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I Hail the Lame God
He of the crooked and twisted foot,
Master of smithcraft, sorcery, and beauty,
He born of the heavens and tethered to the earth,
Mighty One and wise. I hail Him.
That would be Hephaestus and while I don’t have any particular devotional practice to Him, I will honor Him whenever the chance presents itself and I will do so by His ancient titles, including Κυλλοποδιων: lame/of the crooked-foot. The epithets of a God are mysteries in and of themselves. They are doorways into a unique and particular experience of that God and contain keys to understanding – in as much as any human may—one small aspect of a Holy Power. It is never for us to discard an epithet because we feel too “woke” for devotion. To do this is a disgusting display of arrogance, stupidity, and impiety.
Yes, folks. This issue is coming around again. I’ve written about it twice before here and here in more depth. Those who pay cultus to Hephaestus should batten down the proverbial hatches because this idiocy is back, running like shit through a goose in the more polluted corners of tumblr (which means, we’re going to have a new crop of converts who have zero idea of how to properly address this Deity, and feel ashamed when they are pulled to honor Him as Κυλλοποδιων. Wooooo. Fun times. *Sarcasm*).
I’m seeing nonsense like, “you can only use this epithet for Hephaestus if you yourself are mobility impaired.” Well, wrong. Anyone may use it whenever that person wishes to connect to Him and gain deeper understanding of His power. That’s what this epithet is about: His power. You do not have to be mobility impaired to call Him by this name.
I’ve also seen this one: “even if you’re mobility impaired, if you choose to use this, be sensitive to our feelings.” NO. Your feelings simply do not matter here. Not where devotion is concerned. They are yours to manage, not ours. Your feelings do not take center stage in the matter of devotion—especially when the devotional relationship has nothing to do with you– and certainly not in the relationship between a devotee and his or her Gods. You go on feeling oppressed by a title – this is what, in part, an epithet is: a title, an expression of a God’s power—while the rest of us will go pour out some offerings.
I’m done even trying to be conciliatory or nice about this. The people who spread this bullshit are spreading pollution, lies, and wickedness to newcomers too new and inexperienced to know any better and they’re peddling their pollution through the vehicle of being socially aware and “woke.” It’s foul and disgusting and so are those who push this crap.
It is not our place to start removing, burying, and ignoring the most sacred epithets of our Gods. Instead, we’d be better served by contemplating what those epithets mean, what they teach us about the Deity in question, and how we can better honor the Holy Powers in our lives. Of course, that’s not going to get you a pat on the head or allow for the acquisition of oppression points.
Now this crippled bitch, who belongs to a one-eyed God, is going off to bed. Good fucking night.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Greco-Roman Products
I created the Yuletide Shopping Guide in part because Yule is one of my favorite times of year. The guide features items polytheists would enjoy seeing in their homes or under their tree this yuletide. All with the hope of spreading some holiday cheer in a difficult year by finding items that can help feed our devotions within our polytheistic traditions, but also to hopefully along the way lift up some of the artisans in our midst too. So far I’ve included resources for crafters, makers, and DIYers: cookie cutters, crafting molds, fabric (Mesoamerican, Egyptian, Greek, Northern Europe), machine embroidery designs, cross-stitch and embroidery patterns, as well as knitting and crochet patterns. I’ve also highlighted some items on a Krampus theme. I’ve spotlighted items you can use to deck the halls and trim the tree.
There were some artists and artisans who offered a range of product across pantheons, or whose work focuses on a tradition that I didn’t have enough items to spotlight on it’s own. So I highly recommend that you carefully peruse the spotlighted artists and artisans in my miscellaneous Part 1, & Part 2. You will find offerings encompassing a vast array of traditions: Norse, Slavic, Celtic, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, Polynesian, Mesoamerican, Minoan, Assyrian, Sumerian, Welsh, Asian, Native American/Inuit, and more!
Today I’ll be featuring items of interest for polytheists within Cultus Deorum (Roman Polytheism) and Hellenismos (Greek Polytheism).
ArxMercatura
ArxMercatura based in the Ukraine offers items for modern practitioners of Cultus Deorum with religious statues, libation bowls, shrines, Lares, clothes and more.
GoldenGlitterArt
GoldenGlitterArt offers a wide range of blinged out foil art prints, you’ll have to dig among all the offerings but there’s several Greek Gods and Goddesses offered (Hades, Poseidon, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hera, Hephaestus, and Demeter).
Greekies
SummitCollection offers Greekies, which are hand painted cold cast resin figures of Greek Gods and Goddesses. Artistically, these might be cute statues for a children’s altar.
Miscellaneous
- TheRavensMyre Hermes offering plate
- Philip Crow’s Hermes linocut print
- ArcanicaArt has wooden statues of Pan and Eros
- Cronus felt doll
- Craftspring has felt versions of Zeus, Hermes, and Neptune
- For the kids, Greek Mythology building blocks (Affiliate Disclosure)
Additional resources: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a mini replica of the Three Graces Statue and a bust of Thalia. The British Museum has a range of Greek and Roman merchandise too. Be sure to peruse the previous entries in the Yuletide Shopping Guide as there is a range of items relevant to devotees worshipping under the Greco-Roman umbrella.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Fabric – Ancient Greece
2020 has been a chaotic year. So I decided to put together a Yuletide Shopping Guide with the intent to help artisan members of our community & to help spotlight items that support our religious devotions and practices. I’ve started with craft resources for our DIYers, including cookie cutters, craft molds, and fabric related to Mesoamerica and Ancient Egypt.
Hellenics will be especially interested in some of these options. Among the fabrics there are designs featuring over a dozen of the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus. There’s quite a selection with fabric styles ranging from sophisticated, to cute, to brightly bold or more modern. Have you been looking for a toile and love Dionysos? Some of the patterns are merely a nod to ancient Greek culture and archaeological finds, but I opted to include those as well.
Pay attention to the product listings, as there are multiple options for fabric, some designs are also available as wallpaper, or as finished goods (like tablecloths, pillowcases, and face masks).
Miscellaneous Designers
Instead of starting with designers who have a large number of prints available in our Grecian theme, I thought I would begin today with some of the designers who might just have one pattern of interest.
- Hermes sneakers (with color variations)
- Dionysos toile
- Demeter
- Artemis in the Woods
- Artemis on the Hunt
- Artemis, Aphrodite, and Athena
- Greek urns, owls
- Hera, Zeus, Pan, Nyx, Demeter, & Hephaestus
- Mount Olympus with Greek Gods
- Artemis and Actaeon
- Zeus and Pegasus (various colors, sizes)
- Greek vase motif
- Persephone
- Greek Plates
- Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Artemis, etc.
ThinLineTextiles
ThinLineTextiles has a range of Greek influenced patterns in different sizes and colors, as well as some variations on a pattern with Atlas.
Spellstone
Spellstone has a pattern collection themed around ancient Greek culture with soldiers, owls, horses, and geometrics.
ColorOfMagic
Color of Magic has a pattern collection themed around Persephone in a range of colors, with coordinating fabrics with pomegranates, geometrics and more.
Siya
Siya has a wide array of very bold colors and coordinating fabrics with geometric patterns for her Greek goddess patterns (grouped by the designer in color collections for Evening, Summer, and B). Siya also has a stand alone pattern themed around Hypnos and Pasithea, and an ionic column pattern too.
Please let me know if there are any errors, with all the copy/pasting it is easy to make a mistake. If there’s something you think I should spotlight in the yuletide shopping guide, please contact me and let me know. Northern Tradition polytheists will love the next installment as I spotlight some fabrics for them.
Gangleri's Grove 