Why Nothing to Excess?

Nothing to Excess, a message engraved in Delphi ,is a universal message.

For the Buddhists, the Middle Way and the story of the Buddha, who realized that neither extreme riches nor extreme poverty were the answer, represents Nothing to Excess.

For Christians the Tenth Commandment, “Thou shalt not covet” means precisely the same.

More recently, Gandhi said that the world has enough for what everyone needs, but not for what everyone wants.

Even psychologists studied this phenomenon and found that when you are in extreme poverty increasing riches, sexual pleasure, power, and so on, will bring you more happiness, but once you achieve a certain point the increase in happiness is so small that it is not enough to compensate the anguish produced in our quest for more.

So, I ask, why do we keep wanting more, why is our society always praising excess? I pray Apollo may give me the answer and guide me in achieving Nothing to Excess.

Delphi, Python and Human Development

The myth of the Python tells u show Apollo fired a hundred missiles (Hekateros) to slay the Python and take over the Oracle at Delphi. Modern scholars believe this may be a reflection of a male society taking over a female society, or a male cult over a female cult. However, I believe that this holds a deeper message for us, a message found among all Word Religions.

The first to hold Delphi was Gaia, Mother Earth. Later, she passed it to Themis, who was in charge when Apollo, through means of slaying the Python (dragoness daughter of Gaia), got the Oracle.

I find Delphi a most curious metaphor to human development. Psychologists now recognize three stages of development: pre-personal (or pre-conventional), personal (or conventional), and trans-personal (or post-conventional). Curiously, these stages were already known to mystics from both the East and the West, and they find a striking correspondence with the stages of Delphi.

The pre-personal stage, I believe, corresponds with the time Gaia ruled over Delphi. This is the stage we are brought into the world, the primordial stage or, should we say, the earthly stage. This is before education, before we realize we are a person and other people are people too.

The personal stage naturally takes over, through education. This is the stage most people live and die in. It is the stage of conventions and acquiring culture, not the rules set by law but those set by society and tradition – the very essence of the Goddess Themis, second ruler of Delphi.

Finally, comes the third stage. This stage is found in every religion and it is described as enlightment, freedom, recognizing the ultimate truth, liberation. The transpersonal stage is described the same way as Apollo, the third ruler of Delphi.

This last stage was also described by the Greeks, namely by Plato. He says that the transpersonal stage is like, having lived our entire life in a cave seeing shadows, we get to go out and see the light. And he describes, just like Buddhism, Taoism, Christianism, Judaism, Islamism, Hinduism and many others, that to set ourselves free from that cave we need to look inside.

Looking inside is the very essence of Delphi – “Know thyself”. Know that the ultimate truth is inside you, know yourself and you will see the ultimate truth, Apollo will shine on you. Recognize the importance of Gaia and Themis, but don’t let your body rot (root of the word Python) without passing to the last stage, don’t just meet Apollo “whose temple lies at the door of Hades”, know thyself and meet Apollo the slayer of the Python.

Contrary to modern scholars, I believe that “Know thyself” doesn’t mean “Know you are not divine”. Quite the opposite, it means, to me, “Know that the divine is inside you.”

Release yourself from the Asian maya, the dream or illusion, Know Thyself is, to me, one of the most important messages of Delphi, one that should be heeded by today’s followers, far more than oracles, rituals or the many stories surrounding that place that is, after all, each and every one of us.

Know thyself

I haven't writen anything lately. I am in an internship, so I don't have much time. But I just came across this in Bates' Guide to Physical Examination and couldn't help but think of how Apollon's Know Thyself is interlinked with his son's job. So, here it is:


As clinicians, we encounter a wide variety of people, each one of whom is unique. Establishing relationships with individuals from a broad spectrum of ages, social classes, races, ethnicities,
and states of health or illness is an uncommon opportunity and privilege. Being consistently open and respectful toward individual differences is one of the clinician’s challenges. Because we bring our own values, assumptions, and biases to every encounter, we must look inward to clarify how our own expectations and reactions may affect what we hear and how we behave. Self-reflection is a continual part of professional development in clinical work. It brings a deepening personal awareness to our work with patients and is one of the most rewarding aspects of providing patient care.

