Kyklos Apollon and Why I've Followed Todd Jackson for Nearly a Decade

It has become very clear to me that most people are not taught the value of loyalty or universal friendship. I have seen on many occasions ideological differences causing irreparable damage to the interpersonal relationships in our tiny, fragmented, but global community.  

Yes, my friends, it's a small world, and most people who have spent any time a part of this community have come in to contact with Todd Jackson, the founder of the weekly prayer group Kyklos Apollon and an African American Priest of Apollo. 

I met Todd when I was looking for ways to honor Apollo in a modern context and he had created a group just for such a thing and had some ritual templates for me to work with.  I was taught since I was nine years old how to talk to the gods and how to listen for their answers. Apollo is who led me to Todd and told me to stay with and watch him. 

Nothing about this path is easy, but I can say it's all worth it.  I have fought with Todd and almost every single person in this community at least once. Sometimes I do it for fun. It's fun because we don't know anything and we all act like we do. I've seen people act like they knoooowwww to the point of freaking out over everything from Pythagoreans were or were not strict vegetarians to Homer is the biggest joke and you're a fool if you believe anything he ever said, or Homer is the truth and if you don't think so, stfu. 

Is Zeus Jupiter? No? Yes? Do you know? Have you ever met Zeus or Jupiter? People need to think about these things before they write people off forever over an opinion, which by the way, is enforced by your personal daimon, ie Zeus. Or is that an opinion and I have no real idea what's going on? 

See, you get me now. 

What have I learned from Todd? I have learned A LOT from watching Todd Jackson. Keep a sense of humor. That's one of the most important things. Sometimes it's been sad and painful to watch how he has been treated for not being a white man, by Joseph Quiroz, and even men who called themselves his friends. Most people will not come right out and say as plainly the things that Quiroz and a couple others have made it clear they feel, but I know they represent their own section of our tiny community, and they are not completely alone. How sad that anyone in this path would not take Socrates, the wisest man, seriously when he says, "I am not a Greek, I am not an Athenian, I am a citizen of the world.".  Or how about Orpheus, and the Golden Tablets, "My race is of heaven alone.".  A sense of humor, very important, or you could easily become hateful like them. 

What I love about Todd is his never ending desire to be Good and worthy of Apollo. He is a tireless and devoted priest who has led me in directions I never would have considered with the influence of his high levels of curiosity and contemplation.  This path should be about an active relationship developed by desire for connection to and contemplation of higher levels of possibilities of existence. There are no answers but what you experience, and what you experience, you have to earn through trial and error, conflict, and discussion.  Todd is one of the few on an active quest of discovery of his own divinity, not the regurgitation of fragments of the past. Todd is a man building new pillars rather than glorifying the remains of what was. What is now? Where are we now compared to where we want to be? Do you prefer the path of those who would rather be at each other's throats rather than looking in and up? 

I walk with Todd Jackson looking in and up. I stare straight into the sun and have been gifted the sight to see things as they are and as they should be. Todd Jackson is a great example of what a priest should be. I am proud to be his devotee and I am proud to have been a contributing member of his weekly Kyklos that has done so much good spreading the imagery of Hellenism throughout the modern world.  Every week he exposes thousands of people to the realization that the old gods are not dead and somebody in this world still finds them worthy of serious and regular focused mediation. I believe in the ideals of the Pythagorean Brotherhood, and I will support Todd Jackson for as long as he lives. He has taught me enough to be proven worthy of my devotion, attention and praise and I am blessed to have him in my life. 

I am hopeful as time passes and some members of this Hellenic community mature and become more enlightened that we will begin to see a more brotherly position rise between us all. May the Gods within us always shine through. Blessings to you all. 

5 Years of Pythoness / The Anniversary of a Pythian Priestess

I would like to start this reflection piece thanking my best friend, the ancient Greek God Apollo, for bringing me this far and keeping me strong enough to continue on this difficult journey. It's hard to believe how far I have come when I look back, and I see how much farther I still have to go. I am not a perfect priestess.  I am not a perfect person. I have made a lot of mistakes along this way, however, it is hopeful that every misstep has not been in vain, and there will continue to be increase in personal understanding and properly directed power. 

I have witnessed this fledgling community of open Hellenics go through some terrible things.  There has been racism, there have been accusations of everything from irreversible ignorance to fraud and I just want to say at this point that it's time to look at ourselves and decide who do we want to be as a community.  

