Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Can Prayer Be An Offering?

Once when I was doing my weekly rite of Athene, I had to prepare and execute a little more quickly than usual because of some other pressing obligations later that day, and in so doing, I did not have anything to present to Hephaistos, Nike, or the Spirits and Heroes of the day who are associated with Athene. But then I remembered the belief that some Hellenes hold, which is that the Gods love it when we recognize them and their greatness, and since the prayers I used did just that, I thought it would be sufficient. I didn't think about the question until later in the day, but it inevitably surfaced: can prayer be an offering? This could be an important question for people who find themselves in a daily rite or ritual without anything to give for one reason or another, but still need or desire to make that connection with the Gods, Spirits or Heroes.

The answer is absolutely, a prayer can most certainly be an offering, especially if you wrote it entirely yourself for that specific Divinity or Divinities. If the Gods take delight in our recognition, then all things given in those respects are gifts that show our love and devotion. This is what an offering is in its entirety. And the Gods never forget. Athene remembers what happened 5 minutes ago just like She remembers what happened 5,000 years ago. She knows how I prayed last week, and how the Greeks prayed on the shores of Marathon. I believe the Gods remember our devotions in whatever form they take.

A prayer that is written by you can also be a great offering to the Gods in the sense that it aids in rebuilding the Hellenic religion. Anything we build or create in honor of the Gods, Spirits or Heroes is an act of devotion, reverence, gift, offering, etc. So when you create your own prayer and write it down in secure records, like a book or a protected journal, you have brought into existence another delightful piece of Hellenic religion and the recognition of the ancient Gods in our world. It's a wonderful offering or gift, especially if those writings later go on to be largely used in Hellenism, or discovered by historians and archaeologists later on as they try to piece together a past understanding of contemporary ancient Greek religion.

In my life as a Hellenic writer, I have myself composed numerous new prayers, around 250 to be close to exact, and those writings are published in book form so they can be distributed to Hellenists and Pagans. Of course, it wasn't an easy process. All the prayers of mine that people now see have been in the making since 2009. It's taken me 7 years to assemble them all. In my advice, if you want to give a continuous, custom offering to the Gods, then custom prayers are a good way to do that, if it's all you can present for any given reason. Furthermore, publish them if you can and wish. Create your own website or blog and post them as your contributions to the worship of the old Gods. Pray often.

In the Goodness of Olympos,
Chris Aldridge.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

The Age of Iron and The Fate of Humanity

Hesiod, the ancient Greek writer, talked about the present stage of humanity, naming it the "Age of Iron." Although Hesiod has been dead for almost 3,000 years, reading his prophecy is an eerie thing because, the more you study it, the more you realize how accurately he is describing our own present time, and what's more disturbing, is that he lists it as the last Age of Man, although he does talk about human life beyond it, so we are led to believe that human life may resurface. He describes it as a time of complete dishonor and immorality, a time when people who do evil will be praised, and those who seek to do what's right will be condemned. That humanity will be plagued with evil and pain, that children would harm their own parents, and would carry out acts of unscrupulousness even in front of the Gods. Shame will be nowhere. The fate of this Age is its ultimate destruction by the hand of Zeus, the King of the Gods.

When I look at the world around me today, I see so much of Hesiod's forecast. In many ways, those who do evil, immoral or unscrupulous things are held in praise, or at least not held in contempt by our society. If an armed citizen stops a mass shooting, the media does not praise them for the hero that they are. Rather, all we hear about is the shooter, and while they are not glorified, our society tries to consider their lives and feelings. Children also go to great lengths to dishonor their parents, as Hesiod said they would. How many times have you heard of someone taking away the money and/or property of their elderly parent, abusing them, or dropping them off outside a nursing home and diving away, leaving them to the mercy of whoever is found to care for them? Simple immoralities and disasters also plague us. For example, lies are more profitable than truths, goodness rarely receives any support, wars over riches are commonplace, hard work never ceases to be a requirement for living, and pain is everywhere and in mostly everything at some point. Hesiod predicted that these things, and things similar to them, would take place in the Age of Iron. But what else exactly does Iron mean? For we know that we live in a time of many, many elements. So what does he mean by calling it by this metal? I think iron could also be a metaphor for the technological or industrial age, because we have a reliance on iron to do our work for us. Even in the realm of modern fiction, one of the most popular superheroes is Iron Man. Iron is the way Hesiod found to best label our time period. 

