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.

Asklepieia

This night begins the Asklepieia. It happens in the same day as the Kyklos Apollon ritual, so it will be a double festival. Today eat moderately or even fast or go in a purifying diet (such as melon only, or juice only) to prepare yourself. At night ask Asklepios for guidance or healing. Then celebrate the God and His Father during the day with offerings, ritual, meditation, yoga, exercise, healthy food! Commit to an healthier life and make an appointment to check your health next year.

The Asklepieia is a great time for a general check up with your doctor. Don't remember that doctors are the hands of Asklepios!

Happy Asklepieia.

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.