Author: temenosoikidios

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Olympia 2020

temenosoikidios

Khairete!

Today, we celebrated the Olympia.

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This festival to all the Gods of Olympus is not one we have celebrated quite like this before.  It will be mirrored on January 19th with the Kthonion, which, as the name implies, is about honoring all the Kthonic Theoi.  This was something requested by the Gods at the AnadikiaNew Year’s retreat.

After paying our respects to the Gods of the year, Artemis and Herakles, and the God of the month, Ares, we took turns saying prayers written by Hiereios Peregrine Ursano and collected in the booklet In the Name of the Gods.

The divination with oracle bones resulted in two messages, due to the way one of the bones landed.

First, we received Prometheus, “If you act wisely on what the divination tells you, stranger, you will succeed; From the Gods, you have approval for that which you seek” (Dervenis, 2014, 93).

Second was The Supplicant Deity, “I see no safe path for you. Be patient. Events will favor you after this, but for the present do nothing. Have faith in the Gods, and remain hopeful.” (Dervenis, 2014, 109).

After this, we drew from the Delphic Maxim cards for individual guidance.

Thusia was pita bread, and theoxenia included pizza, fresh vegetables, stuffed grape leaves, more mini pita bread, hummus, and an assortment of cookies, donuts, and chocolates.

As mentioned above, the next festival will be the Kthonion on January 19.  Until then, may the blessings of the Gods be with you!

blog, festivals

Kheimonia 2019

temenosoikidios

Khairete!

Today at Temenos Oikidios, we celebrated the Kheimonia, a modern festival of the turning of the seasons in which we honor Helios, Selene, Zeus Melikhios and Maimaktos, Hera Chera, Pan Dendraia, Demeter Haloa, Dionysos Dionysia, Apollon Iatros, Asklepios, Poseidon Poseideia, and Hermes Taxidios.

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The ritual we used can be found here. The main prayer is below:

Prayers from the Oikos

Zeus Meilikhios, be kind to us, and protect our homes from winter’s storms
Apollon Iatros, may You and Your son, Asklepios keep away the season’s ills
Hera Chara, keep away the dark of depression as the days are dark and short
Hermes Taxidotis, keep our cars safe as we journey perilous and slippery roads
Pan, lover if Selene, let your daughter Pandia shine brightly over the dark nights.
Dionysos, bring to us joy and revelry as we taste the first fruits of the wine harvest
Poseidon, keep the seas fertile and safe for those who are to travel upon it
Demeter Haloa, be of good cheer as we await Your daughter’s swift return
And Helios Heliogenna, bring us joy as the days become longer and full of light
Come to us, Oh Blessed Gods with joy in Your heart and grant us your blessings.

After thusia and theoxenia, we decorated Pan’s tree.

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This year, for some reason, Pan’s tree has a Mini Me.  Because why not?

Our next festival will be the Olympieia on January 5.  Until then, have a wonderful turn of the secular year, and may the blessing of the Gods be with you.

festivals

Therapeia 2019

temenosoikidios

Khairete!

Today we celebrated the Therapeia, a healing festival to Apollon and, this year, Persephone.

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During the Anadikia retreat this year, our divination led to this version of this modern festival.  The underpinnings of this connection between Apollon and Persephone is rooted in the Orphic Poems, which derive from the Derveni Papyrus.  The importance of recognizing the connection between healing and death is a big piece of this (Kingsley, 2013, pp. 91-92).

This required a different structure than we normally use, starting at the main altar and processing to the shrine of the dead to bring Persephone to a third location where we had thusia and the healing ritual, which became very intense.  For theoxenia we shared simple fare of sandwiches and chocolate bourbon balls and a shiraz for libations.

Our next festival will be the Kheimonia on December 22, 2019.  Until then, may the blessings of the Gods be with you.

Kingsley, P. (2013). In the dark places of wisdom. Thomson Shore.

blog, festivals

Synkomidia 2019

temenosoikidios

Khairete!

Today, we celebrated the Synkomidia, a harvest festival to Demeter and Gaia led by Hiereos Peregrine Ursano.

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As you can see by the altar, Pan was also honored as God of the month, Artemis and Heracles as the Goddess and Hero of the year, and Athena as a result of the divination done within the ritual

After we offered bread for thusia, Hiereos Timotheos did an oracle bones reading which gave the following:

“Honor Pallas Athena and all will be yours; All that you desire, and all that you have planned for, will come to you.  She will free you from bondage and relieve the ailing from pain” (Dervenis, 2014, p. 141).

Once Athena had been added to the altar, we then each drew a card from a personalized deck that contains each of the Delphic Maxims.

Theoxenia included pork, as is traditional for Demeter, roasted potatoes, and corn, as well as apple crisp, gingerbread cupcakes, and sparkling apple cider, going for an overall harvest theme with as little overlap with secular feasts scheduled for later this week.

Our upcoming events are:

December 8, 2019 – Therapaia
December 22, 2019 – Kheimonia
January 5, 2020 – Olympia
January 19, 2020 – Kthonion

Dervenis, K. (2014). Oracle Bones Divination. Destiny Books.

 

festivals

Ktesia 2019

temenosoikidios

Khairete!

Today we celebrated the Ktesia for the first time, a festival to Zeus Ktesios.  This is the aspect of Zeus who protects the home, protects the larder, protects us from storms.

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As part of our ritual, we created a ktesios jar for Temenos Oikidios and offered it to Zeus, something we have previously incorporated into the Diasia.

Hierieus Timotheos did an oracle bones reading during the ritual, which came up as “Damage: You will have no luck.  Why fight a futile battle?  Stay, for you may be injured in your haste.  It is neither wise to rush toward your goal nor to wander like a fool” (Dervenis, 2014, p. 157).

Another roll was done for clarification, which resulted in “Zeus the Thunderer: It is not possible to fulfill your desires, the god judges; Nor will it benefit you to journey far from your home. Nor through payment will you find anything beneficial” (Dervenis, 2014, p. 107).

We spent quite some time discussing how to interpret these readings both as individuals and as a temple.  One theme we kept returning to was one of cleansing, as the theme for this month, as determined during the Anadikia retreat, is cleansing/healing.  The consensus was that these readings are a firm reminder to spend the time to cleanse and heal this month, rather than trying to move too quickly forward.

As we finished up the ritual, and after offering the temple ktesios jar to Zeus, Hierieus Timotheos did one final reading, which came up as “The Shining Month: With courage, you will have the opportunity to achieve your desire. You will succeed by dashing to your goal. Your efforts will be rewarded.  You are bound, however, to strive for the greater good, in a just struggle” (Dervenis, 2014, p. 149).

We spent some time discussing this and the general feeling was that this doesn’t contradict the earlier readings, but rather talks about next steps, once the work of cleansing and healing has been done.  Having cleansed from any miasma or other things that are holding us back, having healed any wounds in need of healing, we will be ready to charge ahead and pursue our goals.  The caveat is the last line, however, that we are “bound to strive for the greater good, in a just struggle” (Dervenis, 2014, p. 149).  So our goals cannot be at the expense of others, and should instead be in service of the greater good.

This sounds like we very quickly all came to the same conclusions, but it’s not really possible to capture the whole discussion in a blog post.  There were definitely varying interpretations!  What are your thoughts when receiving messages like this?

Our next festival will be Fthinoporia, our Fall Festival, on September 22.  Until then, may the blessings of the Gods be with you!

 

Dervenis, K. (2014). Oracle bones divination: The Greek I Ching. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books.