My Plan for the "Mysteries of Hekate-Despoina" Project

As you probably know, I was recently awarded a fellowship grant by the Center for Global Polytheist and Indigenous Traditions of Indic Academy in the field of Reviving Polytheisms. The subject of my proposal was the creation of a modern mystery cult centered on Hekate-Despoina. Specifically, this will take the form of a book for the sake of convenience and accessibility. My approach in realizing this project, evidenced in the title of this post, is two-fold.

On one hand, I will carefully study the pertinent mystery cults of antiquity (the Arcadian Mysteries of Despoina, the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Andanian Mysteries of Messenia and others) with the intent of forming a foundation of factual, historical information upon which the new mystery tradition can be built. I have multiple goals in regards to this:

a) the examination of historical polytheism from the perspective of a contemporary polytheistic theologian (something which can confer new perspectives on the material beyond those of secular and monotheist academics),

b) noting patterns between different mystery cults, their commonalities and differences and utilizing that information for the creation of the modern tradition,

c) and conceptualizing a theological framework influenced by the historical material that allows both a seamless insertion of the new tradition in the diverse corpus of contemporary Hellenic polytheism as well as the cultivation of current and relevant polytheistic theology.

On the other hand, the project also has a practical side. That is the actual creation of a tangible mystery tradition which can be utilizing by practicing polytheists and which can offer much-needed nourishment of the soul and deepening of our relationships with the Gods.

Furthermore, I will strive to design a detailed outline of the ritual processes, including an annotated version with exegetical commentary for every part of the system. In addition, the last part of the project-turned-book will be a step-by-step guide for the actual and immediate application of the new mystery cult, including offering alternatives for accessibility, substitutions, and necessary adjustments.

Satisfying the need in polytheistic traditions (especially and specifically Hellenic polytheism in this instance) for legitimate and fulfilling mystical experience and inspiring others to pursue the same, is of vital importance to me. It is even a duty I have towards Hekate as Her devotee.

My plan and work right now focus on putting together a starting bibliography and examining relevant material. I will also be posting a lot of information and interesting stuff relevant to this project over at my Patreon!

Exploring Identity: Hekatean, Hellenic, or something else? Part Two

Turns out I had a Lot to Say™ so this ended up needing two parts. In Part One, I got into the “something else” rather than explain why I don’t often self-identify as a Hekatean or Hellenic, despite occasionally and partially using both. Somewhat backwards of me but I hope you won’t mind terribly.

As I explained in Part One, Hekate is the central deity of my practice and overall Triskelion system. Understandably, one might ask “how are you not a Hekatean then?”. The answer is, well, I am! I do consider myself a Hekatean practitioner (devotee, witch etc) but I don’t often use it as an identifier unless I’m referring to the Hekatean community in general. The main reason for that being that despite Hekate’s monumental significance in my practice, She is far from the only important deity or influence. Limiting myself to identifying mainly as Hekatean would be a disservice to the other Gods and Spirits I follow and who are dear and important to me.

This reason also applies to my avoidance of “Hellenic” as a self-identifier although in this case, there are other reasons as well. To begin with, I have to say, being ethnically Greek means I am Hellenic anyway. “Hellenic” is an ethnonymic adjective for my people, our land, our culture and all we create (the Hellenic language, for example). We call ourselves “Hellenes”, not Greeks (though the latter exists in our language today as well as in antiquity: “Γραικοί”). We call the Gods my ancestors worshiped and named Hellenic or Greek: they are “of the Hellenes/Greeks”. Furthermore, I do worship and honor Hellenic Gods as well as study and utilize Hellenic sources for religious and magical practices (though not necessarily as a Reconstructionist would).

