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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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Hellenic Polytheism Local Cultus Challenge 2

Here is the second local cultus challenge! If anyone has any recommendations on anything, please feel free to message me.

Also, you don’t have to do EVERYTHING, the idea is to pick one or two things.

HESIOD’S THEOGONY

Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundations of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros, fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them. From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night; but of Night were born Aether and Day, whom she conceived and bare from union in love with Erebus. And Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. And she brought forth long Hills, graceful haunts of the goddess-Nymphs who dwell amongst the glens of the hills. She bare also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love.

1) Earth

Gaia is the very embodiment of the earth beneath our feet, and the second being to come into existence (after Chaos).

QUESTION: What is the environment like in your area? Is it hilly or flat? Is it landlocked or a peninsula? What are the defining characteristics of where you live?

CHALLENGE: Go outside, explore the nature of your area, even if you’re in an urban setting or something of the sort. See where you can feel the most connected to the earth.

2) Tartarus

Tartarus is also one of the first beings to come into existence, and is also an embodiment of the pit. Tartarus is not the Underworld, and is instead more so the lowest point in the earth.

QUESTION: Altitude wise, what is the lowest point in your area? Are there any caves or any other natural structure that leads one underground?

CHALLENGE: DO NOT GO INTO CAVES OR UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES UNLESS THEY ARE SECURE OR YOU ARE WITH A PROFESSIONAL. DO NOT DO ANYTHING THAT COULD IN SOME WAY HARM YOU. Instead, see if there are any natural formations open to the public, like the Luray Caverns. Investigate your area for low points or somewhere below sea level IN A SAFE MANNER. IF Y’ALL DO SOMETHING DUMB I SWEAR!

3) Eros

Eros has always been a tricky deity; was he one of the primordial deities? Was he born with Aphrodite? Is he simultaneously the embodiment of love but also procreation? Are these two distinct deities with the same name?

QUESTION: What area or event represents love to you? Is there any local folklore related to love? Do you live near someplace where procreation plays a big role (like a farm or hospital)?

CHALLENGE: Go to an event that in some way represents love or procreation. Or find a place where these things are strong and are fostered. Appreciate the love around you, and see where it flourishes.

4) Erebus and Nyx

Erebus, primordial god of darkness, and Nyx, primordial goddess of night, were both children of Chaos.

QUESTION: What animals come out at night around your area? Is your area mostly asleep during the night, or is it constantly awake?

CHALLENGE: Stay up during the night, and go outside IF IT IS SAFE TO DO SO. What do you hear? What do you see?

5) Nymphs

Nymphs “who dwell amongst the glens of the hills” are most likely Dryads (if anyone has information to the contrary, please say so). They were most often associated with trees, such as the ash tree, fruit trees, ect.

QUESTION: What are native trees to your area? Are there any that fit into the categories of the Dryads? Are there any that don’t?

CHALLENGE: Look for trees near you. What are they? Are they native or foreign? What defining characteristics makes them unique? Try to connect with it, see if you can feel anything.

6) Pontus

Pontus, the primordial embodiment of the sea, is different from Poseidon, who presides over it. He is mingled with Thalassa and they make up the sea.

QUESTION: Are you close to the sea? What is your proximity?

CHALLENGE: If you can, visit the sea. If not, were there any ancient seas once in your area? Investigate those places.

#local cultus #hellenic polytheism #paganism #pontus*#nymphs*#dryads*#nyx*#erebus*#erebos*#erebos #eros*#tartarus*#tartaros*#gaia*#gaea*

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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Hellenic Polytheism Local Cultus Challenge 1

As this is a local cultus blog, I thought it would be interesting to have some challenges for my fellow Hellenic Polytheists! And even if you aren’t, these challenges can be used to jump start any local cultus practice.

Here’s how it’s going to work;

I publish ancient texts, bold important things related to local cultus, and based on those, I present challenges related to the texts. There will be several, so you get to choose! The challenge can either be you go out and work on your local cultus OR if you already have an answer, reblog this and let us know!

Without further ado, let’s begin.

HESIOD’S THEOGONY

From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing, who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon, and dance on soft feet about the deep-blue spring and the altar of the almighty son of Cronos, and, when they have washed their tender bodies in Permessus or in the Horse's Spring or Olmeius, make their fair, lovely dances upon highest Helicon and move with vigorous feet. Thence they arise and go abroad by night, veiled in thick mist, and utter their song with lovely voice, praising Zeus the aegis- holder and queenly Hera of Argos who walks on golden sandals and the daughter of Zeus the aegis-holder bright-eyed Athene, and Phoebus Apollo, and Artemis who delights in arrows, and Poseidon the earth-holder who shakes the earth, and reverend Themis and quick-glancing (1) Aphrodite, and Hebe with the crown of gold, and fair Dione, Leto, Iapetus, and Cronos the crafty counsellor, Eos and great Helius and bright Selene, Earth too, and great Oceanus, and dark Night, and the holy race of all the other deathless ones that are for ever. And one day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon, and this word first the goddesses said to me -- the Muses of Olympus, daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis:

Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things of shame, mere bellies, we know how to speak many false things as though they were true; but we know, when we will, to utter true things.'

