The Song and the Flame

A while back, I posted about my religious goals for the season. One of those was:

3. Read at least one book that is either primary source material I wasn’t previously familiar with, or a secondary scholarly source. I have a list of stuff to choose from, and it’s about time to stop with the “I’ll get around to it” and actually, you know, get around to it.

Well, I got around to it. Check it out on my reading journal:
Greek Personal Religion: A Reader

It’s goal-setting time over at the Cauldron again. Well, actually it’s past goal-setting time, since we divide the “Life’s To-Do List” threads by season at the solstices and equinoxes, but it’s taken me a bit to get a good feel for what I need to be doing, I think. About half of my initial list of goals are either directly related to my religious development or, at least, aimed at learning more about ancient Greece, which seems at least quasi-religious given my Recon focus. I thought I’d post them here. I’ve also posted the rest of my goals (mostly to do with writing) at my main blog, if you’re interested.

1. Develop a monthly calendar. I think at this point I’ve pretty well settled on a lunar cycle, and on not doing weekly stuff. I think I’ll probably fill in annual festivals as I go along and can see what works and what makes sense for me. But then what do I do monthly? As I said, I’ve got a start with the libation for Apollo on the seventh of the month and some attempt at a Noumenia observance, but is there anything else I should be doing? How much do I want to do with individual deity libations and such? It’s time to figure that out.

2. Finish listening to the OpenYale course on Ancient Greek History.

3. Read at least one book that is either primary source material I wasn’t previously familiar with, or a secondary scholarly source. I have a list of stuff to choose from, and it’s about time to stop with the “I’ll get around to it” and actually, you know, get around to it.

4. Attend at least one Pagan Meetup. I’ve discussed it previously, so I won’t bore you with saying the same thing again. The next meetup has been set, I’ve RSVPed and I’m planning on being there. As much as I’m still a bit nervous about it, ultimately I figure this will be the easy goal because all I have to do is follow through on existing plans.

I have just realized that “figure out what to do for Noumenia” should probably be in there somewhere too. I think I might save it for when I’ve gotten through goal #1, though, and just add “figure out what to do for monthly libations/observances” all in one go. Once I’ve figured out what I’m observing, I don’t think figuring out the form of it will be that difficult, though.

From my reading journal, some thoughts on (the first third of) Allyson Szabo’s Longing For Wisdom: The Message of the Maxims:
Longing For Wisdom

I feel kinda bad for not being better pleased with it. I don’t think it’s at all RevAllyson’s fault as an author; I think that possibly I ignored or did not pick up on clues about the way the book would go that were perfectly well available to me. I want to stress again that I don’t think it’s a bad book, it’s just not what I’m looking for right now. I would certainly recommend it to someone looking for a devotional (which, if I’d been paying attention, is kind of Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s gig; there’s one of those clues).

In other news, this quick-look not-quite-review (I refuse to review a book properly when I’ve not finished it) is the closest I’ve come to saying anything direct about my religion on the two blogs that I consider more-public space — that is, the space my extended family might reasonably stumble upon by following links from various profiles. So I’m a little nervous there that someone will read between the lines and realize what’s going on, and it’ll be a Big Thing. Except, you know, with my family I’m betting it would never actually wind up being a topic of discussion. Gotta love Midwestern American German Lutheran manners; you don’t discuss religion in polite company.

Right. It’s not quite been a year since I blogged here. Yikes. Is anyone still out there?

I’ve been trying to read scholarly sources again. Mikalson’s more readable than Burkert, but I’m just not getting much of anywhere lately and I think I have to admit that it’s time to try something else. (This frustrates me very much, as detailed on my reading blog, but what I didn’t want to get into there was that I also sort of feel like a wannabe. I feel like I just keep quitting reading scholarly sources because it’s too haaaaaaard. Which, tough shit. You picked a religion with homework. And this is why this makes me feel like such a failure.) Then it hit me. DailyLit! Has Greek stuff! Primary sources! It’s a little limited in that I’m not sure what the translations are, and I don’t in most cases have the luxury of choosing which one to follow, but it’s better than nothing, which is what I’m doing currently. So the question now is, to dive into the Iliad again and try to finish it this time, or to move on to drama? It’s been a long time since I’ve read or seen any Greek drama…

I feel as though I may be setting myself up to fail. I know I’m in that kind of phase right now where everything seems terribly important and I’m trying to do too much, and I’m afraid I may wind up dropping back on religious practice again just out of sheer overwhelmedness-with-life. But I have to try, don’t I?

In other news:

I think this blog needs a new design, too.