Technically speaking, I am a Hellenic polytheist. I don’t usually call myself that though. A big reason is my personal disdain with the local and international Hellenic communities and the tendency to equate Hellenic polytheism as a whole with Reconstructionism (which is a methodological approach, not a religion or religious practice in itself). In other words, I avoid self-identifying directly as Hellenic polytheist because I do not want to be associated with the related communities in general (that said, I know plenty of individuals who are excellent people and practitioners and do wonderful work to heal the Hellenic polytheistic communities – sadly moreso internationally than in Greece). The general disapproval of magic and mysticism in the Hellenic communities is another factor, given the importance of magic and mysticism in my own practice.

I have chosen a unique label for my religious identity (Triskelion Witch) and prefer to use more neutral labels when interacting with less in-the-know people, such as “polytheistic witch” or “religious witch” plus a brief mention of my devotional relationships, i.e. “devotee of Hekate, the Wildwood Court, and the Witchfather”. Even then, despite the rather common label of “Witch”, I still use another word to precede and clarify it. The complexity and multi-aspected nature of my praxis require a suitably unique and specific label. Fun fact, before it evolved to its current incarnation, I used to call the early form of the Triskelion system “NeoHellenic Witchcraft”. However, the growing importance of the Wildwood and the eventual arrival of the Witchfather made me reconsider the place of “Hellenic” in the main name for the practice.

Names are powerful. As a theologian and practitioner of magic, names are power to me. To name something properly, to know its true name, is to hold power over it. Taken a bit further into the mystical, to name something properly, to know its true name, is to truly know that thing. Properly naming yourself, your practice, your work means truly knowing these things. Dare to name yourselves.

Exploring Identity: Hekatean, Hellenic, or something else? Part One

This blog post is one among a handful that had been works-in-progress for a while and it was completed thanks to the support of my patrons over at my Patreon! I'm posting these articles as early access content there first and two weeks later they will be posted here. This is the first one out of the batch, with Part Two coming out tomorrow!

Let me start by saying that the title is a little clickbaity. I don’t talk about those particular labels specifically, but I used them because they are well-known and understandable. Tackling them would make this too long and I wanted to address some less explored labels, especially those that generate a level of “discourse” and reaction, such as “witch” and “religious”.


Identity is a complex and highly personal topic. Even so, we look to how others define and identify themselves for guidance and inspiration in figuring out our own identities. In addition, as a theologian I think it’s important to share definitions of terms, our identities and our religious labels. In my opinion, I believe doing so helps create clearer common vocabulary as well as increase the pool of accessible information for all fellow co-religionists and practitioners.


My identity has many layers and aspects, not all of which are immediately understood or recognizable by everyone. Let’s start from the way I self-identify “officially”: a Triskelion Witch.


Immediately, we see a label a lot of people recognize but few would agree on how to define: witch. The way I understand and define “witch” and, therefore, the way and reason why I call myself one is thus: a practitioner of magic, especially “low magic” and folk magic though not limited to that, who holds powerful relationships and alliances with spirits and entities, and who has a varied liturgical structure that can range from very casual to fairly ritualistic. Going with this definition, we can safely say that not everything I do and practice is witchcraft. Yet, I choose to call myself a witch anyway. Why?




Before I tackle that question, let’s explain the Triskelion part. A triskelion or triskele (from Greek “τρισκελής” meaning “three-legged”) is a triple spiral or three-pronged symbol that is commonly associated with Celtic cultures and motifs but which was present throughout the Old World (ancient Greece included). My choice of this symbol and its name as the label for my magical-religious system of practice is in reference to the tripartite nature of my system itself: it is comprised of the Hekatean Craft, the Wildwood Art, and the Witchfather’s Way; three distinct practices that overlap at points and are grounded on the common culmination of my experiences, divine & spirit relationships, and my journey thus far. You can read more about this elsewhere on this blog though keep in mind I ought to post a more current and accurate overview and explanation.


From this we can define a Triskelion Witch as a witch who practices the Triskelion system. But many people might not be familiar with my personal system or might not even know what a triskelion is at all. Knowing this, I often describe myself as a “polytheist witch” or “religious witch” in addition to listing my main devotional relationships. These tend to be more recognizable to the wider community and thus people understand more clearly what I am. But it doesn’t stop there. I also label myself “mystic” and “devotional polytheist”, for example. To explain these, allow me to give you a brief summary of the Gods and Spirits I serve and how my relationships with them affect my identity.


