So I've been doing some research into Greek religious practices lately, kind of refreshing something that I was quite obsessed with when I was younger. (For some reason it seems like a majority of kids go through a mythology-crazed phase. I mean, it still happens--Percy Jackson, and all that jazz) One thing that I've been reading up on and looking into is the actual religious belief and devotion of Greek and, to a lesser extent, Roman religionists. It seems like being really "close" to a particuliar deity wasn't exactly a good thing according to what I've been reading. I mean, there were people who spent a lot of money, time and effort to build great monuments to particular deities they felt close to or making elaborate sacrifice. Also, there is ample evidence of home shrines and the like. But the way that most Neopagans I know feel about their deities is much more intimate than seems to be the case with the ancient practitioners. Even private rituals that we have to study are prosaic, complicated, detached I would say. In Roman religion, being overly religious was a bad thing (superstitio) and this is one of the reasons cults like Magna Mater, Mithras, Isis, etc. were sometimes viewed with a wary eye by the Romans.
The most extreme devotion seems to take place in the mystery cults or Orphism or the cult of Cybele/Magna Mater (often syncronized with Rhea or simply called Meter Theon) and the Dionysian faithful. You could also look at the cult of Artemis of Ephesus, which was almost surely originaly a Potnia Theron type of character and not the Olympian Artemis the Greeks associated with the xoanon at Ephesus much later.
I guess, what I am interested in is what do Neopagans who incorporate Hellenic or Roman religion into their practice think of this? I would particuliarly be interested in a Recon point of view, but any discussion would be cool. Most of the Neopagans I know have very intimate relationships with their deities, particularly if they consider a certain deity as a patron or matron and perhaps it doesn't matter if the ancients did the same. At the end of the day, all religious practices evolve and Neopaganism is "Neo" so I don't really see a conflict, but is there?
The most extreme devotion seems to take place in the mystery cults or Orphism or the cult of Cybele/Magna Mater (often syncronized with Rhea or simply called Meter Theon) and the Dionysian faithful. You could also look at the cult of Artemis of Ephesus, which was almost surely originaly a Potnia Theron type of character and not the Olympian Artemis the Greeks associated with the xoanon at Ephesus much later.
I guess, what I am interested in is what do Neopagans who incorporate Hellenic or Roman religion into their practice think of this? I would particuliarly be interested in a Recon point of view, but any discussion would be cool. Most of the Neopagans I know have very intimate relationships with their deities, particularly if they consider a certain deity as a patron or matron and perhaps it doesn't matter if the ancients did the same. At the end of the day, all religious practices evolve and Neopaganism is "Neo" so I don't really see a conflict, but is there?
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