•Delilah Paris •Audhd •any pronouns • the greek gods 🏛️ •fandoms: HP (the marauders), miraculous lb, pjo, Sherlock Holmes
423 posts
i made this a while ago 😭
i'm on vacation so i have more time to do more of mlb social media :DD
i have more of this
ahhhhhhhHHHHjldfkjlfd more cheek holding stop theyre too cute
feel free to reblog w more if there are more examples i missed
also adding these here to keep em all in the same place
also potential angst what if after adrien finds out the truth marinette goes to hold his face and he moves away oop.
Another thing that both Stormy Weather and Climatiqueen share is that while they are both technically the first episode in their seasons, and are supposed to kick off the story, both of which do so well. They are also supposed to show off the animation, especially the fights/battles with the akumas.
The show runners probably already knew, even before announcing it that fans were going to push back at the new animation. It's new, and people have a hard time with change. So they had to go with a story that fans already kinda knew, Aurora gets akumatized into Stormy Weather or variation, Ladybug and Chat Noir come to the scene and save the day (this time with a little help). They used call backs from the original battle, but while in Stormy Weather Ladybug and Chat Noir had only begun working together, whereas in Climatiqueen they've been working together over a year.
My only very small gripe...is that I think this episode would have been a good one to show both Marinette and Adrien's transformation sequence. Because it is the "first" episode it would have been a great away to "introduce" the new suits, even if we already seen it before.
Every clue in every episode of Miraculous S6:
Climatiqueen:
The episode starts with Adrien seeing his social media and he watches a video of Chloe announcing she’s making a contest for her Bee community and whoever wins will get a book made by Max’s mom.
Chloe in this video says something interesting, that she can grant the wishes of everyone, doesn’t that sound familiar? That’s the same way Lila manipulates her akumatized victims as the new holder of the butterfly miraculous.
Chloe also said that Foxes, Turtles, Unicorns, Ponies and especially Ladybugs are not allowed in her contest, meaning she still hates Ladybug for not letting her be Queen Bee anymore.
I think this whole contest was a plan for Lila and Chloe knowing someone would get akumatized because of it, you have 100 people fighting against eachother to try to be the number one, of course someone would get akumatized if they lost or for the desperation of being the best, that’s such a smart move from both Lila and Chloe’s part.
We know that Aurore, the protagonist of this episode, is in Chloe’s competition, she wants to win because she wants that book, so she will do everything it takes to get it. Interesting, right? She starts doing the same thing Vincent does in Revelator, making rumors about Adrien and Marinette’s relationship, and painting Marinette as a posessive bad girlfriend while Adrien is the poor little victim of this relationship, then she gets akumatized and becomes one of the most powerful villains Lila has created, just like Vincent. There are so many coincidences between Vincent and Aurore, using Adrien and Marinette to boost their reputation and gain more followers, doing everything they can so they get likes and views, that’s exactly what Lila needs, and I believe Lila also did this plan with Chloe so she can know who is a great candidate to be on her team.
Aurore when she was talking with Chrysalis she said she actually didn’t care about the book, she only wanted followers and attention, meaning that everything she said and did after being de-akumatized could be a lie.
We see Vincent and Aurore spying on Adrienette in this episode too, who else is spying them in the next episode? Lila.
We also see Sublime at the end of the episode running along with Adrien, I don’t know what this could mean but the fact she just appeared out of nowhere makes me very suspicious. I believe one of Lila’s plans are making Adrien and Marinette break up and Sublime could be part of that scheme being very aware of it or not being aware at all.
Ilustrhater:
This episode starts with Marinette and Alya trying to figure out who is the new “Hawk Moth”, Marinette mentions they know nothing about this person. Well, we actually find out a lot about this new holder in this episode.
She’s spying Adrien and Marinette very hard, we saw Lila two times this episode. The first time is when she rejects/ignores Maya’s drawings and we only see her hand.
The second time is when at the end of the episode, she’s writing in her notebook everything she noticed in Marinette and Adrien’s date and how she will use this against them. We also see her clothes, and she says to herself “You’ll know nothing about me. About us. About them” making it clear she has a team helping her. In the next episode is when we meet Sublime, her family, what it seems to be a guy spying them and we finally see Tomoe again.
She also mentions she’s a chameleon, and that’s actually very interesting, because the first episode of season 3 is called Chameleon, where Marinette almost gets akumatized because of Lila. In this episode the protagonist/the akumatized victim was Maya, a little girl who looks a LOT like Marinette.
Sublimation:
This is probably the episode with the most obvious clues.
Sublimation starts with Marinette spying on Sublime and Adrien running in the morning, so she follows Sublime everywhere to find out her intentions with Adrien. Marinette as Ladybug does something to Sublime, she breaks her prothesis, and that causes Sublime’s mom, Caroline’s akumatization. Marinette does the same thing in Volpina, when Lila arrives to school she already is telling lies and gets very close to Adrien, that makes Marinette freak out so she starts following Lila everywhere, Marinette was so jealous of the fact Lila was hanging out with Adrien and couldn’t take it anymore so she transformed into Ladybug, humillated Lila in front of Adrien exposing her as a Liar, causing Lila to get akumatized.
Everyone who hates or hated Ladybug were once hurt by her: Lila in Volpina, Chloe in Miracle Queen, Sublime’s mom in Sublimaton, I think that’s a clue that Sublime and her family could end up on Lila’s side/team, especially after making a deal with Tomoe who is also against Ladybug.
Tomoe at the end of the episode smiles for some reason after Sublime and her family left her house, meaning she’s planning something and they’re part of her scheme.
We also see someone spying Ladybug and Sublime in her trial, but they don’t look like Lila, they actually look very different from her, this actually looks like a guy, so who could this person be?
I have two options: Nino’s brother, Chris or Vincent Aza.
Let’s start with the most popular theory: Chris
In the episode Timetigger we meet Nino’s brother as a teenager, he gets akumatized by the future holder of the Butterfly Miraculous, in this episode we get the first clue of the new Hawk Moth, said by Chris/Timetigger while talking to Gabriel, saying that he was sent by the Hawk Moth from the future, but he never said it was Gabriel.
At the end of the episode we see Lila babysitting Alya’s little twin sisters and Nino’s little brother. We see how Chris while talking to Lila he develops a small crush for her.
