i have recently been trying to find my spiritual path in life, which has brought me to Hellenism. though i find the lower pantheon (zeus and the like) a bit narcissistic, no offense to anyone of course, i find the primordial gods much more connected to, namely Nyx and Khaos and Eros. how can i start a path with them at my side? how to practice, known colors, minerals,plants associated with them. any and all help is greatly appreciated.
Well...the primordial deities, as I understand and worship them, are the personification of nature. For example, Thalassa is the personification of the sea, specifically the Mediterranean...Gaia is literally, the earth... Quite a bit of information can be found (depending on the deity) about how they were worshipped (if they were worshipped) and what things were associated with them, etc and start from there...but really, in my experience, you worship them as you would worship the Sky, the Sea, the Earth, the Night, etc.
...if they mind, I presume they will let you know.
“You have never answered but you did not need to. If I stand at the ocean I can hear you with your thousand voices. Sometimes you shout, hilarious laughter that taunts all questions. Other nights you are silent as death, a mirror in which the stars show themselves. Then I think you want to tell me something, but you never do. Of course I know I have written letters to no-one. But what if I find a trident tomorrow?" ~~Letters to Poseidon, Cees Nooteboom
“We still carry this primal relationship to the Earth within our consciousness, even if we have long forgotten it. It is a primal recognition of the wonder, beauty, and divine nature of the Earth. It is a felt reverence for all that exists. Once we bring this foundational quality into our consciousness, we will be able to respond to our present man-made crisis from a place of balance, in which our actions will be grounded in an attitude of respect for all of life. This is the nature of real sustainability.”
~~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
"We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way."
~~Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
"Humans are not rational creatures. Now, logic and rationality are very helpful tools, but there’s also a place for embracing our subjectivity and thinking symbolically. Sometimes what our so-called higher thinking can’t or won’t see, our older, more primitive intuition will." John Beckett
Pagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
Has anyone ever done that? Like worshipping Prometheus and other titans? Would one be considered a Hellenist by worshipping the Titans instead of the Greek deities?
The Titans are Greek deities, and yes, there are people that do this. Whether or not one would consider their practice Hellenismos, undoubtedly depends on the person and how they practice, and the persons interpreting how they practice.
“You have never answered but you did not need to. If I stand at the ocean I can hear you with your thousand voices. Sometimes you shout, hilarious laughter that taunts all questions. Other nights you are silent as death, a mirror in which the stars show themselves. Then I think you want to tell me something, but you never do. Of course I know I have written letters to no-one. But what if I find a trident tomorrow?" ~~Letters to Poseidon, Cees Nooteboom
“We still carry this primal relationship to the Earth within our consciousness, even if we have long forgotten it. It is a primal recognition of the wonder, beauty, and divine nature of the Earth. It is a felt reverence for all that exists. Once we bring this foundational quality into our consciousness, we will be able to respond to our present man-made crisis from a place of balance, in which our actions will be grounded in an attitude of respect for all of life. This is the nature of real sustainability.”
~~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
"We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way."
~~Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
"Humans are not rational creatures. Now, logic and rationality are very helpful tools, but there’s also a place for embracing our subjectivity and thinking symbolically. Sometimes what our so-called higher thinking can’t or won’t see, our older, more primitive intuition will." John Beckett
Pagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
i can't find anything relating to worship of eros, khaos, or nyx or erebus. i'd love any links that can be provided, i cant seem to find anything other than mythos on them.
You might start by looking at these Orphic hymns. There's one to Night, to the Titans, etc: http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hoo/. The names used are Roman, however. You could light a candle and some incense and read one or more of these hymns nightly.
That said, for worship, I would look into how Hellenics do it. Find yourself a general Hellenic ritual, then start customizing it bit by bit for the primordials as you feel is right or as you're prompted to do.
You might find some useful info here http://www.theoi.com/greek-mythology/primeval-gods.html as it deals with the protogenoi. You may also find more info using the term protogenoi as that is how the Hellenic community most often refers to them.
Historic writings about the Cult of Eros: http://www.theoi.com/Cult/ErosCult.html
Also, from what I understand, there's not much evidence that Nyx was worshipped...I've seen comments about a Nyx having an oracle at Megara according to the Greek historian Pausanias, but I don't know of any specific evidence there for a Cult.