So said the ready-voiced daughters of great Zeus, and they plucked and gave me a rod, a shoot of sturdy** laurel**, a marvellous thing, and breathed into me a divine voice to celebrate things that shall be and things there were aforetime; and they bade me sing of the race of the blessed gods that are eternally, but ever to sing of themselves both first and last. But why all this about oak or stone?

Come thou, let us begin with the Muses who gladden the great spirit of their father Zeus in Olympus with their songs, telling of things that are and that shall be and that were aforetime with consenting voice. Unwearying flows the sweet sound from their lips, and the house of their father Zeus the loud-thunderer is glad at the lily-like voice of the goddesses as it spread abroad, and the peaks of snowy Olympus resound, and the homes of the immortals. And they uttering their immortal voice, celebrate in song first of all the reverend race of the gods from the beginning, those whom Earth and wide Heaven begot, and the gods sprung of these, givers of good things. Then, next, the goddesses sing of Zeus, the father of gods and men, as they begin and end their strain, how much he is the most excellent among the gods and supreme in power. And again, they chant the race of men and strong giants, and gladden the heart of Zeus within Olympus, -- the Olympian Muses, daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder.

Them in Pieria did Mnemosyne (Memory), who reigns over the hills of Eleuther, bear of union with the father, the son of Cronos, a forgetting of ills and a rest from sorrow. For nine nights did wise Zeus lie with her, entering her holy bed remote from the immortals. And when a year was passed and the seasons came round as the months waned, and many days were accomplished, she bare nine daughters, all of one mind, whose hearts are set upon song and their spirit free from care, a little way from the topmost peak of snowy Olympus. There are their bright dancing-places and beautiful homes, and beside them the Graces and Himerus (Desire) live in delight. And they, uttering through their lips a lovely voice, sing the laws of all and the goodly ways of the immortals, uttering their lovely voice. Then went they to Olympus, delighting in their sweet voice, with heavenly song, and the dark earth resounded about them as they chanted, and a lovely sound rose up beneath their feet as they went to their father. And he was reigning in heaven, himself holding the lightning and glowing thunderbolt, when he had overcome by might his father Cronos; and he distributed fairly to the immortals their portions and declared their privileges.

These things, then, the Muses sang who dwell on Olympus, nine daughters begotten by great Zeus, Cleio and Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene and Terpsichore, and Erato and Polyhymnia and Urania and Calliope (3), who is the chiefest of them all, for she attends on worshipful princes: whomsoever of heaven-nourished princes the daughters of great Zeus honour, and behold him at his birth, they pour sweet dew upon his tongue, and from his lips flow gracious words. All the people look towards him while he settles causes with true judgements: and he, speaking surely, would soon make wise end even of a great quarrel; for therefore are there princes wise in heart, because when the people are being misguided in their assembly, they set right the matter again with ease, persuading them with gentle words. And when he passes through a gathering, they greet him as a god with gentle reverence, and he is conspicuous amongst the assembled: such is the holy gift of the Muses to men. For it is through the Muses and far-shooting Apollo that there are singers and harpers upon the earth; but princes are of Zeus, and happy is he whom the Muses love: sweet flows speech from his mouth. For though a man have sorrow and grief in his newly-troubled soul and live in dread because his heart is distressed, yet, when a singer, the servant of the Muses, chants the glorious deeds of men of old and the blessed gods who inhabit Olympus, at once he forgets his heaviness and remembers not his sorrows at all; but the gifts of the goddesses soon turn him away from these.

Hail, children of Zeus! Grant lovely song and celebrate the holy race of the deathless gods who are for ever, those that were born of Earth and starry Heaven and gloomy Night and them that briny Sea did rear. Tell how at the first gods and earth came to be, and rivers, and the boundless sea with its raging swell, and the gleaming stars, and the wide heaven above, and the gods who were born of them, givers of good things, and how they divided their wealth, and how they shared their honours amongst them, and also how at the first they took many-folded Olympus. These things declare to me from the beginning, ye Muses who dwell in the house of Olympus, and tell me which of them first came to be

CHALLENGE TIME

1)Mount Helicon

According to Wikipedia, springs sacred to the Muses were located on this mountain and the place was attributed to sacred poetic inspiration.