Apollo, the Guide

Apollo is a guide God, he guides humanity and that is why he is distant and yet so close: he is both the light at the end of the tunnel, our objective, the place which we should try to reach; and the one by our side, supporting us, the torch we hold to guide our way. Evidence for Apollo as a guide God come from many, many sources, here I'll list but a few of them:

• The Dolphin: let us start with the animals. The dolphin is seen as the guide of sailors and it is in that quality that he his linked to Apollo: he guided the to-be-Delphians, as an objective, and at the same time he is friendly and is a messenger from the water.
• The Raven: the raven is clearly a guiding animal, one who brings messages from Apollo, one who takes messages to Apollo and also one who, at times, guides people directly with his voice.
• The Wolf: the wolf is also seen as the leader of the pack, Apollo linked with the wolf can have many meanings, but leader of civilizations is one, as is leader of flocks and even Oracle God (and thus a guide).
• The Ram: the ram guides civilization and is the shaman, the guide of the tribe, the settler, the one who runs in front and backs us up.
• The Delphic God: from Delphi would sail the fires of Greece, each lighting a new colony. Not to mention how many would go to Delphi seeking the oracles and advice of the God, which brings us to:
• The Oracular God: many are Apollo's oracles and it can't be argued that Oracles are guides.
• The Light: light is so interlinked with guidance, sight and advice, purity and foreseeing that it doesn't need any sort of explanation why Apollo of the Light is Apollo the Guide.
• The Healer: when in despair one seeks a healer, in our most fragile moments it is a healer we seek. Healers are guides and their advice is highly regarded. The healer Apollo also acts as the guide of other healers.
• The Musitian: we all know the tales of animals that follow some sort of music. We all heard a music that made us feel like chasing it. Music is a great symbol of guidance - in silence we always follow the music.
• The Archer: the archer not only protects us and shield us in our journeys, he is also the God of aiming and accuracy - of wanting and reaching.

There is much more evidence of this aspect of Apollo and countless myths. It is something that permeates most of his being, but it is something quite so obvious that few people seem to consciously realize it.

A&A make the show

Another brief reflection on how Apollon and Artemis work together. The music to day is much interlinked with show and dance. When you have a music show it has dance and, obviously, a dance show has music. Apollon is the patron of music and Artemis of dancing, thus this is another activity in which the twins work together as a single force with two components.

I think that the fact that the gods are twins means much more than most people ever care to investigate.

Paean and Paeonia

It is possible that Paean and Paeonia and its inhabitants, the Paeonians, are connected. The Paeonians were a Northern tribe present in the Iliad, sided with the Trojans. They lived in the place that later became Macedon. The hypothesis of some form of connection with them and Paean or Apollo in general has been suggested, rejected, re-suggested and re-rejected only to be suggested once again.

It may be possible that Paean is an adjective, meaning "of healing", since it has been associated with Apollo and Asklepios, both healing gods, and when used in the Iliad alone also refers to a healing god. Some scholars say that maybe then this was the title given to the healing deity of the Paeonians, which seemed to be their patron male deity, possible Helios, Apollo or some other God associated with the sun, who was worshipped along with Artemis, associated with the moon.

Not much is known about the Paeonians. We know their religion was centered not only on the sun and the moon (as Apollo and Artemis), but also on the rivers and lakes. In fact, the Axius, a river, was the great-grandfather of the chief Paeonians in the Iliad. From the Iliad we also know that they used to wash their to-be-kings in the water of this river and that would make them kings.

Herodotos says that they offered to Artemis offerings in the same fashion as those sent from the North to Delos from the Hyperboreans. Another clash with Apollo's cult is the fact that they worshiped Helios with rituals similar to those performed in the Daphnephoria.

Their chief god, whomever he was, was linked with not only the sun but also with water. He was a great healer, the god of healing waters and, mostly, of healing herbs, just like Paean and, not surprisingly, Apollo.

It appears that the Paeonians themselves were known for their salves and their knowledge of healing herbs and that Paeonian could also mean "doctor", as iatros.

