Newbie question

Good morning all,

I hope this is the right forum and I'm asking in the correct manner. This is my first Reddit account, but it seemed like the best way to reach knowledgeable people in the community.

I won't bore you with my background, but I've recently returned to studying paganism and am still early on my path. The general tenets really resonate and it feels like "home." I felt drawn to the Hellenic pantheon and, as recommended in one of the beginning books I've been reading, I did a small offering. I've always felt most "in tune" with Artemis, so I did an offering and introduced myself without asking for anything. A couple of days later I was meditating and contemplating what my "inner temple" looks like. It came to me quickly, although it's a place that no longer exists as I remember it (it was a real location from my youth.) During meditation I felt a presence behind me and felt a Goddess. I remember some of her physical characteristics... it was mostly a feeling, but there were some identifiable aspects... and I definitely felt... welcome? It was a very warm and positive experience. I'm not sure how to describe it; it felt very special to me and I don't want to talk about it too much... but i do have a question. I felt at the time that this was Artemis, but upon reflection I wanted to see if there is a way to "identify" a Deity as a concrete being (as opposed to an archetype.) This was clearly a goddess of the hunt/wild, but how do I know it was Artemis as opposed to a Celtic or other pantheon's Deity? The physical characteristics don't necessarily align with a traditional view of Artemis, but she can appear in whatever aspect she chooses.

Since that time I have made more small offerings and thanked her. But as a newbie... I am curious to know if I am contacting the pantheon most interested in me or if another Goddess heard my prayers and approached me.

I'm sorry this is so long, and if it's foolish. Please be gentle in your responses.

Thank you for your time and insight!

So right now I don’t need the “if your scared stay away” talk rn. But I’m genuinely curious.

So I just started getting back deep into my practice & I’m an omnist hoodoo woman. I believe in a higher God & Goddess (Father God, Mother Gaia) but I also believe in other spirits as well.

My first deity I felt like was Jesus. Awesome guy btw. Then ancestor veneration,Then Mother Gaia. Then Archangel Michael .. now something interesting happened..

Was talking to myself about why I’m not as far as I wanted to be & felt Hecate hijack my thinking & reminded myself of how amazing I am.. started honoring Hecate as well..

One thing I learned about Hecate is she doesn’t take any mess! She wants to do anybody that even looks at me wrong in..

Then comes Aphrodite 2 weeks later.. Aphrodite (to me) feels more light.. like still fuck em up.. but be nice nasty with it. Vs Hecate which is like “F their feelings! Turn em every which way but lose” lol

I’m saying my morning prayers literally 5 days after & for some reason sense an energy like.. pass by & my intuition was saying “Lilith” so I started doing research & I found the story of Lilith to be .. very empowering.. here’s the thing tho

If you don’t know Lilith was cast out of Eden by God.. also she’s Lucifer’s wife. As a believer of God & also working with archangel Michael I’m finding a conflict of interest. I feel like if I talk to one I can’t include the other in the same conversation. But I’m just confused on if this worked for anyone else??

One could say Lilith is evil for her disobedience but I admire that about her.. but would God be mad at me too for respecting her?? I know someone has had these questions before..

Also why when you start working with Greek Gods/Goddesses they just flood in like that?? 🤣🤣 I don’t have enough room for altars for everyone!!

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I am studying Hellenism, because I want to worship some Greek gods; but I have a question: I am not a Recon, because my focus is not only on the Greek gods. Should I consecrate my altar in a Hellenistic way? If there is another way, could you guide me on how to do it?

In this thread you can

• Ask others to pray for you for spiritual assistance or guidance to their deity of choice.
• Ask others for advice and support for a spiritual problem or a crisis of faith.

Rules:

1. Be respectful of other's requests. If you do not like a request, ignore it.
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Hello, I just created my two first altar, for Hermes and Morpheus. But, because I'm New in hellenism I wanted some advices if you have some !

More a discussion about the version of these in theology where by worshipping an aspects of a god you take on aspects of that gods personality/domains

Examples

Ares: as a god of brutal warfare, solders, valor as primary domains but also have provider (farming/hunting), property, protection, brutal justice and even the more modern "avenger of women" you might take on a protective but brutal personality.

Atabey (my cultures): by worshiping and invoking her you tend to take on parental or creative rules. Her domains are fast including creation (multiple universes and planes of existence) earth, fresh water, magics, positive femininity, space, moon and more depending on tribe, clans and region.

I (20FTM) am living with my parents still whilst being a working human being, and it's not often that my family goes to church, but when they do, it's a huge deal.

I've always felt really uncomfortable with the energy in churches, and choose to distance myself from my family's very religious roots, including my grandparents devout catholic religious practices. My father has shared why he chooses to lead a non catholic life now, and it makes sense.

