religion)

If by "this religion", you mean Hellenic reconstruction, that is not part of the religion...there are quite a few diffrent takes on Hellenic recon, but I've ENVER seen anyhting like this in any iteration.

13. How do you burn lavendar without alcohol on it?! It's driving me crazy!

see my comments in your previous question about this.

14. Is it natural for someone to ask all these questions?
[/quote]

Yes. Asking questions is good.

Additionally, have a look at these websites for more information on Hellenic religion:

http://sponde.com
http://www.winterscapes.com/sannion/
http://www.winterscapes.com/
http://www.theoi.com- best website on Greek Mythology ever, absolutely essential place for reading about mythology. Extremely extensive and informative- includes MANY of the ancient Greek texts available in complete form to read online

[Kratos]

What else have you done to try and build a relationship with her? How long have you been working on this? What do you mean by "winning favor"? Are you interested in building a worshipful relationship or are you just hoping that she'll take a liking to you and bestow all kinds of blessings? I'm going to be honest here, some of what you said seems to be coming across as rather flippant, but that may be due to the shortcomings of communicating by text, and you say that you're new to this so I'm not going to make assumptions.

Building a worshipful relationship. By "winning favor", I mean, not making her angry. I'm not trying to use her, I am trying to worship her, and make her happy the best way I can with whatever means I can use. I ask for blessings when I really do need something or to help worship her better. Sorry if anything came out wrong.

I give what I can to her for sacrifice, like lavendar, olives, barlie, and probably later some of my Thanksgiving Turkey and other food. I would probably be punished severely by my mom for burning offerings. I do my best. When I can, I'll replace the picture with a statue, and the small bowl with a bigger bowl, and put incense holders on my altar.

[fiamma]

Building a worshipful relationship. By "winning favor", I mean, not making her angry. I'm not trying to use her, I am trying to worship her, and make her happy the best way I can with whatever means I can use. I ask for blessings when I really do need something or to help worship her better. Sorry if anything came out wrong.

I give what I can to her for sacrifice, like lavendar, olives, barlie, and probably later some of my Thanksgiving Turkey and other food. I would probably be punished severely by my mom for burning offerings. I do my best. When I can, I'll replace the picture with a statue, and the small bowl with a bigger bowl, and put incense holders on my altar.

Hey, it's cool. Like I said, it's easy to be misunderstood when all you have is text on a screen, especially if you're new to it all and not quite hip to the jive just yet, ya know? :-P So, no harm, no foul.

Doing your best, I think is the most you really can do, especially when you're just starting out.

There's no need to completely replace the picture, unless you really want to. Some people do keep multiple images around. That's up to you. I'd say be careful about the burning though if you're worried about getting punished and it may even be a good idea to stay away from burnt offerings- in the house at least- while you're living in your parents home.

[Girlchild]

1. How do you pray in Hellenic Polytheism?
2. How do you meditate in Hellenic Polytheism?
3. Is there any way to create an oracle?
4. Is it disrespectful to pour alcohol on the lavendar and grain you're sacrificing to Athena because the damn sacrifice isn't burning?
5. Every list needs a five.
6. Are there any spells, and what kinds are there?
7. How do you communicate with the Gods?
8. My altar is (because of my lack of religious supplies) a picture of Athena with a small bowl in front of it where I burn the sacrifice. What else should I add to win the Goddess's favor?
9. Can I ever physically meet the Gods and Goddesses?
10. Yay, the second five.
11. Please tell me about your own religious experiences, okay?
12. Is there a way to control spirits to do your bidding? (again, I'm BRAND NEW to this religion)
13. How do you burn lavendar without alcohol on it?! It's driving me crazy!
14. Is it natural for someone to ask all these questions?

You've got a bit discordian in you, I'm guessing?

As far as the alter goes, what you place there doesn't have to be directly associated with Athena (i.e. her picture), just whatever you personally associate with her. I place, not only things that symbolize the god (for Athena I have an owl statue), but also things that are associated with what that god is associated with, if that makes any sense  . Like, if Athena inspired me to write an essay, or get a high grade on an exam, I may place the test or report on the alter for some time, or if I won an award for a speech, ect. I also sacrifice things I've made, such as textile crafts for Athena. These type of sacrifices sometimes become a perminant part of my alter.

I personally get the sense that Athena enjoys a clean alter.

You've also mentioned a lot of things that are in the rhelm of magical practice. I consider religion and magic to be two very separate things, as one doesn't need magic to be religious. Having said that, divination is really a great form of communication with the gods, and a way of honoring gods associated with it (Dionysus, Hermes, Apollo, Hecate). Since magic isn't really a large part of the religion, how you use it is really up to your own interpretation. Just try to keep your mystic endeavours culturally Hellenic, or dissociated with other religions. Like, if using Tarot cards, try to find a hellenic style deck. And make sure whatever you do magically doesnt conflict with your religious beliefs. (In other words, if you feel the need for a 'protection spell', I don't see why you can't BORROW one from wicca as long as you apply it only to the greek gods, and not mention anything strictly wicca like dualism or the rede or whatever. Spells are bassically prayers, anyway.)

Asking questions is good! It's really hard, starting out (it is for me!), especially when you are worried about doing it right. But it's always better to practice in a way that feels right to you, then to not practice at all. The gods won't expect you to get it completely right all the time, and it's the thought that counts!

I cant help you at all with burning things, I'm totally inept with that. A dignified alternative may be to bury it? Or, depending on what it is, donating it.

Hope I helped. 

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