At the end of the season 5 finale, we see how something or someone visited Lila/Cerise, making her feel very scared, many people think it could be Chris especially after seeing a guy with darker skin tone doing the same thing Lila does, stalking.
When I talk about Revelator I will say the reasons Vincent could be this guy and not Chris.
Daddycop:
This episode starts with Sabrina crying because she and Chloe aren’t friends anymore while watching a video of Chloe saying she got betrayed by someone, referring to Sabrina, this whole episode was the build up for the akumatization of Sabrina that at the end didn’t happen.
This may sound insane, but how convenient is that Chloe throws that obvious indirect for Sabrina knowing that she could see it, Sabrina gets all sad and depressed because of it, she’s ignored by everyone in school and what completely breaks Sabrina is that Marinette made her feel horrible after all the things she said to her, so Lila decides to akumatize her? Of course I’m not saying everyone else is involved with this, but it looks like this could have been another plan from Lila and Chloe so Sabrina gets akumatized.
It looks like Lila is going after people who were “hurt” by Marinette or Ladybug so she can akumatize them: Maya (since Marinette ignored her like many others when she wanted to show her drawings), Caroline (Ladybug is the one responsible for what happened to Sublime in Sublimation), Sabrina (Everything Marinette said to her almost got her akumatized), Roger (because her daughter felt bad after everything Marinette said he got akumatized because of it) and Vincent (in his twisted mind, it’s Marinette’s fault he lost all his followers, views and everything he had because Alya, Marinette’s best friend exposed him).
We also get clues from Zoe’s past, when Zoe tells Sabrina in the library that Marinette invited her to the slumber party, Sabrina hugs her and says she’s a great girl just like Marinette, but Zoe feels guilty after Sabrina says this.
At the end of the episode, we met a new character named Ray, who is from Zoe’s old school, he has a secret and pics of Zoe’s and he’s blackmailing her because of it, Zoe doesn’t want this to get out because this would change the perception the others have of her (Ray was also part of Chloe’s competition).
Zoe’s situation is exactly like Marinette’s situation in this season, she has a huge secret she’s keeping from everyone and if this gets out to the public, everyone’s perception of her would change, and Lila knows about it, and she’s planning to use it so everyone turns against Ladybug.
Lila is stalking everyone, not just Marinette, if she finds out about this and knows Ray is blackmailing Zoe, she will use Ray so he gives her Zoe’s secret.
Werepapas:
This episode doesn’t give us any Lila clues but it gives us more information about Adrien’s family:
The episode starts hard with the writers showing us a flashbacks of Emilie with Adrien, it’s very clear that in the “Agreste-Graham” family there has always been a toxic environment, it didn’t started with Gabriel, and that was established in Representation, since Felix’s father was also very abusive.
In the flashback of Emilie she says that her parents don’t love her enough like they love other things and that’s why they never go visit them, after Emilie says this Adrien asks her mom if Gabriel doesn’t love him then, we also get a flashback of kid Adrien at the end of the episode showing us how Gabriel just ignores him when Adrien wants to spend time with him making it clear that Gabriel was always distant with Adrien, it was never because of his mother’s death.
We can see how different Adrien’s grandparents are from both sides, Emilie’s father, Emil, is a very strict man who follows the traditional roles and the family’s traditions, Emil’s behavior is what influenced Gabriel to end up the way he did, being obsessed with power and control exactly like Emil. These two see Milly and Adrien as things, since both Gabriel and Emil are very abusive with them.
Emil wanting to have the twin rings back was symbolism for wanting to control Adrien’s life, exactly how Gabriel used to. But this isn’t about Adrien only, this is also about Milly, who has been under Emil’s control over decades.
The fact Milly got akumatized after being so done of Emil’s abusive behavior is a reference of all the times Adrien got akumatized because he was in Gabriel’s control.
Ladybug destroyed the akumatized object that was the twin rings, the weird thing is that there was no amok in the rings, only the akuma, what could this mean? Those are not the real rings, someone else has the actual ones.
(I don’t believe anything Thomas is saying).
Revelator:
This episode starts with Vincent, who is a character that was first introduced to us in season 1 as a stalker fanboy of Jagget Stone and he got akumatized.
In this episode he makes fake rumors about Adrien and Marinette’s relationship, but he’s especially trying to ruin Marinette’s reputation while talking good things about Chloe. I believe Chloe was involved in everything that happened in this episode, especially after the pics of Marinetee’s with drawings on her face that Vincent posted reminded me a lot of when Chloe did the same thing in a drawing of Marinette that Nathaniel did back in Evillustrator.
It’s also revealed he’s being sponsored by Tomoe, which it’s interesting how characters like Chloe and Tomoe who hate or are against Ladybug are related to him.
He also tries to paint Gabriel Agreste as the real hero who saved Paris from Monarch and not Ladybug, this not only cleans Gabriel’s image, but it cleans Tomoe’s as well. He is exposed for being a liar by Alya, Marinette's best friend, and thanks to this, he loses everything he had once, getting akumatized into Revelator, who’s funtion is to reveal everyone’s secrets.
There’s this girl in the episode who starts yelling at Adrien and Marinette when they arrive to the cinema, this girl is wearing the same clothes Lila wore in Ilustrhater, and in the French dub the same voice actress of Lila plays this girl as well. This girl was waiting for them to get in the Cinema to start telling them stuff so this wasn’t out of nowhere, it was all planned.
We also got many clues about Chat Blanc:
Ladybug getting an eraser as a Lucky Charm in this episode exactly like in Chat Blanc.
Chat Noir got a power up in this episode that is similar to a mega cataclysm he made as Chat Blanc.
The Ice Cream Adrien and Marinette ate in Revelator having the same color scheme like Chat Blanc (which Sublime also holds in the endcard of Sublimation).
All of these are clues about what could happen when Adrien finds out the whole truth, losing the control over his emotions and becoming an easy pray for Lila.
Vincent’s skills of manipulating the public and his connections to someone as powerful as Tomoe makes him have the potential to be a great help to Tomoe and Lila in their plans, plus as an akumatized villain he is very powerful villain, shown in both Pixelator and Revelator.
He is desperate to get back to having the following and popularity he used to have, he would do anything to get it back, that would mean doing everything Tomoe or Lila ask him to do.
He could be the guy we saw spying on Sublime and her family in Sublimation, writing down any useful information about them that can be used against Ladybug.