I went to church every Sunday until Covid hit. And Covid came at the right time for my moral and religious development. At the same time, I don't like to share my practice with my family because of how religious they are, and my room in the house is the only one that doesn't have the same energy as the church I go to at times.

To add onto this, all Christian holidays that can be celebrated in a church are the reason we are dragged there, primarily by my mom. I get really antsy, and sometimes I leave church early just because the church has such uncomfortable energy.

Hi guys! Ive been a Hellenic Polytheist for a long time but ive never been firm on that, ive always held the different pantheons to be different interpretations of the same divinity. Because of this, ive been wanting to look more into norse paganism and norse myth and perhaps transition my practice into a more norse understanding. I'm interested in this mostly because of my geographical location and ancestry, hellenism was never practiced where I am, and the freezing cold winter months often make me feel disconnected from my almost entirely Mediterranean practice, whereas I know for a fact that the area I live in was settled by the vikings and therefore that practice seems to me to fit better with my natural environment and life here. Would this cause me any issues with the gods/is there any specific ways I ought to go about this? I largely only follow a hellenic practice because its just what I was most familiar with when I started a few years back if that helps.

In this thread we invite you to tell us about your spiritual journey and how you were set upon your path towards your faith.

You can also recount a significant moment in your spiritual life or an obstacle you overcame through faith.

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1. Please indicate at the beginning of a story if there are NSFW elements or triggering events.
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If there are two non literal polytheist in related or the same tradition with two different interpretation of a myth or mythic element, what criteria do they use to judge between the two interpretations and why?

I have been drawn to learn some oracle (which is important to me). It turns out that I am very drawn to osteomancy, but I lack information on how to set up, cast, consecrate and which god/goddess I should ask for help in the practices (basically, I am starting to worship Greek chthonic gods). I would like help in both subjects and also if someone could point me to some literature, either physical or digital, that would help me a lot.

I’m incredibly new to deity worship and would like to know if anyone has any tips? I’ve started with Bastet, as i’ve felt a calling to her and comfort when thinking about her, along with Apollo. I made alters for both, but I don’t really know where to go from there. I used to be christian, so I think I have some sort of idea on how to pray and worship, but I’m looking for some insight! Thanks!

I have been reading a lot about the different gods/goddesses recently but for some reason keep thinking about Apollo and Artemis. I know they are siblings so maybe it's both or one or the other.

I keep getting little signs like whenever I open one of my books it flips to a page with one of their names or the fact that they are all over my social media and I get just a vibe whenever I talk about either of them (more Apollo).

Does anyone know if I'm just over exaggerating or too suspicious? Or if this is an actual sign to work with them.

I would like to work with a single deity specifically but do not know how to see who is willing to connect with me. All advice is welcome and appreciated!

...or is it more of a colonial ideology?

ETA: i'm not good at noticing abrahamic influence, and distinguishing between pre-christian values and post-christian values. after reading a couple of the comments, i'm starting to believe this is a post-christian ideology that is unfortunately very common to attribute to external cultures and mythos.

one thing i never connected with is so many interpretations and mythos of Gods and Goddesses alike, seem to admire or promote this idea of abstinence, sexual purity, and/or sexual cleanliness. Why? weren't they getting freaky back in the day when they made new discoveries like 24/7? i can't imagine them NEVER getting even a LITTLE freaky. and why is it always considered to make the worshipper/follower/devotee "dirty"?

is it related to henotheism, the worship of one Being over others, and therefore if you let someone into your body, or if you enter someone else's body, you're "contaminating" their "material/biological altar" or something? i always thought of ancient civilizations as being... not.... puritanical in this way.

am i wrong? is there something i'm not considering? were people just Not freaky back then except for the sole purpose of procreation? or did they not even know there was "more to do?"

context: doing research on the Egyptian Isis, and i keep seeing "abstaining from sexuality", "not abusing sexuality", and this seems really prominent for a LOT of cultures, but maybe i'm taking the few for the many?

So I'm a ominst (believe there's truth in all religions) but I worship mainly Hellenic gods/goddesses and even have altars. I'm hiding my religion since it's apparently "witch craft" and I live in a Christian household. I still pray and believe in God and Jesus Christ but I don't have altars.

My question is, could I make a temporary altar for Jesus since Christmas is his birthday? Every year my family makes a cake for him but I don't have that much space or want to worship him full time. I just want to do something special for him since it's his birthday.

So can I just light his candle, put a piece of cake by it and leave it there for the day? Then take it off when it's midnight?

Anyone else have the christain family members blame you for something that out of your control.

So to be exact I follow the taino spirituality and I got a bit pissy with Carrbien people voting for a certain person. Well now a hurricane is forming and will be hitting southern states again.

