Return to Worship of the Greek Gods

Europe is in the midst of a pagan revival. Across Europe, different cultures are attempting to revive their pre-Christian religious heritage. Greece is no exception. Although the movement is small, there is a religious movement attempting to revive the worship of the ancient Greek gods. One name for this revival of the ancient Greek religion is Hellenismos, or simply Hellenism. Many followers of this new religious movement refer to themselves either as Hellenes or Hellenists.

Reconstructing an Ancient Religion
This is not the first time that there has been an attempt to revive the ancient Greek religion. The first attempt was by Emperor Julian, the last pagan Roman Emperor who ruled in 361-363 AD. Emperor Julian is famous for having ordered the reopening of pagan temples and being initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries at a time when Christianity was already becoming dominant in the Empire. Julian also attempted to use Greek philosophy to create an organized theology for the ancient Greek religion to compete with Christianity.

https://www.ancient-ori ... nism-0011554

There have been a variety of persecution against those trying to bring back the old gods, with the Greek Orthodox Church leading the way. There has been hassles created by the Russian Orthodox Church as well and in Russia and other Eastern European countries, occasionally leading to violence.

Rather sad if you don't know who your ancestors really where though,

I mean I have no idea what mine used to believe before the RCC barged in.

Kono,

What about DNA testing that might give you a general idea. My direct ancestors past, and present, were English. Near as they could tell, my distant ancestors stopped in what is now Belgium, on the trek up Europe, some 40,000 years ago. My first American ancestor arrived from England in 1645 to Virginia Colony, and moved into the Carolinas. He was 25 when he arrived and about 40 when he died. So English and Anglo Saxon for much of my ancestry. There are a lot of gaps to yet fill in. However a picture of my great great grandfather, born in North Carolingin 1843 and died in 1932, looks almost completely like I do today, even to my hairline.

Christopher

Kono,

I will echo what Christopher said. Think about doing a DNA profile. I am lucky in that I knew my history pretty well and the DNA research only proved what we thought we knew.
I guess once a viking always a viking.

On a map it's hard to find your way if you don't know where you started, that may also be true for life.

Mike

Christopher and Mike,

I might do that for my birthday this year, thiough i doubt it will be helpfull.

I am adopted, i know my mothers side is Dutch, but that is it.

And after all, the Netherlands never had a unified pre-Christian culture. [Wink]

Sorry, but the more time passes the more angry i feel, i even scream i hate my country from time to time.

The culture today seems to have no real spirituality at all.

No offense, but I have not met a real witch, sorcerer, or wizard etc in my country EVER, just clairvoyants, ppl who sell crystals and old herb ladies.

Kono.

Kono,

I often wonder what the old Witches were like and they could really do. Somehow the all purpose Witch may be more of a myth than a reality. Among the cunning folk each might have a particular ability, such as healing people, or livestock, herbal medicines, finding lost things, or things stolen, and some simple spells and hexes. This also included those that helped with births and those that helped with the dead. Now the cunning folk always claimed that they were not Witches, but it suggests that Witches may have been much the same, each with a speciality. Witch would have most likely have been an outsider's term, so we really don't know how they referred to themselves, but it was likely they were known by whatever their speciality.

As for the lack of spirituality, that would hardly surprise me, as as Western Europe has been more and more secular as time moves on. I think World War Two might have accelerated the secularization of Western Europe. My father and mother, who were in England during WWII, neither one of them showed any particular religious belief.

Christopher

Christopher,
Believe it or not I actually know quite a bit about the ancient order of wise ones, AKA witches and druids, in this era, and they could do a lot more than healing people, clairvoyance and herbal medicines, especially on the astral planes, and they were known as either the order of the sages, or the order of the wise ones, in the old tongues respectfully, so both versions are correct.

That is my teacher told me.

If you want to know more, just ask.

Kono.

Kono,

Interesting. Glad that you had a teacher, that is hard enough to find these days, even worse when I was being trained.

Christopher

Christopher,
At the time, when I was age 11/14 I was part of a group called The Circle, I had several teachers of multiple backgrounds and traditions.

I was searching more back than.
Kono.

Kono,

I had one teacher for several months. But outside of that the only people that I have known have been a long way from where I lived. I have rarely met even another Wiccan in my 35 years of practice...

Christopher

Christopher,

Well at the moment I would prefer a more dark sided teacher, all this ''love and light''/''awakened'' stuff i find online is making me nauseous.

Plus I still can not explain why i feel like wings on my back, like some phantom limb thing.

Though patience is definitely NOT one of my virtues.
Haha. [Very happy]

Kono.

Kono,

I don't feel any need to love everyone. Most I do not know and most will have no affect on me anyway.
It is vitally important that I love myself, as I am, not as what I think that I am supposed to be. I also cannot afford to lie to myself, when I am making decisions of taking action.

Harm none is a good consideration, but only to get you to think about what you are going to do before you do it. I have seen people carry it to the extreme that they are afraid to do anything, least it some how hurt someone. Magic is of no value if you don't use it. You do have a right to defend yourselves and prevent harm to those and what that you care about. Sometimes that is going to cause harm. You will make mistakes, but that is how you learn. No mistakes means that you are not learning anything, and not doing anything new. Learning should never stop all of your life.

No one is all goodness. No one is all badness. We are always a blend, that is how we are designed. Light is not always good, and dark is not always bad. Positive and negative depend on your intent. You pretty much have to figure what is which for yourself. I might curse an illness to get rid of it, I might bless the body to help it cure itself or heal. So both positive and negative energy can used either way. Again that is your decision when you use the energy.

Christopher

Kono,

I am going to take Christopher's statements a little farther.

I am "neutral" on others, because like Christopher I have no interaction with them. I see the harm many do to the earth but have little chance of stopping that.

There are "feedback loops" that come into play with our interactions with the world.
Positive creates more positive and the reverse is also true.
Negative is self reinforcing... so in my way of doing things is to do my best to stay positive.

Inner energy can be good place to start.

Mike

The phrase "In with the good, out with the bad" just came to mind.

Christopher and Mike,

I replied in a new topic.

Kono.