Let me be the first to say I am not better than a teenage girl who has only just heard of Apollo saying that she can speak to him and that he answers back. I am not special when I put on a hood of a Pythian Priestess. I have done this for this long for only Apollo, because I was one of those young girls who saw and spoke to Apollo.  If I had been doing it for myself, I would have quit along time ago. The community is extremely competitive, hateful,  and can be incredibly annoying.  I do this for Apollo who pushes me to be better than who I was, always stronger, always more aware, always more confident. 

On the other hand, I am seeing a real push for real temples to be re-established, all over the world. Hellenism is once again in all the corners of the world ready to be reborn. It's going to take effort, my friends. It's going to take a whole lot of tolerance and patience and loving your brothers and sisters. Love them more than you tear them down. We were all once ignorant  and hopeless, no matter how far we think we have come. 

I pray the community will do nothing but become stronger, more visible, and more respected. Service to the Gods is a worthy cause, not an easy one, but can be very fulfilling one. 

May Apollo bless us. IE PAEAN

Pythia

TO APOLLO.

The FUMIGATION from MANNA.

BLEST Pæan, come, propitious to my pray'r,

Illustrious pow'r, whom Memphian tribes revere,

Slayer of Tityus, and the God of health,

Lycorian Phœbus, fruitful source of wealth .

Spermatic, golden-lyr'd, the field from thee 5

Receives it's constant, rich fertility.

Titanic, Grunian, Smynthian, thee I sing,  7

Python-destroying, hallow'd, Delphian king:

Rural, light-bearer, and the Muse's head,

Noble and lovely, arm'd with arrows dread: 10

Far-darting, Bacchian, two-fold, and divine,  11

Pow'r far diffused, and course oblique is thine.

O, Delian king, whose light-producing eye

Views all within, and all beneath the sky:

Whose locks are gold, whose oracles are sure, 15

Who, omens good reveal'st, and precepts pure:

Hear me entreating for the human kind,

Hear, and be present with benignant mind;

For thou survey'st this boundless æther all,

And ev'ry part of this terrestrial ball 20

Abundant, blessed; and thy piercing sight,

Extends beneath the gloomy, silent night;

Beyond the darkness, starry-ey'd, profound,

The stable roots, deep fix'd by thee are found.

The world's wide bounds, all-flourishing are thine, 25

Thyself all the source and end divine:

'Tis thine all Nature's music to inspire,

With various-sounding, harmonising lyre;

Now the last string thou tun'ft to sweet accord,  29

Divinely warbling now the highest chord; 30

Th' immortal golden lyre, now touch'd by thee,

Responsive yields a Dorian melody.

All Nature's tribes to thee their diff'rence owe,

And changing seasons from thy music flow

Hence, mix'd by thee in equal parts, advance 35

Summer and Winter in alternate dance;

This claims the highest, that the lowest string,

The Dorian measure tunes the lovely spring .

Hence by mankind, Pan-royal, two-horn'd nam'd,  39

Emitting whistling winds thro' Syrinx fam'd; 40  40

Since to thy care, the figur'd seal's consign'd,  41

Which stamps the world with forms of ev'ry kind.

Hear me, blest pow'r, and in these rites rejoice,

And save thy mystics with a suppliant voice.

I am in my fourth year serving the Lord Apollon in the position of Pythia.  This has not been an easy process of service.  I have been called a liar, a fraud, impious and even more unkind things than this.  The community of Hellenic reconstructionists seems to enjoy posting pretty pictures of the Gods, but if you start to assert that they are alive...that they are here and now...that they are not limited to Greece...that they speak! You are then labeled and ostracized as crazy. 

I have a vision of a reconstructed temple of Apollo. This includes the position of Pythia, which some seem to believe that Pythia, along with the Gods of ancient Greece, are dead. No, my friends, I am here today to tell you that Pythia is very much alive. How many have even cared to TRY to reconstruct the ritual of the oracle? Test if the will of Zeus is able to be conveyed in this age? I fast, I purify with spring water, I chew the laurel leaves, I sit on a brass tripod and I produce hexameter verses on the lunar sevenths.  It's not easy. Not many care to even keep the lunar calendar. I see people tied to Saturn's Day, Moon Day, SUN-Day ect. but Hellenes are lazy, and most do not even keep the lunar calendar. 