This is one of the reasons I feel it's so important for us to focus on doing good things and be charitable toward others, so that our race of humans may avoid the eventual and ultimate displeasure of the Gods. And I still retain hope for our Age. I do not believe we are inevitably fated, but that we can alter ourselves, as we do have the power to change its course. The fact that we are more than capable of doing good and making the world better, means that we are not doomed to the contrary. And fortunately, the Gods are still with us and still give us their help and assistance against evil or chaotic things. This is why when I do my prayers to Zeus each week as the highest God, I begin by saying,

"Zeus, be merciful toward our Age, and guide us, for we are Iron."

Our fate, should our Age continue its road, is that it will cease to exist. It might even be that we end up destroying our own Age before the Gods can, that we will destroy our own race of humanity by our actions. Hopefully, however, we will change ourselves, and beyond our time, a new Age will emerge to bring a brighter day for humankind. But as I live each day, I see myself as someone who can make that new Age possible in my own time. We can change it. We can be the new.

In the Goodness of the Dodekatheon,
Chris.

Source: Hesiod. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. The Works and Days, Theogony, The Shield of Herakles: The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor Paperbacks. Print. (39).

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Learning From The Greek Gods: Athene

Athene, spelled in Latin as Athena, is one of the most powerful and influential Goddesses, not just in Greek culture, but ever in the history of the world. She appears on currency and within American states, and Her statues can be seen standing in places around the world, including before the entrance of the University of Athens in Greece. Athene encompasses many attributes and epithets, but some of Her main ones are wisdom, war, and domestic art. She can be prayed to for protection and victory in battle, whatever form that battle may come in, and the wisdom of the heavens and beauty of the arts. Abundantly, I pray to Athene for protection and defense. In the past, I have managed to successfully invoke Her in these regards and the results were beyond any description of amazement. But I also never neglect to recognize Her wisdom as well, for She is great enough to fight, but also wise enough to resolve conflicts without it, and my endless pursuit of wisdom in general doesn't neglect to have Her in mind.

We can learn many great things from Athene, one of them being the necessary components of battle. When Athene fights, She does not hold back. She fights with all of Her might and does not give up. She accepts nothing but victory, and She has always achieved it. When we are involved in our own battles in life, we too should understand that the time for war, or the time to fight, has arrived, and when there is no other choice, we must commit ourselves fully to the defense of ourselves, family and all that we love and hold dear. We too must only accept victory when we have been given no other choice but to achieve it as an outcome.

Athene is also the Goddess of Wisdom. While She is a fierce fighter, She would rather have peace. If She can avoid the conflict, She will. In other words, when a conflict arises, if peace is possible, She will try for it. She only fights when She must. This can also be our own inspiration for how to settle conflicts. Sometimes, fighting is unavoidable, but we should make sure that, before we engage in it, we have tried all other solutions. We too should prefer peace to war, and try our best to make that the outcome instead of jumping right into throwing punches.

Athene's wonderful beauty is also expressed in art, particularly the domestic. When I pray to Her in these regards, I ask Her to, "mold and weave my home into a place of beauty," and in fact, a statue of Her honoring this epithet stands in my home. Domestic art can include anything from weaving and sewing, to the homemade culinary arts (food-making). In this, She comes to provide comfort and happiness in our homes, whether we find that in our beautiful creations for the home, or in the meals we prepare and enjoy with our families. These times and things are very valuable in terms of our satisfaction in life and the contributions and growth to our families.

Athene is strong enough to do battle, wise enough to create peace, and beautiful enough to enrich lives.

In the Goodness of the Dodekatheon,
Chris.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Humanity Is Not Born Atheist

I've heard time and again atheists make the argument that everyone is born an atheist, that no one comes into life with any knowledge or realization of divinity, and I just have to say, that is utterly false. The reason for this all too common fallacy is the fact that these particular atheists are only used to looking at religion from mainstream modern era, where we have numerous religious schools, institutions, families and resources of all kinds that teach and even indoctrinate and force children and adults into one religion or another, and they assume that such has always been the case. However, it has not, and to see the truth of the matter, we only need to go back to our evolution into the species we are today.

The argument is, no one is born with the knowledge of God.

