Walking down the forest of my thoughts..

Hello again,

It’s the first time that I will just write down my thoughts and not analyze any specific topic. So, welcome to my thoughts! Please feel free to tell me what’s your opinion or contact me to discuss anything you want.

Every year around Mabon I feel a growing need to return to my spiritual studies. This urge grows and gets stronger until Beltane and then it disappears until next Mabon. A strange thing but that’s how it works for me. It’s like between Beltane and Mabon there is a resting period for me and my thoughts. That’s how the wheel of the year works for me so long.  

Last year I started looking deeper in the Hellenic religion. Since then I have felt a connection with a divine power, stronger than I have ever experience it before. When I face difficulties or I need guidance I just ask the Gods of the Hellenic pantheon for their assistance and I always get their response. I understand that my communication with the gods is actually a deeper communication with myself. The gods are the manifestation of the divine power of the universe and each one of them can help us concentrate on what we need and help us achieve it. Or at least that is what I believe and how it works for me.

Last February I joined the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids and since then I’ve been studying Druidry. Combining Druidry with the Hellenic Religion works just fine for me so long. The greatest thing about the Order is that it does not tell you in what to believe in. It just motivates and helps you finding out yourself. Another thing I enjoy is the fact that the teachings are about the philosophy, the ideas, the history, the spirituality and the practice of Druidry. Usually you’ll be able to find loads of stuff about the practical part of a spiritual path but not a lot about the philosophical background or the ideas behind it.

Along with my studies I am trying to get in touch with people interested in the path of Druidry or the Hellenic Religion. Like I’ve said before that’s very difficult in Greece since everyone interested in Paganism is hiding to avoid awkward situation with Christian fanatics. This task is difficult and is moving slower than an old turtle… Good thing is that I’ve find a few people who are like me and our fellowship is growing day by day.


So that’s all for now. I’ll try to post in a regular basis from now on and not annually. HeheheThank you for reading! I will be waiting for your emails…!

May the light illuminates your path!
Blessed be!

Azen Animarko

The Pagan Community Of Greece

It’s been almost 6 years since I started wandering in the world of occultism. I am a resident of the capital of Greece, Athens. Greece is a small country with a population of 11 millions. There is a very strong bond between Greeks and Orthodox Christianity.  Since being an Orthodox Christian is taken for granted here any spiritual quest is a very big taboo and that reduces the number of people who question their religion and seek another spiritual path. Orthodox Christians baptize (initiation ceremony) their infants when they are about 1 year old so the majority of Greeks are Christians not by choice but as a part of their tradition. So anyone tamper with paganism was taking care not to be very loud.

 

So when I decided that Christianity is not really for me, I started researching other spiritual paths. I knew that paganism did attract me like a magnet but I was not having the slightest idea where should I start looking! The first thing I tried was Googling some key words! This lead me to a forum about magick. There I could find a lot recipes and rituals but almost nothing on the philosophical part of it. There were some posts here and there that did provide some information but they were not helpful enough to help me understand what was going on. After spending some time there I felt even more confused with what was really going on and that’s when I started searching for books to introduce me to the world of Paganism and it’s spiritual paths. Thanks to amazon I got my hands on some of them and that’s when I started understanding what I was really getting myself into.

 

Now when I was a part of the forum I talked about above, I met quite a few people (the majority of them just online and never in person). Most of them were a huge disappointment since they were trying to use the noble arts of Magick to make money. People against people! Everybody (with minor exceptions) was filled with arrogance and egoism, thinking that they were brighter than the rest. I was really shocked to see such a small and vulnerable community to be synthesized by people who were on each other’s throat! The majority was liars, frauds and vicious people and that’s why I decided to get as far as possible from them. The final strike came when I saw everybody trying to turn against those who tried selflessly and unconditionally to develop the Greek Pagan Community. To sum up I think that quite a few people involved in the Greek Pagan community are trying there just to use it and make money (by selling products or services) and not by interest for Paganism.            

 

 I hope the real seekers of Paganism to be out there! I wish to meet them one day and have a chance to talk and work with them to build a proper and right community. I want to believe that those who are using our spiritual paths as a tool for personal gain will sooner or later face the consequences of their actions and will be removed from the community.  I hope that one-day people will stop destroying whatever is pure and beautiful in this world and instead decide to be a part of it!

 

I would really love it if some of you send me an email or leave a comment about how is the communities in your country. It would be a great help and I would really appreciate it!

Religions, Spirituality and Deities

Hello again! It's been a long time since my last post by here I am again...!

