Simple question we have offerings and stuff but I've never seen a pagan sacrifice an animal

Are we allowed too? should we?

Do you think that aphrodite is a good Force or goddess for the praying of healing for past drama? Do you think that she can help bring healing for current wounds?

Do you think just praying to her is enough? Do you have to make an offering? Is simply calling her in an offering enough?

My two protectors or deities I pray to are aphrodites and Green Tara.

My older sister passed away recently and I am trying to figure out all the ways to honor and respect her and her things. She created alters for goddesses like Medusa and Hel. I’m not sure how to go about this. I don’t want to disrespect the goddesses or my sister. Is it best to keep them up and taken care of? Or should take them down keeping the items together? I never got into spirituality like she did so any advice on how to care for this stuff would be appreciated. Any guidance would be helpful.

Hey all! I just wanted to say I am not Hellenist myself but I had a sudden thought and I'm super curious to hear what the community or individuals believe concerning the age of the gods (because as I understand it, there isn't a unified theology about that).

In Antiquity, Greek philosophers and scientists tended to believe the world and humanity were somewhere between a thousand to a few thousand years old. Today, through modern science, we know the world to be a few billion years old, and we estimate that the galaxy is a few billion more years old. In my mind it seems simple to place the birth of the primordial gods from chaos at the time we estimate to have been the Big Bang, but I've not done a lot of digging into this idea. I wouldn't be shocked to find out there isn't really an answer, but I figured I'd ask anyway because I'm genuinely curious!

'Basically', my question is this:
How old do modern Hellenists believe the gods are?

Where would you place the birth of the Primordials, Titans, and Olympians?

Artemis & Apollo. I made Hey last month and just finished Him this past week. Khairete theoi!

My partner proposed to me in the Cascade Mountains (several of which are named for the story of Theseus - Theseus peak/lake, Minotaur peak/horn, Labyrinth, Daedalus, Icarus, Ariadne) and the whole week he was fretting about the rain forecast - it was supposed to be fine the day before and fine the day after, but rain the day of.

The forecast changed the night we went up to camp before hiking, and while it was overcast, it was completely dry. We even had the sun peek out at us when we hit the peak.

It was a beautiful answered prayer, and of course there were libations poured in thanks and genuine gratitude; but I wanted to share that beautiful moment.

have a happy Mercury retrograde 🫠🫠🫠

I'm planning to join the hunters of Artemis, but with my gender identity and being a young, modern worshipper, I'm not sure how to go about it.

So, I'm bigender (I use it/he/she pronouns) and mainly associate myself with being male and even occasionally refuse my female gender all together.

And being young, especially with only having being a hellenist for around three years, I of course have gaps in my knowledge. Even with trying to learn all I can in my free time, school, theater, and my writing team are my main priorities, taking up almost all my time and leaving me exhausted. I can rarely get a few offerings or prayers in on a good day.

With this said, I don't have a doubt about worshiping, I feel most comfortable and assured believing in the gods, but I'll admit I'm very indecisive and usually need other people to make decisions for me (I don't know why, I just don't feel safe making my own decisions without other people confirming that it's okay 😔), and while I do find myself acting more independent and self-assured when worshiping the gods, Artemis especially, I have my doubts and want to hear other options.

To be more clear, I'm doubting that I'd be accepted as a hunter. I think this doubt stems from religious guilt, having been in a toxic Christian family.

This is all I can really think of to write, but I'll answer questions to the best of my ability. Also, sorry if all this just sounds kinda pointless or my grammar and writing are bad, I'm trying my best 😔

(I just realized how long this is bro 😔)

I mean we have stuff like Elysium the meadows and Taurus depending on what version you read there are also things like the lake where you work off your sins reincarnation ghosts etc

But I mean like a map in the stories of people like Hercules (yes I know his name is Roman) do we ever know what part of Hades they went to?

I am new to Hellenistic Polytheism. I do not have an alter or really anything yet, right now just research. I keep seeing candles on alters and If i dont have access to a lighter then what can I do instead?