This also attributes the place to the Muses.

The mountain itself is

1,749 meters/

5,738 ft high in altitude, and is situated between bodies of water.

QUESTION: What places do you attribute to the Muses? What places do you often associate with inspiration?

CHALLENGE: Find somewhere you associate with the Muses, or even one of them. It doesn’t have to be a mountain or spring! Where do you feel their presence?

2) Laurel

_Laurus nobilis _is native to the Mediterranean, and is commonly used in food, medicine and aromatherapy. And it is pretty wide spread in Greek mythology, most notably in the myth of Daphne and Apollo, where Daphne is turned into a laurel tree.

QUESTION: Is laurel native to your area? If not, what other plant do you associate with the gods? OR how important is it to you to use native plants?

CHALLENGE: Find a plant native to your area that is sacred to you and your practice.

3) Mount Olympus

The home of the gods is actually a real mountain, the tallest mountain in Greece actually. Its highest point has an altitude of 2,918 meters/9,573 ft.

QUESTION: What is the highest altitude in your area? Do you think the gods have a one set “home” or are they more spread out?

CHALLENGE: If you can, try and scope out the highest altitude in your area (you don’t have to hike it or get on it if it is unsafe, not open to the public, if there are health concerns or any other reason). If that doesn’t interest you, identify where you feel the most in touch with the gods.

#hellenic polytheism #local cultus #paganism #the muses*#mousai*

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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Native Maryland and Virginia Trees

(in order of appearance)

Smooth Alder (Alnus serrulata)

Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)

Pumpkin Ash (Fraxinus profunda)

White Ash (Fraxinus americana)

#local cultus #maryland local cultus #maryland #trees #virginia local cultus #virginia

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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Is it weird if you end up associating gods with an animal that they don't really have links to? I keep linking Sekhmet to horses, and I'm not sure why. (Maybe something with Oklahoma, just moved there)

I personally don’t find it too terribly weird? Like, on one hand, I can get what you mean. Like what does a lioness goddess have to do with horses, per se. But at the same time, symbolism is often very internal and cultural, and can shift person to person, so I think it makes sense that our brain would make connections that we don’t necessarily “grok” on the surface.

Also, fun fact time: was watching a CE course where the speaker said that “horse people” (he had a list of animals on a slide and told everyone to pick one of the animals, so horse ppl are ppl who were driven to pick the horse from the list) are family and community driven. Soooooooo take that for whatever it’s worth.

#sekhmet

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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I took pictures of the gorgeous Magnolia blossoms on the Smithsonian Castle grounds.

Hail to Magnolia-kissed Hera

#hera

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Hello! I am hoping you can shed some of your knowledge on a concern of mine. I'm not sure where you live, but I am having problems with feeling the Kemetic gods in my area. Whereas someone might easily be able to feel close to nature or urban deities, I have very little that would remind someone of "Egypt". Do you have any tips for someone in the midwest? Thank you in advance!

I’m honestly probably one of the worst people to ask this to XDDD While its true that I live in a location that mimics a lot of what Egypt’s terrain and weather might be like, all in all, I don’t tend to see the gods in the world around me. I probably should, but it’s not something I do a whole lot. For me, my local area is claimed by local spirits that would arguably be tied to other religious practices, and so I don’t tend to overlay the Egyptian gods onto that much.

That being said, there are ways to make connections, even if you’re not in a desert-y type of place. I know that @satsekhem has written a fair amount about local cultus, which is the phrase I see most often used during conversations about this. So they may be worth reaching out to.

The best direction I can give without knowing a whole lot about where you live, is to take traits from the gods, and see where they apply to where you live. F’ex, if you’ve got a large mountain, hill or building, you could associate that with Meretseger, who oversaw the tombs on the west side of the river. If there is a river nearby, you could associate it with any number of our river gods (Hapi, Osiris, to name a few.) Local birds of prey may overlap with some of our hawk deities (Ra, Horus, Montu, etc.) You could associate snowfall with Set, since it makes the land effectively “barren”. Or maybe you associate it with Shu, because its moisture.

To me, its about boiling things down to their basic traits, and then drawing the associations from there. But like I said, I’m not big into doing this (not said with judgement, its just a thing I don’t do XDD), and so I’d probably reach out to some other people to get their input as well, since they may be more versed in it than me.

Anyone want to add any methods that they use?

#local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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Hail Their Union

Watch their heads bob above waves Manes windswept and damp As Poseidon urges them across the Bay.

Gentle fingers reach up from the depths To guide each step they make towards the shore, Aphrodite Chesapeake blessing their lovers’ journey.