Personally, I wouldn't consider Khaos to be a deity, but rather the personification of a state of (un)being which helps to tell the story of a particular cosmogony. If Khaos were considered a by the ancient Greeks (depending, of course, on what one considers a deity), I would find it hard to believe that she was worshipped (in the same way that Eris was not historically worshipped, from what I can tell). The idea of worshipping chaos would not have been apropros.
However...if I *were* to worship some of these deities (which may not have had an historical cult) in a manner fitting with their time and culture, I would start with the Olympic deity that supplanted them. Or I'd stick with the Protogenoi like Gaia that had an established cult, which we do know something of. Either way, this is one of those things where it looks like it is going to come down to personal gnosis.
“You have never answered but you did not need to. If I stand at the ocean I can hear you with your thousand voices. Sometimes you shout, hilarious laughter that taunts all questions. Other nights you are silent as death, a mirror in which the stars show themselves. Then I think you want to tell me something, but you never do. Of course I know I have written letters to no-one. But what if I find a trident tomorrow?" ~~Letters to Poseidon, Cees Nooteboom
“We still carry this primal relationship to the Earth within our consciousness, even if we have long forgotten it. It is a primal recognition of the wonder, beauty, and divine nature of the Earth. It is a felt reverence for all that exists. Once we bring this foundational quality into our consciousness, we will be able to respond to our present man-made crisis from a place of balance, in which our actions will be grounded in an attitude of respect for all of life. This is the nature of real sustainability.”
~~Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
"We are the offspring of history, and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximal freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way."
~~Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
"Humans are not rational creatures. Now, logic and rationality are very helpful tools, but there’s also a place for embracing our subjectivity and thinking symbolically. Sometimes what our so-called higher thinking can’t or won’t see, our older, more primitive intuition will." John Beckett
Pagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
I can only really talk about my experiences and give little on historical perspective but here's what I've written. Nyx and Erebos worship was extremely uncommon and secretive. Neither of them take much roles in myths either and this may be an important reason why their worship is uncommon. I've had experience worshiping Nyx and Erebos but I never became as close to them as I have with other gods. Erebos always felt warmer than Nyx but, she was much fiercer than Erebos. To worship them I lit candles and said hymns or read poetry. I don't recall Erebos ever playing a large part in myths but Nyx appears rarely, usually coming to the defense of one of her children. Those who worship Nyx often do so through her children. Her offspring as many of the deities that are personifications of negative concepts like death, old age, sleep, revenge, fate, ect. or relating to the state of the sky like Aether (brightness) or Hermera (daylight). Many of her children are concepts which are viewed negatively but must be accepted as necessary and benevolent in their own way. Nyx is terribly powerful and beautiful and while she is protective and motherly, she can be incredibly cruel and apathetic to suffering also. They're both nearly completely inhuman and overwhelmingly large entities, which makes sense given they are primordial manifestations.Originally Posted by Mikaelis
Each night Nyx rises from the horizon as she exits Tartarus carrying with her the mists of darkness provided by her consort Erebos which she uses to obscure the light of the sky. The early greeks believed the lightness of the sky originated from the upper atmosphere rather than the sun and so night was an obstruction of this light. Alternatively Nyx follows her daughter Hermia (daylight) who enters Tartarus just as Nyx exits and so divides the night and day. Supposedly Nyx lives in a cave or palace beyond the ocean. In some variations Nyx replaces Chaos, or else is the first being born from Chaos, making her truly the first primordial deity. Personally I could completely see that being true. Nyx is directly responsible for the cycle of life and death, destiny, and numerous other concepts because she created them as her children. It's debatable if her children were born by herself or produced in a union with Erebos. She knew what her children would be.
Erebos much like Tartarus is both a place and a divine figure and refers to the darkness which the dead pass through after death or the bordering between earth and Hades, either bordering or the same as Tartarus. Erebos may also be a reference to dusk, the transition from light to darkness. He's present in all areas of supreme darkness. Between this and Nyx's myths it might be implied that Erebos follows Nyx. To my knowledge Erebos was not worshiped, or if he was his worship was eclipsed by Nyx's when/if they were worshipped togethor.
Maybe you could try to communicate with them. Possibly try to meditate and see if you can learn about them that way.
“They moaned and squealed, and pressed their snouts to the earth. We are sorry, we are sorry.
Sorry you were caught, I said. Sorry that you thought I was weak, but you were wrong.”
-Madeline Miller, Circe
thank you all for the replies, the sites and words are very helpful.i will take all these in mind and see what relates back to me.
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