Xenophanes and others criticised Homeric literature for mischaracterising the gods. And I agree (I'm not a literalist).

That's why I don't have physical copies of either epic yet, although I bought a book of Hellenic poetry (with hymns and such of various ancient authors).
Any thoughts?

I feel like many modern Hellenic polytheists drift away from traditional religions because they never felt truly welcomed or accepted. As a result, many resort to extreme personalization of the gods. They try to bring the divine closer by framing the gods as parent figures to fill their own need for validation, affection, and belonging.

​In doing so, they miss the core point of the religion.

As humans, we live in a realm of tension, imperfection, and opposition, whereas the gods inhabit a domain of absolute perfection and divine order. Hellenism isn't about projecting our emotional needs onto the gods—who, in their perfection, are complete and inherently self-sufficient. We need them; they do not need us.

​While it's understandable that people seek comfort and love, treating the gods this way misinterprets the faith. There is a clear distinction between simply praying to the Greek gods and practicing Hellenism as a path. The true purpose of Hellenism is self-improvement: striving toward the perfection represented by the gods while recognizing our own inherent human limitations. We aspire to divine virtue, knowing we will never be divine ourselves.

So a while back like few years ago i think, wayyyyy before i even knew anything about the Greek gods, I had a few OCs (original characters) I made. The characters just so happened to be gods, because I thought it'd be cool. A few of them we're a goddess of oceans, goddess of the sky, gods of space and time etc... Would this be considered hubris?

I'm not interested in those OCs anymore and honestly forgot about most of them, and in my head they were just silly characters I made up who fight the forces of evil trying to destroy the whole universe.

I'm just asking to make sure I didn't do something wrong

To explain, I am autistic, and lately I've been really overstimulated a lot of the time, almost everytime barely escaping a meltdown, and I would really like to know if there were any 'overstimulation calming' healing deities I could call upon any time I need them.

I've heard about healing deities such as Dionysus, although he seems to be more centered on mental healing, which wouldn't correspond to what I'm searching.

Hello, I am reading the Orphic hymns and I notice most of these hymns list types of burnable fragrances to burn in sacrifice during the ritualistic performance of the hymn. There for example, No.58: Eros lists Insence of Fragrant Herbs. However, both Hymn to Hekate and Hymn to Aphrodite do not list burnables. Does this hymn not require a burnable fragrance element? Or is it open ended, allowing more diverse types of burnables? What do you use, or not use? What would you recommend?

Hey so I have recently been getting back into my practice but often find myself scared of the gods. Not in the halloween horror way but in the respected to the point of fear way. I first started feeling this way with Lord Apollo after seeing a video of someone saying that Lord Apollo felt disrespected. I know that seems so fake and I get it likely is but I feel like I'm doing things wrong. I used to talk to the gods respectfully but also comfortably. Now I don't talk to them at all because im scared. Any advice? Also is it okay to talk to them about daily things in life and not really about them directly?

Hello everyone!

So, I am an English teacher (English as a second language) and I am currently teaching celebrations and festivals to my students. I taught Kwanzaa, Yule, Ramadan, and today I taught them about Thesmophoria.

I always like to teach about different cultures, but I of course got super enthusiastic about Thesmophoria. I taught my students about the myth of King Hades and Queen Persephone.

After the class, my students asked if we could please work more with greek mythology, and I am brainstorming some ideas. Please keep in mind that of course all of these ideas would be 100% approached through a non-religious lense since in the public school system in my country we CANNOT give our political opinions/religious beliefs/etc.

One idea I thought about is to have the students draw Lady Aphrodite. Of course Lady Aphrodite is the representation of beauty, and since beauty is subjective, everyone's Aphrodite would look different.

After drawing, the kids would make a small written description of their Aphrodite.

For example: my Aphrodite has brown short hair. Her eyes are blue. She is a bit chubby. Etc,etc.

I just wanted to share my ideas for any other teachers out there! If anyone has more ideas I could use with my students, don't be afraid to share!

Εἰς Ἀθηνᾶν Κορυφίτιδαν

(To Athena Koryphitis)

Athena, for wisdom

golden tripod I will dedicate

My sharpened blade caresses

already sacrificial lamb

Athena, for wisdom

I vow trophies and my hair

The armour has been bloodied

broken sword in hand

Athena, for wisdom

let me suffer by myself

A more historical question: was it common to offer a prayer to all twelve [Olympians] at once—something like, "Oh, Theoi! Good morning. Today I..."—or was that never the case, and prayers were always directed to only one or two gods at a time? Note: I am referring to informal prayers, without any offerings.