Another curious thing about the Paeonians, one which I find beautiful and easy to incorporate in modern devotion and cult of Paean, Apollo, Helios or Asklepios, is that they were refered as the famous Northmen of famour pharmakoi and their land was in the road of rose gardens (because in their land grew roses and peony).

One last thing, besides Paean, Apollo and Asklepios, another healer linked with them is Chiron, whom they taught how to heal to Asklepios himself.

More Apollo and Artemis

I have been thinking more and more on Artemis and how she connects to Apollo. I think I am becoming a devotee of the Goddess of Hunt, so, I'll leave you with a book and another image.

First, the book. I haven't read it yet because I don't have much money right now and to pay the shippings bills across the Atlantic I usually buy several books each time, so I'm putting this book on my list and buy it next time. It was written by Thista, keeper of Cataleos. It is on Artemis: Dancing In Moonlight (click the name for a link to Lulu)

And now, another image of Apollo and Artemis, this time seeing them as Gods of Sun and Moon. Done by Malicekisho. Again, click on the image to see it in the original context.

Apollo and Artemis

I think it is interesting that in some areas of Greece Apollo and Artemis were husband and wife. The most curious thing is that even in "mainstreem" Greek polytheism they relation between the two is still rather erotic (for the lack of a better word). Take the myth of Orion, for instance, when Apollo tricked Artemis into killing her to-be-lover, or when Artemis chases those that hurt Apollo in some other myths.

In fact, the Gods are highly connected. They are brothers, twins, lovers, married, only because we don't have a word for complete symbiosis - they complete each other, one ends what the other starts - the wild and the civilized, women and men, opposites that are embodied in Artemis and Apollo, whom are so close to each other only to show us that opposites are illusions and boundaries artificial.

So, here is the picture that got me thinking, click on it to go to the original site. It was done by the wonderful artist blackeri.

On Archers in Ancient Greece

This is an excerpt from the bood Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece by Lesley and Roy Adkins, an excellent book which I highly recommend. This part is about Archers, under the chapter on warfare:

"Archers were used in Greek warfare from earliest times, and archery is mentioned quite often in Homer's Iliad. Archery seems to have played a crucial role in the Trojan War, but Homer implies that archers had a lower status than spearmen. Leaders like Teucer and Odysseus were proficient with the bow, but they also fought with other weapons. However, there is some evidence of groups of specialist archers even at this early date.

Later Greek armies concentrated on soldiers of the phalanx, and archery seems to have been neglected, except in Crete. Contingents of archers in Greek armies were therefore often mercenaries, usually Scythians or Cretans. Athens employed Scythian and Cretan archers as early as the 6th century BC. Scythian archers were often portrayed in contemporary Attic vase paintings, frequently shooting from a kneeling position. They wore a distinctive longpointed cap or hat, loose tunic, and trousers; slung from their belt was a bow case, which also contained their arrows. The Scythians protected the hoplites, and in the 5th century BC Scythian archers who had been bought as public slaves for Athens served as a police force in the city.

Nevertheless, the importance of archery was not fully appreciated until the latter part of the Peloponnesian War, and archers were not always used effectively. In part, this may have been because Greek archers pinched the bowstring between thumb and forefinger, a weak grip that did not allow them to use the most powerful bows. The Scythian used the first three fingers of the hand curled around the bowstring (the "Mediterranean loose", still used today) and so could draw the more powerful Scythian bows. Hellenistic armies made greater use of archers, but unlike the Parthian armies, the Greeks never used archers as a main element of their forces. Archers were generally armed with only a bow and arrows and did not wear armor. They were almost always foot soldiers; mounted archers were rarely used by the Greeks until the time of Alexander the Great."

Some notes to be taken:

• Even though specialized archers were inferior in class, don't forget that Apollo also uses the sword and is, after all, the Lord - we could say he is sort of a special archer;
• Strenghtning how special he is, on the myth of Delphi he came mounted on a Dolphin and then shoot the Python, but not mounted, much like the leaders in the Broze Age would drive charriots or horses to the battle, but unmount to fight;
  
• The Greeks employed foreigns to their archery ranks and they were better archers than the Greeks; Apollo is also the god of foreign people, maybe it is just a coincidence?;
• Archers as policeman sounds really odd, but it fits Apollo as protector of the community.

