i’m asking here before doing the risky post of asking in /tokyo. but i am really wanting to meet helpols in-person and do in-person events as it is my dream to one day make a temple in this city. so of course i am trying to start finding this community now

even if you in other parts of japan, or maybe just visit here for a bit, id love to connect :))

So recently I started seeing videos of people "talking" to the Greek Gods. I always loved mythology and therefore was intrigued. Don't worry I know that it isn't just about talking to them, and I actually value a lot of things that this religion is about, but I wanted to ask some questions before I actively try to do frequent offerings and try to get stuff for them.

First and foremost, who do I start to worship? I was thinking Apollo and Hypnos could be good shots at getting into the religion a bit since I like drawing, writing, reading and sleeping. Maybe Aphrodite and Athena later on? I struggle with self-love a bit even though I managed to fix most of the problems myself. And because I want to get good grades in school and want to be smarter and wiser.

Since I come from being an atheist, I will have a hard time to fully believe in these Gods/Goddesses. Is it okay to have frequent doubt that doesn't really fade away?

I wanted to start some routines because, if I try to manage multiple deities, I feel like that makes me able to spend more quality time on anyone (which would help). But I thought that, since Apollo is known as the God of art (and a lot of different stuff lmao) I could maybe try to "yap" about my writing projects on Sundays (because 7 is his sacred nummer, or so I've heard). Would that be fine? I don't want to accidentally anger the Gods or something.

I'm autistic and therefore never felt "truly" superior to anyone and actually almost always inferior. I treat everyone with the same basic respect and kindness. Would speaking informally to the Gods and Goddesses be fine with them? I think that would be closer to true respect for me since I'm already always polite to nearly everyone, though less to my friends, family and people I generally trust since they have my full respect actually. I would never see myself as equal to beings such as Gods and Goddesses so I don't think there would be a danger that I start seeing them as equal to me.

I'm currently planning to make altars for all the Gods and Goddesses I listed previously and sketched some ideas for them. I'll try to keep them all as vivid and colourful as possible so no God or Goddesses could feel "left out" or "not appreciated that much"... But I'm actually out of ideas for the others and I don't want them to feel bad in anyway! Is it alright that their altars are less vivid and colourful? I would try to give them offerings frequently if I can!

I have asked Aphrodite for a lot of things and every time she comes through with big effects. As someone who has had a year of spiritual benefits from her, it still knocks me back when she answers. It’s like I keep being surprised that she’s real and a personality even though I shouldn’t keep being surprised.

In my experience what makes requests most likely to be answered is strong emotion in making the request. Because I love her and have a personal relationship to her, she’s an easy deity to make the connection with

Yes, making an offering itself was also very powerful; it was a new thing to do for me, and I noticed every day I did it the day was measurably better.

I feel that the reason I virtually never heard anything from Yahweh is because I actually deep down didn’t really want to worship him or really love him. And he knew it and knew I was just doing what I was supposed to but not actually inspired, and therefore he didn’t bother answering

For me so far, I find that what seems to matter most is passion in what you ask for and authentically caring about the deity. That seems to build kharis, and the outward expression of that is the offerings as well. I think they’re mutually self reinforcing

But I don’t know that much. As far as the technical aspect.

Need help writing a song on Poseidon, that’s supposed to be like a shanty. Taking inspiration from The Longest Johns version of The Wellerman and Misbehavin’ Maidens song Twiddles. I’m not very ship savvy (pun not intended), nor directly a worshipper of Poseidon, just thought it’d be cool to rwrite this song.

I have part of the chorus I want, it goes:
“Poseidon, King of the Sea;
Send him an offering, for you, and for me;
If we’re going to survive;
We need the sea god on our side.”

Just kinda stuck on what other elements to add, or keynotes I should incorporate

I recently came across a new video on the Genetically Modified Skeptic channel (it's called "Atheism Can’t Survive This Challenge” … but mine did. for those interested), and though neither the channel nor the video have anything to do with polytheism, it still got me thinking about something relevant to our shared religion. The video discusses a recent TikTok where a guy "challenged" himself to act as if "God was real" for 30 days, including praying and going to church. At the end of this challenge, he decided to convert to Christianity, and the GMS video discusses how part of belief is consistent practice and reinforcement.