I would first like to point out that no one is born with the knowledge of anything, other than basic instincts, and no one knows where those come from in the first place. But humans are also not born with the knowledge of science, math, architecture, mechanics, computers, or even how to go to the potty. So just because something is taught to you, does not necessarily mean that it's false. Now as far as the argument itself, humans are not born with the knowledge of any particular deity or doctrine, but it's absolutely not true that humans are born atheists, and I'll tell you why.

When we first came into being, there were no churches, priests, books, schools, or even established religions or spirituality. Yet we felt the belief in higher powers within ourselves. This was a belief that developed as part of our mental and physical makeup, not something that was forced into us from the outside because there were no outside forces to push it. We felt spiritual ourselves, and we developed our own belief systems and established our own religious practices. If humans were born atheists, we would have evolved as atheists. We would have never felt or thought of any such thing as deity, spirituality or religion, certainly not by majority. It simply would not have existed to us. But human beings are naturally spiritual and religious creatures.

Secondly, the human brain develops something called schema. This is the organizational system of the brain for external information, and we are born with this ability which enables us to recognize and interpret patterns in the universe and make conclusions based on those patterns. Patterns = larger intelligence. We are born looking for larger meanings, things bigger than ourselves, and are therefore born looking for divinity and deity. 

Point being, such a construct or mindset is there by the very nature of being human, and it's extremely hard to change or even to convince yourself of something outside of it, which is why human beings have not accepted Atheism by and large throughout their existence as a species. Now, I'm not suggesting that someone does not have the right to believe or not believe whatever they want, and each person is as human as another. Personally, I could not care less what someone believes. It does me no harm at all for someone to say they don't believe in any deity or divinity. But the simple fact of the matter is that Atheism has never been the consensus of the human mind. In actuality, Atheism is a learned mentality. You have to learn to ignore the larger meanings, patterns and intelligence, and you have to focus on the belief that everything is an accident with no purpose and we're all floating aimlessly.

In conclusion, it's simply false that the human race is born atheist. We never were such a thing as a species. 

In the Goodness of the Gods,
Chris.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Dogmatic Dilemmas: Reclaiming Religion

Not so much in the Hellenic community, but far too often in the general Pagan community, I see the words "religion" and "worship" met with sour faces and cold shoulders. I think that far too many of us still have the dogmatic programming in our heads from certain people and places, and we associate these terms with it. We think that, to say we are religious or that we worship, is to say that we beg, plead and cry to a God for forgiveness for being human, that we follow rigid, dogmatic structure, and that we're all grouped together under a church or group authority and nothing more. We think these practices leave no room for personal truth, practice or understanding, and that we are reduced to nothing more than drones. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. Certainly, some people in these categories may use the words "religion" or "worship," but if we look to our ancient ancestors, the origin of our spirituality, we find another story. 

Our ancestors were very much religious people and they very much worshiped their Gods. They did not see themselves as being equals to the Gods, but rather as their servants and beings to respect. To be religious is to have a practice, and to worship is to give reverence to your Gods, and I think it's a mistake to dismiss these terms and practices simply because we think we have to be inhuman and grovel. We also do not have to abandon our individuality and force ourselves into a group category just because we use these terms. Religion and worship is literally an umbrella category, holding all the many spiritual beliefs and practices within humanity. I myself have no problem using these terms to describe my practices. I don't even consider myself to have a word for religion or worship because they are part of everything I do in life.

We all practice religion and worship in one form or another. I know there are people out there who like to call themselves, "Spiritual but not Religious," but the two can rarely be separated. If you have any kind of regular practice, that's religion. If you've ever given offerings, prayers, or done a ritual, you are religiously practicing. If you give honor and reverence to your Gods, that is worship. Anytime you have any kind of structure whatsoever to your practice, you are being religious, even if it's your own structure entirely, and anytime you recognize Deity as worthy of your respect, admiration, reverence and service, you are engaging in an act of worship. We seem to have developed the fallacy that religion and worship must = dogma. It's just not the case.

No matter what one's religion is, or what their practices and beliefs are, they can use these terms without falling into dogmatic and personally oppressive categories.

In the Goodness of the Gods,
Chris.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Did Ancient Egypt REALLY Build Ancient Greece?

