Hellenismos
The Return of Persephone
Because my particular beliefs in polytheism tend to encompass several already defined forms of the concept, and because by its very nature Polytheism does not lend itself to having a central all knowing authority, I chose to call my personal ideas on it Pantheonic Polytheism.
But what does that really mean?
In essence, I believe that the religions of the world have tended to place the Gods into Pantheons, which are a kind of organizational system which is reflected in human society by the political concept of Monarchy. There is a King, or Queen, and beneath him or her there are others, equal in many ways, but submitting to his or her authority. Because for the most part human society has tended toward the patriarchal, the highest God is usually a King, and with him there is almost always a consort, a Queen.
It is my opinion, that this Pantheon, this hierarchy of Gods, is a reflection of a divine truth, and that is that there is indeed a "supreme" God. One who is either the most powerful, or who has been chosen by whatever means Gods use to be that "supreme" authority in the cosmos.
Part of my belief in this truth is that the Gods themselves are not known by us in a true form. That is to say, we do not really know what the Gods look like, what they are called, if they even have names as we know them, or their exact origins, if they even have origins as we know them. What we see of the Gods are reflections or emanations of their being in our physical cosmos. Plato said that the cosmos was many layered. That somewhere there was a universe of absolutes, where forms existed for all things. Pure forms that were eternal and unchanging. All things in the cosmos, from a grain of sand to an abstract concept all exist as pure forms somewhere, and they exist in our universe as emanations of those forms.
I am not sure that he is right about that, but I do think that part of that conception is true when it comes to the Gods. That they exist somewhere, we Hellenistoi call this Olympus and Hades, two essentially immortal realms, each representing an opposing aspect of the eternal realm, one bright and creative, the other dark and destructive, and that they manifest in our world in a variety of forms that are appropriate to this realm.
The Pantheons of the many pagan religions of the world, and even the monotheistic ones, all reflect the Gods in some way or antoher, and man interprets what they experience of the Gods through the filters of their own cultural understandings of these pantheons. It is these images of the Gods, these aspects, that we human beings understand as "The Gods" and to which we pay honor and worship.
This is not to say I believe that the Pantheons, which are built from our interpretations of imperfect emanations of divine beings in our cosmos to be false, but rather that this is the only way we human beings have of understanding them.
The Hellenic Pantheon is a multipolar one. The Mythic stories of the Gods and the creation of the world tell us that the world has several realms, and that each of these has a king. The High Realm, Olympus, is ruled by Zeus, who is also the high king or Emperor of the universe. The Low Realm, or Hades, which is ruled by Aidoneus (or Hades) who rules over the dark realm we human beings associate not only with death, but also with wealth. And the Fluid Realm, which is ruled by Poseidon, which is made manifest in our universe as the Sea.
The fourth realm, the Earthly Realm, is left without a king. It is left as common ground for all the Gods.
The most important of the hierarchies, and the one which is clearly laid out for us in the stories, poems, philosophies of the Greeks is the High Realm. The Gods of Olympus are seen as the highest of all beings. The word Olympus itself was often used to refer to the highest mountain in a region, and their were actually several mountains that bore that name in Greece, the highest of which is still called Olympus today, and this Pantheon is the one best known of all the divine pantheons of the ancient world.
The Olympian Gods:
To many who will read this from a monotheistic perspective, it will likely seem odd to have so many Gods, and that the Gods would have such limited power, but their titles and epithets and their perceived influence on the world are not a limit of their power, but an acknowledgment of how they have interacted with the world as we know it.
So, Pantheonic Polytheism, a term I made up, admittedly, is the acceptance that the eternal Gods are represented on Earth by Pantheons which represent the divine hierarchy of the eternal realms.
But what does that really mean?
In essence, I believe that the religions of the world have tended to place the Gods into Pantheons, which are a kind of organizational system which is reflected in human society by the political concept of Monarchy. There is a King, or Queen, and beneath him or her there are others, equal in many ways, but submitting to his or her authority. Because for the most part human society has tended toward the patriarchal, the highest God is usually a King, and with him there is almost always a consort, a Queen.
It is my opinion, that this Pantheon, this hierarchy of Gods, is a reflection of a divine truth, and that is that there is indeed a "supreme" God. One who is either the most powerful, or who has been chosen by whatever means Gods use to be that "supreme" authority in the cosmos.