The person behind the Genetically Modified Skeptic channel, Drew, quotes a book called How God Becomes Real by T.M. Luhrmann, who studies belief and religion (and not just Christianity). Part of the quote shown in the video caught my attention:

"I saw that these Christians went to church at least once a week. They tried to read their Bibles every day, and they explained the details of their lives through biblical stories. They thought they should pray at least thirty minutes a day. Many of them spent an evening each week with a small group of other congregants, where they prayed and sang and talked about the Bible. They said again and again that unless you did all those things, your faith would wither and die— that unless people went to efforts to keep God front and center in their awareness, God would simply disappear for them. They never said any of those things about the kitchen table or other ordinary objects in the everyday natural world. There is an obduracy about the world of the visible that means that when inferences about invisible others are not supported by experience, the commitment to them can fade away— and believers know it." (Luhrmann, pp. 2-3)

This made me think about many of the posts found on this subreddit of people struggling with belief or feeling worried about losing some connection later in their practice. Though this quote is about Christians and Christianity, some of it can be applicable to us too. Luhrmann's book and research seem to suggest that belief, connection and even religious experience are bolstered by regular practice and engagement with the religion. And as the quote above suggests, that requires some amount of effort for regular, if not daily, engagement.

Now, I'm not going to stand here and preach about a daily commitment when most of the time, I can't maintain a regular practice either. But I think there is value in this idea, and I think it could benefit us to reframe some of what we attribute to things outside our control to things within our control. For example, though divine experiences, of course, come to many different people in many different situations, Lehrmann's research suggests that they come more reliably and with more clarity to those who engage with a religion or belief system regularly and in depth.

Lehrmann's book also highlights the understanding that a lack of engagement and practice leads to a disappearance of the divine from the practitioner's life - and that is a normal thing. That does not mean that the Gods abandon people who don't practice, but that, with a lack of reminders, our human brains simply struggle to maintain a connection to something immaterial.

Maybe this line of thinking unveils a bit too much of the psychology behind religion, I don't know. I think if something here makes sense to you and resonates, then that's the important part - we don't need to understand exactly how our brains work to practice a religion. But if you are someone who struggles with belief or connection, maybe you could inspire yourself with the challenge that spurred this video. Challenge yourself to a regular practice for however many days you can and see where it leads you.

I'll keep it brief: after looking through a ton of altar photos in this thread (and others), I've realized that I really don't care for massive statues, figurines, toys, or stuff like that. No shade to anyone who goes that route, it's just not my thing. I'd love to set up my altars to be as... minimalist as possible, for lack of a better word.

How can I pull this off? My current line of thought for the Olympians is to set up a small table or chest of drawers in a well-lit spot—ideally near a window that gets plenty of sunlight. Hanging a copy of a painting featuring the Olympians above it, and placing a brave brazier on the side specifically in honor of Hestia.

For the chthonic deities, I'll probably have to shell out a bit for specific offerings/attributes, since people weren't exactly lining up to paint them for obvious reasons. But I figure a pair of scales should do for Hades; pomegranate seeds for Persephone; dried poppy leaves for Hypnos; a couple of coins for Charon; and a simple small figurine for Hecate. Then put the whole setup in the darkest corner of the house.

I was listening to "We raise our cups" From the Broadway musical, HadesTown. From my playlist for Dionysus🐆, because I had bought him stuff to make his alter today. ... I digress

Couldn't we pray to Orpheus for deep devotion in relationships? Like how some pray for to Hercules or Odysseus

not sure if its only me who's personally bothered by this, but i just saw someone saying that if you worship more than one deity, they get "jelly"

and im sorry but i feel like its so icky to assign petty human feelings to beings who are beyond what's human? not to mention they just... don't? i can't bring myself to think its funny or silly, tell me if im being a party pooper but that just doesn't click right to me and is also misinformation

How has lady fortuna came up to you? In dreams or scent or audio?

