Aphrodisia & Delphinia 2015

Khairete!

Spring appears to have finally sprung!  And so our rescheduled Aphrodisia did happen last week with no further snow delays.  It was held at the temple tended by Scarlet Rose and Draconis Pyrozale.

 

The ritual included a washing of Aphrodite's statue followed by a guided meditation led by the hiereia (priestess).

 

 

 

Participants received pieces of sea glass anointed with special Aphrodisia oil as a memento of either the gifts received from or requests made of Aphrodite during the ritual.

 

  Theoxenia included a sweet tomato sauce over pasta.



 

 

And today was the Delphinia, festival of Apollon Delphinios, who sends the dolphins to guide ships safely home.

 

 

Our ritual included a meditation on the origins of the feast and offerings of wool to adorn Apollon's staff in thanks for challenges He has helped us navigate and in request for help navigating future challenges.  This is based on the tradition of a procession offering consecrated olive branches decorated with wool.

 

 

Theoxenia included dolphin-shaped sandwiches made with dolphin-safe tuna and cheesecake.  There is evidence that a particular kind of cake was traditional for this festival called popana made of soft cheese and flour, hence the inclusion of cheesecake.

 

 



Coming up:

 

Sunday, April 19, the Olympieia

Sunday, April 26, the Thargelia

Sunday, May 3, the Hephaestia

Sunday, May 17, the Panaphobeia

Sunday, May 31, the Skiraphoria

Until next time, may the peace of the Gods be with you.

Eiarinia 2015

Khairete!

May it be that Spring has finally sprung in New England?  It didn't look like it yesterday, but today we had a sunny and relatively warm day for ritual.  There is still snow on the ground, however, so it was indoors.

We actually did a combination of several Spring rites today, starting with the Diasia for Zeus Melikhios.

As has been our custom, we offered animal crackers as the "cakes in the shapes of animals" and offered a libation of milk as we offered our thanks for His protection through this winter filled with storms.

Once this offering was complete, we processed into the main temple space, where we honored Demeter, Persephone, Gaia, Apollon, Hyakinthos, Artemis, and Pan.

The Eiarinia Spring Festival encompasses Gaia, Demeter, and Persephone.  They were offered, respectively, Girl Scout cookies, bread, and peppers (a vegetable that is also a fruit, representing Persephone's role between two worlds).

Pan's Spring festival is the Poimeia, a modern festival in honor of Pan the God of Shepherds.  He received an offering of multi-colored cake.

Apollo and Hyakinthos were honored for the Hyakanthia.  Apollon was offered ground lamb (to stuff the peppers), and Hyakinthos was offered His flower.

Artemis's festivals are the Elaphabolia  and Mounikia, both of which celebrate her with offerings of cakes, either in the shapes of deer for the former or cakes "shining all around" for the latter, which were represented with the candle-lit cupcake in the offering bowl in the foreground.

We used invocations from Hearthstone's In Praise of Olympus:  Prayers to the Greek Gods, with each participant reading in turn.

Coming up:

Sunday, March 29, the Aphrodisia
Saturday, April 4, the Delphinia
Sunday, April 19, the Olympieia
Sunday, April 26, the Thargelia

Until next time, may the peace of the Gods be with you.

Hermathlon 2015

Khairete!

We're having quite the eventful winter in Southern New England, so the Aphrodisia, previously planned for February 15, has been postponed until March 29.  The Diasia, which we typically celebrate at the beginning of March, has been postponed until we have some clue that we are actually done with snow, as part of that festival is a "thanks for letting us survive the winter" element.

Today's Festival

Today, we celebrated the Hermathlon.  As a bonus, we inaugurated the Hellenic Temple of Hera, Hermes, and Dionysos, a daughter-temple of the Hellenic Temple of Apollon, Zeus, and Pan tended by Neokoros Peregrine Ursano.

 

 

The walls of this new space, as you can see, are adorned with original artwork and Theban blessings appropriate to each of the four Greek elements.  Other symbols are included as well.

 

We began outside this new space with a meditation to help us focus on Hermes as Lord of the Games and Luck-Bringer, then processed into the new space for thusia.  Offerings included tacos, bread sticks and a pig-shaped loaf of bread that was offered and shared within the ritual, and various munchies useful for nibbling during gaming such as chips, cookies, and raw veggies with dip.

 

Participants also received a million dollars from Hermes (in the form of a chocolate bar, seen above) as a representation of His blessings of good fortune.

 

Theoxenia and gaming was held in the HTAZP temple space which is a bit roomier.  For games, we chose Quibbler, which is a word game that can be compared to a cross between Scrabble and rummy, and Pictureka, a game in which you have to locate items on a changeable board within a time limit.

 

Do you have any thoughts on how to celebrate these aspects of Hermes?  Please share them in comments!

 

Coming Up

Our next festival is slated to be the Eiarinia on March 22.

 

May the peace of the Gods be with you.