My christain relatives are basically saying I "convinced" the storm/destruction deity to punish those that are "traitors" to our people. I'm just sitting here like "yall think I have sway with a deity" 🤣

Mind you the deity isn't even a big fan of humans and just enjoys cause chaos

My 7 year old daughter and I had an interesting conversation yesterday where she asked me why some people are so “obsessed” with church. I told her some people are very passionate about their beliefs. She told me she doesn’t like going to church with her grandmother anymore because “they only talk about 1 god and there’s many gods and goddesses”. I want to nurture her beliefs and expand her knowledge. Does anybody know of any books or resources I can provide her?

Any of y'all getting bad/warning signs too or is it just me? I work with Hestia and like- she seems pretty mad lmao

I mean I'm not the most experienced or best practitioner (I do the best I can but still) but the gods seem angry, is it just me or is it a genuine sign?

I have been wanting to worship for a while now, but I have been too scared I'm going to make someone mad or mess it up. So I have a few questions.

1. How many can I worship and is it a good idea too
2. How can I do it properly so I don't mess up or make anyone mad

That is about it but if anyone has answers or any other things I need to know please feel free to tell me. All feedback is appreciated! (Hope you have a wonderful day)

As we begin a new month, it's important to take a bit of time for yourself. In this thread you can either chit chat about daily concerns or share with others tips and tricks on how you take care of yourself.

This thread is all about well-being and love.

Rules:

1. Be extra kind and nice to others. Show compassion and understanding.
2. The normal rules of this subreddit about relevancy and staying on topic are waived in this thread. You can talk about weather, candle brands, travel, your pet, astronomy, kayaking, whatever you feel like.
3. If you need to vent, do so, but try not to make it about reddit drama or topics that might upset people such as politics, NSFW topics or stuff that violate Reddit's content policy.

Are there any books about paganism that deal with the topic of the arrogance inherent in the attitude of monotheistic religions? For example, the need to oppress alternative conceptions of the sacred. While polytheists saw no problem in absorbing each other's culture, such as in the syncretism between Mercurius-Hermes-Thoth. The openness to dialogue and multiplicity, versus the authoritarian tendency of abrahamic faith, etc.

To my knowledge, we don't have a dating app for people who are polytheist of any kind. The monotheistic ones have at least 1. With thier Christian mingle crap. So if anyone is good with designing apps, and is interested, I'm looking for someone to work with me on it. I don't really have much techie prowness, what I'd bring to the table is being the idea guy. So my claim would be intellectual property. If done right, it could even be a way to honor deities with the domain over love, in my case, Lady aphrodite and Lord Eros.

I've noticed as a polytheist that most of the afterlives we'll go are usually either dark, gloomy, misty, are in eternal night or twilight, these tend be commonly described to places like hades, helheim, mictlan, irkalla, diyu and in my case as a shintoist, yomi-no-kuni.

Even stranger it's commonly said in those afterlives the dead there quite like the darkness and gloom and is usually said to be a much more better and preferable existence than say, the christian heaven.

Can someone explain why most afterlives are dark and gloomy and what makes them better places than the christian heaven?

In this thread you can

• Ask others to pray for you for spiritual assistance or guidance to their deity of choice.
• Ask others for advice and support for a spiritual problem or a crisis of faith.

Rules:

1. Be respectful of other's requests. If you do not like a request, ignore it.
2. Please keep things positive.
3. Please don't ask users for anything beyond spiritual support.
4. Please don't try to solve people's problems unless they explicitely ask for advice.

I grabbed my tarot cards and asked if anyone is reaching out and this is what I got. I’m still very new to all this please be nice 😊

Very sorry if this is offensive in some way but I was wondering what you guys think happens after death, I know most religions have a set thing they believe in but I wanna hear your guys. Like does it depend on the god or gods you pray to the most or do you all kinda believe in the same thing?? Once again sorry if the wording is wrong or offensive I’m just curious

Hi there, very new polytheist here!

Although I no longer consider myself Orthodox Christian it is still a large part of my culture and I go to church often for various reasons. Over the last few weeks I’ve started giving offerings to the Hellenic gods at home, but I’ve been having to keep it under wraps from my family.

Do you think it’s offensive— either to the Christian spirits or the Hellenic spirits— to light a candle as an offering to a non-Christian god in a Christian church? Is it a risk for spiritual miasma?

If you’re familiar with an Orthodox Church, the candle area is near the entrance, not further in/ on the actual altar. That being said there is a lot of iconography around. The idea is appealing to me because it feels wasteful lighting them with no intention, and it would help me be much more consistent with prayer. That being said, I’d rather see it as a donation to the church than disrespect any spiritual beings.

I’m aware there are many opinions around this topic, and I plan to do my own research and introspection to find my answer. That being said, your thoughts are very much appreciated!