Maybe that's why Tomoe was smiling, because Vincent told her everything he wrote, that's why she was interested in sponsoring them.
Lila needs someone to be able to spread all the lies Ladybug told with proof, and Vincent is desperate to get back everything he lost, so he wouldn't refuse to post something as juicy like everything Ladybug is hiding.
Since the season started, the people in the Miraculous universe are portraying Marinette as a bad influence for Adrien, making her the villain of Adrien’s life. Revelator is the most obvious example of what I’m talking about but the whole season keeps that theme, making Marinette do poor choices to the point her own Lucky Charm called her a villain, I believe all of this is foreshadowing of how the public will react when Lila reveals everything, or if Marinette gets akumatized, or both.
What I find interesting about Adrien's new room is not only how empty it is (duh), but that we know thanks to episode 5, Werepapas, that Adrien's old room very much is still there and fully furnished:
And mind you, its even more colorful of a kid's dream bedroom as before. On its own, there is nothing here that visually implies that the problem is that Adrien wasn't allowed to express himself in his room whatsoever. Even if there were limitations, he clearly got to break free from the colorless museum that was the Agreste Mansion.
So clearly, that's not the main problem at hand.
And this comes with interesting implications, especially because Werepapas also confirms to us that the Agreste Mansion having a new design is not just a thing we are supposed to accept as it is now because of the new story arc and art style (the way we are most likely supposed to not question why Marinette's home looks different). The flashback explicitly shows the Mansion in its old design while in the present time it's in the new design (I don't have ideal images to show that off right now, sorry):
So the Mansion having been renovated happened for real in the story. It's diegetic.
BUT, we already saw that Gabriel's office hasn't been changed, same as Emilie's old room:
These are all information we got thanks to "Werepapas" and it puts the ending of "Climatiqueen" into perspective when Adrien avoids going home and instead starts running away because that's what feels right to him in that moment:
It all amounts to what I can't imagine as anything else but immense pressure to deal with your grief while also getting no fraction of closure with eveything awful that happened to you in that home because that very home was your prison and now.. changed... but not entirely because all the main rooms that caused you so much pain are still there, but it's muddy because you don't know how to feel about anything, especially because they are now all that's left feeling FAMILIAR in your home, so no shit you're drawn to them:
I gotta be honest. The way the Mansion is being shown as this mixture of completely new and everything painful still being there as mementos already hurts me as a viewer. I can't imagine what Adrien must be feeling.
And that manifests best in his rooms. Cause, yeah, it's not just A room Adrien can't decide on, he has TWO rooms because he's that conflicted:
Clearly part of him WANTS to start anew and forget the pain of his old room by moving into a new one, but at the same time, Adrien's old room is still THERE. Untouched. He can go back there anytime and how often or little as he likes.
Adrien's new room isn't furnished yet and of course the first instinct is to say "well, Adrien is a blank slate right now, he has to figure out what he even wants!" and that's not wrong,
But I do wanna raise the question of if Adrien truly WANTS to leave his old room or if he isn't just forced to live in a home right now where it's impossible for him to get closure with the past and move on from his pain to make something better out of it, so he tries to avoid everything as much as possible while also CHANGING as little as possible.
He wants a new room but can't bring himself to even relocate his bed because that would mean he officially moved out of his old room. And that would be yet another big change on top of everything else already.
Or does he even want a whole new room in first place or is his home just such a merciless mixture of unfamiliar new and painful old memories that he can't turn his old room into something new the way he would rather prefer?
Because he wants SOMETHING new, thats clear. But his home changed so much too after everything he already lost that he's not ready to change his old room as well, so he tries to preserve it cause that's all he can do to hold onto some of the past to retain some familiarity he can hold onto, even if it means he can't actually LIVE in the room he wants right now?
Or does he genuinely not want to ever go back into his old room, but he isn't allowed to make peace with the past and that keeps him from dissembling his old room because then it would truly feel like he lost pretty much his entire childhood home on top of everything else in such a short span of time?
Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with people's instinct being "Adrien's room is empty because she doesn't now yet what he wants". But the way Adrien literally runs away from his home at the end of episode 1 because it feels natural to him to avoid going inside is a bit more than just "Adrien doesn't know what he wants".
That house is a mixture of unfamiliar shiny new and painful memories attached to everything old that remained, and no one gives him the information he needs to deal with ANY of that because it would make THEM uncomfortable to face his feelings and that's deemed more important apparently.
I sure as fuck would be running too
Good to know the decades of fanfictions that portrayed Adrien as aggressively conflict avoidant and emotionally repressive were 100% spot on. Nice to know his first instinct when handling his feelings alone is indeed to run away. So happy he's a mentally stable and healthy boy 100% don't question it.
"Are you even watching the show?" Yes, sadly, but you clearly aren't!
> be felix graham
> be the reason Monarch exists in the first place
> help directly defeat him by....
Wait, how did he help defeat him?
Update! Luigi's Attorney Dickey confirms that his "outburst" where he tells the cameras that this is unjust, was because he was never read his miranda rights and was under the impression at that time that he was being denied the right to a fair trial, an attorney, or any legal representation.
He is angry and terrified in that footage because they have failed to follow basic procedure to inform him that he has any rights at all. This is a major red flag of police corruption. This is UNACCEPTABLE and further means any interrogation they did of him is unlawful, and inadmissible in court.
it’s 2028. trump is dead. elon is dead. zuckerberg is dead bezos is dead they’re all dead
I’ve been wanting to make a post on the Attic Calendar, which was the lunisolar of Athens. Despite the numerous resources available, our knowledge of it still remains patchy due to the fact that since it wasn’t used outside of Athens, no one really bothered to make an extensive examination of it. I’ll try to explain the calendar as best as I can, and in a future post, I’ll try to cover every festival I can (Including Roman and non-Athenian festivals).
Before we discuss the months, it is quintessential to learn these three very important dates. Despite what I’ve seen from others, the new moon does not correlate with Noumenia. The Noumenia takes place 2 days after the new moon. This is because the Noumenia was marked when the first sliver of the moon was able to be seen.
“Ok, but why should we know about the Noumenia and Hekate’s Deipnon?”
Well, the Noumenia was the start of an Attic month. Hekate’s Deipnon was the end of the Attic month. I’ll explain the importance of these dates.
