u/IceMosquito073

So, I've been a polytheist for several years, but was always pretty much an eclectic and nowadays I feel a pull towards reconstructionism and that more "formalised" (if that's the right word?) type, and specifically towards the Anglo-Saxon and Roman traditions.

Specifically for getting more into the Roman side of that "Anglo-Saxon + Roman" paganism, I wanted to ask some questions for getting more of my feet in that door.

Firstly, what are the differences between the Roman Gods and their Greek counterparts? I can look into the history of the worship/view of these gods, but Interpetatio Romana makes it difficult to see where "These gods are kinda like those ones over there, so maybe there's more to these gods than we thought,"—similar to how we think Woden was likely a Psychopump through his association with Mercury—ends and where, "borrowing these attributes wholecloth," begins.

I ask this first question because a majority of the gods I previously worshipped were Greek Gods, and a few of them I want continue worshipping but doing so under an AS-Roman style/context (Ares and Aphrodite among them).

And I want to respect those differences without just saying, "they're similar enough, I'm gonna pray to both when I want to praise/ask for help from this one aspect," and that trap.

I already know some things about the differences between Ares and Mars, with Ares having been perceived as more violent and more driven by passion, as seen in how the Greeks talked about him and his emphasis on protection through some of the myths, while Mars is the God of Agriculture and the harvest on top of being a war God, and h being highly viewed by the disciplined and calculated military of Rome (as opposed to Ares, who was taboo even in Sparta) paints a picture of Mars representing that side of war the Romans respected.

But is there a similar contrast between the other Roman Gods with their Greek interpretatio counterparts? E.g., Venus and Aphrodite? Or Vulcan and Hephaestus, Jupiter and Zeus, or Pluto and Hades? Etc.,

Second question: what is acceptable for an altar? I see that people often make a couple separate shrines throughout their home, they veil themselves and pray standing up, etc. I can easily use a hoodie or Hooded jacket to substitute for a veil, but I'm kinda restricted by my living situation to have multiple shrines/altars by the fact I still live with my mom, dad, and brother in a fairly small home, so I feel pretty restricted to the top of a cedar chest in my bedroom, which isn’t really high-enough to stand while praying without it feeling awkward (unless I just gotta stand and get over the awkwardness of my altar being at knee-level)

Is what I've been doing with a shared altar/shrine acceptable?

3rd: Besides the veil, how are prayers usually structured? How similar or different is it from Norse/Germanic or Hellenic prayer structure and format?

So, I've been a polytheist for several years, but was always pretty much an eclectic and nowadays I feel a pull towards reconstructionism and that more "formalised" (if that's the right word?) type, and specifically towards the Anglo-Saxon and Roman traditions.

Specifically for getting more into the Roman side of that "Anglo-Saxon + Roman" paganism, I wanted to ask some questions for getting more of my feet in that door.

Firstly, what are the differences between the Roman Gods and their Greek counterparts? I can look into the history of the worship/view of these gods, but Interpetatio Romana makes it difficult to see where "These gods are kinda like those ones over there, so maybe there's more to these gods than we thought,"—similar to how we think Woden was likely a Psychopump through his association with Mercury—ends and where, "borrowing these attributes wholecloth," begins.

I ask this first question because a majority of the gods I previously worshipped were Greek Gods, and a few of them I want continue worshipping but doing so under an AS-Roman style/context (Ares and Aphrodite among them).

And I want to respect those differences without just saying, "they're similar enough, I'm gonna pray to both when I want to praise/ask for help from this one aspect," and that trap.

I already know some things about the differences between Ares and Mars, with Ares having been perceived as more violent and more driven by passion, as seen in how the Greeks talked about him and his emphasis on protection through some of the myths, while Mars is the God of Agriculture and the harvest ontop of being a war God, and h being highly viewed by the disciplined and calculated military of Rome (as opposed to Ares, who was taboo even in Sparta) paints a picture of Mars representing that side of war the Romans respected.

But is there a similar contrast between the other Roman Gods with their Greek interpretatio counterparts? E.g., Venus and Aphrodite?

Second question: what is acceptable for an altar? I see that people often make a couple separate shrines throughout their home, they veil themselves and pray standing up, etc. I can easily use a hoodie or Hooded jacket to substitute for a veil, but I'm kinda restricted by my living situation to have multiple shrines/altars by the fact I still live with my mom, dad, and brother in a fairly small home, so I feel pretty restricted to the top of a cedar chest in my bedroom, which isn’t really high-enough to stand while praying without it feeling awkward (unless I just gotta stand and get over the awkwardness of my altar being at knee-level)

Is what I've been doing with a shared altar/shrine acceptable?

