Kharisma: A Sense of Grace (Podcast)

I'm trying out something new here, dear ones.

Several months ago, I was required to create a podcast for a class I was taking. I made one about the Graces. It is intended to be a part of a series of audio materials for the Lykeion of the Red Doves, a self-paced training program for men in women in service to Aphrodite. The Lykeion is (or rather, will be) associated with the Temple of Aphrodite project that I began work on last spring.

The Lykeion is ready yet, but the podcast has been collecting dust for months, which saddens me. So, I thought I would share it, get some feedback and see how it goes.

Kharisma podacast

Voting for Pandemos

Today is Election Day in the US. I know (and am thrilled) that this blog has a high international readership, so please believe me when I say that this post will not become laboriously encumbered with US politics. Rather, I'd like to take a brief moment to talk about Aphrodite in her role as Pandemos.

The epithet PANDHMOS means "common to all people." In his Symposium, Plato interpreted this guise of Aphrodite as a vulgar, common-place Aphrodite due to her associations with the flesh; whereas OUPANIA, or "heavenly" Aphrodite was above such mundane, physical matters. Truthfully, the reverse was probably true. Aphrodite Ourania is the  oldest known epithet of Aphrodite, the one that most clearly links her with her eastern predecessors whose worship was so intimately linked with sexuality, fertility and cult prostitution. Aphrodite Pandemos, who was honored in Athens, Cos and only a few other locals, was very distinctly associated with abstracts ideals dealing with the city/state.

Aphrodite Pandemos was honored in the Athenian agora so that, according to many scholars, the assemblies who met there to discuss the issues of the city would remember their love for Athens and each other and act in kind. She was a particular patroness of Athenian magistrates, who made sacrifices and inscriptions to her, asking for her guidance in the performance of their duties.

I voted today and prayed to Aphrodite Pandemos that the men and women who take office based on today's results will serve their cities, counties, states and nation from a place of love for the people and place that they represent.

Backlogged but Happy

Hear my pledge, Zeus and my most beloved Kypris, that I WILL get back on track with the portions of my life that are not directly related to school!

Okay, so my last post was about how I was looking forward to starting the first of the work toward my MA in Religious Studies. I am solidly past mid-term in my first semester, and I think I am finally finding my feet. Returning to campus when you've been away for 13 years is a ticklish business. Trust me.

And I LOVE, love, LoVe it, but I have been out of commission for nearly everything else that I am supposed to be doing. No freelance work, no social time, very little exercise (except for the outrageous amounts of walking that happen on this huge and hilly campus). I've even completely let the publication of the Agon Literary Review slide -- after we had such wonderful submissions, too!

I have hope, though. Yay! My carrel is full of delicious books in the library (which is where I'm sitting now, actually. It's one of my new happy places.) I have a to-do list for all of my non-school projects, and I am going to start today. In fact, this blog entry is my first task. (Check!) Next: recruiting a co-moderator for the Thiasos Aphrodite yahoo group -- someone who will spur on some discussions and such.

More than that, though, I know that we at Asteria Books need to get the Agon Literary Review in publishable form. We owe it to our contributors, and I know that the community will be delighted to read their submissions regrading "The Beauty of Hellenismos."

I'll post soon about some of the research I am doing. I am very excited about it!