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.