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Irregular in her ways and a woman-lover

@olympianbutch / olympianbutch.tumblr.com

dagan ✸ 23 ✸ she, he ✸ testobutch ⚢ ✸ white ✸ greco-egyptian polytheist ✸ Zeus Amun-Ra, Hera, Athena, Hekate, Aphrodite, & Hermes ✸ eng + j'apprends le français + μαθαίνω ελληνικά

about me

Dagan ✷ she, he ✷ ftm testobutch ⚢ ✷ @seedsandsprouts’s 🫀 ✷ audhd ∞ ✷ 23 years old ✷ ♈︎ ☉, ♋︎ ☾, ♊︎ ↑ ✷ white, southern and western European-American ✷ anthropology & classics student, undergraduate ✷ Zeus Hypatos devotee

about this blog

first thing's first, here is the link to my personal library of sources on ancient Greek religion! 😀
wip

about my religion

wip

FASCISTS FUCK OFF.

Fuck racism. Fuck nationalism. Fuck antisemitism. Fuck sexism. Fuck queerphobia and transphobia. Fuck ableism. Fuck the ruling class. Diversity, Unity, and Love until the day the Sun explodes. Be intolerant of intolerance.

Anonymous asked:

What are your thoughts on polygamy amongst the gods? Particularly, Zeus, with some of his divine consorts such as Themis or Leto?

The ancient Greeks were not polygamists, and neither were their gods. The ancient Macedonians practiced bigamy—Philip II had two wives—but idk how or if that bled over into local portrayals of the gods.

Hesiod describes the list of Zeus's wives as happening in succession, meaning he only ever has one wife at a time, with Hera being the last of them all. He isn't holding those previous marriages simultaneously, so he isn't a polygamist.

Leto is, indeed, an interesting case.

In Hesiod, she was Zeus's wife before Hera, but in later mytho-poetic tradition, she is more like a pallake or officially recognized mistress. Pallakai are categorically not wives, so even if Zeus is with her at the same time as Hera, he's still not a polygamist.

Anonymous asked:

Hi, i wanted to know more about orphism but i don't know where i could search.. The most well-informed website i knew was HellenicGods.org, but i saw a post you made sayng that it wasn't a reliable source... I mean, the orphic fragments there looks really suspictious :^

I am the wrong person to ask about Orphism since I study popular and common religion in ancient Greece. :0

Orphism is categorically not popular or common.

Epic stopped being passable when all the original recordings were removed from Spotify

just heard of stories from styx. when will my torture end.

Friendly Reminder that the religion is called Hellenic Polytheism and you are a Hellenic Polytheist.

It is not Hellenism, Hellenismos, Hellenistic Polytheism and you are not a Hellenist or Hellenic.

Polite correction coming through! 🗣

Hellenistic polytheism is a perfectly fine term to use for reconstructed/revitalized ancient Greek religion.

I know that people say, "But 'Hellenistic' refers to a time period," but that is only true when 'Hellenistic' and 'period' appear together.

By itself, 'Hellenistic' literally just means "in the style/manner of the Greeks," so Hellenistic polytheism would refer to polytheism in the style/manner of the Greeks.

I would honestly rather that people use 'Hellenistic' more, as opposed to accidentally misusing modern Greek ethnonyms like 'Hellenic' and 'Hellenism/os.'

In fact, Hellenisticismos is an excellent alternative to the issue of people misusing Hellenismos.

Hey, to all the people who are sad we as Hellenic Polytheists don't have a temple to worship in:

We never had temples to worship in, that was never a thing.
I keep seeing posts of people lamenting that we no longer have places to worship the gods in, in the same way people use churches and other places of worship today, but as someone with a degree in this, that was never officially a thing. This is what I mean when I say people need to deconstruct from their previous religion because the religions are different and what you might miss from one, you'll bring to the other, like missing a place of worship.
The temples were solely places to either hold things given to the gods, like thank you offerings, etc. or in some cases, where you got your prophecy told (Delphi), or some people slept in temples for Asclepius in order to dream of cures they believed the god would give them.
The ancient Greeks worshipped the gods in nature and had little altars in their homes.
This is why there were so many sacrificial altars outside in nature or outside the temples.
I understand it can be frustrating not having a place to worship because religious places of worship are great places to find like-minded people and find community, but the ancient Greeks didn't have to do that because the religion was a government mandated religion. Their literal governments would do things with the whole city-state outside of the temples. The closest thing we got to that were mystery cults but those were usually for the elite and still did things outside just in more secluded areas: (LINK)
Most of the time people weren't allowed to go into the temples, just priests, and the very few people that were allowed (to either drop off a gift, dream of a cure or get their fortune told) had very strict rules on making sure they were super clean because the priests would have to clean after them and they really didn't want to do that.
My point is that if you are worshipping the gods in nature (especially outdoor areas that inspire you because they believed a god resided in those areas) or in front of your altar at home, you're already doing what the ancient Greeks did.
Places of worship later got popularized with the rise of mystery cults in Rome and Roman Christians needing a secret place to worship, usually in someone's house which would later get converted as official places because of the persecutions.
I understand it can be frustrating to not have what more modern religions around you have but I need Hellenic Polytheists to understand that official places of worship were never a thing in the ancient Greek world.
They are worshipped in nature because the gods ARE nature itself.

