I’m a college student, and consider that in some ways a devotional exercise. Interestingly enough, this semester (which is online due to Covid-19 concerns), I signed up for World Mythology and Comparative Religions. In both of these classes I have run across definitions for the words “myth” and “religion” that I actually really like.
The definition for “religion” being used is “a set of traditions that brings psychic and social coherence for its members” and the definition of “myth” being used is “a cultural narrative that reflects the values and ideals of the culture which tells the story”
Neither of these definitions places primacy on the world’s monotheistic religions, and both of these definitions are useful to me as a Hellenic Polytheist who is interested not only in the Classical Hellenic Myths (which my World Mythology teacher acknowledges that I probably know a good bit more about than almost anyone in the class BECAUSE of my religious faith) but how modern iterations of mythology concerning the Hellenic Theoi might come into being. This also applies to modern Hellenic Polytheist orthopraxy.
One of the reasons is that I have written about https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2011/08/22/columbia-and-other-modern-found-gods-and-goddesses/, https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2011/10/10/kyberia-goddess-of-new-technologies-computers-and-the-internet/, https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2012/02/07/offertory-prayer-to-cafeina/, https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2012/04/20/a-few-thoughts-on-modern-offerings-to-the-gods/, https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2013/07/13/religion-vs-faith-which-one-is-absolute/, https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2014/05/09/mothers-day-a-modern-festival-of-leto-and-other-mother-goddesses/, https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2015/04/22/earth-day-a-modern-holiday-that-honors-gaia/, https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2016/12/05/hero-cultus-for-modern-heros-and-heroines/, https://greekrevivalistmommy.com/2016/12/28/popular-culture-heros-and-heroines-should-they-receive-cultus-after-their-passing-out-of-this-lifetime/,
As you can see, I’ve been thinking and blogging about these things for almost 10 years. I’m also thinking about some of these things in light of my classes. I wonder about if I should share these musings with my classmates and my teachers. Because Hellenic Polytheism is a very small religious path relative to others, I find it nerve-wracking at times to open up and I wonder if that is something others do as well.
greekrevivalistmommy 