This week I was at the supermarket and thought "If I find epoxy paste, I'll make something to the Gods", and I did find it. So, yesterday I made a little shield (50 grams / 1.8 ounces) with Medusa on it. I used the epoxy paste and kneadable rubber (to the snakes), and painted it. The eyebrowns are of (electric) plastic wire glued to the piece. It's not a piece of art, it's just something to offer in honor of Them. Take a look:

I know I don't use to post here a lot, mostly because I run a lot of websites and this one in English demands me more time to think if I'm not making mistakes. But I want to share my dream of last night.

I've dreamt they (some bad people) needed something from my brain and that they would take it off by a cut in my eye. The woman who worked for them arrived with a scalpel to do it and I noticed she was a former college mate who was not a doctor or a nurse, but a psychologist. But Aphrodite was there helping me, it was like it HAD to happen (I was accepting it and asking if they didn't have anesthesia and so on), but that She was taking care of me. She also had a new epithet about what I read at a website which I shared with friends, but they said it didn't work and I noticed it was because the website was only in my dream. I tried to save it in a doc file to show them when I got awake. Unfortunately, I was woken by a cell phone calling.

A friend has understood my dream as I was to make a sacrifice for love. I don't know, but it's really strange Aphrodite being associated with brain and eyes - maybe something related to the new epithet. The psychology thing I can think about her daughter-in-law Psyche, but the other stuff I still don't get it.

Some insights?

Some things that happened during my yoga classes:

1)

2)

3)

Then, we made the warrior pose II (Virabhadrasana), which reminded me the bronze sculpture of Poseidon (or Zeus, according to some).

As I've shown HERE, inspired in Annyikha's work, I've made new sticks to the gods in my shrines who haven't their names there yet:


I also made others to send to a friend as a gift. She has 11 shrines, so all of them will have their names now:


And, to keep you updated, I have some pictures of Aphrodite's libation and Diasia in my Flickr. The captions are in Portuguese, but I think you still can enjoy and understand what each photo means. See them HERE.

I have this friend who is married and has two children. She is fond of the Celtic pantheon, and so is her husband, but their kids are totally in love with the Greek gods. Because of that, I use to say they're mine, hehehe. Some months ago I gave them a pair of busts of Apollo and Artemis so they could put them in their shrines. The girl is now 8 years-old and likes Aphrodite and Artemis, the boy is 4 years-old and likes Zeus and Apollo. He says Zeus is his father and Apollo his brother.

Last month my friend told me the girl saw a young man (kind of teenager) with dark hair, Greek clothes and wings on the back, flying away from her bedroom when she woke up. She didn't know who was, first when she told me about the flight I thought in Eros or Hermes, but when she described the other features, we've concluded he might be Eros. I imagined he was kind of taking care of her to Aphrodite, 'cause I don't feel like she is ready to Aphrodite yet, I don't know, she is still "too Artemis", if I can say so. My friend used to watch Xena when she was pregnant of her, hehehe. She has a aunt who is devoted to Aphodite, but she lives in another city, I don't know how much she could have influenced her, my friend says it didn't come from her sister, it was completely her (the girl) choice.

Last week the boy made a draw of Zeus, very cute, with golden paints in a purple paper. They didn't know purple was Zeus' color, so I was impressed with his natural knowledge of it. Actually, it was not the first time he impresses me with his perceptions of the Greek gods, specially because their parents were very lost about it when I came into their life, they really didn't know almost anything about the Greek pantheon and religion.

Yesterday I went there and my friend told me her Christian mother was in the city and, seeing they were sick, told them "it is because of the lack of God", to what the younger one answered "I don't think so, grandma; there's a lot of Gods here". LoL. And he went on: "Only my sister doesn't have a male god yet", because he kept the two busts of Apollo and Artemis in his shrine (besides Zeus statue he already had), but she still has only female figures in hers.

When it was Christmas, they got some cards from their school, and the older (the girl) was telling me this; "they sent me Christmas cards from a religion which is not mine!". I always get amused with the things they say. The boy already asked his mother if there were more "people like us". It's like we're kind of ETs or something like that, for worshipping the gods.

My friend told me the girl saw Eros other two times after that one.

I'm seriously thinking about doing a ritual of Onomatodosia with these kids... I'm just not sure when, even if it seems they already know who are their patron gods.

