1700 words | 9 minute read
By Stormseeker
To anyone with even a cursory interest with Hellenic Polytheism, the topic of purification is a familiar one. Whether it’s a debate over what to call impurity—lyma or miasma—or talking about the creation of khernips (lustral water) to purify oneself before approaching the gods, there is no doubt that the concept of removing what I will call “spiritual dirt” is central to the religion, particularly if one is more of a reconstructionist. The general belief is that khernips should be used to purify oneself before every ritual and formalised prayer. Of course, prayers on the fly (“please Hermes, get me through this traffic!”) can’t always be done after cleansing oneself, but the standard is to do so wherever possible.
This leads, then, to maintaining general hygiene before the gods. It is not enough to just wash your hands with khernips if you haven’t showered for a week. You must be mundanely, materially clean as well as spiritually if you are to approach the gods. That means showered (or bathed), brushed teeth, and in actual people clothes, not pyjamas.
Why Do We Practice Ritual Purity?
Ritual purity is done because it is thought that the gods are at a level of purity that surpasses ours, and therefore it is offensive to them to interact with us when we are not spiritually and physically clean. Sacrifices had to be perfect, and worries about miasma even led to the Athenian and Ionian expelling of scapegoats in order to cleanse the city. The god Apollon was associated with the cleansing of miasma following a murder, as we see in Euripide’s Orestes. Indeed, in this play, it is stated that Orestes must go into a year-long exile after his matricide, in order to stop him torment by the Erinyes (the Furies). These three goddesses would torment those whose crimes broke the natural order, with their divine role as executors of vengeance and retribution (perhaps relevant to the present-day, but that’s another post). Events that caused miasma were clearly a big deal, but even in everyday life there was the fear of contamination of lyma, picked up as it was through daily life.
So, as Patrik Klinborg, Hedvig von Ehrenheim, and Axel Frejman write:
The necessity of worshippers to be clean or pure when interacting with the divine, or entering the sacred precinct, is well attested in the textual evidence.
Thus, we must be clean before the gods. Wash your hands with khernips wherever possible before you approach them, and avoid committing heinous crimes. Sounds simple, right? Well, not really—and don’t worry, I’m not about to tempt you to carry out your own murders. It is cleanliness that concerns me here.
Okay, So What’s the Issue With This?
In the UK, where I live, there are an estimated 16.1 million disabled people. With a population of 69.3 million, that means just over 23% of the population is living with a chronic condition. Naturally, different disabilities result in different experiences and struggles. However, one that is quite common—but rarely discussed due to taboo—is having difficulty with personal hygiene. Indeed, this is a criterion on the forms for Personal Independence Payment in the UK, a welfare scheme for people with disabilities that is aimed at helping us live independently and to the same standard as others (although it is a much-criticised system, not least because of how invasive it is as well as the purposeful barriers to accessing it).
To come back to where we were, this is highly relevant information to the topic of ritual purity. For some of us disabled folk (including me), we simply cannot reach these standards. Sure, we might be able to wash our hands after using the bathroom, but sometimes having a shower or even brushing our teeth is too much. This might be because of pain, fatigue, executive dysfunction, or low mood (or any combination of these and other factors). Does this mean we have to be excluded from practising our faith?
The Dirtiness of the Gods’ Domains
My UPG (unverified personal gnosis) and practice say no to this question: we can still be Hellenic Polytheists without this strict notion of ritual purity. To say otherwise would be deeply ableist, and I’m pretty sure that the gods do not hate disabled people—after all, Hephaistos himself is disabled and Dionysus is associated with madness.
I personally take a revivalist approach to my worship, although it is based on academic literature, myths, and ancient cult (which differs from modern-day usage of the term cult—the term in this instance just means the lived practice of religion).
This revivalist UPG isn’t just based on vibes, however. The more I have learned about the gods, the more I have learned about the things they rule over. As I have looked into this, it has become more and more apparent that these domains are filthy, in spiritual terms. The gods are constantly getting their hands dirty with the things they rule over. If we took a reconstructionist approach, we as humans would be spiritually dirty if we engaged in any of these realms or activities, but the gods are constantly involved in them, such as being a ruler requires them to be. Why, then, are these considered polluting?
I’ll give some examples to back myself up on this, of course. Let’s take a look at some of the deities I have worshipped, worked with, and honoured in the past, for they are the ones I know most about [1]:
- Apollon (Apollo): Ruler of many things, we have already seen the role Apollon plays in the purification of Orestes. However, Apollon’s extension into dirty realms goes beyond this. He is associated with, among other things, the plague as well as health. Are these not realms dripping with filth? Diseases such as the plague will of course cause spiritual dirtiness, and try as we might to keep hospitals clean, healing is filled with muck and blood (which in many circumstances is considered to be especially polluting).
- Aphrodite: Famed goddess of love and sex, Aphrodite’s domain is literally covered with human… fluids (sorry for that mental picture). I don’t think we need to go further down that path as I am sure you get my drift. Additionally, she carried the epithet [2] ‘Areia’, meaning ‘the warlike’, showing her as a warrior. Even more mucky business.
- Zeus: You might expect the Leader of the Gods would be particularly picky about pollution and purity, but when we look closer, his domain is also not quite as pure as we’d first expect. Zeus rules over the law and justice, and this is sometimes dirty work. It can involve violence. It can, depending on your notions of justice, involve retribution. It can involve literally sifting through rubbish for clues. Indeed, when we look at mythology, Zeus himself stands accused of meting out punishments that are quite dirty, such as the eagle forever pecking out Prometheus’ liver. While I am not one to take myths literally, I do interpret this one as Zeus being no stranger to dirt.
- Ares: Ah, the god of bloodlust, war, and rebellion. Need I say more?
- Hekate (Hecate): The goddess most associated with ghosts, Hekate’s retinue features the souls of the dead. Death was considered to be especially polluting in Ancient Greece. Additionally, if we take a look at her epithets, there are some startling ones in there: Aimopotis, meaning blood drinker, being one, and Sarkophagos, meaning flesh eater, being another.
Hopefully, this brief illustration shows that the gods are not unacquainted with things and situations that are spiritually unpure and even profane. And lest I get accused of only considering gods that I have personally worshipped and/or worked with, let’s consider one more: Hades. It probably goes without saying that, as Lord of the Underworld, he is continually in touch with the dead, which as we have already seen is considered to be very polluting. Even if you don’t imagine Hades to be involved in the nitty-gritty, there is Thanatos, the god of death itself.
Hopefully what I have written here can give you pause for thought when considering spiritual dirt and purification. While there are certainly times when you want to have a good cleanse—such as before working a big spell or partaking in an elaborate ritual, as cleansing will be part of entering into a gnostic mind state—it is apparent to me that this is not as necessary as some may think.
With the caveat that everyone’s practice is different, I will personally be continuing to worship even when I can’t wash myself for whatever reason. The gods embrace me as is, in my personal experience. That, my dear friends, is all that matters to me.
Footnotes
- I am sure, however, that the more you look at each deity, the more we can see evidence of them ruling over a traditionally dirty field.
- An epithet can be sometimes described as a surname for the gods (as they only rarely appear at the beginning of their names). They are essentially a title that explains a fact about the god in question: how they were perceived; their connections to places, things, and other deities; how they were pictured to look; what their domains were. The most famous gods can have literally hundreds of these titles, and they can be quite revealing about how they were perceived in ancient times as well as how they were worshipped.
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