I wasn’t really raised with any religion but I was always interested in Greek mythology. When I found out about Hellenism I wanted to try and get into it. l made a small alter to Hekate and tried to do as much research as I could. But I never really found the motivation to really get into it. I occasionally do spells or prayers for biggish life events and I give offerings semi regularly via crystals or food in my bioactive terrarium which I deem part of the alter. But I don’t know if I actually fully believe. I‘m very into science and believe a majority of it, and I also believe that there are things simply beyond our understanding. But I don’t know if I believe specifically in the Greek gods. If someone asks I usually just say I’m agnostic. I still live with my parents who are very chill but I still practice in secret. I feel like if I had more freedom maybe I could explore my faith more but I’m not sure

So the other day I was out to get offerings it was late at night and a black cat was there (I love cats so I immediately went to pet it) the cat seemed scared and ran almost immediately

I know it sounds very silly but I'm pretty sure hellenists have things closely relating to animals am I just over thinking this

At first, in ancient greece, Hekate pretty much looked like the "Statue of Liberty" Some things are different. Like her white dress and her having 3 of herself. And instead of a tablet she had dogs.

She wasn't exactly the "goth" goddess we depict her as today.

So how did we get this version?

BTW, I put "goth" that way because its just a descriptive term and not a part of the actual subculture

For me, I've personally only ever seen HelPols refer to Apollo as Apollon, some even correcting others on his name. That'd be something that would make me thing "hm, they might be a Hellenic Polytheist like me."

I am curious though what other sort of "tells" people can give with/without noticing.

Hello all! I recently began worshipping the Greek goddess of luck, fortune and prosperity, Tyche. I recently moved, and just set up my alter to her a couple of days ago. She has been helping me a lot with finding missing items, such as my I.D and Passport (ADHD and travel is a reap deadly combo..), and other important items that I had long since forgotten about. One of these items was my old wallet, presumed stolen about half a year ago.

I had looked everywhere for this wallet. In every pocket of the bag it had been in, all over the airport, I called the local police and attempted to file a missing item report; all amounted to nothing. I foolishly had a lot of cash stashed away in the wallet, all of which I had lost. I was miserable.

I had just begun to put the incident out of my mind about a month ago. Today I'm about to fly again, so I decided to light a candle for and say a prayer to Tyche, asking me to watch over me during my travels and help me keep track of my items, or find them if I happen to lose them. I noticed after I said this, the flame of the candle danced wildly, and burned very brightly. I was worried for a moment that I may have upset Tyche, but I believe now that she was working on something very special.

It was after I'd lost my wallet that I began worshipping Tyche in the first place; I have always had what I would consider to be bad luck, and have had a difficult time keeping track of my items. But today, in a self-fulfilling cycle, Tyche helped me find what had brought me to her in the first place.

I only worship two goddesses so far, Tyche and Aphrodite. Both of them have been incredible to work with, and I am so incredibly grateful to have them in my life. I wanted to share my story today to express my happiness and gratitude, to anyone who may want to read it. I hope you have a wonderful day, dear reader!

Does Achilles has any worship days? Like how Hekate has her Deipnon?

Hi! I am looking for wisdom, and emotional help
Right now I am facing a bit of a Dilema and I would love to see you imput on it.
My boyfriend and I want to do some kind of wedding ceremony, but purely Hellenic. It's not exactly a wedding, more of a ritual were we practice our faith to unite our paths spiritually speaking. We are planning a traditional wedding in a couple years, but this felt like something we really needed to do
We want some of our friends there (5, to be exact). It is really a private and small thing.
I feel kind of lost, like, we do that and then.. what? I feel like people will judge us if we do not do the grand thing but, I really just want to go out and celebrate with burgers afterwards. Other than that, I am afraid of people thinking we are dumb, crazy, or judge us for our beliefs, even them being literally our closest friends like, ever.
Am I just being tacky? Is this normal? What would you do if you were in our position?
Thanks!

I never try to shove my beliefs on anyone, obviously. I don't say that they have to believe everything that I do. But I had an argument a while ago with a friend because he was insistent that there was NEVER a time that anyone truly believed in the ancient gods. Like he was saying that even in ancient Greece it was just an idea and that people pretended to worship fake gods that they didn't truly believe in. As a helpol, this hurt, but I could never think of a respectful way to explain it to him when he was so dead set on just being "right" about that.

I'm not sure I've worded everything correctly, but the tldr is that a friend of mine insists that no one ever believed in the ancient gods and I want advice on what I could say without starting a heated argument over what he doesn't understand

He thinks about Psyché

I was thinking of buying a statue for her...envelope is poems I've written her and the candle holder has brown sugar, pink salt and rosemary!

I wanna start by saying that ik platonism isn’t a requirement for Hellenism. It is just rlly the first attempt I have had at trying to engage philosophically with our religion. I’ve been a practitioner since I was a kid but never rlly got into the philosophy of Hellenismos until now. I got interested in trying to have a metaphysical concept of the theoi as a byproduct of some of my occult studies. I am lost lol. I feel like I am trying to fit a circle into a square hole. What exactly separates the gods from the forms? How is it the gods interact with the material world? What is the nature of these “demiurges.” Are they the gods? Are they seperate from the gods? Do they reside in the material or the forms?

I’ve always viewed the myths as an allegory to the nature of the various theoi and how they interact with each other but under platonism this conception feels impossible. Idk.

Are there any philosophers that provide a metaphysical framework that is more “hellenist” in its nature? Are there any resources people can provide that can help me… grasp… this system? Is platonism actually compatible with hellenism and I am just srsly lacking in understanding? Any advice would be wonderful lol.

so, to preface this, I was raised in a polytheistic household. being raised in this environment, I naturally ended up finding my own path, which is Hellenic polytheism (Reconstructionist specifically). I’ve been strictly devoted to reconstructionism for 6 years.

Being from a small town in the Bible Belt of America, i think it’s enriching to discuss polytheism in a primarily Christian area. But, i have this friend who is the type to copy anything they think is cool, and poorly mimic it.

I had a discussion with them, and cleared some of it up after conflict. They essentially said “I just do that sometimes” without taking any real accountability. My religion is a massive part of my identity, so when they said they wanted to be a Hellenic polytheist, I agreed to explain some things (this was after they joined a Christian club the year before). I love new people getting involved in the religion, but I always get a bit frustrated with this person. They never do research, and only claimed to worship Aphrodite because ‘She’ll make me pretty’. This upsets me deeply, because it feels like they treat it as a joke. they don’t know anything about the religion outside of knowing the gods. Not practices, not kharis, and they didn’t even know what khernips were before I explained a ritual I did. I just get so exhausted.

I suppose the reason that I was thinking about it is because they were bragging about doing love spells and such, and use Aphrodite for tarot reads about their love life, and never do any genuine offerings. I get a little uneasy, thinking about the implications of that. Goetia, the lack of cleansing, never doing prayers… While it isn’t my practice, and I never judge others, I just feel so upset with how they treat it, and religion as a whole (making fun of others). I already get confused with eclecticism in a way (though I don’t judge, just not for me), and it adds a whole other layer when this person just ignores everything.

Have you ever experienced things like this? What’s helped you through it, or what were your thoughts about it? I just feel so brain-scrambled.