I'm not sure if it fits to a reconstrucionist, but I use Mythic Tarot, I have Apollo Alphabetical Oracle, sometimes I interpret bird flight, and three days ago I've received the Mythic Oracle deck. I feel I'm getting better in this kind of reading. I have never considered to become a "mantis"* before, at least not with cards, my cup of tea always was to work with dreams -- which is another thing I'm noticing I'm getting better with, to understand mine and other's, besides always having premonitory ones --, but maybe those are so connected (both deal with symbols) that it can be a way to use oracles without having to wait for a significant dream.
The new deck came from Australia and arrived quickly here, it took only a week. The beautiful art is from Michelle-lee Phelan (artoftheempath ) and I'm very satisfied with the results I got in my first reading of the Mythic Oracle, at the same night I got the package from mail.

By the way, there's one thing I've noticed in these last 5 years of reading oracles: I can't consult them on Thursdays. Really. I've tried with tarot, runes, shamanic cards etc, none of them seems to be "disposed" or "willing" to give me an understandable answer on that day. It simply doesn't work. So I just stopped to try. I don't know if it makes sense, but it's what happens to me. That's one of the reasons I asked about my new year before the new year's day, a Thursday. If someone knows why it happens, or if something similar happens to you, I would appreciate your help.

That's how I imagine him to be: [click here]. Althought not exactly...
(I don't know who is the model, but he reminds me of Eros.)

By the way, speaking of Eros, last month a friend who was in a kind of trance (and knows nothing about the Greek religion) told me she heard from a female spirit that I don't know how powerful my requests are, and that anything I ask is carried/taken by "the wings of the dove". I thought about Aphrodite when I listened to her words. She didn't know what it meant, but it made sense to me.

Sorry (for myself, LoL) if I'm not updating it as frequently as I should, but I have been busy, for good reasons, and the gods are still (and always) showing they're here. ;D

I keep reading my friend's LJs anyway... =))

Nov. 15th
I've dreamt a friend had made a little statue of Medusa to give me. I looked carefully each detail of the gift, the back was more beautiful than the front part, and it had a blue hair. The curious thing is: Medusa had a child in her arms, I believe it was a boy, and he was looking to the side, where there was a kind of nurse-maid looking back to him.

It was the third time I dreamt with Medusa. The first time I faced her and won, in a classroom (of a University), the second dream she wasn't a threat anymore, I think she was already part of me, and the third one she bears a child, maybe like a product of something.

Having Athena as a patron goddess, I can't help thinking about the Aegis, but there's a lot more things about Medusa that I don't think it's only about it. But, anyway, someone told me it could help if I found a symbol to represent her eyes, so I bought the "nazar" (the greek eye, a turkish amulet), since in the temple of Adriano there was a head of Medusa to protect it, and it was believed in the strength/power of her blue eyes.

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Nov. 20th
I dreamt I saw a HUGE (higher than the buildings) golden statue of Apollo with an arch and arrow, aiming at the night sky. The bottom part of the statue was covered by the opaque air produced by the lights of the city, I could not see it, but the top part - of his face and arms with the bow-and-arrow - that was above all, was highlighted, in its gold color on the dark background of the night. I loved to see that (and I think I knew I had gone there while sleeping), and I screamed: APOLLO!, then I stopped for a moment, in contemplation, and I screamed again: APOLLO! (I don't remember how many times). It was a very nice sensation...

Just to let you know:
# I've dreamt about Medusa (and it was not the first time) - I hope you can give me somes clues to understand what it can possibly mean;
and
# I'm using a new mood theme from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ('cause some friends say I look like Kate Winslet), so my previous posts were all edited with it - I hope you like.
:))

Oct. 12

I dreamt I was looking to the Ares bust I have in one of my shrines, but it was very bigger and it had something black in its mouth, which looked like a (tobacco-)pipe. But then the bust starts to move and to produce sound from that thing, so I noticed it was a flute. I kept looking, happy because I was seeing the god moving. He looked at me, and I saw he had dark brown eyes and they were beautiful. The dark beard, the hair, the nose, everything was beautiful and familiar, and he somehow looked like my uncles (from my mother's side).

Yes, that night I saw Ares playing flute...


Oct. 13

I don't remember well now, I should have taken note earlier, but - however - I dreamt about the union of a couple of gods. The dream showed me to stop waiting them to get together, to not be passive, but to bring each one by their hands and to celebrate their marriage. I watched the scene: it was like a grove or forest; we were stood up, I was between them (I saw myself there, I wasn't in my own body) and they were facing each other. I felt like they were Aphrodite and Ares. I woke up thinking about having a kind of "Hieros Gamos" (sacred marriage) in my life...