I have not at any time stated that I am the only Pythia there is. In fact, I have tried to train and even share the hood with those I thought worthy. Afterall, it's not a position for only one. This has not always worked out. Kyrene, some of you may know, was offered the position, took it, and then ran like her ass was on fire for the hills, screaming that I'm a witch.  

In response to her accusation, I cackled. 

There are those that call themselves the leadership of this community who wouldn't know the gods if they slapped them in the face. Sannion, in his lame blog, as attempted defamation, but he doesn't realize that my support comes from other powerful mystai, not brainwashed zombies who take what I say as the rule of law. There are ways around everything. 

It's easy to be jealous of those with real power. 

Sure, there are those with more legitimate complaints in regards to my ritual position. I am not a Greek. I do not speak Greek. I do not live in Greece. My dreams, however, say that this does not matter. Apollo chose me as he chooses every priest and he speaks to me regardless of the tribe I hail and regardless of the language I speak. I have seen the oracles come true and I have seen Apollo several times in my dreams. There is nothing I am doing that he does not allow. There is nothing that I COULD do that he did not allow. 

IE PAEAN

Acta Deos Numquam Mortalia Falluntc/Mortal Actions Never Deceive the Gods

2. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake;

'Who takes out of distress the man who has not lied unto him, who takes him out of death.

23. 'Take us out of distress, take us out of distresses, O Mithra! as we have not lied unto thee. Thou bringest down terror upon the bodies of the men who lie unto Mithra; thou takest away the strength from their arms, being angry and all-powerful; thou takest the swiftness from their feet, the eye-sight from their eyes, the hearing from their ears.

24. 'Not the wound27 of the well-sharpened spear or of the flying arrow reaches that man who comes to Mithra for help with all the strength of his soul, he, of the ten thousand spies, the powerful, all-seeing, undeceivable Mithra! (Mihr Yasht, Hymn to Mithra)

There are those in this community that would enjoy nothing less than to watch me fall from the grace and support of the divine, regardless of the title you were to give it.  For this reason,  I am happy to have devoted myself to the Invincible Sun; the Cult of Sol Invictus.  

My service to the Sun has taught me many things. First of all, it has taught me that nothing is easy and anything that is worth anything, you have to fight for it. You have to be prepared to take a hit, you have to be prepared to stand alone, and it is necessary to have a solid foundation of internal fortitude and drive to push you above and beyond the imposed limits of the sheeple, and the programmed limitations on your heart and mind. 

There is no hiding from the Sun, for "How could one hide from what never sets?".(Heraclitus)

When you walk the path of the Sun, there is only what is truth and that takes discovering what is truth within yourself.  You may or may not be aware that we lie to ourselves more than anyone.  You cannot lie to the Sun. The Sun will expose every lie in your life all the way down to your own self-deceiving. The Sun has no patience or tolerance for deceptive tendencies or the brainwashing techniques of self proclaimed cult leaders.  

37. 'He can bring and does bring down upon them distress and fear; he throws down the heads of those who lie to Mithra, he takes off the heads of those who lie unto Mithra.

(Mihir Yasht/Hymn to Mithras)

I am self initiated into the path of the Invincible Sun, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I am initiated by only the Sun.  I have gone through several tests and trials to prove my worthiness and earn higher and higher levels of the mystery initiation.  Very few modern people have had the drive or desire to climb as high or go as far as I in the cult of the sun and achieving understanding and unification with the Invincible. There is invincibility in truth. There is invincibility in keeping your oath. There is invincibility in pushing yourself beyond the limitations of your perceived comfort zones. Invincibility does not come easy. You have to want it. You have to be committed to being unbreakable. There is a necessary internal commitment between you and the all seeing Sun. 

Nothing can break me. 

SOL INVICTI COMMITO

A Modern Ritual to Rhea/Magna Mater

TO RHEA 

The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS.

DAUGHTER of great Protogonus, divine,  

Illustrious Rhea, to my pray'r incline,

Who driv'st thy holy car with speed along,

Drawn by fierce lions, terrible and strong.  

Mother of Jove, whose mighty arm can wield 5

Th' avenging bolt, and shake the dreadful shield.

Drum-beating, frantic, of a splendid mien, 

Brass-sounding, honor'd, Saturn's blessed queen.

Thou joy'st in mountains and tumultuous fight,

And mankind's horrid howlings, thee delight. 10

War's parent, mighty, of majestic frame,

Deceitful saviour, liberating dame.  