The day right after the new moon, Hekate’s Deipnon, also simply just called the Deipnon, was a meal served to Hekate. It was believed that on this day, Hekate called upon the restless spirits of the Underworld to roam the living world for a night. Because of this, it was incredibly unlucky to leave the house during the night hours.
To appease them, the Athenians would lay out a meal at a crossroads (typically in front of the doorway), as the crossroad is sacred to Hekate. This was done to purify the household of misdeeds and to return favor with Hekate. The Athenian would not look back on the offering, due to believing the spirits would be angry with them doing so. This meal typically consisted of raw eggs, cakes, loaves, fish, garlic, leeks, and/or onions. Incense was also lit.
This also had a secondary purpose, of which was feeding the poor. It was believed that Hekate encouraged the poor to eat the food laid out by the rich Athenians:
“From her (Hekate) one may learn whether it is better to be rich or to go hungry. For she says that those who have and who are wealthy should send her a dinner each month, but that the poor among mankind should snatch it before they put it down.’ For it was customary for the rich to offer loaves and other things to Hekate each month, and for the poor to take from them.“ - Aristophanes in the Suda,(Suda Epsilon 363, C10th CE, trans. W. Hutton)
If the household felt they were polluted, each member would touch a dog and put all their misdeeds onto it, and they would sacrifice the dog to Hekate. This is unfathomable nowadays, and in modern practice the sweeping and cleaning of the house should work just fine. (This is also when you should clean out the kathiskos made in honor of Zeus Ktesios)
In summary, the day was used to appease restless spirits and to purify the house before the new month begins.
The Noumenia was the first day of the Attic month, and the second day after the new moon. Household deities were honored and worshiped on this day, but also including Selene and Apollo Noumenios.
This was a day of relaxation and no work, considered the “holiest of days” by Plutarch. No festivals were allowed to take place during the Noumenia. Frankincense, wine, flower garlands, and barley cakes were common offerings during the Noumenia.
You got the Noumenia and Hekate’s Deipnon down? Good, because there’s actually more. The first couple days of each month was holy to a specific God. The 1st day was for the Noumenia, 2nd day was for the Agathos Daimon, 3rd day was for Athena, 4th day was for Aphrodite, Herakles, Eros, and Hermes, 5th day was considered very unlucky so no Gods had a holy day there (except for the Erinyes and Eris), 6th day was for Artemis, 7th day was for Apollo, 8th day was for Poseidon and Theseus, and the 9th day was for Rhea, Helios, and the Muses.
The final thing we need to talk about before we even get to the months is the years. Every 4 years completed an Olympiad, which was used to determine the Olympic games. Each different year in a Olympiad was generally the same, though some festivals could only be on a specific year. Some years also had an additional month (it was unclear which month would be duplicated, but nowadays we always duplicate the month of Poseidon) in order to keep the lunar dates in line with the solar dates. For example, this year (2020 before the Athenian New Year) is the 3rd year of the 699th Olympiad. This means in 2021, it will be the 700th Olympiad, which is quite rare since every 100 Olympiads is 400 years!
Whew. Time to finally talk about the months!
Hekatombaion was the first month in the Attic calendar. It always took place after the first new moon of the summer solstice. (This was how they kept the calendar in tune with the seasons; it was necessary to do so since Greece has very pronounced seasons). It generally correlates to July and August.
Hekatombaion 1st was the Athenian New Year, but unlike in the modern day, it was of very little importance to the regular Athenian. The actual new year festivities would take place during the Panathenaea, which took place later in the month.
This month would also host the Kronia and Synoikia.
Metageitnion was the second month. It generally correlates to August and September.
This month hosted the Eleusinia (NOT related to the Eleusinian Mysteries) and the Herakleia.
Boedromion was the third month. It generally correlates to September and October.
This month hosted the Niketeria, Genesia, the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries.
Pyanepsion was the fourth month. It generally correlates to October and November.
This month hosted the Proerosia, Pyanepsia, Oskhophoria, Theseia, Stenia, Thesmophoria, Apatouria, and Khalkeia.
Maimakterion was the fifth month. It generally correlates to November and December.
This month hosted the Pompaia.
Poseidon was the sixth month. It was also the month duplicated if need be, resulting in the month Poseidon-2, but it is unclear if any festivals were repeated or if there was any new festivals for it. It generally correlates to December and January.
This month hosted the Poseidea, Plerosia, Lesser Dionysia, and Haloa.
Gamelion was the seventh month. It generally correlates to January and February.
This month hosted the Lenaia and the Theogamia.
Anthesterion was the eighth month. It generally correlates to February and March.
This month hosted the Anthesteria, the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, and the Diasia.
Elaphebolion was the ninth month. It generally correlates to March and April.
This month hosted the Elaphebolia, Asklepia, Greater Dionysia, and Pandia.
Mounukhion was the tenth month. It generally correlates to April and May.
This month hosted the Delphinia, Mounukhia,and the Olympeia.
Thargelion was the eleventh month. It generally correlates to May and June.
This month hosted the Thargelia, Bendideia, Kallynteria, and Plynteria.
Skirophorion was the twelfth and final month. It generally correlates to June and July.
This month hosted the Arrephoria, Skira, and Dipolieia/Bouphonia.
Hellenion is pretty amazing for this, here is 2020. It has links to each festival with further explanations too. HMEPA is also great as you can go through really every year. Here’s the link to it.
Hope you enjoyed! On the Athenian New Year I plan to release a wave of posts for each month (in the Gregorian months) for all festivals (including Roman and non-Athenian) with details and how to do them. Thanks for reading!
Tiktok is probably one of THE WORST places to learn about REAL hellenic polytheism because it is rampant with misinformation and most creators are only interested in views and parroting misinformation THEY heard. Yes there are some great and informative creators on there to learn about the hellenic gods but they are far and few in-between.
INSTEAD if you're new to the religion and have no clue where to start researching/learning, here are a few phenomenal creators on here with wonderful and informative posts!
@wisdom-devotee has an amazing guide for starting out in hellenic polytheism
@seasaltdevotion also recently made a fantastic post on resources for starting out
@crazycatsiren has a SUPER long list of resources and research material
@khaire-traveler has possibly the greatest list on subtle deity worship for just about every god
Please actually learn from those of us that truly love and covet this religion and spread information that will truly benefit you.
offerings that are made by hand >>>>
Classics students are the most fucking insufferable people. You make one reference to mythology, and they jump on you like a pack of wolves, looking for one mistake that they can correct. If you tell them you like a myth retelling, they automatically tell you how horrible the research/characterization was. And God help you if you mention an Ovidism or some other Roman interpretation of myth and say it's actually how the Greeks thought.