Know Yourself and Know Your Limits

Apollo is the God of gifts. If you think of it, all gifts can be seen as coming from Apollo: beauty, physical excellence, intelligence, balance, compassion but also cold thought, any form of artistic talent, any skill with the body or the mind. If you have a gift, and you are bound to have at least one, odds are Apollo is related to it somehow. Perhaps it comes from being the God of perfection.

This may seem to draw him nearer humanity, as a distributor of gifts, but because he has all the gifts it actually draws him farther away. He is all we will never be alone, but he is all we could be if we came together and joined our gifts to make our jobs, his lesson is that we need to know ourselves, know what we excel at, then we can contribute with it to the building of a greater humanity, because you cannot try to do it all by yourself, you have to know your limits and be kind with your friends who will help you when your limits can't be overcome.

Knowing thyself and knowing your limits is not meant to be a barrier to your deeds. Instead, it is meant for you to know when to stop and realize that only together, working with the rest of humanity, can we hope to draw nearer the God of Light, who is also, coincidently, God of Community Building and the founding of colonies, in this age spiritual colonies and communities.

So, we need to find our Oracle of Delphi again, not as the physical place where the future is told, but as the spiritual place where all humanity will come together and seek advice from each other, complementing each other with the gifts the god gave us, for that is, in truth, seeking the God himself and having his light as our guide.

Light and Mood

I have always associated Apollo with the mood and feelings. Mainly, I used to connect this with his music and poetry. However, today I realized how limited that idea was, because so many more facets of his being deal with mood changing and extreme feelings.

For instance, Apollo himself is falling in love all the time. But just as easily you can see him mad shooting people and animals alike. At one time he is playing the lyre, then he grabs his bow and, like the night, he comes and destroys. Just like day and night always follow one another.

It was light itself that reminded me of this. With the days shortening, we have fewer and fewer light hours here in Portugal where we are so used to light. Today my bedroom's light bulb went out and I was studying for ours with just the desk light. I got really depressed and started watching sad clips on youtube... Just because of the light! That's how strong Apollo is.

And I don't even need to mention the strong emotions that come with disease, death, health, growth, manhood, etc, etc, etc... All those associated with Apolo.

So, once again, I would like to contradict Freud and re-state that Apollo is not a god of meere cold reason - He is a god of cold reason and intense emotion. I guess one could say he is the god of the brain?

The Power of Music

All I need is
The Rhythm Divine
Lost in the music
Your heart will be mine
All I need is
The look in your eyes
Viva la music
Say you'll be mine

"Rhythm Divine" by Enrique Iglesias. This music may be about love but it can also be about music and its power. Somehow it reminds me of Apollo and how it takes over all our being when he wants. I can't quite remember who was the ancient poet that focused so much on this, I believe it was Pyndar, that even said that Apollo's music even has power over Zeus, casting sleep over the eagle when He wants. I believe that is this power that makes Apollo so powerful and even equates the bow with the lyre and makes Apollo patron of Spirit.

Besides, this can be a great way for Apollo to gain lovers in a way that may seem involuntary: we can't quite control ourselves or our emotions when music meddles with them!

Apollo God of Magic, Shamanism, Poetry, Oracles...

No update for over a month! Shame on me, shame on me! It's not that I have been so filled up with work that I can't find time to update, in fact I have no work at all and that has caused me to slowly but steadily descend into... laziness, I guess. I have been doing just regular worship activities (daily devotions, monthly ritual to Apollo and Asklepios and a few small devotions here and there) and have been searching about Zeus on my new books. I have also written a review for Ancient Greek Religion by J.D. Mikalson for Amazon, which you can find here.

