dandthegods:

The gods haven’t left us, but some say they are forgotten

Zeus roars his battle cry as lightning strikes skyscrapers and thunder rolls over corn fields and grassy plains.

Hera sings a lullaby to the crying newborn babies every night and hold the hand of those born early, those fighting to survive.

Artemis screams her protest in the voices of every woman, young and old, as they raise their fists for equality.

Demeter whistles through the streets of cities, rustling the leaves of scarce trees, reminding the concrete jungle of the jungles around them.

Poseidon bellows through the foghorns of steam ships, cruise liners and cargo ships as they dock into the harbour.

Hephaestus hammers his forge’s red fires with the punch of a time-clock and in the muscles strains of the working man.

Apollo blasts his voice through every headphone, earbud and speaker turned way too loud.

Ares’ battle cry echoes through a stadium as the crowd cheers after a national anthem is played.

Aphrodite whispers in the giggles and “I love you"s said between lovers intimating.

Hermes laughs in the roar of every engine and the gurgle of gasoline through the pump.

Dionysus cheers in the spirit of every young person celebrating themselves and making their lives enjoyable.

Athena hums in the silence of a late night library visit, in the turn of a page and the scratch of a pen.

Hestia smiles in every host saying “come in”, in every oven’s beeping, and the sigh of relaxation in ones home.

Hades beams in every dark humoured joke, in every Halloween night, and in every morning after.

They say the gods are gone, forgotten and a world away.
But they are here, if you look for them.

terrasunshine:

elys-book-of-mirrors:

terrasunshine:

Hi. So, we as a community have written on this a lot. Elani of Baring the Aegis wrote “Why do gods have sex with mortals?” (I’m on mobile so I can’t hyperlink), soloontherocks wrote “A list of Reasons” on her old blog (google soloontherocks-moving-refollow a list of reasons). This is just extra reading so you can get more than just my perspective.

The whole of it, though, is that the myths aren’t real. The myths aren’t our sacred text, and they were written by mortals in a sexist society, more sexist than ours is now. It’s not Zeus’ fault that the men who took it upon themselves to write stories about him decided he was going to do some bad things by our standards. You have to understand the societal context that surrounds the myths; the things Zeus did were things that were largely acceptable in Ancient Greece.

Also, even if we were to toy with the idea that they did happen, we can’t…. prove that he did anything. You know? We weren’t there, we didn’t witness anything, and nothing can be proven.

So, all in all, the way you work around this is by reminding yourself that a) the myths were written by sexist mortals who were conditioned by and perpetuated a sexist society, so it’s reflected in their stories and b) he is an amazing god.

He is so much more than his mythology. He is a wonderful and just King, a loving husband, and a gentle hand. To me, he is also a father figure that I did not have in my mortal father. I am in the process of incorporating him into my practice more as well.

I hope this helps. Feel free to drop another line if you have more questions.

No, it definitely did help and Solo’s List of Reasons is one hell of a resource (but the tumblr URLs need to be changed to “soloontherocks-moving-refollow”). And I’m still new enough that I’m following like crazy to find my way around the community.

I suppose because I’m “culturally Christian” (raised in an atheist household), I automatically assumed the myths to be a collection of holy scripture. I’m quite pleased that’s not the case. The ancients wrote myths for their culture, at that time, to display Zeus’s power and might in ways that they understood. 

And, since they’re not holy scripture, I’m gonna assume writing myths for the Theoi (from a point of worship and respect) in our current culture would be alright? Taken out of the context of scripture, they’re more like fables to explain the glory of the Gods?

This is something a lot of new Hellenics run into, especially those of us that switched from a Christian faith. It’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that we don’t really have one sacred text. The only thing I can think of that even comes close is the Pillars, but even then, there’s so many authors writing on it that it’s important to craft your own Pillars for your practice.

Also, yes! It’s definitely okay to write myths on the Theoi in a religious sense. Retellings are also pretty common, I know @pomegranateandivy has one about Zeus wooing Hera that I particularly love.

I’m glad this was able to help. 🙂