-me about myself, a classics student
what do i do with food offerings? How long do i leave them out? Taking it away immediately feels wrong but i dont want mold
I have answered this before, but the answers are all in amongst a bunch of other questions, so I’m going to try to make this one more focused and detailed
It depends on the deity. There’s two categories when it comes to this — ouranic (heavenly, basically anyone not of the underworld) and chthonic (underworld). Additionally, food offerings to heroes would fall under the chthonic category in my opinion, since they’re dead.
When it comes to deities who have both ouranic and chthonic aspects (Hermes being the main one people think of for that, but also Persephone and Melinoë, and even Zeus) I’d say it depends on which epithet/aspect you’re offering to. If you’re offering to the deity’s chthonic side, do it the chthonic way. If not, do it ouranically. For Persephone, though, you could also do it depending on season/time of year as that dictates whether she is in the underworld or not at the time of your offering.
Now into why it actually matters.
You can eat offerings to ouranic deities. You can’t eat offerings to chthonic ones. The ‘why’ is not something I’m completely sure on, just that that’s the way it is. However my bestie did suggest this last time I mentioned not knowing why:
@under-their-light hi, I love you
With ouranic deities, I always eat it. I see it as sharing food with my deity. I pray before I do it, saying the following:
“With the first and last to Lady Hestia, and a portion to Father Zeus, <name + epithet of the deity I’m specially offering to>, this <name of food> is for you. Take your fill, and I’ll eat the rest.”
You don’t have to say it like that, but I think this nicely covers all the bases and it works for me. Let me break down the structure.
Hestia is historically first and last in (ouranic) food offerings from what I’ve heard, due to her being the first to be eaten by Cronos and the last to be set free. This would be especially important if the food you’re offering is homemade, id imagine. I’ve also heard that a portion of all food offerings goes to Zeus, which is why he is included also.
Then I say the name of the deity I’m specifically offering to, as they can hear us when we say their names, and if I’ve a specific reason for the food offering, there’s usually a specific epithet to go along with that, so that would be added here. If I’m just offering food for the sake of it, which is most of the time (if I want something in return I tend to gravitate towards non-food offerings) then I will still use an epithet purely to make it sound more refined, but I’ll use a poetic one instead of a cult one, so that I’m complimenting the deity, not calling on a specific domain.
Then I tell them what I’m offering.
The ‘take your fill and I’ll eat the rest’ also comes from my aforementioned bestie and it’s been really helpful in making me feel more confident about it as I’m informing the deity that I am sharing it with them, so it doesn’t feel like I’m just rudely eating the thing I just gave them.
All this to say, you don’t HAVE to eat the food from an ouranic deity, but I find it to be the easiest method as I don’t have to worry about how long to leave it on an altar, and I don’t have to worry about ‘wasting’ food, or feel bad when I do eventually dispose of it.
So, onto chthonic. We can’t eat food to chthonic deities. I also have a massive thing about throwing food away. I know if it’s offered to a deity it isn’t technically waste, but it still feels wasteful. So I offer food a LOT less to my heroes and chthonic deities, I must admit.
But I still do it. And that’s by offering food that I know won’t get eaten. Leftovers of a meal? Offer them to a chthonic deity or to a hero. Something will go out of date before I have the chance to eat it? They can have it. Someone didn’t finish eating something that they’d never tried before because they didn’t like it? Offer it to a deity. Ran out of time to eat a thing while on my break and I can’t take it with me? My gods can have it. There’s almost endless scenarios. It actually LESSENS any guilt about wasting food, because it’s not getting eaten anyway, so at least they can have it.
This is also the same for libations (liquid offerings) you can drink to ouranic but not to chthonic. Pour it on the floor for chthonic deities (you can do this for ouranic too, but again, I usually don’t waste it if I have the opportunity not to)
If you didn’t want to eat them for the ouranic deities, I’d say my only rule for how long to leave something on an altar is ‘don’t let it rot’. Leave it out as long as you want, as long as it remains hygienic. And when you do decide to throw it out, inform your deities that’s what you’re doing.
Having a forty-hour work week, I don't often get time to sit down and actually put in the work to worship and work with my deities. Luckily, deities are very forgiving. However, I do worship my deities in subtle ways without thinking. Here is my list for my matron, Queen Hera:
wearing my favorite perfumes; my current favorites are The Good Scent's Red Velvet and YSL's Opium Over Red
wearing clothes that make me feel badass and feminine to work; there's nothing like honoring a queen while feeling like a queen
reading a romance novel; Her domain is marriage, after all, and that often involves love (plus, I am a sucker for a good romance novel)
using my peacock feather water bottle (I collect water bottles for the sole purpose of drinking more water, and when I saw a bottle with a peacock topper and peacock feathers all around it, it had to be mine)
taking care of my body and listening to it's needs; this is a new one for me, but learning to take care of my body in a healthy manner is of the utmost importance
listening to podcasts about femininity and growing as a woman; part of my work with Queen Hera is connecting with my femininity and womanhood, and I am so honored that She is my guide!
this may be stupid, but reminding my boyfriend that I love him and that one day, I cannot wait to marry him
reminding Her that I am eternally grateful for Her; this may also be dumb, but our deities deserve to know they are loved for all that they give us!
this may be unpopular, but revering Her husband, King Zeus; to me, much like King Hades and Queen Persephone, they are a package deal--you may work with one, but the other deserves the utmost respect, too
Hey *hand on shoulder* you know that Greece, along with most of the balkan countries, has been under ottoman turkish rule for more than 400 years? You know that Greece today has many economic problems today, despite it's history being rich?
You know that Greece is very prone to forest fires and natural disasters?
Also, do you know that Greece, along with Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Montenegro... They are all protesting against corruption, and no one talked about it.
You talk about wanting to have temples to worship in modern day, but you don't care about the land that those temples would be built on?
Greece may be an Orthodox Christian country. But trust me, the gods are still very much living there. Their spirit is still there. Poseidon is still ruling the waves, Zeus is still watching over in the sky, Demeter is taking care of the crops.