So understand that your place of worship is all around you, and the gods will always be with you whenever you need them, as soon as you need them, and I think that's beautiful.

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Anonymous asked:

Hi! Your blog is super cool! Random question- how do you pronounce "Khaire"? /nfta

Blessed be! <3

Khaire!

Here's a post where I addressed this topic in the past. Hope it helps! Take care! 🧡

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The "Kh" ("Χ" in Greek) denotes a hard, aspirated "k" sound. To know what that sounds like, try pronouncing "kick," but breathe out when you pronounce that first letter.

The "ai" (αι) is pronounced in Classical Attic Greek exactly like "eye."

The "r" in "re" is trilled, so say "ray," but roll the "r."

You get kh-EYE-rreh.

To say "khaire" to more than one person, you say "khairete."

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I block accounts run by polytheists who make entire portions of their content/personality about despising Christians/"exposing" the "lies of Christianity," btw.

If you spend so much time hating another religion, you probably aren't keeping up with the responsibilities you have to your own, and I stand by that. 🤷

*not to mention jewish and muslim people, who get incorrectly grouped with christians through the term "abrahamic(s)"

they are still humans deserving of respect, especially if they themselves have no hatred in their hearts but are nonetheless grouped with hateful individuals because of their religion

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imagine telling 18-year-old dani that starting a tumblr blog would eventually lead to being featured in a Sojourners......

this is so unbelievable and i'm so honored to be featured alongside women who have inspired me for literal years. what a wild world. thank you Hojung and Ryan and Sojourners and everyone. also thank you Sergio Saravia for the headshots you saved my life. Read the full artictle here!

Hugest flex that this is one of my friends

hiiii julia i love you forever and ever btw and your friedship is a blessing i do not take lightly btw

WAY TO GO, DANI!!!! YOU'RE A SUPERSTAR!!!!

Crazy to think that stuff like this isn’t even that uncommon in Israel.

I think most Westerners don’t understand that this can genuinely happen in Israel.

It sounds too crazy.

But it’s why a lot of Arab families don’t like leaving their home by itself for too long. Or have at least one person stay in the house at all times.

Because can literally come back from the grocery store or a night out and somebody says “Hey, you sold me this house” and they provide no proof whatsoever of sale but still have an army protecting them.

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Anonymous asked:

hello! i love your blog and I wanted to ask a question, do you/how do you balance science & faith? Do you completely ignore science (especially things like evolution), do you work it into your practice, or something else?

sorry if im not getting my question across well, this is coming from someone who has been practicing as of almost a year, i've been asking myself this recently and I wanted to know other practitioners opinions on it.

Khaire, Nonny!

I do incorporate science into my practice. Personally, I believe that trying to separate the two is kinda...not great. Being spiritual shouldn't mean that we can't be scientific also, in my opinion; both things absolutely can coexist. I'm not a mythic literalist, for the most part, so I'm sure that makes it a bit easier for me lol. Spirituality isn't an "illogical" thing, and I think that's a common misconception spread throughout the U.S. society especially: that spirituality is purely hogwash, and no spiritual person can be a scientist.

I believe in evolution, and I also view it as a very beautiful thing! I love animals and plants, I love the history of the earth, I love the science of weather and the ocean and the sky and space. I incorporate it into my practice as subtly as breathing. I say this in the sense that it's not really a big deal for me; I don't draw a line between "science" and "spirituality". Spiritual things can be scientific, and vice versa. Are the stars that burn millions of light-years away from us just beyond our atmosphere not filled with a divine beauty? Is the fact that trees that have lived for millions of years still being alive today not a reason for pause? Is the existence of our bodies at all not indicative of some divine intervention, some living miracle? There is SO MUCH that had to go right in order for us to even be here.

So yeah, I tie these things together because I don't believe they were ever meant to be separate. Someone once told me that only fools separate science and religion, and to some degree, I feel there is truth in that statement. Those who ignore vaccines on account of their religion, who deny the existence of evolution, who deny things that have been proven time and time again - those are fools. I'm not really a judgemental person, but when it comes to these things, I have rather strong opinions (some family members of mine are like this, and that's partially why; I've seen the harm directly). My advice is to not separate these things, but I'm obviously quite biased. It's ultimately up to you on what you decide to be right for your practice.

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My friend Vivienne puts it best when she says that knowing science is knowing the gods!

can ur friend elaborate? sounds like a cool analogy

Yes I can!!

