You Don’t Realize How Important Hyperfixations Are To Someone With Adhd Until You’re In Between Hyperfixations

why are we here? just to suffer? every 5 minutes i have to clean my glasses

We will NOT be stressing over people in 2024 when we could be studying and absorbing so much knowledge, learning the piano, taking up horseback riding, upgrading our skincare routines, reading so many more books, spending so much more time off our phones, giving the love rejected by some people to others who want it and return it in kind, learning music theory, taking up a language (French for me), saving up to travel, developing financial literacy, focusing on our goals, revamping our fashion sense, getting good at photography, carrying a camera everywhere w us, expanding our music knowledge, working out more consistently, and learning so many more recipes

How to Offer to the Theoi- a guide

The Kylix of Apollo, where the god is depicted pouring libations from a phiale onto the ground. (A kylix is a type of phiale, so this is a particularly meta piece) Delphi, Greece, 460BC

The most historical offering to any of the Theoi are  θυμιάειν thymiaein (smoke), σπονδή sponde (libations of alcohol) and νηφάλια nefalia “calm” libations meaning non-alcoholic (such as milk, honey, water, etc).

How do I do smoke offerings?

There’s three ways, generally speaking. The gods take the smoke of any offering, so this could be:

A actual burnt offering, such as a piece of paper you wrote a poem on, burnt herbs (which this is where we get the English word THYME from because this was a popular herb to burn for incense), or food as it was cooking, because the smell of the cooking fire rises. It’s not mandatory today that you do burnt offerings because our houses are not built like the ancient’s were; fully ventilated. 

The smoke of incense Historically this would have been done in a special incense burner called a thymiateria which are still used today in the Greek Orthodox church, but today any incense burner will do!

The steam from your food. The gods allow us to eat the physical food, and they take the non-physical aromas and steams, which is why aromatic spices are so important in ritual. 

It’s important to wash your hands before offering; this is the god’s food, don’t make it germy please. 

How do I do sponde and nefalia?

As before, you should have clean hands before you come to worship. 

Pour your liquid out of its original container into a bowl. The container was historically called an oenokheo  οἰνοχόη “I pour wine”, and what you would pour it into was called a fiale or phiale φιάλη which we still have today in the archaic word for a vial, a phial. 

Either before or after you pour, say a prayer, poem, hymn, or just greet your deity. Here’s a short example I’ll do now for Artemis Tykhe: Khaire oh great Tykhe! I pour this water for you, oh goddess of luck and fortune. Watch over us at this rite. 

If you like, you can pour a cup of drink for yourself, but pour the one for the god(s) first. If you are worshipping multiple gods at the same time for the ritual, you only need one phiale. 

When your ritual is done, you can say something to conclude; I use γένοιτό Genoito (pronounced Yen-ee-tu) meaning “may it be” or “it is so”, but conclude however you like. If I’m leading a rite in English I will say something like, “and this rite is ended.”

You may now drink from your cup if you poured yourself one, and dispose of the offerings in the phiale as you see fit. Its up to you and your god(s) whether you drink their share or not; some worshippers do, some don’t. A lot of people, including me, do sponde at the dinner table before they eat.

What’s the difference between sponde and nefalia? What’s the purpose? 

Sponde is alcoholic usually, while nefalia never is! Nefalia is conducted the exact same way, but certain festivals and gods strictly forbid wine at their ceremony; Demeter’s mysteries is probably the best known example, but there’s many others. 

Some historical options for Nefalia are water, honey, and milk, but if you can pour it, you can offer it!

What do I do for a Khthonic god? 

Because Kthnonic (literally “of/below the earth”) gods are below ground, incense is useless to them. Smoke rises, and doesn’t reach them below the earth. Physical Kthonic offerings should be buried in a hole called a bothros  βόθρος (literally “pit”), or they should be burnt to cinders and the ash spread on the soil. I’ve seen some worshippers compost Kthonic offerings, which I think is a really cool idea. 

If you offer food or drinks to the Khthonic gods, they don’t share! They get the entire sum of whatever you offer. Zeus will share a glass of wine with you, Pluton wants the entire glass. 

Kthonic gods and heroes get a special type of libation called χεῦμα Khoe, “that which is poured.” Unlike sponde and nefalia, you absolutely do NOT drink this. It’s poured on the ground. Khoe is usually milk, honey, water, or sometimes very dark red wine. 

a bothros to Demeter  at the Temple to Demeter in the Valle dei Templi near Agrigento, off the coast of Italy

How do I know which gods are Ouranic or Kthonic?

Generally speaking if they’re not agricultural, related to death and disease, sleep, blood, or the soil itself, they’re seen as Ouranic or “heavenly”. 

This distinction isn’t always black and white; because there are many among the Theoi that straddle the line and have aspects of both; Apollo for example is related to every criterion for a Khthonic god, but the majority of his worship is Ouranic. In cases like this, it comes down to the epithet (aspect or title) of the god that you’re worshipping. Apollo Soranus, a Roman underworld god, is Khthonic, but Paean Apollo the healer is Ouranic. You’ll have to do research on your own for what to do because there are thousands of epithets. Also note that Pluton (H@des) is often referred to with epithets like Zeus Below, Zeus Euboleus etc because it’s unlucky to speak his name outloud, so special care should be taken for research for either Zeus or Pluton.  With time you’ll have a pretty good sense of what to do, but to avoid overwhelming yourself, pick one or two gods and do research on one or two epithets and how they were worshipped. 

it got a bit long but I think this about covers it, holler at me if you have questions, happy worshipping!

PLEASE DO NOT USE TIKTOK AS A RESOURCE FOR HELLENIC POLYTHEISM

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.