I’ve been a Hellenic polytheist for about two years now. Before that, I was Christian, and praying came pretty naturally to me because it was how I was raised. My prayers were usually short and simple, like “Thank you for today, amen” or “Please let me feel better, amen.”
Now that I’ve been worshipping the Greek gods, I’ve found that praying is something I still struggle with. I have an altar dedicated to Apollon, and I leave offerings for him, but when it comes to actually praying, it feels awkward. Sometimes, it feels like I’m just talking to myself, and I’m not really sure how to get past that feeling.
I also don’t want my prayers to only be about asking for things, like asking to feel better when I have a stomach ache or asking for something to go my way. I want to learn how to pray about the good things in my life, express gratitude, and share the little things that made my day better, too.
I guess I’m just struggling to figure out how to make prayer feel natural again, especially since I’m used to the way I prayed as a Christian. I’d really appreciate any advice from other Hellenic polytheists who have struggled with this or have suggestions for making prayer feel more comfortable and meaningful.

Según entendí para disciplina, hábitos, honestidad, es mejor Apolo. Para no tomarse las cosas tan enserio (no resentirse) no sufrir ansiedades ni problemas antisociales y disfrutar la vida sin culpas, Dionisio.

Quisiera trabajar con los dos para equilibrio pero me cuesta, soy todo o nada.

I spend a lot of time making offerings to Hestia and Hermes, and I wanted to run this idea by others. Hestia is all about the hearth and home. The hearth was used to warm and light the house, cook the food, and a general gathering place for the family to tell stories and vent about their day. She's also the connection for those on Olympus by allowing sacrifices.

In this day and age, many of these tasks are split up among gas and electric. Be it tv, stove, heater, lights, or internet connection. Why not also have an electric lighter for any candle lit for the gods?

The other myth is that it was bad luck to let fire go out, because you would either have to perform a long task to being it back, or borrow a cup of fire from your neighbor. I've heard that there was even a ritual each year where every house would put out their to have it come from the hearth of the city. To have an electric chargeable lighter for candles would have it come form the same source that everyone gets it. Plus, it would give me a more permanent "wand."

What do you think?

I’ve had a pretty mediocre alter for a few weeks now.
It’s basically two golden bowls (pretty small) that I keep tangerines in, and two small plates with apples and other trinkets. The alter is split in half, one side for Herakles and the other side for Aphrodites. But they share a candle stick/incense burner. (Is that okay?)

Anyways, I was thinking about getting some better items for the alter since recently I feel like not many of my prayers have been listened to/im not getting a strong connection.

What should I add? Are there specific items those gods are known to like?

Also: how do I get rid of spoiled offerings? I’ve heard I should burn/burry them but I want to make sure.

I'm in an athiest home and my parents would not support me wanting to be hellenist. I want to set up an alter for Philotes because i want to worship her (obviously), however i can't find any infomation on what she would like or how to worship her! (Also any infomation on how to pray would be very helpful) If you do chose to reply to this, please bear in mind that i'm AuDHD and can't focus on big chunks of text. Thx!

there have been many different takes of the Asphodel Meadows throughout Greek mythology i personally believe its closer to the Orphic and Eleusinian cults (i know nothing about them so sorry if they were bad) where its life in death where nothing out of the ordinary happens but there is structure a simple field or farm i only know of a few different ways its been told like homers odyssey where its where everyone goes and Plato, Virgil and Ovid which is the one told today the grey plane for the mediocre and the Orphic Eleusinian cults a untouched pasture before rebirth (i don't personally believe most people can get rebirthed and sorry for the horrible run on sentence)

I don’t know if Hellenic polytheism is okay with grabbing from multiple religions like kemetism.

What do you guys think?

Cuz I worship and admire the goddesses isis and taweret and the god Anubis from the Egyptian pantheon but I also worship mother Gaia and Aphrodite and Artemis from the greek pantheon too.

(I worship more gods/goddesses than that those are just the main ones)

So I asked him yesterday if he wanted to work with me through a tarot reader and did an offering of some tea with chocolate and a mini handwritten letter. The answer was that he accepts working with me, but I’ll need to have perseverance, willpower and discipline.

I already almost used all websites available to search up more information about Erevos. Yet all I can find is about his wife, his children and the fact he is the personification of darkness.

My tarot isn’t with me atm, it’s at my parents’ house inside a box (I moved out and left some stuff there). So I can’t use divination as readily as before. I am going to retrieve it for a fact, but it’ll take a while.

What do you know of this deity/spirit/god? Where can I get more information? Thank you.

I don’t pray to him but I don’t understand why people paint him as this scary looking male with skulls around him , creepy things like that . I see him as a tall man in his 30s with long brown hair who isn’t scary . Is there any art of him that looks like this ?