For a long time I’ve been thinking about Deities of the world and how we choose those who we wish to work with. 

Since the very first steps of mankind religion has been an integral part of it. It only takes a Google search to understand that there are thousands of Deities out there. Every corner of the globe got it’s own way of embody the divine. I believe that the main reason behind the tremendous amount of Deities is that different people have different needs. It took a while for us to understand the world we live in (we are still trying actually) and there were times that we could not understand a lot of things going on in our habitant. For example for someone living in the Bronze Age the thunder was a big mystery and could not be explained. 

That’s when the Deities come. The fear for the unknown along with the luck of understanding of some phenomenon or situations is what makes humans seek answers to a greater power, a divine power! As a result of this I think that it is at least logical for mankind to have so many religions and deities around the world. Some of them more known that others but all together they helped us understand our world and discover our spirituality.

Sometimes we need some divine energy to guide and support us. We may seek divine help not only for our rituals and magick works but also in our daily routine. How will we choose the right Deity to work with? With what criteria can we say which deity is real and which in not?

I have a theory of my own about this. I believe that the greatest tool we have is our mind. So every Deity will be there if we really believe in it. First we need to deeply understand the Deity we are planning to work with. The deepest our connection with the Deity is the greater will it’s present when we need it.

To sum up I don’t believe that there is such a thing as a fake Deity. The ultimate tool we have to create a powerful bond with the Deity we desire is our faith. If our faith is strong so will be the connection with the divine and as a result of this our magick. Trust yourself, empower your divine connection with your faith and you will experience something beyond imagination.

The Truth About The Hellenic Mythology

The last few days I have been furiously studying the Hellenic Mythology. An absolutely amazing and fascinating subject! The problem with Mythology is that it's very difficult to find the original form of the myths and see if there is any corruption in them.

To begin with different scholars or writers are presenting different versions of the same myth and, most of the time, each one of them support their version as the original version. Moreover a lot of people, who are trying to analyse the myths and discover their inner messages and meanings, are giving away different conclusions based on their, usually, limited researches. And finally let's not forget that time changes facts! The older the myth/story the biggest the chasm between the original version and the present version!

Now we need to keep in mind that Mythology have always served one purpose; teaching, in a very creative, interesting and exciting way, the youngsters the principles of life! The ancient Hellenes had achieved what each country's educational system is trying to do today! So when you are studying a myth don't face it as a historical event but try to see behind the words and discover what the ancients are trying to teach us with it!

 Another fact of vast importance is that "Hellenic Religion" does not include Mythology. The connection within the Mythology and the religion of the ancients is negligible. A small amount of the information coming from Mythology is accepted, even as symbolisms, from the Hellenic religion. Like I said before Mythology has scholastic character after all. The fact that a lot people nowadays think them as one is a misunderstand that came along with the views of some modern scholars and their studies on the ancient Hellenes and their ways. So I think that Mythology is fundamentally part of the Hellenic Philosophy and not an integral part of the Hellenic religion as most people think. At first I caught into the trap of my primal understanding on such subjects (I started studying these subjects not long ago after all) and thought that Hellenic religion is actually Hellenic philosophy and it is not a religion at all. Then after discussing it with a friend, who is one of the very few people I know who knows a great deal about that subject, and sleeping on it I came to understand that these are two completely different things that share a lot common points. 

Now let's return to Mythology! Everything in the Hellenic Mythology (names, places, stories, plots, heroes etc.) is nothing more than coded information about the creation of our world, evolution, humanity, nature, life etc. For example due to representing family, wisdom and nature, principles that cannot be violated, Hestia, Athena and Artemis, are virgin goddesses. Another very interesting example that proves my statement is the names of the deities. Let's talk about the Titans Cronus and Rhea! The name Cronus comes from the Hellenic word Chronos (Χρόνος), which means Time! Now Rhea means the flowing one (from the ancient Hellenic word Ροή which means flow). So the couple Cronus and Rhea is actually the Flow of Time or we can say that it represent the fourth dimension of our universe...!!! Space and time! 

The world Mythology comes from three other Hellenic words: Μύω [Mio], which means shrinking, Θέω [Theo], which means moving with great speed and Λέγω [Lego], which means I say. So Mythology is actually passing the Myths (along with the knowledge that is hidden into them) to the future generations in a very fast and immediate way…!  Here I would like to point out that the word Myth means a fictional story with a true meaning and teaching.