Mother of Gods and men, from whom the earth

And lofty heav'ns derive their glorious birth;

Th' ætherial gales, the deeply spreading sea 15

Goddess ærial form'd, proceed from thee.

Come, pleas'd with wand'rings, blessed and divine,

With peace attended on our labours shine;

Bring rich abundance, and wherever found

Drive dire disease, to earth's remotest bound. 20

This is a ritual that should be done outside, a high space would be best, such as a nice sized hilltop. Gather at the top of the Hill. If you have a meteorite or any kind of similarly sacred stone, place this in the center of the circle to represent the physical presence of Great Mother. Purify yourselves and the circle of sacred space with khernips. Fumigation is from aromatics. My understanding of aromatics is that it pretty much composes any incense at all. A drum of some kind should be steadily beaten while the invocation is done by the acting high priest or priestess. The invocation should be done very loud. After the invocation, take turns pouring out portions of a jug over the sacred center stone containing water, honey, wine, milk, or for the stronger constitutions, some kind of blood asking Goddess for the favors you wish to receive. The blood can be your own or that of any thing that bleeds, she isn't picky, here. If you are a male preforming this ritual, cross dressing is preferred. This is a Goddess who finds orgy acceptable if the circle is close enough to attempt such a thing. Swords were involved in the ancient rites, but I am not sure how exactly they were used, so if you have a sword, at least bring it as a gesture. The drum should be continuing to beat if this is a group of several people and the rite concludes with dance and sexual contacts or can end with only thanking the Mother if you would prefer a more Roman and serious, rather than wild and ecstatic Phrygian interpretation of the ritual. May Goddess be pleased with the gesture of this rite and bless me and my family as well as all of those who attempt an interpretation of this ritual. Endless Praises to You Great Mother!

Ode to Psyche

Ode to Psyche

BY JOHN KEATS

O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung

         By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,

And pardon that thy secrets should be sung

         Even into thine own soft-conched ear:

Surely I dreamt to-day, or did I see

         The winged Psyche with awaken'd eyes?

I wander'd in a forest thoughtlessly,

         And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise,

Saw two fair creatures, couched side by side

         In deepest grass, beneath the whisp'ring roof

         Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran

                A brooklet, scarce espied:

Mid hush'd, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed,

         Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian,

They lay calm-breathing, on the bedded grass;

         Their arms embraced, and their pinions too;

         Their lips touch'd not, but had not bade adieu,

As if disjoined by soft-handed slumber,

And ready still past kisses to outnumber

         At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love:

                The winged boy I knew;

But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?

                His Psyche true!

O latest born and loveliest vision far

         Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!

Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-region'd star,

         Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;

Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,

                Nor altar heap'd with flowers;

Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan

                Upon the midnight hours;

No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet

         From chain-swung censer teeming;

No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat

         Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming.

O brightest! though too late for antique vows,

         Too, too late for the fond believing lyre,

When holy were the haunted forest boughs,

         Holy the air, the water, and the fire;

Yet even in these days so far retir'd

         From happy pieties, thy lucent fans,

         Fluttering among the faint Olympians,

I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspir'd.

So let me be thy choir, and make a moan

                Upon the midnight hours;

Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet

         From swinged censer teeming;

Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat

         Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming.

Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane

         In some untrodden region of my mind,

Where branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,

         Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind:

Far, far around shall those dark-cluster'd trees

         Fledge the wild-ridged mountains steep by steep;

And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees,

         The moss-lain Dryads shall be lull'd to sleep;

And in the midst of this wide quietness

A rosy sanctuary will I dress

   With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain,

         With buds, and bells, and stars without a name,

With all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign,

         Who breeding flowers, will never breed the same:

And there shall be for thee all soft delight

         That shadowy thought can win,

A bright torch, and a casement open at night,

         To let the warm Love in!

A Hymn to Hermes

Hermes, my friend, who I know in the end

Fulfills his duty and will guide me home

To the fields where Holy Proserpine roams

Blessed, an initiate of mysteries

I've seen the maiden and the Bacchic King

Hermes, Dear Lord, guarding with your rod

The hopelessly lost faster than the speed of thought

Be present with your mystic who needs taught

To navigate around the blocks of mind

The difficult, the hateful and unkind

Obscuring the path to the one, the good

Of the righteousness and the understood

Experiencing the divine vision

Teach the application of the wisdom.