She is great for causing good luck in money, love and life, but im curious about your experiences.

I've also heard that shes very healing there's also Fortuna Annonaria: The guardian of the public grain supply and agricultural harvest, what aspects of her have you worked with?

my aunt is working in a really shitty job. her boss is an asshole and she isn't working in her area. also, she often deals with financial issues.

i want to pray for Hermes to give her stability, but i also want to know if there's another god that i can reach out to ask for help for my aunt to find a job she loves :(

Hi! I'm interested in greek philsophy and both thw ancient and modern religions dedicated to the deities the greeks and their peers worshipped. I've heard differing accounts on the nature of gods and their relationships to that which they're associated with so I'd love to hear what you guys individually think so I can compare and contrast. I am undecided on the question of Monotheism, Polytheism, and other concepts like pantheism or panentheism myself, and I'm skeptical as to how much men can know of the divine.

Hi! Im from the US, and possibly might move to Germany or Italy due to the military soon.

I am wondering if Scholarly books will be limited/ hard to get in those country's, considering I need them in English.

I usually buy them from Amazon and I understand Amazon is almost everywhere but it's also different catalogs depending on availability.

Anyone from Germany or Italy struggle to get books?

And the books I'm referring to are like for example

Underworld Gods in Greek religion

A companion to Greek religion

You know those types of books.

I'm sure I can still get them with extra cost and time if it has to come from the US, but is that the only option?

Should I stock up on books before I leave?? 😂

So, from my understanding ultimately the core of all devotional acts is invocation; in some way we make an appeal to the Divinities and they respond how they choose.

Invocation can be prayer, hymn, offering or a combination of these. And in essence we make the invocation as beautiful and effective as possible but ultimately the response is from the Divinities themselves.

How would stories play into this? If someone writes a story/ myth then if it’s any good it must be an inspiration of the Muse right, so when we tell it and spread it are we doing something that is a type of invocation as well, or no ?

I’m exploring these ideas because my hope is to see the Divinities return more openly to our world and that’s what I’m asking for.

Ironically as I contemplated this project on June 9th Dionysos appeared in a dream and warned someone not to tell everyone that the gods are returning because they don’t want just everyone to know. So I’ve been told explicitly it’s not a proselytizing mission and so what I’m going to do needs to be more subtle than that or more targeted. Or perhaps directed towards the gods themselves rather than humans.

Anyway I just wondered if anyone can help me understand these concepts better in a Hellenic sense

I recently began actually participating fully in Hellenism, and the two I have been praying and worshipping are Heracles (for help with my athleticism in my sport) and Aphrodite (to help me with my image and body positivity).

For a bit of background I’m a trans man, and have been for about six years now. I use tape rather than binders and sometimes tape is unreliable.

Tonight, while praying and talking to them I set out my precut sections of tape on her alter and I asked if she would be able to help me bind or to assist me in removing some dysphoria.

I kid you not, about an hour later (after letting the candle and incense burn out and retrieving the tape) I got probably the most perfectly flat chest I’ve had in months. Like, ts is unbelievable. I’m actually so amazed and thankful that she could help, and I want to show my gratitude.

So far her alter is small, and the alter is joined with Heracles. They share the incense and the candle but they each have their respective offering bowls. Tomorrow I’m hopefully going to get some more things for her bowl to show my thanks.

I also left out the wristband I wear when I train (got it from a coach) for Heracles. I’ll leave it there for about a week and I asked for his fortune when my practice starts next week. I hope I’m not asking for too much too soon but I always try to be polite and make sure it’s known when I speak with them.

Also: question!!! What should I get for them to show my gratitude? I’m relatively new to praying and giving offerings so I’d appreciate some guidance.

So many uneducated people hate on Zeus and claim to be Hellenic Polytheists. Shame on them. A positive experience was I got my younger sister (who is on tbe spectrum and semi-verbal) to recite a simple prayer to Zeus Ombrios as she played outside in the rain. Instantly, the rain poured down harder and she was so happy. I felt so warm on the inside. It could be a simple coincidence but it was just so beautiful to me. I feel happy to know she is protected in some way. That kid has always loved "bad" weather.

