In reply to another person's lj on the term Hellenismos & where the Y! group HellenicPagan began...

[kyrene]

HellenicPagan started out as a generic place for ALL people who worship the Greek gods--and even people who worshipped Roman gods were welcome too. It was never a "strictly recon" place and for people who wanted that, I started Hellenismos-L.

I don't like the idea of using the term Hellenismos to mean "recon Hellenic religion". You can practice Hellenic religion without being recon. In fact, I'm in favor of ditching the label altogether. We don't NEED to reconstruct anything anymore--we have all of the information we need to start actually worshipping right here and right now without having to constantly check musty old academic texts written by Christians attempting to interpret pagan rituals through Christian eyes and paradigms.

I don't recall the last time I called myself a recon. When I first began in such practices, it was to build a foundation for practice. The foundation is already there. We can stop pretending we still don't know enough to practice our own faith. Everything we have is right here.

I like HI because we're not only doing mystical stuff but we're also doing practical stuff right in the real world. THIS is where practice becomes reality: when your practices are indistinguishable from your day to day life. It just becomes a part of who you are throughout your day.

End semi rant. :)

Comments

[fallenkalina.livejournal.com]

Nice.... I like the bit about building a firm foundation while getting out there and DOING things. They aren't different points on a binary.

[eternalhearts.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the clarification regarding HP-my post was in reply to someone saying that it was originally a recon list.

[chironcentaur.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see you've gotten wind of the bullshit, too. :-P

You know, it has been years since I was reading Hellenic Pagan (it was just too high traffic at the time I stopped), but I never remembered that as being a recon list. I always thought it was just a place for anyone who worshipped the Greek gods, and I was confused when it was brought up in that context. Though I don't know what else to expect from people that don't know nearly as much as they think they do.

When I first began in such practices, it was to build a foundation for practice. The foundation is already there. We can stop pretending we still don't know enough to practice our own faith. Everything we have is right here.

That is beautiful :-)

[owl-clan.livejournal.com]

The foundation is already there. We can stop pretending we still don't know enough to practice our own faith. Everything we have is right here.


Fuckin A!

[shellsong.livejournal.com]

I am slowly catching up to the latest sacred drama festival. Honestly, I've been much happier since I decided to avoid "the community" altogether, but when it explodes on my friends page, I have to look.

For the record, I continue to be a somewhat eclectic *Hellenic polytheist*. Not a recon; certainly not an Andersonist.

Fortunately, that fact can't be altered by fanatics with delusions of grandeur. It's like the Pope saying only Catholics are real Christians. He can say it, but it won't make all the other Christians disappear, and everyone can just point and laugh at his self-importance.

[theophania.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to call myself. I'd like to be recon, in the sense that I follow the religion as it was practised in ancient times, with exceptions for modern life and new discoveries/views. But I always wind up doing my own thing. I say my own made-up prayers to The Godsat night (usually the same formula), pray to specific ones if I need things and try to keep my promises to them and offer them things in return, pray to Hestia/offer sacrifice when I eat. But I can never just sit down and read the ancient texts, neither the cademic (loved your comments on those btw) nor the mythic which are more enjoyable. It's like if it doesn't have to do with modern Hellas, I don't get involved and that's bad. After all, where did we come from and why do I have all this pride inside about being Greek. So in the end, I just call myself a Hellenic Polytheist and try to worship The Gods to the best of my ability.