Puanepsia-Oskhophoria 2013

Khairete!

Today's Festival

Today we celebrated the Puanepsia and Oskhophoria at the Hellenic Temple of Apollon, Zeus, and Pan.

As you can see, we made eirisioni, which this year were made from grapevine wreaths, decorated with yarn, bay leaves, and owls. As has been mentioned, this festival has been evolving over the years, and this year it grew to include the tradition of grapes being presented from the temple of Dionysos to Athena Skira.

Typically, the eirisioni are completed and gifted by one means or another amongst the participants. However, several took awhile to dry, and so they will remain until our next festival and be distributed then.

Theoxenia included ham and cheese grinders, lentil-kale-barley soup, grapes, corn bread, and pumpkin cookies.

Coming Up

Date	Festival
6 Panaion/November 10	Genesia
20 Panaion/November 24	Panaia
5 Kheimonion/December 8	Dendraia
19 Kheimonion/December 22	Kheimonia

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

Fall Festival

Khairete!

May this autumn find you well and celebrating a bountiful harvest.

Today's Festival

Today at HTAZP we observed the Fall Festival which we celebrate in two parts. First, we honored Demeter and Kore, thanking Them for the various things we have harvested this year.

 

This portion of the festival, as you can see, was held in the main Temple space.  The main sacrificial offering was a vegetable harvest soup and apple cider was the libation.

After feasting with the Goddesses of the day and the Gods of the Temple, we moved on to the second portion of the festival, in which we celebrated the wedding of Hades and His Bride, whose name then becomes Persephone.

 Here, Hades awaits the arrival of His Bride.

 

Here, you can see the couple who have received offerings of a halved apple, pumpkin and chocolate Munchkins, and pomegranate juice. The couple are also adorned with a ribbon that essentially represents a wedding gift from Hera.

Upcoming Events

Many of the local members of the Temple will be participating in a retreat during the beginning of October, and so the next festival celebrated at the Temple will be in just about another month.

Date	Festival
22 Pyanepsion/October 27	Puanepsia and Oskhophoria
6 Panaion/November 10	Genesia
20 Panaion/November 24	Panaia
5 Kheimonion/December 8	Dendraia
19 Kheimonion/December 22	Kheimonia

Until then, may the blessings of the Gods be with you.

Peace,
Diane

Installation of the First HTAZP Seminary Graduates and Panagon

Khairete!

September has been a busy month already! So far, we've had our Installation Ceremony and celebrated the Panagon, and we've one more celebration to go before the month is out.

Installation Ceremony

On Friday, September 6, the Noumenia of Panagonion, we celebrated the installation of the first three graduates and ordinees of the HTAZP Seminary.

Pictured above are Hiereus Timotheos, founder of the Hellenic Temple of Apollon, Zeus, and Pan and our three new hiereoi: Peregrine Ursano, Draconis Pyrozale, and Scarlet Rose. These three are the first to complete the HTAZP seminary program, which culminated in their ordination at a retreat over Labor Day weekend. Installation was celebrated, as you can see, back at the Temple. Each was presented with a certificate for completing the training and a symbolic "Key to the Temple."

Timotheos founded the Hellenic Temple of Apollon, Zeus, and Pan in 2005. He has been offering classes in beginning and intermediate Hellenismos studies for several years and has been excited all year about the Temple's first group of seminarians. In thanks for his service and teaching, the graduates presented him with a new ceremonial wreath.

Panagon

On Sunday the 15th of September/9th of Panagonion, we celebrated the Panagon, a festival of games celebrating Pan's assistance on behalf of the Athenians in the Battle of Marathon.

For thusia and theoxenia, we had kielbasa with tomatoes and rice and donuts for dessert. (All thematically appropriate, if you think about it.) And for this year's game, we played cribbage, with a package of Pan Incense as the prize.

Upcoming Events

Date	Festival
23 Panagonion/September 29	Fall Festival
22 Pyanepsion/October 27	Puanepsia and Oskhophoria
6 Panaion/November 10	Genesia
20 Panaion/November 24	Panaia
5 Kheimonion/December 8	Dendraia
19 Kheimonion/December 22	Kheimonia

Founders Festival 2013

Khairete!

This Week's Festival

On Sunday, 11 Therapeion/August 18 we celebrated the HTAZP Founders Festival, the Temple's 8th birthday since its founding in 2005.