My primary deity is Hekate. I’ve been devoted to Her since 2010 although I spent a full year before that studying everything about Her and forging the relationship-to-be. Pretty much everything I do or build is centered on Hekate or related to Her in some capacity. At Her request and under Her guidance, I started making what I came to call the “Hekatean Craft” I mentioned earlier. This became the basis of today’s Triskelion. Through my spiritual explorations of the Otherworld (or, more accurately, the Triple World), I was led by Hekate to interact with a group of spirits and divinities in a realm I call the Wildwood. These are the Wildwood Court. I don’t have a specific devotional date for them because our relationships have been less clear-cut than with Hekate, and they took much longer to take more concrete forms. I would say I started recognizing them in more-or-less the ways I do now around 2012-2013. Finally on 2016, through Hekate and the Wildwood Court, I attracted the attention of the being I call the Witchfather, who is the infamous “Devil of the Craft” as he is known in the traditional witchcraft community. My relationship with him is, perhaps disagreeably so for others, not particularly steeped in Christian imagery, and is of a primarily Dionysian, ecstatic approach. Perhaps this a way he would appear in a pre-Christian setting before gaining the devil associations (which still exist in my own relationship with him, mainly because I used to be Christian and thus affected by such imagery on the necessary levels for the kind of work the Witchfather engenders).


Now do you see why I call myself a Witch? There is an undeniably current of witchcraft and “witch-type magic” in my overall practice, even if it’s not alone. Still, it is central and fundamental, therefore it is a core aspect of my identity and its labels.


These Gods and Spirits and the relationships and pacts I have with them also explain why I would call myself “religious”, “mystic”, and “devotional polytheist”. My service to them is transformative, spiritually transmutative, socio-culturally transgressive and non-conforming, self-affirming and life-affirming, self-empowering, spiritually dedicated, molded through worship, devotion, and divine ecstasy. The experience of the Mysteries, devotional practice, and incredibly varied magic are vitally significant for me.


It is by examining my own practice and path that I arrived at the labels I use. I looked to what I was doing, what I believed in, how I interacted with my Gods and Spirits and what they govern and impart to me in order to be able to properly define myself in religious terms. I am “blank” because I do “so and so”, practice “this and that”, and believe “these things”. Personally, I am of the strong opinion that you create something first and then name it, especially when it comes to our religions. I believe so because our religious practices as well as ourselves change and evolve so much that they are almost never what we expect when we begin. When I started on this multi-aspected path, I thought I was a Hellenic Reconstructionist. The polytheistic part and the Hellenic part remained (and not just because I’m Greek) but everything else changed irrevocably. At some point early on, I also thought I would be an Eclectic “Wiccan” or some version of that. Yet my witchcraft journey made me something quite different (fond as I may be of traditional Wicca – the influence and lessons I treasure from initiates stay with me to this very day).


Identity is deeply personal. At the same time though, we must remain cognizant of the way our wider community utilizes and treats various names, labels, and terms. Sometimes this means following along. Other times, it means fighting against preconceptions and ignorance. In many cases, it may even mean we have to forge an altogether new name or term or label and make that known. I’ve certainly done all three in varying degrees. It is easy to use an identifier out of a need to belong. It is also easy to reject a label out of a need for rebellion. Both are rooted in important feelings and matters but they need to be examined carefully; they are also a highly personal subject that no one, save perhaps for one’s therapist, can truly help you solve.