Everyone at Mom and Dad’s (well, all the adults; not Natalie) got one of these in their stocking. Mine is sitting on top of my binary clock on my desk at work. It’s grey, with a creamy color on the breast and around the eyes. I just meant it to be a fun little toy, but… I can’t help it. Every time I look at it, I see Randall’s sig in my head, which is sufficiently tied to Athena in my head that my brain leaps right over the graphic to the Goddess herself. No direct contact, though. That I’ve recognized. Maybe just my imagination making connections.

Would it be a bad thing, though, to have more things that reminded me of the Gods around at work? Apollo’s got his own little shrine, of course, but I hadn’t necessarily given a lot of thought to the others. Which I haven’t been smited for yet (not a request), but it can’t hurt to pay the others, or at least the other Olympians, a little attention too. Maybe this would be a fun way to get back to a little more religious content in my life — do a little research and figure out what (either already on my desk or that I could add to it) I can do to represent the unrepresented.

I also kind of want to go through this blog and rearrange. Sort things better, maybe stick all the early angsty-me stuff into one big “old stuff” category or something, I don’t know. It feels very disorganized right now.

A list of some resources with information about Hephaestus for me to refer to in honoring Him in December. Currently, primary source material, mythological information collections, online temples and personal things people have written. Probably very incomplete. Additions and corrections are welcome, particularly scholarly works and primary sources offline or on.

Theoi: Hephsistos
Compendium: Hephaistos
Encyclopedia Mythica: Hephaestus

Homeric Hymn #20
Orphic Hymn #65
Hymnodia: Hymns to Hephaestos

A list of some resources with information about Athena for me to refer to in honoring Her in November. Currently, primary source material, mythological information collections, online temples and personal things people have written. Probably very incomplete. Additions and corrections are welcome, particularly scholarly works and primary sources offline or on.

Theoi: Athena
Compendium: Athene
Encyclopedia Mythica: Athena

Homeric Hymn #11, 28
Orphic Hymn #31
Hymnodia: Hymns to Athena

A list of some resources with information about Demeter for me to refer to in honoring Her in October. Currently, primary source material, mythological information collections, online temples and personal things people have written. Probably very incomplete. Additions and corrections are welcome, particularly scholarly works and primary sources offline or on.

Theoi: Demeter
Compendium: Demeter
Encyclopedia Mythica: Demeter

Homeric Hymn #2, 13
Orphic Hymn #39
Hymnodia: Hymns to Demeter

Hellenion: Demeter: the Elusive Goddess

A list of some resources with information about Dionysos for me to refer to in honoring Him in September. Currently, primary source material, mythological information collections, online temples and personal things people have written. Probably very incomplete. Additions and corrections are welcome, particularly scholarly works and primary sources offline or on.

Theoi: Dionysos
Compendium: Dionysos
Encyclopedia Mythica: Dionysus

Homeric Hymn #1, 7, 26
Orphic Hymn #29? 44? 46? 52?
Hymnodia: Hymns to Dionysos
Temple of Dionysos: Prayers and Hymns to the God
wildivine.org: Ancient Hymns to Dionysos

Temple of Dionysos
Thiasos Lusios
Sannion: The Paths to Dionysos
Sannion: Dionysos is Alive and Well and Kicking Ass in a Rock Band

A list of some resources with information about Artemis for me to refer to in honoring Her in August. Currently, primary source material, mythological information collections, online temples and personal things people have written. Probably very incomplete. Additions and corrections are welcome, particularly scholarly works and primary sources offline or on.

Theoi: Artemis
Compendium: Artemis
Encyclopedia Mythica: Artemis

Homeric Hymn #9, 27
Orphic Hymn #35
Hymnodia: Hymns to Artemis
Temple of Artemis: Prayers

Temple of Artemis

A list of some resources with information about Apollo for me to refer to in honoring Him in July. Currently, primary source material, mythological information collections, online temples and personal things people have written. Probably very incomplete. Additions and corrections are welcome, particularly scholarly works and primary sources offline or on.

Theoi: Apollon
Compendium: Apollo
Encyclopedia Mythica: Apollo

Homeric Hymn #3, 21, 25 (w/ the Muses)
Orphic Hymn #33
Hymnodia: Hymns and Devotions to Apollon
Prarie Sun: Poetry, Hymns and Prayers
Kyrene: Prayers and Hymns to the God
Todd Jackson: Poems for Apollo

New Apollon
Prarie Sun Temple of Apollo
Temple of Apollo
Sannion: Coming to Terms with Apollo
The Oracle of Delphi and Apollo’s Inner Light