Then I read this somewhere:
"In ancient times, it was rightly said that a people who made wedding customs into a rite that conformed to the eternal laws formed a great magical chain binding the material realm to higher realms. (...) In Greece, the goddess of wedlock was called Aphrodite Teleia, the Fulfiller,her attribute coming from the telos, a word used for initiation."


Oct. 14

This morning I dreamt I was practicing martial arts again (I've quit it some time ago), but now I borrowed the kimono of an old lady who - in the dream - was my grandmother (but she didn't look like my real grandmother). She had black belt and her kimono had "shaman" written in it (but I think I would take off the belt to use her kimono).

Last time I practiced martial arts, I used the initial meditation moment to say a silent prayer to the heroes and to Ares.

Today, when I got back home to have lunch, I found a feather which I think is from a dove. So I've put it in her shrine as an offer.

It seems like this two gods are approaching me, I just hope to understand what they want me to do...

[sorry in advance for any English mistake]

After the dream I've related in my last post, and of the feedback that I had of other hellenic polytheists regarding the interpretation of the dream, I noticed that I needed to do a purification of myself and a repairing for Aphrodite. I reminded, besides, that one of my statuettes of her had been broken about two months ago (it was my mother, the one that dreamed about the two statues that had disappeared, who has stumbled at it and made it fall -- yes, it was unintentional). It was around that same days that I think I've commited a hybris, although it was worth to confirm certain things. The other one happened on last Friday and, before it got worse, I made up things. I was disturbed about it since Tuesday morning. Then, after solving the matter the best way I could, I prepared my purification ritual, the offers and everything else.

So, last Tuesday, I've performed the ritual under the light of a beautiful sunset (I can see the sunset from the window of my bedroom), which is the hour when begins the hellenic day and which is also the hour of vesper / venus. I stood before where my altars/shrines are and I accomplished everything that I believe that I should do, without saving in the offers: oats (it was not any cereal) and honey (pure, from bees, not from sugar cane) for the libation. When I finished everything (included already having flowed the impure at the outside), I went to my bedroom window and I said in Greek "for the glory of the gods of the Ancient Greece". As soon as I finished the sentence, a bird passed by, in a flight which shows a positive sense, or "good", as I've learned from the ancient practice of watching the birds as a way of an oracle. So, I believe it was a sign that the ritual (the offers, gratitudes, requests etc) was accepted in a positive way, it was listened and it pleased Them.

Before that, I was talking to a friend who follows the Egypt pantheon, about how sometimes it seems that I'm turning to a "Greek" person, even regarding the food, because I can't eat red meat anymore (only sheep/ram), but I love seafood, grains etc, i.e., Mediterranean cuisine. And she told me that - when we get close to the gods - we begin to assimilate their characteristics.

Those small events of my days are the ones which reinforce more the conviction/confidence of being in the right path, and they leave me happy. Although not always I speak (nor write) about them, I'm being more and more sure that it's the way as/like the things should happen...

Now I'm going to try to find a loosen emerald for the next ritual, because some people told me it can do "miracles" regarding please Aphrodite. :))

Today I've dreamt I was a mermaid, I was in the sea near the beach and I saw a closed bottle of champagne inside a bucket of ice, over the rocks, and I knew it was from a bad guy who would use it to celebrate his deed. So, I've noted the fishnet he had put around the part of the water where I was in, and I tried to swim to the shore while the net was closing. I don't know if I got it, but the feeling I had is that I did it, because - after that - I was already in another dream.

Later I went to lunch with my mother and she told me that she had dreamt she was on the sea with some ships (and my father was there too) and she passed by a place where there were two "of that statues you like" (she doesn't know my statues of gods are actually gods I worship), and - when she said that - I immediately thought in Aphrodite (of the sea, and specially came to my mind Aphrodite Cytherea) and some one more deity. After that, in the dream, she remembered I could want and would like to have them, so she went back to that place to take them for me. She asked some women if she could get the statues and they told her yes, but, when she got there, the statues were not there anymore. Then she got lost and she didn't find not even my father, and the cell phone didn't work because the numbers had been deleted.

The only thing I told her is that I was also dreamt about the sea, but I didn't told her how was the dream. I hope to understand what relation it may exist between the two dreams and what they are trying to tell me. I'd like to know to where the statues were gone, or if they gained life (who knows if they were the women to whom she asked if she could take them), and what kind of revelation through my mother was that... I hope you can help me with it.

The curious thing about the champagne is that it reminds me the foam (aphros) of Aphrodite.

