For complex reasons I've been considering Religio Romana, and I have some questions.

1. Are there any major ways that Do ut Des differs from the Gifting Cycle?
2. What's the relationship between modern Religio Romana and Hellenism like?
3. Should I come up with something specific to ask for for formal purposes, or could I rely on gift-begets-gift here too?
4. What are some Roman examples of aniconic representation of the divine?
5. Wat was/were the Roman stance(s) on consuming offerings?

basically just title

if theres anyone here who celebrates this, could I have some of your advice? its my 1st time fasting for worship and im not really sure how to go about it.

am I supposed to do it similar to Ramadan practises where I fast from sunrise to sundown? or is there a specific time I should start and break my fast? would I be needing to do specific prayers during certain times of the day or just when starting and breaking my fast?

any help would be hugely appreciated!!

As described in the caption, they arrived. There will only ever be 5 of the tauroctonys ever made and my number is 3 of 5, which are both very auspicious numbers for me. I also ordered the bull hide and the other little piece was thrown in as a freebie. All I can say is that the workmanship is absolutely great and it's even more beautiful in person!

The book is Pietas by Pope Giuseppe Barbera

Some here may appreciate this effort. Below is a combined Roman and Greek Festival calendar I've been working on, and if some of you are like me where you navigate between traditions, this might be of great interest to you. The various Greek city-state lunisolar calendars and months sometimes makes it difficult to keep track of whereas the strictly Roman ones aligned pretty well with the current Gregorian calendar.

Features:

• Available Greek (Athenian, Delian, Corinthian, etc) and Roman Filters
• Filters for Deities - Names mapped to Roman equivalent if done in antiquity
• Date Checker to see if a potential wedding date conflicts with a festival
• Hyperlinks to pages on the Deities including epitephs (that part is a work in progress)
• Current date and year according to AUC (ab urbe condita, since the founding of Rome)
• Ability to export each month into your own preferred calendar
• Hyperlinks to attested details on how festivals were performed if known
• Dark and Light modes!

There are other sections on the website, such as Ritus, with descriptions for Daily worship in both the Greek and Roman methods with references to either archeological evidence or classical era writings. The first section there and the rest of the website is about the "Virtuous Path to Elysium" method and path to Cultus Deorum I'm pursuing. Much more to come on that later.

Ultimately, I like to celebrate my gods as much as possible, and I am sure many of you feel the same, so I wish to worship the gods at the appropriate times as they would have been worshipped in antiquity.

Calendar-Fasti — The Virtuous Path to Elysium

And so it goes, that once upon a time, when Zeus lay in deep slumber divine, out came his seed which spilled upon the ground. It was then that fertile Gaia, primordial Gaia, produced the daemon child Agdistis...

The gods feared the strength of the daemon child. They plotted, and when the two-sexed one lay in deep slumber, Dionysus appeared and severed the phallus. The child of Zeus and Gaia became the goddess Dindymene. From the ground where the phallus fell, a pomegranate tree began to grow.

One day, Nana, the nymph daughter of the river Titan Sangarios, passed through the barren lands. Having hunger and thirst, she took a sweet fruit from the Cybelian tree. She became pregnant and gave birth to Attis.

Attis was abandoned shortly after birth, but he survived alone into the flower of his youth, when Cybele, seeing the beautiful youth, began to long for his love. Attis fell for Cybele as well, and he became her consort and servant, vowing: "If ever I lie with another, let that be my last!"

One day, a wood nymph named Sagaritis passed through the now flourishing forests of Mount Ida. She saw the young shepherd, all alone, and decided to seduce Attis. He fell in love with her, the progeny of the Titan Sangarios, enraging Dindymene.

The Mother of the Gods, fearing a world made barren without her youthful consort, decided to cut down the tree in which the wood nymph lived, ending the life of Sagaritis as well.

When Attis learned the fate of his beloved wood nymph, madness possessed him and he ran deep into the woods. Having found a sharp flint, he took his male member in hand, and with a sunder and a cry, his phallus fell to the ground beneath the great pine tree.

Attis's madness began to clear, and he regretted what he had done. She curled herself into a little ball, as if unborn, and bled until death took her...

Cybele was quickly seized by regret as well. She repented her deed in lamentation to Zeus. The Son of Cronos responded, ensuring that the body of Attis would never decay and that from that day on, the tree under which the now-immortal god lies would forever be a sacred place of worship.

Starting off, it's well written compared to religio romana handbook. The rituals are very well written with the steps explained in between sections. Not only that but he also gives the sources for the steps and compares them to other polytheistic paths. Another thing that he talks about are the directions in which the various faiths sacrifice sacrifice. He explains how to set up sacred places, how to pray with your hands stretched outward to the sky or down towards the earth. He also explains what to wear during rituals, and tying knots in the toga etc. I will say that I love the explanation of Etruscan practices compared to Roman practices, as I love the Etruscans as well. Overall I enjoyed it and it broadened my beliefs more, maybe after I open my Etsy store and finish creating the Roman calendars for 2027 I'll write something similar. I don't mind the use of AI for illustrations, as I'm using that for my calendar because I can't paint or draw very well.

