Circe, Wright Barker
As a student of Classics and a girl that has dabbled in magick and polytheism, I have always had in interest in ancient religion and the Gods themselves. From the Eleusinian mysteries to their mythological deeds of the pantheon and Aeneas’ epic journey to Italy with his lares and penates; the world of religion is vast and diverse. For many students, these pantheons are long gone and worship has ceased, but there are those that are still worshiping the gods and goddesses with reverence and some happen to be students of Classics, History etc. In this post, Baring the Aegis writes of their journey to worship and its impact.
When I was a child I fell in love with Gods. I fell in love with the stories of their wondrous births, great adventures and sometimes their tragic deaths. I cared for the heroes, too, but in a different way. I was never one to look up to heroes as I realized even as a child that most of them only completed their heroic acts with a little divine help. I loved Hindu mythology because it had elephant Gods and many of them had more than two arms, which I found incredibly convenient and wanted myself. I loved Celtic mythology because they were elves in my eyes and elves could do no wrong. I loved Egyptian mythology for its Gods that were so foreign to me with their hawk heads and bull horns. I loved Norse mythology because it had strong warrior women and I was not a strong warrior girl at all. I was a happy but slightly sickly one and to run around in a suit of armor with a giant sword appealed to me. Plus, Norse mythology was very funny. But above all, above all other culture’s myths, I loved that of the ancient Greeks.
I read or was read the stories of all pantheons besides the Greek with the fascination of a child reading Dune or The Lord of the Rings. I read Greek mythology like I read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and The Secret Garden. I read them as if they had truly happened here on earth oh so long ago. It was history to me, not fiction.
There is something about Greek mythology that rings true. It’s quiet, in a way, not so bombastic and overbearing. The personalities of the Gods made sense to my six, ten, fourteen year old brain. I understood their reasoning and while I did not always agree with their choices in the stories and often found them petty and selfish, I had a difficult family, too, and understood that sometimes you do weird things because the people around you are weird. In short, I related to Greek mythology and once I was old enough to grasp the concept of godhood, I turned my gaze and hands upwards and asked them for help when I needed it.
I had first learned to pray from my grandmother, who was a devout but disturbed Catholic who gifted me an illustrated bible for my fifth birthday that I have nightmares about to this day, twenty-five years after. She taught me a rhyme and how to kneel by the bed every night, fold my hands and recite it. My parents had both denounced faith as soon as they had left the nest and were less than pleased when their seven year old took up the custom of praying like a champ. The concept of God was vague to me, though, and the Greek Gods were not. So by the time I was ten I stopped reciting the rhyme and prayed only when I needed it. And when I did, I raised my hands to the Gods like Odysseus did, and I whispered the words as loudly as I dared because Perseus shouted his prayers to the Gods.
In the next five or so years a lot of things happened in rapid sequence. My home situation deteriorated, my interest in a divine escape grew, and Willow became a witch on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The latter only matters because it taught me a new word: ‘pagan’. Someone who practices magic. Someone who worships the Old Gods. It was a revelation and one I embraced with open arms. I fell into the world of Paganism with abandon and read all I could find. I made an altar, I cast circles, I made charms and potions and above all, I begun to read the stories of the Gods in an entirely new light. This was the period during which I moved from a child playing at religion to a religious teenager.
That period lasted until about eighteen when I left the 101 books behind in favor of more meaty substance. Witchcraft appealed to me because it gave me a sense of control over the world that was rapidly falling apart around me. It give me power I desperately needed. My entire self-worth came from my magical and religious practice but I was a studious teen and I wanted to know why. Why did I have to cast a circle to be with the Gods, why did we say the words we did, why the elements? So I dug deeper and went back to the foundations of modern magic. I went back to the teachings of Gardner and further back to Enochian magic and its ilk. And then I discovered that it was all made up a little over a century ago and I was crestfallen. Witchcraft had been my world and the foundations upon which I had hoped it had been build had been swept out from under me.
I practiced for a few years longer but not with the same verve and passion. I mostly read and studied a lot, trying to get to the core of the practice I had built to see if it could be salvaged somehow and to try to get to the core of what I needed out of it. I discovered that what I needed out of my practice was religion. Reading mythology—and especially the Greek classics—had brought forth in me not just a desire to read about the Greek Gods and the society in which they came to fruition but to honor them like the ancient Greeks had done. To establish the bonds I had read about with the divine and which I had glimpsed at in the last decade.
I never doubted the existence of the Gods—any Gods. I’ve always been a religious person, even as a child. My parents assumed I’d grow out of it like children do with imaginary friends and fairytale things but I never did. My faith has only gotten stronger since I fell into Paganism and even more so since I made the conscious decision to leave my former practice behind in favor of Hellenic Reconstructive Polytheism, also known as Hellenismos. This is one of the many terms for the modern practice of the ancient Hellenic (Greek) religion.
Hellenic Reconstructive Polytheism in its current—though ever-growing—form was established in the 1990’s, although many members have practiced a reconstructed version of the ancient Hellenic religion for much longer than that. Over the last decade or so, two branches of the religion have emerged: ‘Traditional Hellenismos’ is the first. It is a manner of following the spirit of ancient practice, where the practices of the ancient Hellenic peoples are understood and applied as much as possible in the modern day setting. This method requires knowledge of the ancient ways but even more so, an understanding of it so any modern adaption can be undertaken in the spirit of the ancient Hellenic practice. Anything else is termed ‘Reformed Hellenismos’ and it often includes the incorporation of one or more belief systems or practices that are not strictly Hellenic—including the use of modern magic or the appropriation of non-Hellenic ritual customs from other (often Pagan) religions.
I have found my home in Traditional Hellenismos and in the four or so years since transitioning into it, I have built a successful blog called ‘Baring the Aegis’ in which I inform and help other practitioners find their way. I am also a core member of Elaion, one of the few bigger Hellenic Reconstructive Polytheistic organizations that currently exists online and offline. Through Elaion we try to bring together the widespread community and provide them with a sense of community through shared ritual, education and conversation.
In my years as a blogger I have frequently been contacted by Classics students who learn in theory what I live in real life. Sometimes it’s for information, sometimes it’s out of curiosity and sometimes out of gratitude. Most often they are people who took up the study to fulfill the desire they felt to be closer to the Greek Gods and never realized there is a community of people who view the archaeological evidence and academic papers they read in class for entirely different reasons. Some practice in secret, out of fear for the reaction of their classmates should they divulge that the mythology they study is religious in nature for them. This is a shame, because there is nothing shameful about Hellenismos.
Hellenists practice the religion of ancient Hellas in much the same spirit of the ancients: with reverence to the Gods and with respect to the poets and philosophers. Hellenismos, as a way of life, is concerned with living a good and pious life, like all religions. It’s foundations are as enduring as the ancient monuments and its Gods as present as they have always been. Needless to say, there are no accurate statistics on the numbers of practitioners, but based on my involvement in the community I am fairly certain there are at least a few hundred thousand of us and we are growing. Especially in Greece, big organizations are drawing many members and they are fighting a valiant fight for recognition and access to ancient monuments in order to practice even closer to the style of the ancient Greeks.
So please, if you study the Classics out of more than an interest in literature and archaeology, don’t worry. You are not alone in worshiping the ancient Greek Gods and your faith is valid. In fact, I encourage you to speak out and offer your perspective because in my experience, you have a unique and valuable perspective to add.
styx and pomegranates 