Khairete,
Today at Temenos Oikidios, we celebrated the Kheimonia, our winter festival that combines several ancient and modern Hellenic festivals: the Pompaia, the Maimakteria, the Dendraia, the Rural Dionysia, and the Haloa, as well as incorporating homage to Hera Chera, Hermes Taxidoros, and Apollon Iatros.
We opened with a grounding meditation centered around where and how we find warmth in the winter months. We invoked Hestia, Hermes, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, Zeus, Dionysos, Pan, and Apolon using Hearthstone’s In Praise of Olympus.
Thusia was a freshly baked and warm loaf of white bread, and theoxenia was slow-cooked pork with root vegetables and rum balls.
Our divination was Nemesis:
“Concerning that which you intend, make haste; all will be yours afterward. Those things that until now brought you sorrow, will be directed to your advantage, says the god. Be at peace, there is no evil ahead for you” (Dervenis, 2004, p. 125).
In the Haloa tradition of striving to make Demeter laugh, we finished out the festival with a round of the game Rotten Apples.
Our next festival will be the Olympieia on January 13, 2019. Until then, may the blessings of the gods be with you!
Dervenis, K. (2004.) Oracle bones divination: The Greek I Ching. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books
Temenos Oikidios 