There are some changes happening in my life (maybe even moving to another city - again - next year), and suddenly my mother came with a new and very cute plush bear to give me, "from nothing" (I think Artemis was involved in sending it), without knowing I really needed to replace the giraffe I was sleeping with (because some specific person gave it to me). Bears are from Artemis, so I looked at it and thought about a male figure related to Her and I named him Orion. This little bear has made me company, has being my comfort and my strenght in these "limbo" days, when my cocoon from caterpillar to butterfly is trying to start to cleave. It may seem childish or not, but he's being more than a plushie. He sleeps and watches TV (my HBO's "Rome" DVDs) with me too. And there's a Brazilian song about Orion which I can't stop singing in my head... Maybe I can show you a picture of it later.

For now, here is some excerpts about the hunter:

Astronomy - "Orion had an important role to ancient civilizations. It's position in the skies along the year was a sign of climatic changes coming. It was also a time to harvest grapes" ...

Mythology - "gifted with the ability to walk on water" ... "the god directed the giant travel to the rising place of the sun, where the sun-god would restore his vision" ...

Song (translated) - "Far away I can be nobody, because far away being nobody is OK; new floor, old constelation" ... "I miss coming back"...

~ more about Orion - http://www.theoi.com/Gigante/GiganteOrion.html ~

According to "Ancient Greek Religion" by Jon D. Mikalson, the names of the Gods were frequently inscribed on altars. I found in Annyikha 's blog an alternative way to do that, adapted to our needs. She used markers on popsicle sticks! It gave me the idea of doing the same, but using a pyrography machine instead of a marker, and retangular sticks instead of the tradicional tip-rounded ones. Also, instead of the same symbols she used, I took the astronomical ones, except for Dionysos. It was worth to spend one hour drawing in the wood with fire... After done, the sticks were put in their places, but I want to make more to other gods' shrines I have around here. So, here's how my sticks are now:

Since I was 20 years-old the butterflies have been a constant in my life. Because they have the same Greek word for soul (and I'm a Psychologist), because they are a symbol of the Amazon labrys (double-axe) also identified with Crete and Zeus, because they use to be associated with the love between women, because they remind me of one of my ancestrals, because their ability of metamorphose and fly away free... For all these reasons and maybe more.

The first "manifestation" of them to mee was when a huge blue butterfly kept circling above my head when I had fallen on the stones of a waterfall in some "mystical" place (as people say about there). Later, they used to appear to send me messages or signs or simply to tell me that I'm not alone. The last one I had seen on my car's door, leaving a friend's house some weeks ago.

However, what have surprised more was what I've experienced yesterday. I saw a huge flock of yellow butterflies, which has passed exactly above me when I was entering my street after having taken a big decision. Then, today the TV news announced it was a phenomenon which happens in some cities, that hasn't happened here yet, but that nobody knows exactly why it happens.

May the science not explain the event, but it made sense to me. Before I thought I was living some "Phoenix" moment, but now I see my last events aren't related to a re-creation from the ashes but to a change from a caterpillar to a colorful butterfly, leaving the cocoon to fly free. A yellow one. Yellow as a symbol of the intellect, of the sun, of the alchemic fire, of Apollo's harmony, of Heliotherapic cure, of a lot of things...

So may the Gods allow me to fly and shine!

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There's a Brazilian native indian word to denominate a group of butterflies which appears in specific times of the year. It's "Panapaná" or "panapanã".

Yesterday I celebrated the Dikhomenia and something different happened. As I feel the gods know better than us what we need to say, sometimes I let them speak through my mouth, but I’ve always kept my doubts about if it (the way I use to do) was valid, because it’s a personal practice I haven’t heard about from other hellenes yet. It works like that: I don’t think about nothing and the words flow from my mouth in some language (or dialect) which I don’t speak but which seems somewhat familiar to me. Well, last night (of lunar eclipse), at the end of that “strange” way of prayer, a sentence was repeated a lot of times, further getting slower till I was in silence. Later, I checked my Greek dictionary looking for some words similar to the ones I’ve heard from my mouth, and - to my surprise - it made sense. They seem to form exactly something like “thou/you who dwell the mountains and is father”. So I felt it was a prayer to Zeus. Then I looked to his depiction and thought about how it could be confirming him as one of my major patron gods… Do you think it has some value or I’m daydreaming?

