I get a lot of questions from readers, and most of the time, the answers are fairly short. When I feel the question or the reply would be valuable to others as well, I make a post with a collection of them and post them in one go. Today is one of those posts.


"Is Khaos considered a deity?"

The ancient Hellenic philosophers and mythographers were in agreement that the Gods created the universe--or are the universe itself. There are many variations of the divine family tree, and in the ancient writings, there are also creation stories that range beyond this basic framework. When Hesiod wrote his Theogony, he was adament about the sequence the Gods appeared from Khaos. Within the nothingness, Khaos appeared, then Gaia as the earth Herself, the Tartaros and Eros. The Gods and Godesses who rule over the cycle of night and day followed after and then, slowly, the earth itself took shape. The pre-Olypic and Olympic deities came into being. the universe as we know it was born.

Roughly divided, all our Gods and heroes (who were often raised up to become Gods in their own right) fit into five generational categories. These are the:
  • Protogenoi
  • Uranides
  • Titanes
  • Olympic Gods
  • Heroes/deified mortals
The Protogenoi are the Gods from which the universe is made. They are Gods like Khaos, Gaia, Ouranos, and Nyx. In general, these Theoi are more abstract and less defined than, say, the Olympians. They are cruder, more powerful Gods who, together, form the tapistry of earth and life. We simply could not live without Them as They are the air we breath, the earth we walk on, the water we drink and the death that eventually lays us to rest. And yet, neither we, nor the ancient Hellenes revered them often. They are distant and have very little to do with the individual’s lifecycle. But they are Gods and They deserve due honours.

---

"I am trying to understamd Nyx's family a bit more. Could you help? And was she worshipped in Greece?"

Nyx (Νυξ) is the deep Night, born from Khaos (Χαος) and the sister-wife of Aither (Αιθηρ, 'Light'). In Hellenic mythology, Nyx draws a veil of darkness between the shining atmosphere of the aither and the lower air of earth (aer) at set times in the day, bringing night to man. In the morning, Her daughter Hêmera (Ἡμερα, 'Day') removes this veil, and exposes the Earth once more to Light.

Nyx and Hêmera continually work to both create and dissolve darkness on Earth; Selene (the Goddess of the Moon) moves with Nyx, and Helios (God of the Sun) with Hêmera, as heralded by Eos. In this recap, it is quite obvious we are yet missing a speciffic time of the day: dusk, or the evening. This was in the domain of the Nymphs, in this case the Hesperides (Ἑσπεριδες), who--depending of source--are either the daughters of Nyx or Atlas.

In ancient Hellas, Nyx was only rarely the focus of cult worship. Pausanias mentions She had an oracle on the acropolis at Megara, but that is about it. More often, Nyx was worshipped in other major cults, alongside the main deity: there was a statue called 'Nyx' in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Spartans had a cult of Sleep and Death, conceived of as twins, with Nyx being worshipped as Their mother, etc.

---

"Hi I'm a Hellenic Polytheism ... my family just know that I don't like to go to the church and (I do it anyway - I'm a teenager and live with them) they are Catholics. I'm the only one in the whooole family that don't share that faith. They say to me things about sin, the hell and stuff ... they scares me, ok, although I believe in the Theoi and I feel my soul is relatively safe (nobody knows what would happen after dead). But ... idk, the fear that maybe I'm doing something "wrong" is there."

You know, I am a hard polytheist; I believe all Gods exist. That includes the Christian God. It's the bible I don't really put much stock into, but I have a healthy dose of respect for the Christian God.

I believe religion is a choice. If all Gods are real, and mythology tells you what They are like, theology is basically marketing for Gods. Eventually, something evokes an emotional response and whatever resonates most with you, you end up sticking with. Without going all philosophical on you, I thus believe that what it says in the brocure is what you get in the end of the day. For us, that means we go to Haides and wander the Meadow. If we did really well, we get a version of paradise on the Isle. If you choose the christian brosure, you get either heaven or hell, depending on the tally against you.

If you believe you are doing something 'wrong', I think you haven't made your final choice yet. You might feel drawn to Hellenismos, but you are still tied to Christianity. Some of us, we can let go of whatever religion we were raised in or wandered into on our own easily. Others take a bit of time. But I truly believe that once you get more comfortable in Hellenismos as a religion and lifestyle, the feeling of 'wrongness' will go away.

What I usually suggest to those breaking away from an existing religous bond in favour of a new one is to conciously say goodbye. Go to church and thank the Lord of Christianity for all He has done for you in the years you were under His protection. And then ask him to kindly let you go so you may present yourself to the Theoi. Then do that, present yourself to the Theoi and ask to be placed under Their protection instead. This way, proper respect is show for all involved and it should be easier for you to fully emerce yourself in Hellenismos.