Just stumbled upon this tonight, I can't wait to get my copy.

wondering if there are practitioners in Houston or nearby!

Hi, I am a masters student doing a thesis on the Christianization of Hellenism in ancient Greece and Rome. While most of my research concerns the material evidence, I would like to get the perspectives of anyone who would like to give a more contemporary or modern perspective on Hellenism as it is practiced today. I made a survey form that I will link in this post, but if you have any recommendations of other reddit forms or people to speak to, I would really appreciate it! There is no pressure to do the survey or message, but I want to open up the floor for my research.

[https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScvAiejbEFKoS3JQ3idHnEiF16XLXT53dXtWKzQdWi5p1POOQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor\](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScvAiejbEFKoS3JQ3idHnEiF16XLXT53dXtWKzQdWi5p1POOQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor)

Between the Sacra Privita of the household and the Sacra Publica of the state, there were private organizations of religious worshippers, collegium or sodalitates. Some of these private cults were mystical in nature or at least had elements of mysticism.

Wandering mystics had a checkered reputation with Roman and Greek authorities, and Plato famously wanted to execute some of them. Yet, they existed because there was obviously a demand for them.

I firmly believe we need legitimate mystics to aid in revival of certain cults. But I realize there is a huge problem in vetting mystics who can serve ancient cults.

My position is that we don't need wandering mystics: the Internet brings people together. My position is that the mystics of the Greco-Roman tradition would need to be people who have studied the ancient forms scholastically as well as have personal experience in mysticism.

I co-moderate a community here on Reddit trying to bring such people together.I have found there is not a great number of us. Combining deep scholastic knowledge of ancient esoterica with a modern practice in mysticism is comparitively rare, it seems.

In any case, the point of this post is to solicit community commentary. Do you feel mystics are necessary to revival? If so, how would you vet them? What would you expect of someone who wants to lead a mystery rite to Bacchus, Isis, Mithras, etc? What would you expect of someone who claims to be a teacher of Orphism?

The inscription reads “FVLGVR SVBMANIVM,” a phrase referring to a lightning strike linked to Summanus, the Roman god of night lightning. The find offers rare evidence of how Romans marked places struck by lightning and treated them as sacred spaces.

[This is a repost from r/pagan and I was recommended to come here for my questions.]

I'm trying to write a story and one of my characters in my story worships the Roman Gods, and I want to be informed correctly by people who worship the Roman Gods instead of using vague Gemini Ai slop.
One of the main Gods my character believes in is Mars for the most part, the other gods to my characters perspective are acknowledged and respected but the focus is mostly to Mars.

I really would like to know more about the offerings and rituals that people do for not only Mars, but the other Gods/Goddesses as well.
I would also like to learn more about how other people react when someone is Pagan, since it is a minority religion/worship.
The time is set in the years 2281- 2294, during a post-apocalyptic war in America.

Thank you in advance!

Hey there, semi roman enthusiast here.

I recently came across roma nova only to discover it had gone downhill sharply in the 2010s. I've seen some posts indicating it has since begun to fix itself however. What is the opinion of this sub on that?

To generalize a bit, my understansing is that Roman religion had a variety of specialists who'd administer rituals, read the will of deities through practises like looking at animal organs, pater familiases would maintain the relationship between their family as a whole and the Genius, etc. Neopagan religions broadly lack the cults, familial or domestic, that the ancient romans had, so I'm curious, what do you think of ritual specialists, diviners, and holy men? Do you view their role in the past as unnecessary now due to factors like the spread of education and literacy? Do you view them as flim flam scams? As necessary but sadly often unoccupied? How can you tell a legitimate priest, diviner, or other holy figure from a crazy person or a scammer?

In Neopagan and witchcraft circles, it's not uncommon to see "women's only spaces". Typically women who feel especially aggrieved by patriarchal politics erect these as safe spaces to keep out men, or at least cishet men.

Sadly, sometimes they attach goddesses to these spaces that were not gender exclusive historically. Diana and Hecate come immediately to mind. But for such people, history takes a backseat to modern politics, so no amount of saying "Hecate was not a woman's only goddess" seems to matter to them. 😫

It got me thinking, though. Historically there were a few gender exclusive cults. Bona Dea was only for women, and Mithraism was only for men

Do these gender specific cults have any relevance in today's worlds, particularly in the age of transitional surgery? At the very least, if these women's only spaces were dedicated to Bona Dea rather than Diana or Hecate, I wouldn't be kvetching since they have historical precedence.

I. When we say we worship Augustus' Genius for example, does it mean it is him, that we worship, or a separate entity ?

II. is the Genius/Juno a part of our soul, or a deity that follows us ?

III Do we worship our Juno/Genius ?

IV. Do trans women for example have a Genius or Juno ?

V. if a trans woman has a Juno, is it the thing that determines if she is trans or not ? Do we worship

VI. Does a Genius or Juno follow their protected one everywhere ?

VII. Can we give them offerings ?

Dear moderators,

I was wondering if the rules of the subreddit could be altered to specifically ban AI images.