In conclusion I think that by studying the Hellenic Mythology we can discover great things about our world, the way it was created and ourselves. The Ancient Hellenes have given answers to the greatest questions of humanity! In the same Myths we can find all the principles of life, nature and humanity as well! Every day I spend studying the Hellenic Heritage, my heritage, I feel more and more proud of my ancestors and I totally believe that everyone on this planet should spend some time to study even the basics of the Hellenic Philosophy!

Dear reader,

By reading this I assume that you are a lot like me when it comes to spirituality. Your family probably “gave” you a religion but it did not seem right to you. At some point of your life you started searching for your own path, the right path for you, and luckily you found it. But have you really found YOUR path? Or you are just following the path that seems to suit you most of all the others without being totally into it?

Recently I found myself in that situation. I was following a pagan tradition based on elemental magick. I felt great about it and was really into it, but not totally into it. I came to understand that we cannot make discounts to anything concerns our spirituality. Even if a very little, but important, part of the tradition we are following is not attuned with us I believe that we should search for something else.

I understand that there cannot be a tradition that is perfectly attuned with everyone. That is impossible and, come to think of it, it would be extremely boring if everyone was thinking the same way, had exactly the same beliefs and needs or wanted the same things.  So what can we do? Is there any way to make finding the best path for us possible?

Actually I think there is. We can adjust things! In every single part of our lives we are adjusting things! Why can’t we do the same with our spiritual path? Why can’t we find a tradition that seems best for us and adjust the tiny little, yet important, parts of it that don’t seem to work very well?

I believe that the most important think here is to find a tradition that the deities feel right for you and with which you can find yourself attuned! So before thinking of anything else search and find your God/Goddess/Gods/Goddesses!Once again! Do not make any discount! Search deep! There is surely one deity waiting to embrace you! I was searching for five whole years to find mine and it was right under my nose! I am Hellene and I had never thought the possibility that the Hellenic Pantheon is for me! Believe me you will know it when you find your Gods! You will feel it with every molecular of your body! I know I did!

After you have found your Gods then study their traditions! Learn as much there is for them as possible and when you think you know enough to begin your journey though that new spiritual path that lies before you, its time to think of what does not feel right to you and if you should change your views on these things or adjust the tradition to yourself! Sometimes during our spiritual wanderings we can find ourselves realizing things that we did not seem to understand or accept before. That is the way that spirituality improves us. So before rushing to adjust anything stop one moment and think “Do I really need to change this or should I change myself?”.

Now in a very rare occasion we can find it very difficult to follow a tradition. It happens! Even if the deities are perfect and everything seems great the rest of the tradition may doesn’t feel right. That’s the moment to start creating your own tradition! You have your Deity! Work with the gods to help you create your own path! Ask your Gods to aid you and if you work hard I’m sure you will succeed. If you think of it people who did not fit in to the traditions of their time made all the traditions that we know today!

So all in all! Don’t make any discounts to your spirituality, search hard to find your Gods, adjust the tradition to your needs and if that seems impossible create your own path!

It's been almost 5 years since I started wandering in the world of occultism. Everything began with a forum I came by filled with rituals, recipes, oils, incenses and other magick related stuff! I started studying the craft but without following a specific path. After some time I realised that I cannot go on doing random stuff and as long as spirituality is the core of these things I needed to search and find the path I am meant to follow. 

I began with Wicca, Scots Cunningham books where the first step.. It was nice and I really liked everything about it but I did not feel any connection with the whole tradition, it was clear that Wicca was not for me. In the meantime a friend of mine gave me a book about different traditions of the world that had an extended description of each tradition and some practical stuff as well. I started studying this great book and tried Shamanism and Druidism but they did not feel right as well. 

Long story short, after a while I realised that the main problem I was having with most magickal traditions was the fact that I am gay. No matter how much I tried I could not really got myself into the whole God and Goddess thing. 

Not long ago I was thinking about a good friend of mine who is following the Hellenic Religion. And that's when it came to me! The only tradition I have never thought of checking was the tradition I knew my whole life! It was there, in front of me, the whole time! The Gods of Olympus and the Hellenic Myths that I have been raised with were most likely my path! 

So here I am, feeling more alive than ever and studying like a madman, trying to realise if I am correct and this is my true path. I think it is, I can feel it is, but you cannot rush into things before you are absolutely sure when it comes to spirituality. 

I created this blog so I can share my thoughts, feelings and discoveries with you! Here I will post every major event of my spiritual journey. 

Friend, welcome to The Temple Of Zeus!