All i am asking is... Spread awareness. I am saying this on behalf of my greek friend, firstly, who has complained to me about their issues not being heard. LEARN HISTORY. STUDY CURRENT WORLD EVENTS. SEND LOVE TO THE LAND OF GREECE, WHO HAS ENDURED GREAT HARDSHIPS.
Im gonna be so real can yall actually talk about ways we can support trans women in the UK instead of giving all the attention to fucking JKR. I already know that Harry Poter sucks, I wanna know how to actually HELP people. Something something you have to love the oppressed more than you hate the oppressor
This is such a good post
I KNOW this is a really long post but my intention was to just note down everything that I think is important for beginners and that’s A LOT. It took me forever to learn some of these things but they’re so important, so buckle in. I hope this helps some people.
If I’ve missed anything, please feel free to let me know what you’d like me to add. I’ve been working on this for two days, so if there are typos, I’m so sorry.
The sections I cover here are key terms, mythic literalism, deity work vs deity worship, FAQs and General Advice.
Hellenic Polytheism: Hellenic means Greek, and Polytheism means worshipping multiple gods. So, Hellenic Polytheism is the worship of the Greek Pantheon which is also referred to as the Theoi. The people who practice could be referred to as Hellenic Polytheists. Some also call themselves Hellenic Pagans, but not all people who practice Hellenic Polytheism consider themselves pagan.
Hellenistic: you may see the term ‘Hellenistic Polytheism’, but this is my PSA to ask people not to use that, as it’s incorrect. Hellenistic refers to a specific period of Andient Greece, from 323-32 BC, and your worship is almost definitely not specifically focused on that period. Additionally, here is a post by a Greek person on why ‘Hellenism’ and ‘hellenismos’ are disrespectful.
Ouranic: this is the term for the heavenly gods. Be aware that there is some overlap between Ouranic and Chthonic deities. Whether a deity is Ouranic or Chthonic will effect things like prayer position (palms up for Ouranic) and whether offerings can be eaten or drank (yes for Ouranic)
Chthonic: this is the term for the underworld gods. Be aware that there is some overlap between Ouranic and Chthonic deities. Whether a deity is Ouranic or Chthonic will effect things like prayer position (palms down for Chthonic) and whether offerings can be eaten or drank (no for Chthonic) side note - when it comes to hero worship, I personally treat them as if they’re chthonic.
Kharis: this means reciprocity, and also refers to the relationship formed between us and the gods. Arguably the most important aspect of Hellenic Polytheism is that when you ask something of a deity, you must give an offering in return. Size of what you’re asking for should correspond to size of the offering, or if you’ve given many little offerings without asking for anything you can use that as why you should be given the Big Thing.
Xenia: guest-friendship, hospitality. The idea that any stranger could be a God in disguise, so treat everyone respectfully. It’s an Ancient Greek social custom that a lot of Hellenic Polytheists see as important today. Simply put, in modern times this most often just means being kind to strangers. There’s a lot more to it than that though, so look here. Know that Xenia is a two-way thing, so you have to be generous to your guests but they must also respect your home.
Eusebeia: basically, piety. Respecting the Gods. This is really the only ‘rule’ of Hellenic polytheism. There’ll be different ideas of what is considered respectful, but as long as you have good intentions and don’t do anything you KNOW would be offensive, you’re okay. Don’t insult the gods (any of them), don’t ask for anything without offering something else, and don’t treat yourself as equal to or higher than the theoi.
Hubris: excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often the fatal flaw of a lot of Greek heroes in mythology. Specifically, this is when you act better than or equal to the gods. You are not.
Libations: a type of offering, in the form of a liquid. Usually poured on the ground but can be drank (unless it’s to a chthonic deity) if you’re a closeted Hellenic polytheist who can’t just pour some liquid on the floor every time you want to offer it. My advice for food offerings/libations to chthonic deities if you’re not openly a hellenist is to offer leftovers, rotting food, or something you otherwise know will go to waste.
Altar: traditionally a place used to put physical offerings and food offerings for deities. Some people have an altar to each deity, some people have one altar for all their deities. These can be as big or as small as you want. People may use shelves, drawers, boxes, windowsills, etc, and I don’t even use mine for food offerings, only for physical ones because I usually eat the food offering (I don’t like the idea of wasting food). My altars also just serve as a dedicated space for that deity in my life.
Hero worship: this is the worship of ‘heroes’ in Greek mythology, which includes literally any mortal. For example, I worship Odysseus of Ithaca, Penelope of Ithaca, Helen of Sparta, and Tiresias of Thebes. I’ve been asked a lot about how hero worship differs from deity worship, and you can find that answer here.
Devotee: there is a lot of disagreement on what the difference between a devotee and worshipper is, but for me, I’m devoted to Athena as I feel I have the closest bond with Her of all my deities and I honour Her the most. This partly comes from my feeling that She has been with me for much longer than I’ve been aware of Her presence, and that also so much of who I am and what I value comes under Her domains.
Patron: this basically means that if part of your identity comes under the domain of a deity, then that deity is your patron. There can be occupational patrons (like Hermes is the patron of merchants) or to do with things like gender (Hera is a patron for women. Yes this includes trans women, transphobes are not welcome here.) You can have more than one patron, and you don’t need to worship all of the deities who would be considered your patron.
Epithets: these are titles given to deities. There are two types - cult epithets, which describe the aspect of a deity you’re focusing on (like Athena Ageleia, meaning ‘Protector of the People’) since they have a lot of domains and it’s important in prayers to specify what you want. Then there’s poetic epithets, which are adjectives, often used to compliment a deity. I like using these to make my prayers seem more sophisticated to be honest (example: white-armed Hera)
Unverified Personal Gnosis: gnosis is spiritual knowledge. If it’s unverified, that means that it has no basis in historical sources as far as the person is aware, and they don’t know anybody else who has the same experience. You will often see this abbreviated as UPG. Personally, I think UPG is really valid, considering a lot of things are unknown to us due to the loss of sources overtime.
Shared Personal Gnosis: gnosis is spiritual knowledge. Like UPG, Shared Personal Gnosis (often abbreviated as SPG) doesn’t have any historical backing as far as the people who believe it are aware, but it is shared by multiple different people and therefore seen by some as more valid than UPG (though I’d argue that all SPG is UPG before you know that other people agree)
Verified Personal Gnosis: gnosis is spiritual knowledge. It being verified means that there are historical sources to back up the belief, and this is commonly abbreviated to VPG. You are more likely to come across the terms UPG than SPG or VPG, and most of what Helpol people on tumblr discuss is UPG, even if they don’t state that directly.