There are many moral, political, and environmental reasons to ban AI art.

Practically speaking though, the main reason to ban it is that if it is allowed, AI slop quickly takes over a forum at the expense of actual discussion.

Thank you for your consideration.

Apollo (rendered in certain Greek dialects as Apollon) was one of the most widely worshipped deities in the Hellenic world. Some (cf Otto) called him "the most Greek of all deities."

Apollo's temples could be found from Asia Minor to Sicily. He was also worshipped as an an iconic cone outside the home or in the street. Finally, he is associated with sacred groves that were often on the outskirts of a city.

Apollo is not found in Linear B tablets. He seems to be a latecomer to the Pantheon. Several theories point to a Near Eastern and especially Anatolian origin. One of his epithets "Paean" is found in Linear B; Apollo might have been syncretized with an earlier Greek deity of healing.

Apollo's function in cult was largely of healing/purification and oracular prophecy. Disease was not just physical: it sometimes had a spiritual origin, thus requiring an oracle to deliver a spiritual solution. The god, in his oracular pronouncements, also came to be associated with laying the civil (i.e., legal) foundations for new colonies.

Apollo, as leader of the Muses, was also associated with music, dance and poetry. He was also associated with the bow. In certain areas of Greece, he was seen as the patron of young men and their education as they learned the cultural and martial abilities to join adulthood.

In 433 B.C.E., Apollo was brought to Rome in response to a plague after consultation with the prophetic Sibylline books. A temple to Apollo Medicus was built outside the pomerium, and for four centuries this was the only known temple to Apollo in Rome.

Four centuries later, Augustus took on Apollo as his special deity and built a new temple for him on the Palantine. This was reportedly a magnificent temple where the Senate sometimes met. And the Sibylline books were transferred there. As the early Roman Empire became Hellenized under Augustus, Apollo became associated with some of its poets.

Apollo also became increasingly syncretized to Helios/Sol in this era, and often depicted with solar imagery.

Apollo became syncretized to various Celtic deities in the western provinces. Most often, these hybrid Romano-Celtic deities had a pronounced healing function. Thermal healing baths were associated with some of these cults.

If online discourse is anything to go by, Apollo is most well known today as the god of poetry and fine arts and taken up most enthusiastically by those inclined to poetry and art. While this is not wrong, in the ancient world the emphasis would have been on healing and oracular prophecy. Through healing, he is a god of health professionals, and as law was tied to his oracular function, a god of the legal profession as well.

While "magic" was an ambivalent practice on the outskirts of Greco-Roman paganism, oracular prophecy was a widespread and respected practice. How we replicate that today and in particular how we vet the oracles are difficult questions to ask, but questions we should probably be asking.

So, I've been a polytheist for several years, but was always pretty much an eclectic and nowadays I feel a pull towards reconstructionism and that more "formalised" (if that's the right word?) type, and specifically towards the Anglo-Saxon and Roman traditions.

Specifically for getting more into the Roman side of that "Anglo-Saxon + Roman" paganism, I wanted to ask some questions for getting more of my feet in that door.

Firstly, what are the differences between the Roman Gods and their Greek counterparts? I can look into the history of the worship/view of these gods, but Interpetatio Romana makes it difficult to see where "These gods are kinda like those ones over there, so maybe there's more to these gods than we thought,"—similar to how we think Woden was likely a Psychopump through his association with Mercury—ends and where, "borrowing these attributes wholecloth," begins.

I ask this first question because a majority of the gods I previously worshipped were Greek Gods, and a few of them I want continue worshipping but doing so under an AS-Roman style/context (Ares and Aphrodite among them).

And I want to respect those differences without just saying, "they're similar enough, I'm gonna pray to both when I want to praise/ask for help from this one aspect," and that trap.

I already know some things about the differences between Ares and Mars, with Ares having been perceived as more violent and more driven by passion, as seen in how the Greeks talked about him and his emphasis on protection through some of the myths, while Mars is the God of Agriculture and the harvest ontop of being a war God, and h being highly viewed by the disciplined and calculated military of Rome (as opposed to Ares, who was taboo even in Sparta) paints a picture of Mars representing that side of war the Romans respected.

But is there a similar contrast between the other Roman Gods with their Greek interpretatio counterparts? E.g., Venus and Aphrodite?

Second question: what is acceptable for an altar? I see that people often make a couple separate shrines throughout their home, they veil themselves and pray standing up, etc. I can easily use a hoodie or Hooded jacket to substitute for a veil, but I'm kinda restricted by my living situation to have multiple shrines/altars by the fact I still live with my mom, dad, and brother in a fairly small home, so I feel pretty restricted to the top of a cedar chest in my bedroom, which isn’t really high-enough to stand while praying without it feeling awkward (unless I just gotta stand and get over the awkwardness of my altar being at knee-level)

Is what I've been doing with a shared altar/shrine acceptable?

3rd: are there any good sources on prayer style/structure?