I am an undergraduate student studying botany (almost done with my degree in botany). I think there is nothing more brilliant than material and physical truths that can feel us deeper spiritual facts. Animal cells all have a charge to them (often there is a negative charge inside cells and a positive charge outside them) is this not the mark of Zeus? Or the many plants. Demeter, Rhea, Persephone, Gê, Dionysos—these spirits are everywhere in my field of study. The natural world is supreme, divine, full of mystery, full of wonder, nothing and I mean NOTHING could be more spiritually filling than that. The gods are nature. Rains, streams, soil, plants, animals, fungi, etc. To learn science, is to better understand the mind of the gods. The creatives who make all of the world function are visible in the beauty and wonder of science.

Everyone should follow Vivienne if they want to see the musings of a modern Sage

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Anonymous asked:

hello! i love your blog and I wanted to ask a question, do you/how do you balance science & faith? Do you completely ignore science (especially things like evolution), do you work it into your practice, or something else?

sorry if im not getting my question across well, this is coming from someone who has been practicing as of almost a year, i've been asking myself this recently and I wanted to know other practitioners opinions on it.

Khaire, Nonny!

I do incorporate science into my practice. Personally, I believe that trying to separate the two is kinda...not great. Being spiritual shouldn't mean that we can't be scientific also, in my opinion; both things absolutely can coexist. I'm not a mythic literalist, for the most part, so I'm sure that makes it a bit easier for me lol. Spirituality isn't an "illogical" thing, and I think that's a common misconception spread throughout the U.S. society especially: that spirituality is purely hogwash, and no spiritual person can be a scientist.

I believe in evolution, and I also view it as a very beautiful thing! I love animals and plants, I love the history of the earth, I love the science of weather and the ocean and the sky and space. I incorporate it into my practice as subtly as breathing. I say this in the sense that it's not really a big deal for me; I don't draw a line between "science" and "spirituality". Spiritual things can be scientific, and vice versa. Are the stars that burn millions of light-years away from us just beyond our atmosphere not filled with a divine beauty? Is the fact that trees that have lived for millions of years still being alive today not a reason for pause? Is the existence of our bodies at all not indicative of some divine intervention, some living miracle? There is SO MUCH that had to go right in order for us to even be here.

So yeah, I tie these things together because I don't believe they were ever meant to be separate. Someone once told me that only fools separate science and religion, and to some degree, I feel there is truth in that statement. Those who ignore vaccines on account of their religion, who deny the existence of evolution, who deny things that have been proven time and time again - those are fools. I'm not really a judgemental person, but when it comes to these things, I have rather strong opinions (some family members of mine are like this, and that's partially why; I've seen the harm directly). My advice is to not separate these things, but I'm obviously quite biased. It's ultimately up to you on what you decide to be right for your practice.

Avatar

My friend Vivienne puts it best when she says that knowing science is knowing the gods!

Anonymous asked:

Hi! I saw your post about miasma and I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of where to learn more?/genq /nf

I was under the impression that lyma = physical dirt, miasma = pollution (?) that you incur from being mortal (birth, death etc.), and that Agos = when you mess up to the point of incuring divine wrath. If I'm wrong though I would love to learn more and educate myself! /gen After all, what is life if not learning and changing? :)

My answer is going to be deeply dissatisfying because the best way to learn about and understand ancient Greek words for dirt, pollution, purity, and cleanliness (and literally anything else) is to explore the primary sources that contain these words in the original Greek.

This is why my biggest piece of advice for Hellenic polytheists who aren't actively learning philology is to use words in their own language(s) to communicate ancient Greek religious concepts. It is a much safer bet to do this than to accidentally misuse ancient Greek words and potentially propagate that same misuse.

As for what these specific words mean, you are largely correct!

Lyma (pl. lymata) denotes physical dirt that is washed away with water.

Miasma (pl. miasmata) describes, typically, spiritual pollution, especially as it relates to murder, certain crimes, immoral actions, and death. Other times—such as in Thucydides—"miasma" refers to diseases and other bodily excretions.

In a way, miasma is a product of our humanness because gods are in no sense spiritually polluted. In fewer words, the theoi are above miasma, while human beings must—and will—incur miasma, either through contact with sickness, death, birth, bodily excretions, or by committing murder, certain other crimes, or associated immoral acts.

It should go without saying that the miasma one incurs from being sick is not remotely as severe as the miasma incurred from killing someone, though they are both regarded as contagious. In this way, miasma exists on a continuum, with varying levels of severity that require varying levels of purification.

Purification, too, exists on a continuum, with purity and pollution acting as opposites to normal states of being rather than to each other.

As for agos, I will need to make an addendum to this post when I better understand the concept! I have an acquaintance who is especially well-versed in agos that I will consult before saying anything for certain on the matter.

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