A Buffet for the Ancestors

Yesterday was one of those days when I just woke up and wanted to prepare a feast for my ancestors. Maybe they wanted it or maybe I did, it doesn’t matter. Good food and good company are always welcome in our house.

Preparing a meal for the ancestors is never easy, at least for mine. I’ve got ancestors from all over the world, so I have to consider their individual tastes when preparing a collective menu. Maybe they come anyway (being already a part of the household gods) or maybe I have to draw them forth (not unlike a flashy invitation card), again, I don’t know, so I play on the safe side. Personally, I would like my favourite dishes served, too, so I work on that (let this be a note for my future children and grandchildren).

I also never forget to have a special offering put aside for Hermanubis, whom without our dead would not be able to cross over and attend our offerings. He’s a great interpreter, too, especially when I don’t speak all the languages my ancestors spoke.

And so give praise to our fathers and mothers of old, blood of our blood, breath of our breath. May they have peace and plenty in the Undying West and may our deeds honour them for ever! May we always live under their guidance.

Live Efficiently

Having caught the attention of Apollo means that you have to live efficiently, without waste. Everything you do must contribute to your improvement. You sleep well because you need to function excellently the day later. You take “breaks” to open yourself to inspiration and ideas. You travel and explore to gain insight about yourself and the world. You play games to hone your skills in strategy. You party to express your pent up emotion. For Apollo, there is no such thing as idleness: every moment must contribute to your progress.

— A Mad Light, December 2011

Art by MariaAragon64 (mariaaragon64.deviantart.com)

Most Handsome God of Plenty

I love turning gorgeous man-art into religious icons. Yup, not the first time.

Mousai

The Muses are very busy entities. They are here and there, checking up on people’s thought processes and planting ideas. Knowing this, they don’t have time for the unworthy. They look for the skilled and the sincere and that’s who they spend time with.

Inspiration is a slippery thing. Many artists and scientists struggle with a “creative slump” or a “writer’s block”, and they wait for a muse to come along and save the day. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t. But the muses do not choose people who do not choose them.

When you choose a discipline, you must dedicate yourself to it. This means you love it enough to think about it constantly and improve on it and love it enough to come back to it everyday even when the wells of inspiration are dry. You have to love your craft enough that you breathe it, that you see it in other crafts and the other things that you do. It is called a discipline for a reason, and perhaps it is no surprise that Apollo is their leader.

Become worthy, and the muses will flock to you.

— A Mad Light, November 2011

Darkness and Light

I find it quite strange how Apollo is usually described as a young boy, gentle and smiling at the world. But for me, he is far from innocent, far from gentle, and you couldn’t really tell if he was smiling or frowning because if you tried to look, you’d burn your eyes. He is a stern master, more like a father than a child. For me, he is always there, always watching and pushing me towards excellence.

He does not forgive, because he has no reason to. He does not care about your mistakes. You can make as many mistakes as you want and it would not matter to Apollo. What does matter to him is that you are always striving to become better, always reaching for the ideal. You stumble, therefore you must pick yourself up.

Apollo will urge you to cut out everything that you don’t need and focus on the things that you do need. He is a minimalist, and it’s not an easy job to identify and cut out the unnecessary from your life. It hurts, in fact, but it is necessary.

There is no coddling with Apollo. When you are sick, you heal yourself. Apollo’s only reward is the one that you earn for yourself. He gives nothing more, nothing less. In other words, excellence is its own reward.

In my early readings about Dionysus, I was rather confused about how he was depicted a party god. Was partying that important to the Greeks? I did not party in bars at all, and I could not relate to him. But I when I learned more about his other aspects, about trance and madness, I could look back at my life and see how strong his presence is. I did not party but I tranced out on my own. I would focus my attention on a glass of water, so that just a glass of water would be enough to make me happy for that moment. If I did not experience these various flavors of ecstasy, I would likely not be a musician right now.

Those ecstatic moments are alright, but what really convinced me of his presence is his aspect of madness. I sometimes fall into bouts of depression. There are days when I feel extreme emotion I cannot control, destructive thinking and the feeling of my soul being ripped apart. He looks at me with mad eyes and a frothing mouth. Darkness and hopelessness fill me. I once read in high school, if you stare at the abyss, it stares right back at you.

In my moments of extreme despair, he sometimes just laughs and says “Oh, come on, it’s not that bad!” I don’t understand exactly why he does these things to me, but I am sure that I gain new perspectives after each episode. Perhaps it is these intense emotions that fuel the things that I do with force and passion, and impart my pursuits with an inexplicable “umph!”.

For me, the most prominent aspects that these two show to me are the “darker” aspects. Their “good” aspects don’t magnetize me as much as their more “destructive” aspects. So when I see descriptions of Apollo as a happy, childish sun god, or Dionysus as a merrymaking party god, I can only think: Oh, if you only knew what they really do.