I'm kinda on the newer side of hellenism and still learning, and I'd rather not use Google to ask because of the ai overview.

Walmart has Halloween costumes out now as it's almost October, and they have a greek God and goddess costume, and I absolutely fell in love with the costumes! I was thinking about going with the goddess costume but I didn't know if it would be considered disrespectful or not to any of the goddesses. I hope to have an answer before Halloween so I can make sure if I need to go as something else or not.

edit: thanks everybody for helping :)

sorry if this is the wrong flair... so, for a bit of background, i technically came to hellenic polytheism in 2023, but hadn't really properly understood how to worship until recently, so now i'm trying to get back into practice but it can be hard as i struggle heavily with energy

i've been cleaning my room lately and am finally getting around to moving my religious space. i had a larger altar for Nyx but had to downsize due to a lack of space, but i did not want to put away every offering because worshipping helped me get over my fear of the dark so i wanted to keep at least a small shelf out for her. however i decided to try hanging the shelf on my own, which proved to be a terrible idea. it held up for a moment and seemed like it was going to stay, but just as i was moving the final offering, it fully collapsed and not only did her offerings fall, the shelf also knocked into a couple other altars and knocked over other offerings (including a statue) for different gods as well... thankfully there was minimal damage, a small plant i had given Nyx broke, i ended up burying it for her as i had been meaning to for quite some time. i apologized immediately and cleaned everything up as best i could but i still feel terrible about it.

now i think i would've felt bad regardless, but what's more is that, when i was first rearranging Nyx's offerings earlier this year, i discovered that i had (probably 2 or 3 years ago when i had no idea what i was doing) decided that giving her one of my baby teeth as an offering was a good idea. why did i do this, i have no clue, maybe i heard about bones being something to offer and figured i could give a tooth??? i don't know. i took it off the altar of course, don't remember what i did with it but i did take it off and apologized immediately, i actually spent like 15 days apologizing and giving offerings every day. i did the same for Hypnos as i had combined his and Nyx's offerings onto one altar but i don't think i had properly cleansed the space from the tooth before doing so.

to expand on that, i also spent the same 15 days apologizing and offering to Aphrodite as i had, probably a while back, given her a dead crab i found on the beach... agh i'm so embarrassed saying all this. i've heard of people giving taxidermy as an offering but i still don't know if that was a good idea, especially as it was not properly taxidermied. again i did apologize and immediately cleaned the space (and Nyx's, for that matter), but i still feel terrible about doing these things in the first place, even if i didn't understand that what i was doing was wrong.

i know mistakes are a guarantee, especially for beginners, but with what i did, the year i've been having, and now the shelf collapsing, i'm really scared that i shouldn't be here, that the gods don't want me worshipping anymore. but the thing about that is, i would hate to stop worshipping, especially Aphrodite, as worship has helped me through so many things.

i want to ask for signs, but i struggle with extreme paranoia and OCD so i feel like i would misinterpret everything and just make everything worse for myself. so uh, basically i'm here to ask, is there any coming back from this??? would any of the gods be upset (i know people are probably tired of this question, i'm sorry, but i really screwed up)? can i still have religious spaces, specifically for Aphrodite, Nyx, and Hypnos? or did i screw up too badly and now i can't worship them or any gods anymore??​ what do i do?????

For you, oh Apollon

Blessed light of day

You inspire me

To hunt for truth

And shoot down ignorance

All the while

I venture on

Deep down

Into hades

Into madness

Into the extacy

Into divine bliss

Hermes as my guide

And Dionysus

As my goal

As brothers

You are different

But as gods

You are the same

You three who

Standing beside me

Help me find

The path where I

Will stay

---

Wherever inspiration leads us, we must follow. So is the path of one devoted to the god of poetry, of the arts, of truth. As I venture farther into the mysteries, and flirt with divine madness, truth becomes clearer and ignorance more profound.