Hellenic Pronunciation for the Gods

It is likely, like me, you grew up without an education in Classical (or Modern for that matter) Greek. You might have read “Hecate” and read it as “Heh-KATE” or, at best, “Heh-kuh-TEE” (a habit which I fear I might take to the grave). So hopefully you will also find this selection of pronunciation from HellenicGods.org interesting. I recommend reading their full article. In particular was the use of the diphthongs - where the tip of the tongue meets and presses flat against the roof of the mouth right behind the teeth before releasing. It makes a sound that is something between a D and a Th. This is common in Indian languages, like Punjabi, where I became familiar with it.

Ækáti - (Hecate or Hekate; Gr. Ἑκάτη, ΕΚΑΤΗ) Pronounced: æ-KAH-tee. or eh-KAH-tee.

Ærmís (Hermes; Gr. Ἑρμῆς, ΕΡΜΗΣ) Pronounced: ayr-MEES, the ‘H’ is silent; the ‘R’ is rolled slightly such that it almost sounds like the name has three syllables.

Æstía (Hestia; Gr. Ἑστία, ΕΣΤΙΑ) Pronounced: æs-TEE-ah.

Aphrodíti (Aphrodite; Gr. Ἀφροδίτη, ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ) Pronunciation: ah-froh-DEE-tee, roll the ‘r’ slightly; the d (dǽlta) is pronounced like the soft th in this, not like the hard th in theory

Apóllohn - (Apollo; Gr. Ἀπόλλων, ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ) Pronounced ah-POH-lohn.

Áris - (Ares; Gr. Άρης, ΑΡΗΣ) Pronunciation: AH-rees 

Ártæmis (Artemis; Gr. Ἄρτεμις, ΑΡΤΕΜΙΣ) Pronunciation: AHR-tay-mees 

Athiná (Athena; Gr. Ἀθηνᾶ, ΑΘΗΝΑ) Pronunciation: ah-thee-NAH, the accent on the final syllable, or not accenting any syllable.

Daimohn (Gr. δαίμων, ΔΑΙΜΩΝ) Pronounced: DAY-mohn, the D sounding like the th in thee (not like the th in thesis).

Dimítir (Demeter or Demetra; Gr. Δημήτηρ, ΔΗΜΗΤΗΡ) When enunciating the name Dimítir, the D (delta) is pronounced like the soft th in this, not like the hard th in theory: dee-MEE-teer, with the accent on the second syllable.

Diónysos - (Dionysus; Gr. Διόνυσος, ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ) The D in Diónysos is pronounced like the th in thee (not like the th in thesis). Pronounced: dee-OH-nee-sohs.

Ílios - (Helios; Gr. Ἥλιος, ΗΛΙΟΣ) Pronounced: EE-lee-ohs.

Íphaistos (Hephaestus; Gr. Ἥφαιστος, ΗΦΑΙΣΤΟΣ) Pronounced: EE-fays-tohs, with the accent on the first syllable; there is no ‘H.’

Íra (Hera; Gr. Ήρα, ΗΡΑ) Pronounced: EE-rah.  The ‘H’ (Íta [Eta; Gr. ἦτα]) at the beginning of the name of the Goddess is a vowel.

Nyx (Gr. Νύξ, ΝΥΞ) Pronounced: neeks.

Orphéfs (Orpheus; Gr. Ὀρφεύς, ΟΡΦΕΥΣ) Pronounced: ohr-FEFS

Pærsæphóni - (Persephone; Gr. Περσεφόνη, ΠΕΡΣΕΦΟΝΗ) Pronounced: payr-say-FOH-nee.

Poseidóhn  - (Poseidon; Gr. Ποσειδῶν, ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ) Pronounced: poh-see-DOHN, accent on the last syllable; the d (delta) at the beginning of the last syllable is pronounced like a soft th as in this, not like the th in theory. 

Rǽa - (Rhea; Gr. Ῥέα, ΡΕΑ) Pronounced: RAY-ah, rolling the R just slightly.

Titánæs (Titans; Gr. Τιτᾶνες, ΤΙΤΑΝΕΣ) Pronounced: tee-TAH-nays or tee-TAH-nehs.

Yaia - (Gaia; Gr. Γαῖα, ΓΑΙΑ. Pronounced: YÆ-ah.

Zefs (Zeus; Gr.  Ζεύς, ΖΕΥΣ) Pronounced: zĕfs; the diphthong εύ is pronounced like the ef in left.

Subtle Ways I Worship Queen Hera

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

Can we talk about the fact that Nooro and Duusu have been missing for like a good hundred years. Like Tikki and Plagg being really chill about Nooro and Duusu being held captive, like mate, you haven't seen them in 100 years!

This has really changed the way I see master Fu and ladybug. Like, Master Fu has done presumably nothing for years on end about trying to get Nooro and Duusu back. I know Ladybug is trying to defeat Hawkmoth, but it just feels like battling "monster of the week" then actually trying to free these poor kwamis. And can we get a bit of sympathy for Nooro. My poor guy is STILL being tortured and enslaved. This baby hasn't seen his friends or his master for a CENTURY. I suppose they are all reunited at the end of season 4 but like still. They get trapped in these wee compartments and can't even move or like speak to each other. How unbelievably sad.

If you’re ever having a breakdown, just remember the wise words of the lord himself

”women need to be nicer to men!!! women are so awful to men now and that’s the reason they’re all misogynistic dickheads!” oh? so you agree? you agree that the mistreatment of one sex by another is what causes them to turn mean and cynical towards the other sex? so you agree misandry is men’s fault? that feminists being so mean to men is men’s own fault? you agree that women are justified in their judgement and alienation of males?

i am like losing my mind this is so funny