r/Hellenism

Okay I feel really really silly for asking this and please I’m begging you don’t be mean !
Hear me out. I grew up Christian but I never really felt a connection to it. I’ve always felt more connected to nature and the sun as a god. So then I became very spiritual and pantheistic yk the religion where you believe everything is god and you worship the earth and nature. While I still believe that, It feels like something is missing. I really feel like I want to pray and worship an „actual“ god again you know? Having someone to talk to. I looked into if there’s just a god/goddess for the sun and the earth and then I came across Gaia and Apollo. So my question is can I worship these two, have an altar for them etc. while also believing everything is god (especially nature) being quite spiritual, I mean Gaia is nature no? I’ve always found Greek mythology interesting but never got into it and I’m also not too big on the other gods and goddesses still. Don’t get me wrong I would inform myself but I just don’t really see myself worshipping them or knowing every single peace of information about them or the whole religion. Like I said, I’d still inform myself but just not to a point others might do it. So yea is it okay for me to worship Gaia and Apollo? Again please don’t be mean. Trying my best rn it’s really quite a lot if you didn’t grow up with it haha! :)

Im wondering if I can worship pan in an ouranic way as opposed to his usual chronic worship

I wanted to ask because I'm overthinking it myself. I wanted to record some drawings i was gonna make for Lady Aphrodite, Lord Apollo, Lord Hermes and Lord Hypnos and putting it on my altar and maybe post it to TT or smthin as just a little thing, but i don't want to be bragging or seem like i'm doing it for likes..

i see a lot of people on this subreddit say khaire (deity name) and I wondered what it means

Long story short, my wife is immigrating to my country, and we applied earlier this year. We also have hired a lawyer to help this go as smoothly as possible. Right now we are in a waiting period, and have yet to hear anything beyond “we received your request.” So there’s really nothing we can do right now. I know these things take time, but the pain of being an ocean apart is genuinely so difficult to handle. According to what I saw on the website processing times are roughly 1.5+ years.

I am looking to make an offering to a deity in hopes of speeding up the process. Whether it’ll work or not, I don’t know, but I want to do something to feel like I’m helping the process along. I feel so powerless right now.

I am thinking of praying and leaving an offering to Hermes or Zeus or both. I know Hermes has associations with travelers and Zeus has associations with hospitality and protection of foreigners (of course that’s simplified). I’m trying to look into epithets for them, for Zeus I was thinking Zeus Xenios and for Hermes I was thinking Hermes Eriounes.

If I’m remembering the formula correctly, generally you would open the prayer by invoking the God’s name(s) and mentioning what they are known for (myths and such), describing your relationship to the deity and any previous deeds you have done in their name/offerings you have given, and closing with your petition (or praise though this would be a petition) and perhaps a promise for a future offering.

So, to the main point of this post. I haven’t practiced in a long time, and when I was practicing it wasn’t really a reconstruction of the ancient religion, it was more….loosey goosey I suppose. I want to do this properly though. I’m not necessarily nervous about “messing up” but I still want to make sure I’m doing it correctly. Is this the correct formula? I’ve been reading more books and trying to do more research, but I’m also not the best when it comes to research, so I just wanted to make sure. And if it is, since I haven’t really practiced lately, for the part of the formula of describing your relationship to the god/previous deeds, how would you recommend going about phrasing that part? I don’t really have anything to go off of in terms of past deeds….is there something I can replace that part with? Or can I just cut it out?

As for the ending, I would like to make a promise of a future offering as well. At the time of the prayer I do plan on making a libation, but in terms of a future offering, I was thinking about donating to an organization that aids immigrants (not sure of an exact organization but it’s something I’ll look into). It has a connection to what I am asking for, and has connections to Zeus and Hermes. I’m not sure if it’s an appropriate offering or if it is tied to anything historical, though, and was hoping for some insight into that.

To summarize, I’m hoping for some insight into how to go about the part of the prayer formula where you mention your relationship and deeds when you don’t have a history to go off of, as well as whether donating to a charity would be an appropriate future offering.

If anyone has any other insights into this that would be much appreciated!! If there are any other deities or epithets that would be useful I’d love to hear them. The mundane aspect of my situation is handled, my goal with this is just to try to help speed the process along, to at minimum feel like I’m doing something.

Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this and comment, I hope you all have a blessed day/night!!

I know that she goes first in a libation, then the god we are giving the offering to, and then hestia again, but I wonder if in prayers it’s the same ?

Or what about Zeus ? In my worship I haven’t prayed to him, is it wrong ? I have prayed and did a devotional act for hestia once, but none for Zeus.

The only time I have performed a libation I didn’t mentioned hestia, because at the time I didn’t know she goes first and last.

Any tips or advice?

for context, my family is Christian to the core and they accept only "alive" religions. Which means I have to keep my faith hidden. I have a small digital shrine for Lady Hestia and I'm planning to do something special for Lady Artemis since she's my first worshipped goddess. I made a comment under a Tiktok post about Lady Hestia and guess what they told me?

"It isn't a real shrine/altar!! Lady Hestia is disappointed in you!"

Like... what? First of all, who are you to say that she's disappointed? And two..did the gods themselves tell you that the only shrine/altar acceptable is something big and in real life??? Ugh, I hate these kinds of people.

This is just out of curiosity:

I’m wondering if anyone feels their city, either: home, current, or both has a patron god. This would, for obvious reasons, be UPG, but given that many here will live in areas that the Theoi were never worshipped, I feel like this could be an interesting thought project, and [who knows] might even help with your praxis, if you’d never tried to imagine it yourself.

For me personally, I’ll give my hometown, I feel like Memphis [Tennessee] is patronized by Apollon. My reasoning being: it’s bright warm summers, it’s intrinsic connection to music (as well as how many artist began/ended their careers here), it’s ties to Ancient Egypt (self appointed) which would synchronize well with Ra, and a few other personal reasons.

I haven’t given my current home much thought, just since I haven’t lived here long, but (being a Southerner) I could also see Birmingham [Alabama] being tied heavily to Hephaistos, New Orleans [Louisiana] being patronized by Dionysus (I actually think arguments could be made to synchronize Mardi Gras to him), and Atalanta [Georgia] being tied to it’s namesake and to a greater extent Athene. These are just my opinions, but I’d love to hear any of your’s.

ETA: I’d love to hear if any Memphians agree with me too