~Are based on the beliefs of The Ancient Greeks.
~Observe the Solstices and Equinoxsswhich is the number one honor of th Gods and Goddesses. Pantheon of the Gods of Olympus:
Zeus
Hera
Poseidon
Demeter
Athena
Apollo
Artemis
Ares
Aphrodite
Hephaestus
Hestia
~Makes offerings in exchange for the favor of their gods.
~Inspiration drawn from the poet Homer especially the Odyssey and the Iliad.
~The Hellenic name comes from an Ancient Greek patriarchal figure called Hellen, so the Greek people were called "Hellenes" in ancient times. There are four fundamental tenants:
I question the line about making offerings to Gods in exchange for favours. Yes, you can give them offerings to say thank you for help in a spell, but it's not the reason you give offerings. Offerings are ways of saying thanks. The belief is the Gods guide us, protect us, and help us in subtle ways [say Demetre letting plants grow, or how Helios pulls the sun on its path every day] Expecting an exchange like "here's some mint, get me a car" is rather disrespectful, demeaning, and is a pretty quick way to upset a God.
Your next point about inspiration confuses me too. Did the Gods inspire Homer, or should we read Homer for inspiration on worshiping the Gods? You should research the history of the Gods, as well as the culture they came from. Look into the history, geography, and culture of ancient Greece to understand the Gods and to build your practice with them. Take the Illiad about Persephone's forced marriage. Hades kidnapped her and held her in the underworld against her will. In today's society what he did was wrong on so many levels. However, if you look at Greek society, Hades asked Persephone's father for permission, which was all you needed in ancient Greece because of how they saw women. [this isn't to say Hades was right or wrong, or that the modern reimaginings where they loved each other from the start are right, I'm saying you need the context of the time to understand certain customs]
Another example of modern culture versus ancient culture would be worship. Takes the Disney film Hercules for example [totally accurate portrayal that it is *eye roll*] When Hercules goes to the temple of Zeus, he gets down on his knees and prays. To us, we would understand what he's doing, but in ancient Greece, that would baffle them. You would slaughter a goat or sheep to Zeus on a ceremonial altar. I know Disney wouldn't show the kids that, but I'm using it as an example of how today if you told someone to worship a Greek God you need to make a ritualistic sacrifice of a farm animal, people would scream "devil worshiper" and called animal protection. Yes, you can use many items for offerings, but some do still perform animal sacrifices to their deities, and it was a thing in ancient times. [this isn't me promoting animal sacrifice, this is me saying you need to do more research than just a quick read of a wiki article]
I'm also curious where you found these four tenants. While I'm not a Hellenic witch, I work with a Greek deity and have many friends who work with Hecate [I even follow a few Hellenic witches online] and I've never heard of such tenants.
I give offerings as a thanks is what I mean for exchanging for the favor of them helping me.
and it's not a wiki article I have it in my notes and this is just a short forum I could go into depths of it but I haven't had the time to go into complete depths of it as I am a mother and have a busy schedule I plan to go into more depths of it.
Hades is one of my patron gods. And Athena is one of my Matron Goddesses I'm on both the Hellenism path and Egyptian Paganism path.
While paths can differ and you could be taught different things, certain paths have specific rules. If you're eclectic, that's fine, but if you follow a specific path like Hellenic, you can't add rules and claim it's part of that path. They would be your rules working with Hellenic gods. My question about those rules is because I've never heard of them. I couldn't find them anywhere either. I have a number of Pagan friends who are Hellenic, and none of them could verify these rules. This leads me to believe you or the person you got this information from made it up. If it works for you, it's fine, but it's not a rule in the Hellenic path.
Thanks for clarifying the offering point. It made it sound like that's why you give offerings and that's not why you should. Meaning, expecting gifts in exchange for lighting a candle or putting a flower on the altar. You can say "I need help, here's an offering, please help" that's fine [I've done it] but thinking every interaction with your deities is that, no. I leave a glass of water for my deities every day not because I'm bribing them, but to show gratitude and give thanks. [not saying that's what you do, just that's how I read it and wanted to explain to anyone reading]
I also didn't say it was a wiki article. I said you [as in the person reading my response, not you specifically] need to do more research than just read a single wiki article [nothing wrong with Wikipedia, I'm saying it's usually the first link to come up in Google, and people tend to skim the article and call it a day instead of reading more articles on the subject. It wasn't meant as an insult, if you took it as one, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come across as one]
I consider myself an eclectic Saxon Witch. I work with Egyptian and Greek deities, as well as Celtic and Germanic. This doesn't make me Hellenic, Kemetic or even Druid. One can work with a deity but not the pantheon. There are exceptions [closed practices specifically] but the Greek pantheon is open and rather popular. You need to follow the specific rules, rituals and holidays of the said pantheon to be considered Hellenic, Kemetic so on. [but that's by definition, like how "Christian Wiccan" is two separate religions so therefore the term is wrong. But, if the term works for you, whatever]
Last I checked, Hades never accepts offerings. I believe it had something to do with the fact that he had nothing to give to us magick users and that no amount of worship will ever change how we will be judged in the Underworld.
Historically, people in ancient Greece didn't really worship Hades. Partially because they feared invoking him would bring death [this is why they also spelled his name Haides as a type of "close but not exact"] but on the occasions, one would give him offerings, they would find a spot where the land dipped, pound the ground and place the offering. Because Hades and Hades [the underworld] were below us, they would give offerings by setting them as close to him as possible. [Banging on the ground would be the equivalent of knocking]
Hades is a fair judge. He doesn't sugarcoat things and he does his job. If you come to him with a problem, he will give you a direct answer, and if you refuse to take his advice, he won't waste his time on you. His job keeps him pretty busy [which is why despite being the wealthiest God and as powerful as the Olympian Gods, he keeps to the underworld]
Aso for "nothing to offer magick wise" Hades has a lot to offer. I can't speak on behalf of ancient Hellenic practice since there's little evidence of Hades worship [again, fear of death] but as a devotee of Hades, I can tell you he typically helps with shadow work, healing from trauma and letting go. He's about coming to terms with death, embracing the cycle and enjoying life. Hades is also someone to turn to for financial help. Not only because all precious metals and crystals come from below the earth and therefore belong to him [hence why he's seen as the wealthiest God] but from experience, he'll reward you with money [finding money, getting a raise, approved for a credit card, so on] Personally, I don't call on Hades in my spellwork [it's my Goddess I typically call on in spellcasting] I call on Hades for guidance. I do things in honour of Hades, not to get rewarded by him, but because I know it'll make him happy as well as help me in the long run. And at the end of the day, our relationship is less "I'm doing this so I get cash back" and more "I'm doing this cuz I want to." [again, different paths, different relationships]