[ Just to let you know about my last post: Aphrodite has really answered to my prayer that time, and - since then - she let me feel her presence two other times with the appearing of white doves in unusual situations. ]

Today, early in the morning, I said a prayer to Aphrodite, which is next to Eros in my shrines. (See them HERE). Then I went to the elevator to leave and, in the hall window, I saw a dove. I had never seen a dove in my building or street, maybe not even in this city. And for sure never like this one. It was white with golden details. I was so surprised, that I said “wow!”. The dove not even flinched at my presence. I tried to take a picture of it with my cell phone, but when I saw through the little screen, it was not in its place, there was only light where the dove should be. Then I didn’t take the picture.
My father came to join me and the dove flew away. He didn’t look to its direction, as he haven’t noticed the rustle of the wings. Or it was only me the one who was seeing it?
As doves are animals of both Aphrodite and Eros, I believe it can be an answer to my prayer. Or at least it was saying she (or they) took my message. So I will let in her/their hands the decision of what is the best for me in that matter. And trust in her/them.
I’m trying not to think far beyond, like “the colors of the dove were the colors of Apollo and Hestia” and so on, because I think this time it was just a simple acceptance of my message and I have to simply accept hers/theirs too. Let’s see what happens…

I had a wonderful dream last night!
Before going to sleep, I said a prayer I almost always say to Hermes Psychopompos and Hypnos*, and by the morning I was gifted with a truly time travel.
First I dreamt the house where I lived (which is not the apartment I really live, but another house which frequently appears in my dreams as the one I live) had other rooms at the back. These I had already seen in other dreams, but this time I have noticed after the rooms there was a backyard, with a barbecue fireplace and a way made of stones at the side. I’ve decided to follow through that way, going down over the rocks and then I ended up in a place next to the sea where, looking up, there was a huge temple that I’ve recognized as the Greek columns that really exist here in my city, on the beach, and that sometimes I saw through the window of my room in this house which I live in my dreams. However, it seemed bigger and it inspired something inside me, something majestically beautiful, powerful, almost with a movie soundtrack behind my vision.

At some moment here, in my dream, I was in the temple, which was a little different, complete, not by restoration, but by being the original one. It was like I had been transported to another age in the past and, from there, I was seeing a very colorful city, with people wearing very colorful clothes (like really were the Ancient Greek ones) and walking around doing their business, and some acropolis with statues, one of them depicting a warrior fighting a mythological creature. I watched all that in trance and – taken by a kind of glory for being there – I screamed “Greeceeeee…!”
After this part of the dream, I though how this time I had got be there in that temple that I used to look through the window, and then I’ve noticed it happened because the tide was down. I’ve decided to go back before it was high again, then I climbed the rocks with some little fear, but without difficulty, as I knew that I would be able to do it because it was exactly what I had to do. Now I knew how to arrive in that vision I used to have through the window of other dreams, it was only to wait the low tides and follow the way behind the house. In my way back, I’ve found something that I don’t remember what it was, then a dagger, then a kind of axe, then an anchor, and a hook with chains…
As I was down taking this stuff, I didn’t see where I was now. Standing up, I’ve noticed I had arrived to a place where the floor was made of sand, and there were a lot of naked athletes exercising in different equipments, some of them really high, where they climb the chains with the help of some gadget I don’t remember the name. I chose one of the high Irons to throw my hook with chains, now I was one of them, I was a man and I was naked. They asked me if I didn’t have the gadget, but I told them I was going to show them something. First I climbed up and down the chains as we do with ropes, then I went higher and twisted my feet and bended my body backwards, lying with my arms open, then turning to the same position but now lying in my belly, and then I made a performance which all people there liked and clapped their hands, because it was like they haven’t known that modality yet. Among “my folk”, I looked up the sky and I saw it getting dark and I pointed to there. Everyone then started to run inside, to a place I later recognized…
When I entered there, already dressed as the others, I noticed the decoration and the clothes of the waitress and I realized it was a modern Greek restaurant. So I thought, happy, “then the dream goes on”, because I knew I was dreaming and traveling through all these places and ages of Greece. I walked passing through the tables till find a room where there would happen a show. A man announced that a Brazilian female Singer would sing, and I saw her smiling. I was going to sit to watch her and I saw (among other people seated on the chairs) some Brazilian actors who greeted me, and one of them (a woman) told me “who would say?”.
As the dream was starting to be a mess, with actors and so on, I thought it was in the end, so I woke up.
——

*The pray I use to say at night is like that (but in my own language, Portuguese): ‘Hermes Psychopompos, protect my rest, guide my soul while my body is quiet. Gods’ Messenger, give me good dreams, and with Hypnos prepare me to the next day. Parakalo (please), efxaristo para poli (thank you very much), esto (so be it).’
Psychopompos = guide of souls

~Sorry for any English mistakes~