Honoring the Blessed Gods of Olympus

Stay Your Hand

Stay your hand

Bright Hermes

Do not come for him yet

His own hand should not be the means by which he passes

He should pass in a blaze of glory

With the laughter of multitudes in his ears

And the inner sense of happiness

We all dream for as we live

Stay your hand

Dark dressed Hades

As you did for me

Please do for him

He should live to see his first born

With the love of his wife at his side

And the knowledge that he is loved forever

By all who have ever known him

Stay your hand

Ever helpful Hecate

Shine a light on a new path

A path of dwindling fear and doubt

He should know confidence

In his own talent and power

And the abilities he bears inside

That we may know his shining talent for many years to come.
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Slap in the Face

So, I really thought that of all the Gods, Aphrodite would be the one who slapped me hard in the face. After all, I am not really the marriage and relationship minded kind of guy. I like to have a boyfriend, but I don’t actively seek it out or get obsessive about needing to have a boyfriend to complete me. And as much as I like a good spank, poke, and tickle, I am not really the sex addict type. If I have it, I am great, if I don’t, I am ok with that too. So, I thought that when my time with Aphrodite came I would be faced with a severe mistress who would kick my ass until I realized how wrong I was to not be more into her.

But Aphrodite proved to be kind. She proved to be loving and gentle, if a bit harsh with her criticisms.

But Hermes, as I mentioned, has been having his way with me since I turned to him. And my mind and body have been feeling the pain of it as I try to combat my tendency to turn to overreaction as these things happen to me.

The Gods so far have taught me a measure of patience, and have even given me a greater capacity for silence than I ever had before. Meditation is partly the cause of this, and turning to them as I work through my own inner issues has completed that cycle. Well, it is working to complete that cycle, after all, we are none of us complete till the day we die and are swept into oblivion.

As Hermes has his way with me, I am going to have to search deep and wide, because Hermes is not, apparently, one to remain still for long, and it is hard to tell from this moment to the next where he will be going, or what he will do. But, more importantly, this is just the beginning, and if I am being astonished by what he is doing to me now, how will I react to what he will be doing to me a few weeks from now when he escalates as I hopefully learn.

This week, however, I have also seen another affect of what Hermes is doing to me, and that is physical damage due to the little accidents and troubles his presence is causing, and the way in which my no longer young body may deal with it. I have to start taking better care of myself.
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Who is Hermes?

We’ve kinda gone through this already, but I want to talk about an aspect of this God that is often referred to by people in the modern world but which was not really one you saw mentioned in ancient writings. It is an aspect referred to in archetypal psychology as The Trickster.

The trickster is that aspect of our psychology that plays tricks on us. It beats around the bush, it places obstacles in our way, it sabotages us as we work out our thought processes. It is that voice in you that seems to not care how you feel, but tries to force you to feel new things at the most inappropriate times. The part of you that maybe thinks your friend falling flat on his face is funny, but which doesn’t necessarily think it is funny when it happens to you.

I would wager it was part of your sense of humor, but in reality it seems to be part of your ability to think speculatively. To imagine, to make of fantasy situations a reality in your own mind as you think, allowing you to, perhaps, see possibilities that might not otherwise come to mind through purely logical thought.

In other words, the trickster in your own psychology shows you many paths, and often places them there as obstacles to be overcome. Why?

Hermes, like Loki in the Nordic mythos, is seen as a trickster. Representing partly that aspect of our own personalities and thought processes that are unpredictable and which seem to us to be a distraction. But unlike Loki, who was seen as an adversary to the Gods, perhaps even evil in some ways, Hermes was beloved. Hermes is not seen in myth as an adversarial figure, rather as a messenger and a traveller on the many many, infinite perhaps, paths of probability.

The many obstacles I have found in my way over the last couple of weeks since I said good bye to Aphrodite and took up Hermes as my guide have brought to mind my need to be under the care of a therapist, but that is not something I can afford, and thus this meditations blog. This sharing of my thoughts on many things relating to the Gods so that I can also see the issues in my own life and mind that are troubling me.

It has been working wonders for me. I have managed to make of myself a much more accepting person, a much more calm person, and a person with a lot more empathy.