I am now reading Greek Divination A Study of its Methods and Principles by W.R. Halliday. So far I have seen ltos of Principles and few Methods but it still makes me think. Evidence I have come up with in that Apollo is a God of Medicine-Men, Shamans, Magicians and the likes (without much detail):

• The most obvious is that he is God of oracles;
• He often possesses and chases people, just like magical/divine/mana power;
• He requires purity and it is widely known that purity is also required to perform magical, healing and divining actions;
• He killed the serpent Python and goes through a series of tests, purifications and evolutions, just like shamans have to, like magicians do and like oracles were portrayed doing (the first that comes to mind is Tiresias);
• He is Hekatos, the far darter and the one who strikes from afar, an epithet often found in magicians who strike their enemies from afar;
• He has a magic wand, the laurel, which comes ready with a mythical story of its acquisition;
• He is God of music and poetry which have probably originated in magical incantations and are still a part of many rituals;
• Inscriptions regarding magic and oracles most often feature him and also his brother Hermes;
• He has a very dark side and a light side, just like the magical powers (mana) can be used for good and bad alike.

I'm sure I will come up with a lot more and probably I will eventually have enough material to write a small essay.

It is good that the book makes me think about this, but I wish it had more practices...

The Distance

The song "I can go the distance" of Disney's Hercules soundtrack not only conveys perfectly the spirit of Herakles but it always reminds me of Burkert's description of Apollo: the God is distant and remains distant, but it is through that distance that Man can identify himself and strive to reach a little further and make that distance smaller.

In other news, I just received, 10 minutes ago, The Cults of Apollo at Sparta: the Hyakinthia, the Gymnopaidai and the Karneia, by Michael Petterson. However, I am still reading Asklepios' book and haven't even finished his page for Neokoroi yet.

Apollo, Asklepios and Portugal

I just learnt that the laurel and the olive tree are the two tree-symbols of Portugal. By coincidence they are also symbols of Apollo (whom I think is the patron of Portugal) and Asklepios, both of them my patrons! I love this little coincidences.

And what interest may this have for the majority of the worshipers? Well you probably already knew about Apollo and the laurel, but that the olive tree is considered a tree of Asklepios is not so well know (in fact the laurel was also often found at his festivals, probably a reminescence of when he was dependent on his father, Apollo, to act). So, you learnt something, which is why I will put this under the "Facets" umbrella.

Apollo and Poseidon

The relation between Apollo and Poseidon is worthy of, at least, an entire article (hack, I think some would even be able to do more than one book!), but right in the middle of my finals I cannot afort to do it, even though it is something that interests me a lot.

Anyway, so you won't complain I haven't been very productive, here is a small list of things I might include in the said article:

• The very famous confrontation of the elder and stormy (literally) Poseidon and the younger and moderated Apollon in the Iliad, were the young God avoids confrontation with the elder saying the humans are like leaves and not worth of a fight between them (even though he kept fighting with Athena, Ares and even, indirectly, with Hera throughout the book!);
• The fact that they are opposites in age and self-control (in general, of course) but still they are often associated in cult;
• One account according to which Poseidon was lord of Delphi before Apollo;
• The myth when Apollo and Poseidon both wanted Hestia who chose not marry any of them not to offend them;
• The detail that in myth Zeus often makes decisions when Poseidon is not present (of which the God many times complains) while Apollo, on the other hand, is like a "book keeper" of Zeus' plans;
• Poseidon is obviously Lord of the Sea, but Apollo is also the dolphin, guides sailors, saves them, is the God celebrated when the sea travelling season opens and is "of the cliff" and "of the shore"
• They built together the Walls of Troy, but then were not paid: Poseidon turned against the Trojans, but Apollo stood by their side;
• It is also interesting that the other Gods usually have no problems, most of the time, having mortals love them (or at least have an affair with them), while many myths show both Apollo and Poseidon having problems with love;
• Poseidon is father of Evadne, who later had a son of Apollo, Iamos;
• This has probably no meaning, but of the 4 pan-hellenic games, 2 were celebrated in honour of Zeus and the Isthmic Games in honour of Poseidon and the Pythian Games in honour of Apollo.
  

