As part of an initiative to branch out and try new things, I have made a super special executive decision to observe the Twelve Days of Dionysos, which Kallimachus goes into great detail about on Hellenic Gods. While I do not have an Orphic altar, it seems that using my main shrine is all right as long as I have some kind of divine images. Thanks to the god-sticks and the million printouts of ancient red-figure vase paintings on my shrine (or piled beneath it ...), I am totally covered.
Having just finished the first ritual to Hestia and Hephaistos, I can say that Orphic ritual as portrayed on Kallimachus’s site is a mild departure from the Hellenic structure I know and love. However, it has some good bits. The placement of the hymns in the Orphic style makes a lot of sense when combined with modern bloodless offerings.
Making offerings in honor of the birth of something—Helios, the New Year, Mithras—makes sense on a deep human level at this time of year. The divine child is more than Christian or Gentile, although I must confess that I believe the Gentile versions did not preemptively copycat the story of Jesus. These stories of divine children born among a pantheon provide more holistic and viable images of the world because they take place not in one location, but many;—the narratives exist in the present tense at all times because mythological time is best understood as situational rather than concrete. This is why I can accept the birth of Dionysos or of Mithras, Asklepios or Herakles.
Now, though, I need to get some rest before I piece together which deities must receive honors tomorrow. One ritual down, eleven more opportunities to get things right!
Happy holidays.
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