Khairete!
Sorry for the second long hiatus. The Temple has been busy as Spring has flowed into Summer, but the blog has not kept up.
Recent Rituals
In April, we celebrated the Delphinia, honoring Apollon Delphinios with offerings including the decoratively wrapped stick you can see resting on the altar.
Later in April, we celebrated the Hermaia, a festival of games in honor of Hermes. Sorry for the lack of pictures.
The
pharmokos ritual was held indoors, with the pharmakos then burned in the hearth.
The remainder of the ritual was conducted out of doors.
And now we come to this weekend! The Great Noumenia or Anadikia, the start of the Athenian New Year. As usual, this was a three-day retreat in the Temple space.
As you can see from the program, there were several scheduled events
and some free periods to allow for freshly-inspired work to be done.
On Friday evening, we started with the
DiiSoteria thanking all the Gods for the blessings of the year that has just ended. Then, the Deipnon, honoring Hekate, Hermes, and the ancestors. Candles from the hearth of each participant were used throughout the weekend, and in this picture, we see Hekate "holding" these fires during the ancestor work.
Our crossroads Ancestor Altar, with offerings to the ancestors as well as offerings to Hekate of canned goods that will be donated to a food pantry.
Once the rituals were completed, we had a movie night (consisting of the first two episodes of Neverwhere) as a way to incorporate drama into our worship.
The next morning began with divinatory work to determine
the God of the year and the Gods of each month.
The Temple statues were cleansed for the New Year,
and a candle dedicated to carry our New Year's wishes to the Gods.
An outdoor ritual was then conducted to honor Them and to welcome the New Year. This was followed with a New Year's cookout, basics of Hellenismos class. The evening was spent playing games in honor of Hermes.
Our final day started with a Symposium for Hera,
followed by a ritual to the Agathos Daimon of the Temple and those of each of our homes.
We then had our traditional brunch and a closing ritual to Hestia.
All of the proceedings were guarded, of course, not only by our various Agathos Daimons
but also by our faithful (if not terribly fierce) Temple Dog Toby.
We also worked out the calendar for the year ahead.
That will be posted separately, as this is getting a bit long.
Until next time, may the Gods' blessings be upon you,
Diane