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Mythological Worship

PureChaos

New Member
Hi,

I'm new to this and have a few questions regarding worship of Greek and Roman deities.

1) Can you worship both or just one?
2) I have seen a lot of this worship linked with being Wiccan. Can you worship these deities without being magick?
3) What good resources are there for this worship?
4) What would be a term used for this religion?

Thank you for any and all help!

- PureChaos
 

JustGeorge

Imperfect
Staff member
Premium Member
Hi,

I'm new to this and have a few questions regarding worship of Greek and Roman deities.

1) Can you worship both or just one?
2) I have seen a lot of this worship linked with being Wiccan. Can you worship these deities without being magick?
3) What good resources are there for this worship?
4) What would be a term used for this religion?

Thank you for any and all help!

- PureChaos

I'm no expert, but...

1) Do you mean worship both Greek and Roman deities? I don't see why you couldn't, but my opinion would be it might be simpler to stick with one or the other, at least while you're getting a feel for things.

2) Absolutely! Magick doesn't need to come into play at all.

4) Some terms I've seen are Hellinismos, Hellenism, and Dodekatheism.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
Hi,

I'm new to this and have a few questions regarding worship of Greek and Roman deities.

1) Can you worship both or just one?
2) I have seen a lot of this worship linked with being Wiccan. Can you worship these deities without being magick?
3) What good resources are there for this worship?
4) What would be a term used for this religion?

Thank you for any and all help!

- PureChaos

  1. I would say you can worship both pantheons. Consider however, that at least several of the Roman gods are adopted wholly from the Greek pantheon. So you might be worshiping the same deity under two different names. Also consider that some deities, Mars and Ares for example, imo are not the same god. Mars is not the bloodthirsty chaos-of-war god Ares is. Mars is considered the father, patron and protector of the Roman military. Ares is a spoiled brat that even Zeus disliked.
  2. Sure, why not? What I k now of Wicca is that it can be as simple as worshiping a God and Goddess as parental figures, parents of the universe. There's a considerable nature based component to Wicca afaik.
  3. That, I don't know off the top of my head. You could start with Google searches.
  4. Greco-Roman Syncretism, maybe?
 

The Hammer

Skald
Premium Member
1) Can you worship both or just one?
2) I have seen a lot of this worship linked with being Wiccan. Can you worship these deities without being magick?
3) What good resources are there for this worship?
4) What would be a term used for this religion?

1. You can worship both, but it might get confusing as many of the deities are renamed versions of one another.

2. Wicca is not required to worship the Roman or Greek deities. I am not Wiccan and I worship the Germanic deities.

3. Look for anything related to Hellenism or Helenismos for Greek worship, I'm less versed with their Roman counterparts.

4. Hellenism for Greek. Not sure if Roman has a specific name. If you are incorporating both, I would say it's a form of mild syncretization.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
Hi,

I'm new to this and have a few questions regarding worship of Greek and Roman deities.

1) Can you worship both or just one?
2) I have seen a lot of this worship linked with being Wiccan. Can you worship these deities without being magick?
3) What good resources are there for this worship?
4) What would be a term used for this religion?

Thank you for any and all help!

- PureChaos


First, welcome to RF.
Sit back, relax, have fun while enjoying the cake.

3291372281_d72ef5e24f_b.jpg

Re your op. I can only answer

1/ Many Roman gods were divised from Greek gods.

Apolo, Apolo
Venus, Aphrodite.
Mars Ares.
Diana, Artemis
Minerva , Athena.
Pluto, Hades
Jupiter, Zeus
Etc, Etc.
Were the same gods in everything but name.
Certainly in Greek and Roman history a person worshiped several gods.
I.e, the goddess of the home, the goddess of the hunt, the goddess of love.
There is no reason not to worship whatever god belief you feel appropriate for you.
 

Viker

Your beloved eccentric Auntie Cristal
1) Can you worship both or just one?
Yes.
2) I have seen a lot of this worship linked with being Wiccan. Can you worship these deities without being magick?
Yes.
3) What good resources are there for this worship
Just type in Greco Roman religion or paganism.
4) What would be a term used for this religion?
Roman Religio.

The Greeks and Romans often shared beliefs and practices.
 

Callisto

Hellenismos, BTW
1. Yes, you can worship Greek and Roman gods. Roman religion existed prior to Hellenic influence though it did become quite Hellenized. There are many similarities but there are still distinctions between the two religions with some gods that were equated with one another but it's not so simple as "X is also known as Y".

2. Absolutely. Much of what's found in Neopagan blogs, videos, and social media is Eclecticism and is not authentic to traditional pagan practices. Even the public perception of Wicca is grossly skewed. Regardless, while magic existed in the ancient world, the modern definition is different from that of ancient cultures. And in Hellenism, for example, not only was magic or "witchcraft" not a part of religious practice, it was considered hubris.

3. If you're interested in learning Greek and Roman traditions, you're far better off sticking to ancient and academic sources. Fortunately, a great deal has survived of Greco-Roman religions and has been researched for centuries so there is an abundance of reliable information, much of it available for free and online. (See examples below.)

4. Hellenic polytheism is known by a few names: Hellenism, Olympianism or Dodekatheism. Roman polytheism is referred to as Religio Romana or Cultus Deorum.

First, don't rely on social media for your primary research, there's far too much pretend and incorrect information to wade through. Sometimes there are useful blogs by modern practitioners but those should be supplemental to the other material. Of the very few groups that exist, Labrys.gr in Greece has published a book on setting up a modern household religion, called Hellenic Polytheism: Household Religion. They also have a few useful articles on their website. For Roman polytheism, there's the Religio Romana Handbook from Nova Roma which is available online for download.

Anyone who has the internet has access to a wealth of ancient/historical information as there isn't a museum or university that doesn't have an online presence. Many scholars and professors offer research papers online at places like Academia.edu, Google Scholar, and jstor.org.

Many useful books are in the public domain and can be found (and downloaded) from places like:

Google Books
Gutenberg.org
Archive.org

plus there are many sites dedicated to Classics like:

Theoi.com
Perseus Project
Lacus Curtius
(to name just a few)

Hellenic and Roman religions are some of these most well documented and studied ancient polytheistic religions, the information available to us is exponentially greater than other polytheistic religions that have little in the way of surviving ancient records and have to rely nearly entirely on second-hand, biased accounts by latter-day Christian writers. tbh, there isn't much a person developing their practice can't find, especially if they're looking for basics.
 
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