— A Mad Light, November 2011

A Call to all Hellensists

Although having experienced no such thing in my life (understandable as I live along the South China Sea), I will re-post this for my fellow Hellenes and polytheists.

I’ve stopped hanging out with the wiccanish Neopagans in my area for rituals–not because they’re mean-spirited like these eejuts mentioned here–but because we really have little in common. And that’s fine, really. At the moment, it’s just me and my best friend who celebrate the rites, and I’m good with that. I don’t need to “cast a circle” and “call the quarters” to be able to support the cause of greater Paganistan. Actually, building up on Hellenismos and local polytheism would be a better way to help.

Not the first time I’ve danced under the rain

For Gê! For Dionysos! Tonight, we dance!

Eleftheriosity

Today is Earthdance Manila 2013 (my fifth, I think) and it’s raining cats and dogs outside. Not that that would stop me from going. I braved a tempest at the Ganesha Visarjan this Sunday; this rain is nothing compared to that. Carry on, Zeus Ombrios!

Although, not a Pagan Pride Day in itself, the event is often attended not only by eclectic Neopagans (usually bright-eyed, light-and-love “Witches”), but also tribal spiritual leaders (real ones, thank the Gods). The greater part of the crowd, though, will be artists, dancers, musicians, photographers, interfaith workers, hippies, pomos, vegans, outgoing cosmopolitans, and so on. It’s not the best fundraiser there is, but it helps and it’s fun. I get to dance, too! That’s my primary goal, anyhow.

Tonight, we dance!

View original post

Musings on the Gods and Oneself

[This was written more than two years ago by my friend, the seerapist, who has grown so much since then. I’m very happy for him. May Apollôn and Dionysos continue to bless him.]

—

I’m reading about Apollo in several blogs and they say he’s a possessive god. I kind of agree, but he’s possessive not in the sense that he doesn’t want to share, but maybe in the sense that he has to be very meticulous about the things he owns, like keeping an heirloom piano in tune and keeping it totally free from dust. Or maybe like a coach who wants to keeps his atheletes always at top performance. I feel it’s like:

“Are you done sulking?”
“Good. Now get back to work!”

I don’t really experience Hermes as close as I do Apollo and Dionysus (close enough to touch; Apollo by fire, Dionysus by madness), but he’s always in the background, and he’s always doing big things for me even if we don’t really touch. I think it’s inevitable that my friend who introduced me to paganism (a big Hermes-boy) and I would interact, since these three gods have something of a close relationship.

Athena comes and goes. It often feels like Apollo calls her for me.

Athena: Okay, what do you need?
Apollo: Look at that boy. You’re more suited to teach this next topic than I am.
Athena: Alright, alright, I’ll handle this one.

Ares also comes and goes. Again, it feels like Apollo calls him for me.

Apollo: He’s being pathetic again. Do you mind?
Ares: It would be my pleasure.

It’s almost like Apollo’s prepared a course outline, and I’m a student in his school.

Though sometimes Dionysus comes to me with Ares. That’s when I have my weird bursts of anger. Very dangerous stuff.

Aphrodite and Eros. They don’t talk to me often, and I don’t communicate with them often. We’re not close now, but I’m very sure they’ve left their fingerprints on me. I feel like there’s something of them in me. Like a present from godparents or something.

— A Mad Light, December 2011

EDP3: Honour the All-Gods

You don’t need to worship all of them (you can try, but I don’t think you can have any significantly meaningful relationship through that), however, you can honour them all.

Tess Dawson makes a good point about it in her post on piety. Piety most certainly involves respect and honour towards others’ gods as well as our own. That’s one of the beauties of polytheism, after all. Worship foreign gods? No problem, invite them over for supper!

Most people will tell you to start with only a few gods, and I don’t necessarily disagree with that advice (for most people, I would say the same), but honouring them all at once doesn’t seem such a bad idea, either. Our ancestors, in their childhood, were probably introduced to their gods as a whole before getting to know each of them. Maybe–just maybe–it could work for you, too.

I’m not sure if there’s an historical precursor to this, whether within the ancient Mediterranean world or beyond, but I make it a point to honour the All-Gods (i.e. the Divine Assembly, the Divine Kindred, etc) at least once a month, usually on the ninth or on the full moon.

I name the ones that are commonly given cultus in my family, then followed by “and all the gods and goddesses my ancestors worshipped; the gods and goddesses of the Aegean and the Balkans, the seven hills of Rome, the Two Lands about the Nile, the white mountains of old Phoenicia, and all of Asia east of Hindustan”. Yeah, I’m wordy like that. Feel free to phrase your pantheonic hymns however you like.

By the way, Sannion has some very nice pantheonic hymns in his book Echoes of Alexandria. I highly recommend it!

Hail to you Dionysos Soter!

This is a beautiful, creepy picture of Dionysos. Hail Dionysos Sôtêr, friend and brother of Hermês!