That is why I recommend a well-rounded approach. Like I said earlier, look first at what you do. Then look to your Gods and spirits (if any, though if you’re reading my writings, you probably believe in and interact with Gods and spirits in some way). How do these affect you? How do they shape who you are? What would something like that be called? Following that, look to the various communities. How do they identify one another? How do individuals label themselves and others? Where and what causes conflict and reaction, and why? Then take all conclusions, thoughts, and further questions these raised, and try to mold them into something. What shape does it take? Perhaps no current name you’re aware of exists that fully applies to you. Or maybe many different ones do but they can’t be easily combined. Or maybe you are right at home with “stereotypical” or mainstream labels. All that is fine. What matters is that when you identify yourself, to others, in your work, to your Gods and spirits, to your mirror, you feel yourself.

Polytheist Devotional Arts Challenge: Week One

I am happily participating in the #DevotionalArts2021 challenge created by Michelle Simkins! I decided to do it one week at a time because I'm a little swamped with things to do. Here's the first week's prompts and what I wrote for each one!

Day 1: “Prayer”

Hestia Polyolvos I call, the firstborn of Kronos and Rhea, beloved Olympian, caretaker of every hearth and altar. Hear me, kind Hestia, shining one, first and foremost among the household Gods! As is your right since time immemorial, I offer to you this first creation, a hymn and prayer in love and reverence. May your gentle gaze continue to bless us and our homes.

Day 2: “Love”

Ὦ, δύναμι ἀμαιμάκετε…

Inscribed in gold and silver

Honeyed and caressed

In everlasting bloom

Resplendent in glorious light

Born of desire and beauty

Matured through bittersweet pain

Walking barefoot through thorny paths

Trembling in blind fear

Of a mind assaulted by storm-clouds

But evermore rejuvenated by a single drop

Of such divine ambrosia

Of such succulent nectar

That truly deathless part of humanity

Nourished by you

O, love, divine and mortal, ever dying and resurrecting

In hearts, souls, and minds,

Ὦ, πολύμορφε, πολυτίμητ’ ἀγάπη.

Day 3: “Offering”

An offering is a precious thing. Even if its material and monetary value is negligible, an offering is precious. A proper offering is a sacrifice, however small. It is a gift and a nourishment for the Gods and Spirits we so honor. I offer my prayers and hymns, my writings and drawings, my rituals and magics. I offer grain and water, wine and honey, bread and olive oil, flowers and stones, blood and fire and pain and time. Never have the Gods rejected an offering given in love and reverence. Giving offerings is among the holiest of practices.

Day 4: “Devotion”

One word

but a myriad,

wondrous layers of meaning.

Devotion.

Divine duty.

Holy purpose.

Devotion.

Heartfelt ἀγάπη.

Commitment.

Devotion.

Soul-transmutative ἔργον.

Transcendent relationship.

Devotion.

Privilege and labor of initiates and priests.

Lifelong journey.

Devotion.

Day 5: “Promise”

I have made many promises in my life as a polytheist. Some I have broken, some I have upheld, others I have honored above and beyond. I will make many more promises in the future. From a devotional polytheist perspective, promises are powerful bonds with our Gods. Promises should not be made lightly (though they aren’t as binding or strict as vows and oaths). Sometimes Gods can let us dissolve a promise, especially if it’s one made in error or if seeing it through would cause more harm than good. However, more often than not, I have experienced the Gods requiring us to honor most promises made, even the “bad” ones. Usually, this results in lessons; painful but important lessons. Responsibility is important and promises are sacred. Be careful what promises you make and to whom you make them.

Day 6: “Transformation”

He danced a slithering dance, swaying back and forth like a serpent before the altar. The only light came from the flames of the candles on the altar, which were arranged in a sacred pattern. He whispered secret names and uttered holy phrases. His serpentine dance became wilder but his mind had long lost contact with his body. In the soft glow of the candles, in the soothing darkness of the shadowy room, under the consecrated veils, unaware of his fervent dance, he saw the mythic cave and the Titan who opened its tartarean gate. Primordial water gushed forth and in the dimly lit room, fresh, cold water poured in a glass chalice. He continued to whisper the secret names and holy phrases. In soul-flight, he sought the obscured light. At last, he found it! The light entered the waters and the world was rejuvenated. Water purified and merged with light wet his parched mouth and throat, and he returned to this world, like a seed bursting in spring with budding life, renewed and reborn, filled with divinely blessed potency.