Reconstructionist: these are people who try to ‘reconstruct’ the ancient religion, recreating ancient rituals as best they can and doing things as close as they can get to how the ancient Greeks did based on our historical sources. An important note here is that we will never be able to do this perfectly and that’s okay. When it comes to things like animal sacrifices, most of us outside of agricultural areas almost definitely don’t have the means to be doing that properly, but you can use symbolism in place of a real animal, an example an anon gave me is cutting bread into animal shapes
Revivalist: these are people who try to recreate the ‘spirit’ of the religion, though not with the exact practices that the Ancient Greeks used. Revivalists are more concerned with the values and beliefs of the ancient religion than they necessarily are with how it was practiced. I personally feel like I fall somewhere between the two, but I also think both are really valid!
Mythic Literalism is the debate in modern Hellenic Polytheism about whether or not the myths should be taken literally — and it’s common in Helpol spades online to say that the answer is ‘no, they’re metaphorical’. But I’d actually argue that they are.
Think of the Epics like the Iliad and the Odyssey — these begin with invoking the muses, goddess of inspiration said to have perfect memory. These goddesses know every event that has ever happened and are believed to guide and speak through the poets as they recite the myths, which means that they would be reciting history. That suggests the myths happened.
This isn’t ignoring the fact there are cultural reasons behind the myths and that parts of exist to them fulfil specific functions of that god or have parts of the world that they’re trying to explain.
For example, the myth of Hades kidnapping Persephone fulfils an aspect of Hades and has a cultural aspect about marriage in Ancient Greek society. First, it’s one of the myths we have of a youth being taken too soon by death (think Apollo and Hyacinthus, Zeus and Ganymedes, Thetis and Achilles, maybe even Castor and Pollux) and the grief that causes, Hades role being of the underworld. But also in terms of Greek society it was reflective of mothers losing their daughters to marriage, too. Both these things coexist in the ‘meaning’ of the myth; but just because it has metaphors, doesn’t mean it wasn’t believed to have happened. The Greeks did view their myths as having happened.
Zeus has so many children and so many affairs and rape myths, not because it’s just a metaphor and he didn’t actually do any of that, but because he’s a male fertility god, and he’s the god of kinds, and kings do abuse their power.
The Greek gods exist as how the world is, not how we want it to be or how it should be. Take Hera, for example — she doesn’t align with the passive and idealised wives described in things like Xenophon’s Economics, but is instead how women are. Real women get angry when their husbands are awful to them, so Hera, Goddess of Women, can be angry.
It’s good to learn the ways in which these deities were understood and what their domains can represent. Myths also help us to feel more familiar with our deities. Additionally the myths tell us not to be hubristic, and things like the Iliad tell us about Oaths and Offerings and Xenia. These are important parts of helpol.
I understand the want to disregard some of the more distasteful myths that depict things not only distasteful now but that would’ve even been viewed as wrong IN antiquity. But the Greek gods are not supposed to be perfect by human standards of morals. They have good and bad aspects based on their domains.
I’m going to preface this section by saying that I worship deities, I don’t work with them, so even though I’m doing research on this please take everything I say about deity work with a grain of salt and note that the rest of this post might apply more to worship, because that’s what I’m familiar with. Lastly, my intention here is not to place a value judgement on either type, I just want to try and make a full explanation for anyone out there looking for one, since I’ve found it to be kind of difficult to find.
From my understanding, deity work is common among witches, and usually involves asking a deity to help with your spells or other forms of magick. When you work with a deity, you are asking them to mentor you in a sense, and there’s often a specific goal in mind that they’re hoping to achieve with help of the deity. Additionally, because of that goal-oriented relationship, deity work has deadlines(?). Like, once you’ve achieved the goal you had, the deity will stop working with you
There are similarities, as both seem to involve reciprocity and offerings, and both involve cultivating a relationship with deities, even if the nature of that relationship and the reason for offering is different.
Deity worship doesn’t have a set end-goal. You CAN stop actively worshipping a deity, but this doesn’t usually come after a specific goal is achieved because there isn’t a goal in mind. Worship is more about honouring the deity. Khakis is built out of admiration, respect and love for the deity. This is why we pray, make offerings, etc. it’s all to honour the gods. We do ask for things in deity worship, but that’s not the entire point like it is for deity work.
Do I need to be called to worship/work with a deity?
Nope! You are 100% allowed to reach out first. You can do that by praying or making an offering. Remember to research the deity first, so you know what epithets to use, know what symbols they’re associated with, have ideas for offerings, etc. Also, if a deity calls to you, you are not obligated to worship them. Acknowledge them and move on if you don’t have time, energy, or interest in worshipping them at that time.
Where can I find information on deities?
The main site that I think everyone uses is theoi.com, which has really in-depth pages on a lot of deities, with their myths, lists of epithets, family trees, etc. it’s a really useful resource!
Do I need an altar?
No. They’re nice to have but you don’t need one straight away. It took me two years of worshipping to get any altars, and even now I don’t really use them how you’re ‘supposed’ to.
Are there any sins in Hellenic Polytheism?
No, just don’t disrespect a god (don’t disrespect any of them, even the ones you don’t worship should be respected). Also don’t show hubris.
Deity X and Deity Y don’t get along, but I want to worship both, what do I do?
Disregard mythic literalism and remember this is a polytheistic religion. The gods know they are not the only god you will be worshipping, and they are chill with that. If you really want, you can separate their altars if you have an altar per deity, but it’s up to you completely.
This post is a starting point, nothing here is very in-depth. Do more research if anything on here is still confusing to you. Feel free to ask people here on tumblr, I’m sure most of us would be happy to help.
Don’t believe everything you see on tiktok/tumblr. We’re all still learning, a lot of us are wrong about stuff. Do other research and let yourself form your own beliefs. As I’ve said, even parts of this post should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m no expert, I just want to try to help.
If you’re going to make your own posts about helpol stuff, advice I’ve seen before that really stuck with me is ‘keep some things scared’. You don’t have to post everything. I, at the moment, don’t post my prayers or photos of my altars. Those things are what I keep scared, you should have your own things. They don’t have to be the same as mine.
You have nothing to be afraid of. The gods can be intimidating when you’re starting out, but they know we don’t have as much readily available information about this stuff as the ancient greeks did. They also know you’re new, and they will be patient with you. Don’t be scared.