The Patrons of the Temple were honored specifically with offerings and prayers.

And the Goddess of the month, Artemis, was honored as well. Her message, "It is necessary to labor; change will be admirable," seems fitting in the context of reviewing the Temple's history and planning its future.

After thusia and during theoxenia, we took a trip down memory lane, viewing pictures of the Temple going back to its start as a portion of a room to a dedicated but small room to its current location and size.  

We also discussed the ways the Temple group has grown over the years, particularly the exciting seminary group that will be ordained at the beginning of September and installed at the Temple on the Noumenia of Panagonion. We acknowledged also the connections the Temple has been making in the larger Pagan community, symbolized by the offering ribbons still adorning Hestia and Her shrine from Rhode Island Pagan Pride.

Upcoming Events

Date	Festival
1 Panagonion/September 6 (eve)	Installation of the Newly Ordained Priests and Priestess
9 Panagonion/September 15	Panagon
23 Panagonion/September 29	Fall Festival
22 Pyanepsion/October 27	Puanepsia and Oskhophoria

That's it for now. Have a wonderful rest of August, and see you in September!

Peace,
Diane

Rhode Island Pagan Pride 2013

Khairete!

This past weekend, HTAZP had our first booth at Rhode Island Pagan Pride.

As you can see, we offered Reiki sessions with a table in back of the booth for readings, and a variety of ritual supplies from incenses and oils to soaps and jewelry. We had quite a few people stop by. Some were people who worship the Theoi and were unaware there was a group in the area, others were simply curious about a form of Paganism they hadn't encountered before. We had loads of interesting conversations and made quite a few new friends.

We also did the main ritual for the festival. Given that the theme of Pagan Pride is community, our ritual was to Hestia, Goddess of hearth, home, hospitality, and community.

Offerings for theoxenia were oranges and bananas. Also offered, as you can see, were ribbons. All participants received a candle blessed by Hestia to bring home. It was a treat to worship with so many others, some of whom were learning of Hestia for the first time but all of whom seemed moved by the experience.

Coming Events

Date	Festival
11 Therapeion/August 18	Founders' Festival
9 Panagonion/September 15	Panagon
23 Panagonion/September 29	Fall Festival
22 Pyanepsion/October 27	Puanepsia and Oskhophoria

That's all for now.

Be well,
Diane

Therapeia 2013

Khairete!

First, we would like to note that we had no idea Apollon was intending quite so literal a "message for the month" with "There is sweat, it excels more than anything." The heat is a tad less today in Southern New England than it's been for the last week and a half or so, and yet it is still quite hot and humid. Possibly a tad closer to what our spiritual ancestors might have been experiencing in Hellas.

Onward to today's festival! 

Today we celebrated the Therapeia, a modern healing festival that has evolved over the years. Originally focused on Apollon and His son Asklepios, Pan soon joined as the God of wild herbs and remedies. This year we also honored Hygeia, Asklepios' daughter and Goddess of health, Artemis, Goddess of childbirth, and Gaia.

Offerings included images of snakes for Apollon, Asklepios, and Hygeia, a sheep for Pan, and candles for all. Food offerings for theoxenia included salmon burgers, veggie sticks with guacamole, farm-fresh salad and peaches. After the feast, we held a Reiki share in which everyone had a turn giving and receiving healing energy.

We also started a new practice of creating a shrine to honor the Deity of the year (from the Anadikia divination) and each month, to be shifted each Noumenia.

Finding a creation-focused image for Prometheus (aside from the card used in the divination) proved challenging. It's a work in progress, but we found a few that featured Prometheus as Creator of humans with Athena giving the soul. One was selected to be a backdrop to the shrine, and as you can see, for the moment we're utilizing the divination cards as well.

Coming Events

The temple's first seminary class is progressing and ordination/installation is planned for the end of the summer. The upcoming festival schedule so far is:

Date	Festival
3 Therapeion/August 10	RI Pagan Pride
11 Therapeion/August 18	Founders' Festival
9 Panagonion/September 15	Panagon
23 Panagonion/September 29	Fall Festival
22 Pyanepsion/October 27	Puanepsia and Oskhophoria

That's it for now.

Be well,
Diane

Anadikia 2013

Happy New Year!

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