It was done. It had begun.

Day 7: “Ritual”

A Triskelion-Inspired Rite of Liminality

This ritual is meant to confer a liminal state to a place, as a preliminary step to advanced invocation, for the purposes of theurgic communion and henosis with the divine. I have removed certain Triskelion-specific elements, such as certain consecrated tools so this ritual is actually unfinished and shouldn’t work very well as-is. Instead, it is meant to act as an example for the necessary framework such a ritual would exhibit and it should be thoroughly adapted to the practitioner’s needs and Gods.

Materials:

Three white candles

Incense & censer (frankincense, styrax, or any herbal incense with lavender will suffice)

A key

Preparation & Process:

Have the ritual space be clean and prepare an empty surface, such as a desk, small table or other similar place. Put the key in the middle of the surface and the three candles in a subtle arc behind it, as if they’re surrounding it on the side across from you. Place the censer with the unlit incense in front of the key, on the side closest to you.

Purify yourself and the space in your preferred manner.

Say a hymn or prayer to the deity you will be invoking afterwards.

Start lighting the candles while saying:

O, holy light, transformative flame, pierce through the obscuring mists and reveal the presence of the Gods.

 

Light the incense and say:

O, smoke, winding like a serpent, made sacred with flame, fill this room and body with the subtle aether of the Gods.

Take the censer and move it clockwise so the smoke propagates throughout the room. Return it to its place and say:

Full is now this hall of the Gods with the blessed scent! They are and walk among us.

Take the key and raise it above the censer and candles so it is entangled in the smoke and reflecting the light of the candleflames. Say:

ASKEI KATASKEI ERON OREON IOR MEGA SAMNYER BAUI (3 times)

PHOBANTIA SEMNE

Keybearing Mistress of the Crossroads, World-Spanning Queen, Initiatrix and Guide, Liminal One, You Who Treads All Realms, Keeper of the Secret Names and Goddess of Mysteries, bless this place! Make it as your sacred Crossroads, make it an in-between space, a place fit to receive the full presence of Gods!

AKTIOPHIS PHERSEPHATTA SELASPHOROS

Open the Gate, Sunder the Veil, Break open the Tartarean Doors!

Rouse the land-daimons and the wind Gods!

Unite the deathless, Elysian Olympus and the fruitful, Chthonic Earth!

In your many Names, O Nameless One,

Protogonos, Titanis, Krataia,

this place is now found nowhere and everywhere.

It is not of Land, Sea, or Sky, yet it dwells in their midst.

Your touch rends space!

Your voice connects all realms!

Your power shapes the center!

I am a vessel, an instrument of your force, O Great One, and through me, with your power, this space is now a Crossroads between the worlds of Mortals and Gods!

So it is, so it is, so it is!

Your working space is now consecrated and transformed into a liminal realm. Continue with whatever theurgic rituals and invocations you have planned. Once you are finished and you want to restore the space to its original state, do this:

Snuff out the candles and say:

The holy light is gone. This Crossroads is darkened.

Remove the censer and incense and say:

The divine aether is gone. This Crossroads is emptied.

Remove the key and cover it with a cloth or inside a box or other safe place. Say:

The sacred omphalos is gone. This Crossroads falls apart.

Close your eyes and say:

ASKEI KATASKEI ERON OREON IOR MEGA SAMNYER BAUI (3 times)

PHOBANTIA SEMNE

O Nameless One, O Great One, You who transformed this place into your Crossroads!

Return it to its former state!

This Crossroads has neither Light nor Aether nor a cornerstone.

It crumbles away.

Your power recedes.

Your voice falls on deaf ears.

Your touch becomes but memory.

And this realm becomes as it was before, a place upon mortal Earth, 

a place upon the Land, under the Sky, by the Sea.

This Crossroads exists no more!

It is done, it is done, it is done!

Perform any additional closings and give any offerings you have. The rite has ended.