Gamelia 2015

Khairete,

So, there have been some calendar changes since the Diogennia.  The Hephaestia has been postponed until Spring, and today was the Gamelia.  (Actually, today was always the Gamelia.  The listing in the last edition was in error.)

 

 

For today's ritual, we incorporated a telling of the myth of Zeus and Hera's courtship and wedding, which is also the origin myth for the institution of marriage.  Invocations from Peregrine Ursano's book In the Names of the Gods - Poems, Prayers, and Reflections upon the Hellenic Pantheon were used.  Theoxenia included chicken cordon-apple (chicken stuffed with ham, cheese, and apples), Italian wedding soup, chocolate cake, and wedding cake. 

Between courses of feasting, our Pagan Arts and Crafts session consisted of making Happy Hera Mojo Bags.

Materials:
Fabric from Hera's wedding dress from last year
Ribbons that have been used in Hera's wedding garb in past years
Apple seeds (associated with Hera)
Amethyst chips (associated with Zeus for the "all-seeing" aspect as well as the priestly color and its connection to the planet Jupiter)
Jasmine flowers (associated with Zeus)
feathers (peacock or related colors if possible, associated with Hera)

How-to:
Place the apple seed in the center of a 4-5 inch square of fabric
Add a pinch of dried jasmine
Add a chip or two of amethyst
Add a feather or two (may be enclosed inside or left poking out)
Tie the bag shut

If you do not have a previous year's wedding dress fabric or ribbons, you may wish to do a divination around what would be most pleasing to Her that you can access.

Set your intention for the bag, which may be to attract a partner or to bring happiness and stability into an existing marriage or other committed relationship, and ask for Hera's blessing on it.  If its purpose is to attract a partner into your life, then wearing it on your person would be ideal.  If its purpose is for an existing partnership, then keeping it in the bedroom or on a home shrine to Hera would be preferred. 

Coming up:
February 15 - Aphrodisia
Until then, may the peace of the Gods be with you.
The members of HTAZP

Diogennia 2015

Khairete and Happy 2015!

Our first festival of the secular year was today, the Diogennia, Zeus' birthday.

We began with a meditation on Zeus' birthday via the Cretan myth before processing into the main Temple space.

Offerings for the feast included chicken a la king, ninja-bread cookies (that will make sense in a minute), honey-glazed donuts, honey sticks, and a gingerbread cake.

Ginger is sacred to Zeus and part of the myth is of Zeus being kept protected in a cave on the island of Crete, which was brilliantly lit.  So when our Hiereus found cookie cutters shaped like ninja warriors (seriously named "ninja-bread cookie cutters"), he decided they would help to decorate the birthday cake.  (Admittedly, Ninja warriors were native to a different island.)  Above they are shown guarding Zeus in lightning and/or snake form (also apparently called slightning).

We referenced Hearthstone's book, In Praise of Olympus, for various prayers during the ritual and also specifically invoked Zeus' following epithets:
Basilios - king
Megalos - great
Ktesios - house jar (of the home)
Oikos - of the house
Herkaios - of the boundaries

We also made Ktesios Jars, something we have often done for Diasia but which Hiereus Timotheos decided to incorporate today as this specific epithet of Zeus and means of honoring Him is the most universal.

Some things the jars have in common are oak moss, oak leaves, and olive oil, plus a number of other herbs and items depending upon what each person wished to either attract to or repel from their home, and then olive oil.  The purple and red yarn represents colors of royalty.

Do you have any particular practices or recipes that you do for the Diogennia?  Please answer in comments!

Our next festivals will be Hephaestia on January 11 and Gamelia/Theogamia on January 25.

Blessings of the Gods,
Diane

Secular Year-End Wrap-Up for 2014

Khairete!

It's been a long time.  Sorry about that.  So today, we have a bit of a catch-up post.  Here is a quick run-down of the festivals we've celebrated over the last few months.

In July, we celebrated the Panathanaia.

 

 

In August, we celebrated Founder's Festival.

 

 

 

In September, we had our Fall Festival.

 

 

 

During October, the Temple went on a retreat of sorts as a group.  No pictures from that to share.

 

 

November saw the celebration of the Panaia, which also has no pictures..

 

 

And December opened with the Dendraia ....

 

 

 

... and today we celebrated the Haloa/Kheimonia, Poseidea, and Pompaia.

 

 

 

 



Coming up in January will be the Diogennia on January 4, Hephaistia on January 11, and Gamelia/Theogamia on January 25.

 

Happy (secular) New Year!

Diane







Year-End/Beginning Catch-up Post

 

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

Delphinia

In April, we celebrated the Delphinia, honoring Apollon Delphinios with offerings including the decoratively wrapped stick you can see resting on the altar.

Hermaia

Later in April, we celebrated the Hermaia, a festival of games in honor of Hermes.  Sorry for the lack of pictures.

Thargelia

 

The pharmokos ritual was held indoors, with the pharmakos then burned in the hearth.

 

 

The remainder of the ritual was conducted out of doors.

 

Anadikia

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