Monthly Archives: January 2009

Praise to Hermes

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So, my room-mate was driving me to an appointment in Detroit earlier when, due to the snow and slush on the roads, we ended up spinning out on I-94 whilst trying to make a turn. The car, a silver Saturn Ion, did a complete 180° turn and ended up with the passenger-side tires over the edge of the asphalt and the whole car facing the opposite direction of traffic.

First thing out of my mouth “well, that could have been a whole lot worse” and then I immediately light a cigarette.

Less than a minute passes and in that short amount of time, my room-mate, who I shall call Scott (cos that’s his name) for the sake of simplicity, and I assess the situation and decide that he, being in the range of six-and-a-half feet tall and built like a cross between The Undertaker of WWF fame and a farmhand (compared to my own diminutive 5’2″ and being built like Bilbo Baggins), shall push the car while I move over to the driver’s seat, put the car in Neutral, and steer it back onto the road. After this minute-range of time passes, a car of two people, a young man and his lady friend, pull over to see what they can do to help. Another minute, at most, passes, and another car, this time a largeish SUV containing another young man, this one with a chain and a towing hook, stops to help out.

I then toss a couple of coins pulled out indiscriminately from my change purse, and toss then into the snow, under the car, as a minor offering to Hermes as thanks for this help, and then whisper a short prayer of praise, as I steer the car being towed out. Thankfully, there is nobody oncoming by the time we get out, so we’re able to turn the car back around the proper way, and make our way back onto the surface streets — where it’s discovered that we only made it as far as Romulus, Michigan, before I call my surgeon’s office to reschedule. (Thankfully, his receptionist was very nice about it and even asked to make sure that we were OK.)

And now, if nobody minds, I’m off to go burn some incense.

Kala Noumenia!

[non-Hellenic] Annie Sprikle & Elizabeth Stephens Love Art Labs

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LoveArtLab.org (and AnnieSprinkle.org-asm)

This is an interesting little project that I thought may be of interest to some readers. Annie Sprinkle and her partner in love, life, and art, Elizabeth Stephens, who have each hosted several performance-art pieces and workshops on sex, human sexuality, divine sexuality, and divine femininity, have decided to have a marriage/commitment ceremony each year for seven years and theme each celebration accordingly with the seven major Chakras. I’ve looked through the site a bit more in-depth just now, and figured it would be an interesting and possibly inspirational thing to share with the readers of this blog.

For those unaware (quite possible), Annie Sprinkle is one of the most wonderful women on Gaia’s epidermis; she strikes me as the ultimate devotee of Aphrodite (whether she acknowledges it or not, but that’s just how I like to think of her), in that her life’s work has predominantly revolved around Love, Sex, Peace, and Beauty in All Its Forms. She’s a (former) porn-star, (former) prostitute, (former) wall-paper layer, porn director, performance artist, visual artist, is the first known porn performer to earn her Phd (in Human Sexuality), and was one of the most vocal activists in the Porn & Sex-Positive Feminist movement in the 1980′s, even aiding in the unionisation of sex-workers in San Francisco, California. She’s openly bisexual, full-figured, “feminine”, and very pro-Sex Ed for people of all ages. She’s also in my Top Ten List of People to Meet Before I Die.

Blog Mission for 2009

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I just read Blog Mission and Goals in the New Year on KALLISTI: An Apple in Pandemonium (probably my favourite Hellenismos blog, yes, even preferred over my own; add it to your blogroll if you haven’t, already) and figured that, in the midst of various New Year’s Resolutions for myself, it would be a good idea to make a similar post for this blog.

While I share many of Annyikha’s sentiments (especially the underlined portion of her post), my goal and mission for Urban Hellenistos is to be as unique a voice for Hellenismos as practical. I don’t want UH to basically regurgitate the sake dissections and commentaries of other Hellenismos and Hellenismos-related blogs. Blogs such as KALLISTI, Ramblings of a Mad Sannion [from a Graeco-Egyptian blogger], and others listed in my sidebar already provide content that I enjoy reading, so unless I have something wholly different to say about an item, I will trust my readers to go read other blogs and assume that I generally agree with what’s already been said perfectly well by somebody else in the English-language Hellenic blogosphere.

While UH (and Of Thespiae) is predominantly anecdotal and based on my personal practises and beliefs, I aim to maintain my focus on cities, urban life, and topics related to urban people and urban-focused paganism. One goal I hope to meet this year is to finally get around to reviews and critiques of a few books on my “Things to Read” list, and relate how their content applies to Hellenismos or at least could be applied to Hellenismos by people living in modern cities — after all, current census counts seem to be stating that more people (by ratio) are living in cities now than ever before, making the current (albeit, still currently small) attention paid to the topic of urban-based spirituality seem long-overdue. Who better to sing the praises of urban Hellenic spirituality than somebody who actually enjoys prefers living in cities? (Unlike certain authors of books on “urban paganism” who outright prefer rural living.) I will welcome attempts of those who feel they can do better than I can when speaking of urban-based spirituality; though I shall leave it up to the readers of this and other sources to determine who puts urban-based (and urban-biased) spirituality best; I have no interest in a “pagan blogger pissing contest”, but I do feel that, at this time, I can do the urban population of the Hellenismos community some degree of justice by saying what I can, in the best way that I can.

To meet this goal, I intend to at least touch on certain topics related to urban spirituality:

  • utilising the benefits of living in cities to best serve Hellenistai
  • make the hindrances of urban living work in favour of Hellenistai
  • further discuss the urban aspects of the Theoi, Daimones and Heroes of the Hellenic pantheon
  • stress the historical importance of urban life in ancient Hellas and making comparisons and contrasts with modern Hellenic practise

Nothing too lofty, you see, but goals I feel that, if and when made, can prove to be of further benefit to the Hellenismos community. After all, among the few things I have had a life-long love-affair with, I think that bringing together both urban living and the Hellenic religion is something that definitely seems to be working for me so far (and in the event that I may be proved wrong, may the Theoi give me the strength to acknowledge that I’ve been bested by another).