But now Hermes is throwing shit at me, and I guess it is all part of a test. Have I really improved? We shall see when things start going wonky.

We shall see indeed, Hermes. I accept your challenge.
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Holy Shit!

So, I have taken to Hermes since ending my time with Aphrodite, and oddly enough two things have happened. One, my money situation has improved, and two, all kinds of crazy shit keeps happening to me. What do I mean?

I mean reading the schedule at work and then getting it all wrong. I mean riding to work and then having a flat tire when I leave. I mean locking myself out of my building. The laundry room being broken into and not having anywhere to do laundry. Hurting my left foot, but having my right foot be in pain for three days. Getting to work and my pants breaking for no apparent reason. Losing the soles on my right shoe, my new shoes. Lots of other little things that keep me frustrated.

That is until I realize something. I hold on to little things like this. I let them bug me, send me reeling, and I think I need to take these things in stride, not let them stress me out. So, I had to walk four miles because of a flat, ok, frustrating and annoying, but not the end of the world. Try to remember the world is full of horror stories, that getting a flat and walking is not the end of the universe, and maybe that is the lesson of Hermes at this point. Learn to deal with the little problems of life because if you do, the big ones will be easier to deal with.
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The Clouds of Winter

The Gods are with us, day in and day out. We carry them in our hearts, and even when their religions are forgotten, they remain in all the others that follow us as we make our way through the myriad turns on the road of history. As the clouds of Winter bear down upon us, we are often calling upon them to help us survive.

Yet as we have become so wonderfully adept at creating things, technology, means of survival, we have changed the way we relate to them. We have made of them a singularity, referring to them in ways that seem to merge them, yet the shadow of what they truly are always remaining. No mythic system, not even the most rigorously monotheistic, has ever actually been truly monotheistic.

That being the case, it means that we human beings have a means of communication with whatever life it is that we call divine. And as I return from the Heliogenna to my pursuit of Hermes, I have to ask if that is, in fact, his domain. That domain of existence that links one dimension to another, one realm to another, that allows for communication between that which is here and that which is there.

The Gods, and what a simple word that is, they must also have need to travel from there to here. But is that even really the way to think about it?

The Universe, Multiverse, whatever, exists as a multilayered onion. One dimension layered over another, the highest dimension, eternity itself, being the “space” in which it all exists. If the Gods are those beings which exist as pan-dimensional, then they exist partly in our dimension, just as we exist in the first, second, third, and fourth dimensions simultaneously.

So, that being the case, the power of Hermes is far more than simple communication, it allows us to exist. If it were impossible for beings to be in more than one dimension at a time, if he did not power the ability for dimensions to share information, we could not exist as three dimensional beings in a four dimensional space in an eleven dimensional multiverse. Could we?
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Heliogenna Day Nine

Heliogenna Day Nine: The Final Day
Friday, December 25, 2009

Blessed Helios, shining ever bright
Today we burn our prayers to you
And prepare to dance and be merry
As you watch from above, we will celebrate you

Blessed Helios, shining ever bright
Today we drink and lose ourselves in hope
And dance with the Satyrs and Nymphs
And Dionysos shall lead us

Blessed Helios, shining ever right
Today we will live for the moment
And in that moment hold hope
That tomorrow will be fruitful and happy

Blessed Helios, shining ever bright
Today we will revel and party
And forget not the lessons learned
And remember you, our lord, who watches over us

_____

Today is to be like a New Years celebration. All giddy hope and excitement, drink, dance, sex, and a full on embracing of life and its many gifts.

If you have been following these little posts, I hope you have found them a pleasant experience, and perhaps you will share with me what you did to commemorate the waxing and waning of the sun in the sky.