3rd: are there any good sources on prayer style/structure?

Doing Warhammer 40,000 and thought converting and painting a Tech Marine for my Dark Angels army would be a nice votive offering to Hephaestus.

However, physical, non perishable offerings are thought to fully belong to the gods offered to and kept at their shrine/altar, but I want to keep the tech marine model and have it with my army on my shelf/take it with me to games. So I know offering it the same way one offers everything else isn’t the sort of thing/act I'm looking for, but I still want to dedicate the kitbashing/conversion to Hephaestus.

Is there a name/process to what I'm looking/asking for? If so, what so I do?

So, I’ve been wanting to pray to Aphrodite for a bit now, as she’s typical seen as the deity of whom romance and love are the domains of, and I wanted to reach out and pray for the confidence, courage, and self-assuredness to finally ask a good friend of mine out on a date.

Any good prayers I can say/recite and offering suggestions?

So, I'm forming an arc-by-arc outline for a Super-hero story set in WWII, and I have a couple characters who start off as "bad"—Morally Grey, but goes through an arc about turning to joining the heroes' side and want to ask for suggestions and advice on.

The character in question is a Waffen-SS Hauptsturmführer (Captain) cyborg who doesn’t believe in the third reich's vision at all and is an opportunistic promotion-seeker and "grunt-worker" to one of my stories big 3 main bad guys. (The bad guy in question is an Obergruppenführer, and This Captain is far enough down the SS rankings that he’s basically a nobody to the Generals aside from being asked to "clean that up" for lack of a better term).

Backstory goes:

His name is Klara Hellhetzer. Was born into extreme poverty, his parents were expecting a daughter and kept the name they planned even after he came out as a son instead. And Klara had a horrific childhood; facing physical abuse from his father, physical and emotional abuse from his mother, and physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from the church he went to growing up. Along with malnutrition making him up to about 4'11 in height.

At 13, Klara ran away from home to join the Hitler Youth for the sole reason that the HY had lodging and free meals, he graduated right as WWII started and was put into the Wehrmacht. And his first engagement saw him brutally maimed from artillery and Machine guns, was the sole survivor of his company, got found by Waffen-SS medics, and refitted with cybernetics like a new arm, leg, new internal organs, and eyes.

Then, he was moved from the Wehrmacht to the Waffen-SS, made a Captain, put in charge of a "dumping ground" company of unruly and unsavoury meta-human personnel, and tasked with jobs no one else wanted.

Role in story:

He enters the story after the Ahnenerbe awakens an ancient mad scientist who ends up killing most of the people there (basically, think Kars from JJBA, that’s basically what the Ahnenerbe just woke up), and Klara was tasked with hunting this thing down and neutralizing it.

Klara will have reasons to turn towards the side of the heroes, such as him working closely with a Jewish vigilante who was present at the scene of the awakening (alliance starts off "fuck you, but we'll hold off on killing each other for the time being," and turns into Klara actually coming to terms with the full atrocities of the Holocaust and realizes "oh shit... I'm fighting for the *BAD*-bad guys.").

As well as forming an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" alliance with the main hero characters the story actually follows to deal with that reawakened mad-doc. And both people/forces he gets close to.

There are a few things I have planned for the end of his arc, such as helping Walther Wenck’s evacuation corridor and getting civilians out of Berlin, engaging summary executions of High-ranking SS and Wehrmacht officers trying to enforce the "no cowards" type of things (instead of killing soldiers/officers for "cowardice", Klara’s killing soldiers/officers for themselves killing "cowards), and Klara even capturing Himmler alive and using him as a bargaining chip with the allies to get himself a cushy retirement (at the end of the day, he still wants to *not* be in the situation he grew up in ever again)

My question is, how do I make his arc and his ending feel *earned* without downplaying the bad things he would have done as a member of even the more "standard combat" formations in the Waffen-SS?

So, I’ve been getting more into eating healthy and trying to get more physically fit. Been going on jogs (which I can only really squeeze in on weekends because a 9-5 5/7 is tiring) and plan to swap that out for swimming when the seasons change.

Anyway, a popular set of foods I see in this space are eggs and bananas.

However, I have think I have a sensitive stomach or some kind of allergy, and idfk what's going on, but any time I eat things with eggs or bananas in them, I get excruciatingly painful stomachaches and gas/bloating that leaves me out of commission for hours on-end.

What are some good alternatives that won’t leave me in the fetal position for a good ¼ of the day?