With the first Noumenia following the Summer Solstice, which we celebrate as Philokhoria, we are beginning a new year at HTAZP. While our months are named a bit differently than the Hellenic Month Established Per Athens, we do keep to the same start/end point of the year. (Yes, we're a couple of days early, but modern work schedules don't tend to accommodate the Hellenic calendar.)
As is traditional, we celebrated with a retreat at the temple.
Participants gathered on Friday evening to observe the Diisoteria, a sort of a combination of Hekate's Deipnon with New Year's Eve. Offerings were made to both Gods and Ancestors to close out the year.
Playing cards has also become a New Year's Eve tradition, although due to scheduling, this year it preceded ritual rather than going from the end of ritual until midnight.
Bright and early Saturday morning (or possibly a bit closer to noon), we held the first part of our Anadikia ritual. Thusia and theoxenia included brunch items such as Finnish pancakes, muffins, watermelon, and scrambled eggs.
After theoxenia came the annual cleaning of the temple, complete with washing statues and images and ironing the wax out of the occasional altar cloth. The water used for cleansing the statues and images also had bay oil and sea salt, for their purifying qualities.
This was followed by the second theoxenia of the day, this time a dinner of chicken and zucchini with New Year's Cake or vaselopita for dessert. Interestingly, Hieros Timotheos later realized that the name of this cake translates into "king's bread." There is a coin baked into the cake that is intended to bring luck for the year ahead to the person in whose piece it is found. As it turned out, this year it fell between two slices, so two participants were declared the recipients of a lucky year and the coin was offered to the temple's Agathos Daimon.
The final component of the day was a divination for the year ahead in which cards were drawn to see which Deity would be "ruler" of each month and what messages They might have for us. The divination tools used were the Olympian Oracle Cards and the Greek Alphabet Oracle. The overall God for the year is Prometheus, with the saying "To fight with the waves is difficult - endure, friend." The theme for the year is creation.
| Month | Common Calendar | Deity | Themes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anadikion 2013 | Jul/Aug 2013 | Apollon | There is sweat; it excels more than anything. |
| Therapeion 2013 | Aug/Sept 2013 | Artemis | It is necessary to labor; change will be admirable. |
| Panagonion 2013 | Sept/Oct 2013 | Hestia | You desire to see the offspring of rightful marriage |
| Pyanepsion 2013 | Oct/Nov 2013 | Themis | You have the helping Gods of this path. |
| Panaion 2013 | Nov/Dec 2013 | Ganymede | Make offerings and wait. |
| Kheimonion 2013 | Dec 2013 | Asklepios | Phoibos speaks plainly: stay friend. |
| Gamelion 2014 | Jan 2014 | Selene | Phoibos speaks plainly: stay friend. |
| Diasion 2014 | Feb 2014 | Hephaistos | Completing many contests, you will achieve the crown. |
| Eiarinion 2014 | March 2014 | Dionysos | The strife-bearing gift fulfills the oracle. |
| Delphinion 2014 | April 2014 | Hera | There are no crops to be reaped that were not sown. |
| Thargelion 2014 | May 2014 | Pan | There is sweat; it excels more than anything. |
| Philokorion 2014 | June 2014 | Demeter | You have the helping Gods of this path. |
And that's it for now. Have a great year!
Peace,
Diane
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