For now, the days will grow longer, and hope is in the air, because Spring is not that far away.
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Heliogenna Day Eight

Heliogenna Day Eight
Thursday, December 24, 2009

On this cold December day I come to you o Gods above
You who dwell in splendor and laughter divine
Grant us a year of light and learning
Grant us a year of prosperity and peace
Grant us a year full of love and laughter

I pray thee Zeus, Lord on high
Do not take too heavily from the pot of evils
But grant me a year of well being

On this cold December day I come to you o Gods below
You who dwell in the darkness of the Earth
Grant us a year of prosperity and peace
Grant us a year of bountiful harvests and feasts
Grant us a year of life, that we may live it to the fullest

I pray thee Hades, Lord far beneath
Silently watch but do not come for me
I will, as all mortals must, pass on soon enough

On this cold December day I come to you o Goddess of the Hearth
You who dwells among us
Grant that me and mine be guarded from evil
Grant that I may understand the world around me
Grant that I not hide from what frightens me

I pray thee Hestia, Lady of the Hearth
Guard me and protect me
But not so strongly that I fail to live this rich life the Gods have allowed me


___


Along with this poem, I am writing short bits on lightly scented burning paper to each of the Gods as I know them. A short wish, a thank you, a tiny poem, and then tonight when the sun sets I will burn them in a small wrought iron urn I bought. The paper will burn almost instantly in the flame of the oil candle I will set inside the urn. Should you be doing this with others, a good idea is to use very light tissue paper a kin to smoking paper, which burns quickly and does not produce flying embers.

Tomorrow is the last day of Heliogenna, and I hope if anyone out there has been following me in this they have had a good time of it in whatever way they decided to proceed. Think of tomorrow as the New Year’s blast part of this festival. Drink, party, hell, grab your loved one and make some noise, if you know what I mean. The Sun is returning.
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Heliogenna Day Seven

Heliogenna Day Seven
Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The day is bright
The night is gone
The sun will shine a bit stronger today

Blessed Hyperion, Titan of yesterday
Father of Helios
Father of Selene
Father of Rosy Eos
Blessed be your name

The night is gone
The moon is setting
The days grow longer as we march

Blessed Eros, Primordial and vast
Who brings us together
Who loosens our legs
Who stirs in our hearts a primal need
Blessed be your name

The moon is setting
The sun is rising
Hope is now on the horizon

Blessed Hekate, traveller on dark roads
Who guides man in decision
Who guides the souls of the passed
Who protects us from horrors seen and unseen
Blessed be your name

Blessed Helios, Lord of the Sun
Who shines ever brightly
Who rides the golden chariot
Who spies the good and the bad
Blessed be your name

In hope I pray
In hope I seek
In hope I ask of you

O Gods on high
O Gods below
O Gods who dwell upon the Earth
Blessed may you be

Grant us all peace and good health in the year to come
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Heliogenna Day Six

Heliogenna Day 6
Tuesday December 22nd, 2009

To Hyperion the Titan Sun, Helios the Rising Sun, and Dionysos the twice born, and Eos who watches the gates of heaven.

Blessed Hyperion, Titan now gone
Shine brightly in your deep dark home
Light the fields of Elysium for the brave

Blessed Helios, son of Titans
Shine now and forever
Look upon the Earth with your shining face

Blessed Dionysos, son of Zeus
Sit upon your Delphic throne
Grant us hope as we fall into silence

Rosy Eos, of the morning light
Grant us another day
To glory at your beauty in the coming light of day

In the light of day
In the hues of twilight
In the darkness of night

Never leave us to our lonely course
But shine upon us your wisdom

Never leave us to die
Save that we may do so in your honor

Now and forever
My love to you

Now and forever
My hopes I ask you make real

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Heliogenna Day Five

Day five of Heliogenna, or day two on the three day festival, is the day of silence.

This is not to say you have to be silent, although I imagine that could be an interesting interpretation, perhaps a day of incubation in a cool dark room, with nothing but your thoughts and the Gods as company, but it simply means that the hearth fire is dark (do not extinguish the previous days’ candles if they are still burning, just do not light one for the day) and no incense is burned. I also offer no offerings of poems or prayers.

The reason for this is to commemorate the “Dying Gods” if you worship them in such a fashion, and to commemorate the idea of the Sun God entering the underworld, though that is not strictly a part of the Hellenic Mythos (it is part of the way the Sun God was often seen in many other cultures, both Indo-European and otherwise), and to commemorate the Delphic transition between Apollo, the God of Light and Reason and Dionysos, the God of Madness and the primal heart.
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