Part of my belief in this truth is that the Gods themselves are not known by us in a true form. That is to say, we do not really know what the Gods look like, what they are called, if they even have names as we know them, or their exact origins, if they even have origins as we know them. What we see of the Gods are reflections or emanations of their being in our physical cosmos. Plato said that the cosmos was many layered. That somewhere there was a universe of absolutes, where forms existed for all things. Pure forms that were eternal and unchanging. All things in the cosmos, from a grain of sand to an abstract concept all exist as pure forms somewhere, and they exist in our universe as emanations of those forms.
I am not sure that he is right about that, but I do think that part of that conception is true when it comes to the Gods. That they exist somewhere, we Hellenistoi call this Olympus and Hades, two essentially immortal realms, each representing an opposing aspect of the eternal realm, one bright and creative, the other dark and destructive, and that they manifest in our world in a variety of forms that are appropriate to this realm.
The Pantheons of the many pagan religions of the world, and even the monotheistic ones, all reflect the Gods in some way or antoher, and man interprets what they experience of the Gods through the filters of their own cultural understandings of these pantheons. It is these images of the Gods, these aspects, that we human beings understand as "The Gods" and to which we pay honor and worship.
This is not to say I believe that the Pantheons, which are built from our interpretations of imperfect emanations of divine beings in our cosmos to be false, but rather that this is the only way we human beings have of understanding them.
The Hellenic Pantheon is a multipolar one. The Mythic stories of the Gods and the creation of the world tell us that the world has several realms, and that each of these has a king. The High Realm, Olympus, is ruled by Zeus, who is also the high king or Emperor of the universe. The Low Realm, or Hades, which is ruled by Aidoneus (or Hades) who rules over the dark realm we human beings associate not only with death, but also with wealth. And the Fluid Realm, which is ruled by Poseidon, which is made manifest in our universe as the Sea.
The fourth realm, the Earthly Realm, is left without a king. It is left as common ground for all the Gods.
The most important of the hierarchies, and the one which is clearly laid out for us in the stories, poems, philosophies of the Greeks is the High Realm. The Gods of Olympus are seen as the highest of all beings. The word Olympus itself was often used to refer to the highest mountain in a region, and their were actually several mountains that bore that name in Greece, the highest of which is still called Olympus today, and this Pantheon is the one best known of all the divine pantheons of the ancient world.
The Olympian Gods:
- Zeus, Lord of the Sky, King of Olympus, King of all Gods and Men.
- Hera, consort of Zeus, Queen of Olympus.
- Poseidon, Lord and King of the Sea.
- Athena, Lady of Wisdom, Warrior, Goddess of Crafts, and protector of civilization.
- Apollo, Lord of Light, Healer, and purifier.
- Artemis, Lady of the hunt, Goddess of the wilds, of nature, and of youth and the protection of innocence.
- Hermes, Lord of Messengers, of communication, of the traversal of realms. Psychopompos.
- Demeter, Lady of Grains, of the seeds, of agriculture, and of the passing of the seasons.
- Aphrodite, Lady of Love, sex, and emotion. Also seen, in many places, as a warrior.
- Hephaestos, Lord Smith and God of the arts of metallurgy. Lord of Fire. Artisan and Creator.
- Hestia, Lady of the Hearth, protector of the home, and the central goddess of all Hellenic religion in the home.
- Ares, God of War, protector of civilization, protector of cities.
- Dionysos, Lord of Ecstasies, of the vine, of wine, and God of divine transformation.
- Hades, Lord of the Underworld, the unseen, God of the Dead and of Wealth.
- Hekate, Lady of the Crossroads.
- Helios, Lord of the Sun.
- Selene, Lady of the Moon.
- Pan, Wild God of the Forests.
- Persephone, Mistress of the Dead, Queen of the Underworld. Lady of the Springtime.
To many who will read this from a monotheistic perspective, it will likely seem odd to have so many Gods, and that the Gods would have such limited power, but their titles and epithets and their perceived influence on the world are not a limit of their power, but an acknowledgment of how they have interacted with the world as we know it.
So, Pantheonic Polytheism, a term I made up, admittedly, is the acceptance that the eternal Gods are represented on Earth by Pantheons which represent the divine hierarchy of the eternal realms.