Apollo Near and Far

Apollo is the one who shoots from afar, who stands at the distance watching down at us, meere leaves that fall just as easily. This is the aspect most schoolars focus, trying to understand all his being through this - Burkert does this brilliantly IMHO.

However, no one ever says that:

• He is the God that possesses people and inspires them prophetic mania;
• He whispered to his prophets in clear words and some even say that he sexually raped them when they were prophetizing;
• He has contless myths where he falls in love with mortals, plays with mortals, talks with mortals;
• He did a number of works on earth: killed the Python, built the walls of Troy, worked has a shepherd, not to mention his participation on the Trojan War;
• He was reputed to conduct men sailing abord a ship, to save them and even guide them in the form of a Dolphin;
• He has several earthen symbols (plants such as the bay and the cypress, animals like the mice, wolves and lion) and few aerial (crow, some types of falcon).

And these are just the ones I can think of the top of my head. I wander if this has something to do with Apollo being a God of contradictions because he teaches moderation: neither too much distance nor too much closeness.

Apollon Dionysodotes

I have several thoughts on what does it mean to have an Apollon Dionysodotes (who gives us Dionysos), but yesterday as I watched the replay of the Award Ceremony of the Nobel Prize for Peace (awarded to Muhammad Yunus) it just occurred to me:

Apollon is the God of music and music induces trance and is a vital part of Dionysos worship (not to mention the cult of all other Gods, but especially Dionysos), so maybe what Apollon Dionysodotes means is that it is through the arts of Apollon that we can communicate and experience Dionysos.

Bow = Lyre

On Kyklos Apollon list there has recently been a discussion about the lyre and the bow. People eventually got to the conclusion that they are one and the same. Yesterday I was reading Pindar (Olympic Odes) and found this:

Many are the arrows I carry underneath
my arm in the quiver,
arrows that speak to those who understand them! But in general
it is necessary interpreters.

A poet carries arrows underneath his arm (where bards would carry lyres) and arrows that speak to those who understand? That seems quite like the same conclusion that the bow and the lyre are one and the same. I leave you with another of Pindar's disturbing sentences:

But now from the bows that strike from afar, of the Muses

PS: I am reading Pindar translated to Portuguese by Frederico Lourenço and am translating from Portuguese to English myself. This last sentence looks confusing in English with the words arranged like that, but if I were making a freer translation it would be:

But now from the bows that strike from afar, which the Muses own

A Temple in Hades

I am not sure about other sources, but in Plato we often see Apollon referred as a God whose temple rests at Hades' entrance.

What can this mean? I have several thoughts:

• Apollo Thanatos, who brings death with his deadly arrows, killer of youths, defender of the city, striker from afar - Apollo delivers death and, therefore, he is at Hades entrance;

• On the other hand, Apollo Paian, who delivers health and keeps death away also seems eligible to have a temple at Hades' entrance, for he would stand there and decide if one would die or live, which also relates to His aspect of prophet and his epithet Moiragetes;

• Apollo Alexikalos, who purifies, also has a right to stand on Hades' entrance to rid one of all lies and miasma so that our soul would be pure again and either be judged or enter Hades or reincarnate, depending on one's believes;

• Apollo Isodetes, who binds all equal could also be a judge on Hades to distribute souls according to some divine criteria;

• Apollo Phoibos as patron of Philosophy, according to Plato, could be the final step upon soul ascension: in short, Philosophy is the work of the soul and philosophers upon dying would rise and join the Gods, while those who didn't work out the soul would fall again and reincarnate - this according to Plato theories. Therefore, if this "temple at Hades' entrance" is only found in Plato it can mean this;

• Apollo is also called Dionusodotes, the one who gives Dionysus, and this God in undoubtedly connected with death and life beyond death;

• Finnally, Asklepios, Apollon's son, once resurrected a man, which could theoretically not be done for, according to Zeus in the myth, it is against the Divine Order. Because of this Zeus punished him, however Apollon revenged his son by killing the cyclops, which shows how he supported his son - in my opinion Divine Order cannot be broken unless the God who watches over it allows it to happen. Apollo clearly was pro-resurrection in this case and therefore could well be the God who allowed Asklepios to resurrect a man.