You can offer anything. Digital offerings are as valid as physical offerings. Devotional acts are valid too.
Know that you will never be done learning. Accept this and commit to trying to learn anyway.
Know how to tell signs from the gods apart from just General Happenings of the world. Here is a good post on that. I have a series on my blog tagged #signs from deities, to show the kinds of things I personally recognise to be signs and to show how frequently/infrequently those can occur. I would suggest keeping your own record of those, whether or not you share it is up to you. The reason is to reflect on your journey and, if you ever doubt your gods, you can look at those lists to remind yourself of how they’ve been there for you previously.
Doubt is healthy, it’s okay to doubt things. Don’t feel bad for this, the gods understand. Let yourself question everything you feel the need to question.
Similarly, anger is healthy. It’s okay to be angry at the gods, but don’t disrespect them because you’re upset. Handle your anger well. You won’t get punished for being upset.
The Hellenic Gods aren’t generally believed to be all-knowing, however it is believed that they can hear us when we call their names, which is why prayers start with invocation of a deity’s name and an epithet.
Hello! Do you (and other Greeks) find "Hellenic polytheism" an acceptable term for the religion worshipping the ancient Greek gods? If not, what would you want people to call it instead? I feel strongly that I would not be able to change my belief itself, but I definitely want to be respectful in what I call it and my other actions
Hellenic Polytheism should be fine. You can introduce yourself as a Hellenic Polytheist.
People have a bit of a hard time with this hell of terms (get it? he he), so I am gonna create a mini-lexicon. It's not targeted to you in specific to use all these, it's just for whoever is interested to clear this up in their minds.
A very hellenic lexicon
Hellás = 1) the official term for Greece and the only one ever used by Greeks themselves (there is no equivalent of "Greece" in Greek), 2) a historical ancient region in central mainland Greece where southeast Epirus and southwestern Thessaly meet and where a lot of Achilles' soldiers supposedly originated from, 3) the administrative region of central mainland Greece during the Byzantine Empire
Hellenic = anything Greek (like you may say "this is an american movie", that's why you can use hellenic polytheism, because it means "greek religion of many gods"). And by anything Greek, we mean ANYTHING. Care to know what the "Greek Orthodox Church" is called in Greek?
You guessed it! Hellenic Orthodox Church...! So you see, how when foreigners say some things like "i'm hellenic, hellene, hellenist" like "what hellenic are you? coffee? bank? Christian?" You know?
Hellen = the mythological progenitor of the Greeks according to Hesiod. Not to be confused with Helen.
Héllene = a Greek by descent, nationality and / or ethnicity. And if we are being totally accurate, it's a Greek male. I don't actually know how it is pronounced in English but ideally keep the last e silent. (By the way we do not pronounce that h in the beginning in all these words for the last 1500 years or so.... just saying.)
Héllenes = the Greeks, just men or mixed. The last e is NOT silent.
English does not have gendered nouns but Greek does so technically there is a seperate word for Greek women but I don't know if this is transferable to English. If we could do it in theory and by following the trasliteration style of the Hellene, it should be something like:
*Hellenís / Hellenidae or Hellenides = Greek woman / women*
Hopefully this explains why random foreigners identifying as "Hellenes" is exremely problematic.
Helladic = pertaining to the geography and territory of Hellas and whatever happens strictly within its borders
Hellenisation = spread of Greek influence and culture, it is also used for cases of Greek assimilation in ancient times
Hellenistic = 1) something being characterized by particular Greek influence, 2) referring to the era after the Classical period and before the Roman period
Hellenicá = 1) the Greek language, 2) (infrequent) Greek matters, documented topics about the Greeks
Hellenism = The complete Greek culture, civilization and nationhood, the essence of being Greek.
Hellenist = 1) a specialist in the study of Greek language, literature, culture, or history, or an admirer of the Greek culture and civilization, 2) a person who adopted the Greek customs, language and culture during the Hellenistic period, 3) now, the English Wiktionary also adds the "a follower and practitioner of Hellenic religion" <- which one of the two??? XD, clearly following the trend of western classicist circles. In the Greek Wiktionary for the same exact term (Ελληνιστής) that last interpretation does not exist and I can guarantee you it is officially rejected. Here's why: the suffixes -ist and -ism (as well as all suffixes here) are suffixes of Greek origin and they signify that someone is something or is passionate and dedicated to something on the superlative or very very earnestly, essentially. So when someone says they are a hellenist, they are supposed to be dedicated or charmed by anything that makes something hellenic, not to be professional cherry pickers. Of course, everyone is allowed their preferences, however you can't be interested in a super specific / niche thing like a religion mostly practiced 2000-3500 years ago and simultaneously show complete disregard and ignorance on literally everything else about this civilization, history and its living people and call yourself a hellenist. It tears the word apart. By the way this is not targeted at you. You are here asking about it, wanting to do the right thing. I am referring to this thing happening in this forum that @alatismeni-theitsa 's Anon was complaining about; they obsess over the ancient religion and they hate everything Greek post the AD mark. That's not being a Hellenist. That's not a Hellenism forum. That's the exact opposite in fact. Very few people can correctly claim the term "hellenist".
BONUS: Philhellene is kind of synonym to "hellenist" and it means "friend / lover of the Hellenes and all things hellenic". But again it can surely be misused. Not all self-proclaimed Philhellenes were ones indeed. Some, like Lord Byron, were Philhellenes through and through, on the other hand.
Of course, one definitely does not have to go through what Lord Byron and other great Philhellenes of the 19th century went through to prove they are a Hellenist or a Philhellene! My point is that very very few people can correctly claim the identity of a Philhellene or a Hellenist.
Therefore, "Hellenic polytheist" is just fine.
If you’re ever having a breakdown, just remember the wise words of the lord himself
zeus to me is a god who feels and loves so deeply and emotionally, but is constantly forced to be in a position of impartiality, fairness, and wisdom that sometimes directly contradicts the thing he is feeling. and that to me shows not only how loving he is but also how capable he is. zeus is a good king because he cares, and he's a good king because he's know when to put his own cares aside, even if it's hard, and it is this constant struggle for him that makes him so compelling to me <3
This is all I've ever wanted. NOW JUST REVEAL YOUR IDENTITIES!!!
I can't handle this cuteness
Genius