As a Hellenic Polytheist, I have grown weary of this absurd claim. Not the claim that Greece borrowed things from its neighbors. It most certainly did. I am weary and sick of the claim that Hellas and Hellenism is nothing but a rip off of Kemet (Egypt) and Kemeticism. So, in this post, I will explain how these two ancient civilizations were fundamentally different. I would like to begin by saying that I have some Kemetic friends, and this is certainly not aimed at attacking them, their religion or their culture. It is aimed at historical honesty and reason. In fact, it may even help to give their religion back its independence in some ways. I don't have time or the room to talk about it a whole lot, but I will cover some basics. 

There are several things we can look at to show the immense difference between Egypt and Greece, one being their governments. As we know, Greece is credited with having established democracy. Egypt, however, was never a democracy, they were a dictatorship with a God-King, worshiped by his people as a God. At one point, Egypt was even a united land, while Greece maintained a division of city states, each with their own unique culture, mythology and religious practice. 

Since we're on the subject of religion, that would be another great place to start exploring since religion immensely differed in these two nations. Now, in both countries, religion was central to life. However, the beliefs, practices, mythology and Gods surrounding that were distinct in their own. The Greeks and Egyptians did not even believe in the existence of Deity the same way. According to renowned Egyptologist and Kemetic religious leader, Tamara L. Siuda, the Egyptians looked at Deity through the eyes of soft polytheism, which means that all Deities come from one Divine Source. The Greeks, however, were most certainly hard polytheists, which is the belief that all Deities are their own Divine Source. They don't come from anything other than themselves and are not dependent on any Source for their existence and powers other than themselves. The religious structure in Egypt and Greece was also completely different. The Greeks did not believe in the practice of magic like the Egyptians did. Certain spells were designed to dictate the actions of Deities, and the Greeks would have looked at this as high hubris. The Greeks were not the same or next to their Gods, they were under their authority. In Greek religion, there was also no book to gain access to the afterlife, you instead paid Kharon to boat you across, which is why the dead were buried with coins. 

Egyptian and Greek Gods also get compared to one another on a daily basis. It was not uncommon in ancient times for people to see other Gods as different manifestations or extensions of their own Gods. That is not something contested. What is not, however, a fact, is that the Greek and Egyptian Gods were the same, or that the Greek Gods came from the Egyptian Gods. If one looks hard enough, they can find comparisons between any two Gods in any pantheon. For example, one could compare Aset (Isis) to a host of other Mother Goddesses in the world, but that doesn't mean the Egyptians stole Aset from all those places. While some of the Greek Gods did not originate in Greece, they also did not originate in Egypt. For example, Dionysos, who constantly gets labeled as being a mirror copy of Wesir (Osiris), actually originated in Thrace and a place in modern Turkey called Phrygia. Apollon was also a God from Asia Minor. Aphrodite's birthplace was Kypros. In fact, because of geography, some of the Greek Gods are incompatible with Egypt. For example, there are no forests in Egypt, so where would you place Artemis since the forest is one of Her closest domains? Switching around, Gods like Khnum, Sobek, and Hapi were explicitly connected to the Nile, but there is no Nile in Greece. So where would they be placed in Greek religion? The answer is, no place. Egyptian religion was heavily tied to the surrounding land mass. It was not a universal system. There is also far more nature in Greece, which means that many of the Greek Gods could not have originated in Egypt because such natural things did not exist there. Remember, Egypt is mostly desert, and Greece flourishes with natural beauty. The sex of Deities also differed. For example, The Moon and Earth Deity is male in Egypt, while female in Greece. Somethings were not only different, but complete opposites.

The idea that the Greeks and Egyptians had a consensus on religious belief is absolutely absurd!

Architecture is another big difference when it comes to Greek and Egyptian culture. Certainly, the idea of columns that hold up roofs is a very general one, but what of the immense difference in structure and art that we see between these two cultures? Temples were not even structured the same way. Compare the Parthenon with the temple at Karnak. 

The last thing to remember is that, while the Greeks did incorporate other ideas and Gods from other cultures, they did not do so haphazardly. They did so based on whether or not it could fit into the Greek views and beliefs, and very, very few things within Kemeticism can fit into the Greek way of thought. The things they borrowed, adopted and incorporated HAD to be compatible with Greece, which means that the things they allowed into their culture were already Greek in the first place. They did not "steal" it, they simply agreed with it. 

In the Goodness of the Gods,
Courage and Honor,
Chris.