Sunday, January 24, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Looking Down from Olympus onto the World: My Perception of Hellenism, The Greek Gods and The Global Culture
Recently on YouTube, I started doing a series of videos about my beliefs in the Greek Gods. Since I rediscovered myself as a Hellenist Witch. It actually wasn't a far leap from Wicca, but I can no longer call myself Wiccan because I don't see all Gods as aspects of a duality. However, there is still aspecting going on within my beliefs and I'll explain.
It's well known that the Greek Gods had to them many aspects. For example, Apollo is the God of the Sun, Prophecy, Music, Poetry, Healing, etc. This is a hefty list which requires many "hats". Each one of these ideas requires a different "persona" within the same God. All of these things fall under one simple word of enlightenment, but enlightenment comes in many different forms and therefore, so does Apollo. One of these aspects is Helios-God of the Sun, obviously, an aspect of Apollo. Some might envision Helios as being "under" Apollo, but I believe that even though the myths indicate they are different, that Helios is in fact an aspect of Apollo. Walter Burkert, a renowned modern Hellenic scholar agrees with me. He suggests that Apollo and other Greek Gods, mainly Olympians, have aspects in lesser Greek Gods.
Another example is Athena. There is the Goddess Nike, to whom some say is an aspect of Athena. She is a winged Goddess of Victory, who may have at one time been thought of as a seperate Goddess, but later realized as an aspect of Athena.
I go one step further in the aspects of the Gods in that I believe that globally, the ancients realized relatively the same things about the universe and discovered the Gods as a result. That just because a God from a different culture isn't exactly like a Greek God, doesn't mean they couldn't be an aspect of that God. After all, Nike had wings, Athena did not, yet the realization of them as one Goddess remains.
I take aspecting a bit further than this. I see aspects of the Greek Gods, namely the Olympians and a few other chief gods in other cultures. I don't think that just becuase one lived in a different time and place that they are actually experiencing a different deity. I simply believe that culture dictates perception and therefore, deities seem different to our mind's eye. For example, Zeus is the King of Heaven in Greek Mythology, but if we look at other cultures, the Sun God is universal. Regardless of how they are seen, the understanding of the Sun God is actually the gnosis that the Sun is part of the larger design of the universe and is directed by divine power. What I interpret as Apollo, another will interpret as Horus, but there can be only one Sun Deity that exists. It wouldn't make sense to have two. As for secondary qualities, like prophecy and music, those can change, but the major qualities seem to reflect each other.
For example, the archetypes of Zeus and Odin are quite similar, not in their secondary qualities, but in their primary qualities and appearances. Both fought against chaos and were responsible for the universe having the order that it does. Both look quite similar even though their secondary qualities are not the same, they reflect each other.
Personal gnosis is waht makes the Gods apparent to us. We might not get everything right, but the similarities between pantheons is something that's always interested me. I believe that the Gods are universal and that we all recognize them in our own way.
It's well known that the Greek Gods had to them many aspects. For example, Apollo is the God of the Sun, Prophecy, Music, Poetry, Healing, etc. This is a hefty list which requires many "hats". Each one of these ideas requires a different "persona" within the same God. All of these things fall under one simple word of enlightenment, but enlightenment comes in many different forms and therefore, so does Apollo. One of these aspects is Helios-God of the Sun, obviously, an aspect of Apollo. Some might envision Helios as being "under" Apollo, but I believe that even though the myths indicate they are different, that Helios is in fact an aspect of Apollo. Walter Burkert, a renowned modern Hellenic scholar agrees with me. He suggests that Apollo and other Greek Gods, mainly Olympians, have aspects in lesser Greek Gods.
Another example is Athena. There is the Goddess Nike, to whom some say is an aspect of Athena. She is a winged Goddess of Victory, who may have at one time been thought of as a seperate Goddess, but later realized as an aspect of Athena.
I go one step further in the aspects of the Gods in that I believe that globally, the ancients realized relatively the same things about the universe and discovered the Gods as a result. That just because a God from a different culture isn't exactly like a Greek God, doesn't mean they couldn't be an aspect of that God. After all, Nike had wings, Athena did not, yet the realization of them as one Goddess remains.
I take aspecting a bit further than this. I see aspects of the Greek Gods, namely the Olympians and a few other chief gods in other cultures. I don't think that just becuase one lived in a different time and place that they are actually experiencing a different deity. I simply believe that culture dictates perception and therefore, deities seem different to our mind's eye. For example, Zeus is the King of Heaven in Greek Mythology, but if we look at other cultures, the Sun God is universal. Regardless of how they are seen, the understanding of the Sun God is actually the gnosis that the Sun is part of the larger design of the universe and is directed by divine power. What I interpret as Apollo, another will interpret as Horus, but there can be only one Sun Deity that exists. It wouldn't make sense to have two. As for secondary qualities, like prophecy and music, those can change, but the major qualities seem to reflect each other.
For example, the archetypes of Zeus and Odin are quite similar, not in their secondary qualities, but in their primary qualities and appearances. Both fought against chaos and were responsible for the universe having the order that it does. Both look quite similar even though their secondary qualities are not the same, they reflect each other.
Personal gnosis is waht makes the Gods apparent to us. We might not get everything right, but the similarities between pantheons is something that's always interested me. I believe that the Gods are universal and that we all recognize them in our own way.
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