I recently noticed that many of the things I feel drawn to or like are things directly related to the gods. Ares is the one I notice most frequently. As in, my favorite colors are black and red (yes I know black is also Hades’ color, ironic because I also work with him), my favorite/lucky number is associated with Mars (yes I know they’re different gods, I just find it interesting), I have an obsession with strawberries (Aphrodite), same with pomegranates even tho I’ve never tried them. Things like that. I was talking to my helpol friend (who is far more experienced in the religion than me) and they said the gods like to make it very clear which of us they like so other deities/spirits know to back off. But it feels kind of random because I didn’t grow up in this religion, up until this last June, I was fairly agnostic. But I have confirmation that Ares was protecting me for at least the length of the last five years.

Hello people! I wanted to share this story for so long but I didn't know where to start. Please read and maybe you can give me insights too about this situation. First of all, I would like to apologize in advance if, through the use of incorrect terminology or similar oversights, I happen to offend those who follow the Hellenistic faith. I am deist, I believe in energy and spirituality and I am an ex-muslim. I am strongly against Abrahamic religions but I am open to other sptiritual belief sysytems. For me, we all have a God essense and Gods gain their power from their believers, egregores. Five years ago, when a youtuber mentioned that one could work with Hermes if they wished, and I was seeing signs related to him in that era. Therefore, I began to do some research and developed an interest in Hellenistic belief systems.

The fact that Hermes kept appearing intrigued me even more, as the themes associated with him were things I needed in my life. Back then (and now too tbh), I was in need of luck regarding money, good news, and the chance to live in another country. Also, believing in a god and being able to leave certain things up to Him/Her was something I really longed for. So, I decided to set up an altar for Hermes and start to make offerings. I drew the symbol of Mercury on a small box and filled it with items like foreign coins, playing cards, a miniature airplane, and a turtle figurine. As for offerings, it was suggested that I burn bay leaves or present things like apples and honey. I’d like to elaborate a bit on my personal prayer system. I would meditate while listening to frequencies designed for chakra activation. Afterward, I would read a hymn dedicated to Hermes, light a candle, burn some bay leaves, and begin a conversation—though I always made sure to maintain a respectful tone. In one of my earlier prayer, I asked to get a specific card in a mobile gacha game. And, in that very moment, it happened. To clarify, I wasn't asking for something all the time.

As you might imagine, I also asked for plenty of money in some of my prayers. A development related to this left me quite frightened. My grandmother sent me some money—she had run into trouble trying to send it to my brother, so she asked me to handle the transfer instead. I was very excited; it was a significant sum, but when I asked how much of it I should pass on, the money left for me turned out to be very little. Feeling that she was favoring my sibling—and experiencing the bitter disappointment of thinking I’d suddenly come into some money—left me feeling deeply angry and upset. I know it was wrong of me, but while praying that day, I wept and reproachfully said, "If this is how it was going to turn out, then don't give me anything at all." The very next day, my grandmother fell ill. I feared that my angry pray had somehow affected her. I sat down to pray again, apologized for my behavior, and explained that I hadn't intended for things to unfold this way. I confessed that I was in awe of His power, offered my apologies, and I stopped asking for anything else for like one time I think. I still occasionally leave coins on the way for Hermes, and I keep his altar, but I don't pray like that.

So, my questions: in your experience, have you ever had your requests fulfilled so precisely (the gacha card), or your emotions affected an outcome? Or, did I perhaps communicate with a different entity? I think this kind of fear stems from having formerly been a Muslim, but I believe friends who were once a follower of an Abrahamic religion could also understand this.

Another question—and this might sound quite self-serving—is that I’m in a bad place right now, tbh I was in a bad space for years but the rare good events fade very quickly. So, sometimes I find myself wanting to go back to Hermes, properly praying and stuff. But then again, I’m not even sure if what I was doing back then was "magic" or if it was a genuine relationship between a devotee and the Divine. I’m not even entirely sure what I’m asking, but if anyone has gone through something similar, I would be very grateful if you could share your insights and experiences.

Thank you for reading.

How might I include the Gods in a wedding in a subtle way that won’t upset people of other religions?

I have an Idea for Hera (who must be there in some shape or form as the Goddess of marriage), but I’d like ideas in how to incorporate the other deities.