The first pony touches the soft sand Once again on lovely Virginia’s land Crowned as royalty, a symbol of holy union

#virginia local cultus #aphrodite #poseidon

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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The establishment of oyster-packing houses in Baltimore by New England businessmen coincided with the building of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and as train service began to open the hitherland, the oyster packers of Baltimore wasted little time in sending shipments westward.

“The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 14 (via ofinkandstars)

#maryland local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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The cold and dampness of the Bay prematurely aged men, and in water-locked hamlets like Oxford the most noticeable characteristics of a waterman were iron-gray hair and a deeply lined brow. [...] Yet the growth of Oxford's oyster-packing industry had pumped life's blood throughout the town's lazy veins. Hundreds of boats fresh from the beds of the Tred Avon River bobbed on the wharf's edge, their masts wrapped in sails and loaded to the gunwales with oysters.

"The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 23

#maryland local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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The same booster spirit and lusty optimism founded upon the oyster treasure of the Chesapeake Bay prevailed elsewhere in the region. On the blue waters of the Choptank River, the thriving town of Cambridge sparkled in the sunlight. In 1871 Cambridge's population had grown to two thousand, and the town boasted new frame houses and four hotels. Across the bridged inlet, old homes built of bricks brought from England as ballast reminded visitors of the town's colonial past. [...] Many of Cambridge's rich seafood packers were parvenu watermen who had gambled on the future and won. In their pursuit of a fast dollar these oystermen worked side by side with blacks, and ignored many of the rules of the color bar.

"The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 22-23

#maryland local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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Crisfield's industry impressed visitors. "Oysters, oysters, are everywhere, in barrels, in boxes, in cans, in buckets, in the shell and out," declared Harper's in 1879. Throughout the town the air was permeated with the tidal odor of mudbanks and "defunct oysters". Passengers on board the steamer City of Norfolk beheld a strange sight when the port of Crisfield came into view. To their surprise they saw a shanty town on stilts, a town of poles and myriads of boats of all sizes and descriptions. A town of oysters, built on oyster shells; such was Crisfield, the queen of honky-tonks and mistress of the oyster empire of Tangier Sound.

"The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 22

#maryland local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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Fistfights and brawls were common in Crisfield and other waterfront towns; the Bay country bred a fierce recklessness in men who pitted their lives against the wild elements of the Chesapeake. Goodsell's Alley, a street lined with businesses and saloons, was a source of constant fighting.

"The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 20

#maryland local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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A spirit of anarchy prevailed on the Chesapeake

"The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 38

#maryland local cultus #virginia local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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At first relations between tongers and dredgers had been fairly amicable. By 1971, however, nearly a thousand dredge boats began to invade the prohibited river waters of the Chesapeake. While the outraged tongers demanded that Annapolis enforce the law preventing dredging in the rivers, they also took the law into their own hands. When they went out on the water, tongers warned, they would have their rifles loaded. Soon the Chesapeake resounded with gunfire, and a Baltimore Sun reporter noted that something new was floating in the Chester and Choptank rivers - the bloated bodies of dead oystermen.

"The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 36

#maryland local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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Although oyster boats under sail on the Bay were picture-esque, the actual business of tonging was physically exhausting. As oystering was a winter occupation, watermen were chilled by the freezing water splashed up by the tongs. [...] Only the hardiest could stand such a rigorous life, and the death rate among oystermen was very high.

"The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 32

#maryland local cultus #virginia local cultus

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When Captain John Smith visited the Chesapeake shore of North America in the seventeenth century, he observed that the Indians were well acquainted with oysters and valued them highly. The Nanticoke Indians, for example, were fond of raking up large piles of fresh oysters from creek bottoms with forked sticks and indulging in feasts that sometimes lasted several days.

"The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay” by John R. Wennersten, page 5

#maryland local cultus #virginia local cultus

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dc-md-va-cultus · 7 years

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For Delphinia tomorrow, I’m going to be leaving an offering at the place I’ve identified for Artemis. I read that the traditional offering is “olive bound up with white wool”.

Now see, there’s no olive trees near me. Artemis’ sacred trees are laurel, walnut and cedar (according to theoi.com), but there’s none of those near me either. In my yard, we have an apple tree, evergreen and two river birches. Back when it snowed, there were some damn harsh winds, and one of the river birches broke. We kept some of the thicker branches, and discarded the thinner ones.

Isn’t local cultus making do with what you have? Not to mention, the river birch thrives in wet environments, and Artemis Hêleia means “Of the Marshes/Wetlands”.

We’ll see how it goes.

#maryland local cultus #artemis

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