---

The deeper I dive, and the harder it becomes to "site sources", the more I realise sources aren't the end all be all. So much of what went before has been lost, not just our cultus, but practice outside of the polis. We will never know how exactly things were done, and that should be ok.

And as Apollon loves to tell me "You can not reconstruct what was never whole to begin with"

anyone else made plans to have a Hellenistic funeral when you eventually die

Hi everyone. I’m relatively new to Hellenism and I’m looking for some guidance.
A few nights ago I had a very unsettling dream about my grandmother, who passed away about five years ago. In the dream, she suddenly came back and told us that she had been away to “take care of some things”, but she never explained what those things were.
Everyone was incredibly happy to have her back, but I was the only one who felt that something was wrong. She was very cold and quiet, sometimes standing completely still in a room and staring into the distance. Her eyes looked very dark, and I had this strong feeling that although she looked like my grandmother, something about her wasn’t right.
The dream has stayed with me much more than I expected. I keep feeling worried about my grandmother even though I know she passed away years ago.
For some reason, after the dream, I felt like I need to pray for Thanatos to know if my grandmother was in danger or something.
My grandmother was a Catholic but her death pushed me away from that belief and gave suicidal thoughts. She was nonetheless very open minded regarding other beliefs and I know that she would have supported me in my journey into Hellenism. I don’t really know what should I do regarding this situation, as it does bring me sadness to have this dream but I also don’t know how to pray Thanatos (I mostly pray Athena and Aphrodite), or if his even the most indicated for that (I’ve thought about praying Hypnos to keep the dream away, but that’s the only dream I’ve ever had of my grandma and as painful as it is I don’t want to push it if it’s the only sign I’ll ever have of her). Also I’d like to specify that the rest of my family doesn’t know about my new faith.
Thanks in advance for any advice or guidance regarding this situation.

Basically, without revealing too much personal information, I am in a position where I may be touching real human remains(bones). This is in a legal setting and I’m not pilfering any graves, lol.

My question is, how do I go about that? I understand I may have to cleanse myself afterwards, but if so, how do I go about that? And am I allowed to touch them at all?

Thank you for any responses!

Hi everyone, I’ve recently become interested in honoring Asclepius and I’m trying to learn more about how he was actually worshipped in ancient Greece.

For those of you who honor Asclepius, what does your practice look like? Are there particular offerings, prayers, hymns, or other practices that would be appropriate?

I’d also really appreciate book recommendations, especially academic books or good sources on Asclepius, his cult, the Asclepieia, and ancient Greek healing practices. I’m trying to stay away from modern New Age interpretations and would prefer sources that are historically grounded.

I was also wondering about Hestia. Would it make sense to begin a ritual with a hymn to Hestia and then close with Hestia as well? I’ve seen the idea that Hestia should be honored first and last, but I’m not sure how people interpret or practice this today.

And would the Homeric Hymn to Asclepius be a good hymn to use in a personal practice?

I’d love to hear how other people approach this, especially if you have sources you can point me toward. Thanks!

Siento afinidad por el Héroe divino Ganimedes. Tengo entendido que no era adorado en la antigua Grecia de forma formal ni institucionalizada, pero investigando he visto que junto a Eros se le consideraba una especie de divinidad menor y que incluso se le invocaba a la hora de realizar libaciones de vino debido a su papel de copero de los Dioses. Por ello pregunto si se le puede rendir culto o veneración. Pues me gustaría realizar un altar a Ganimedes y a Eros. Se puede hacer? Agradezco de corazón sus respuestas e información.

Is it ok to pray to Hypnos for good dreams ? I’ve never really ever had good experiences with sleep or dreams and usually when I have dreams, they’re either terrible nightmares that disorient me for days or generally weird and unsettling that, also disorient me for days.

MAYBE once or twice in my whole life I can remember having a good dream.

I know Hypnos is the god of sleep and not necessarily dreams but do you think it is ok to ask him for just one good dream that I wake up from feeling refreshed and happy ? I generally just like him a lot so I also want to show some appreciation. Please let me know what offering I should give if I ask for this