If you give a flip about Dadoukhoi or just what my personal agenda is in Hellenic polytheism, you may want to read this:
There are two Dadoukhoi email lists. One, just called Dadoukhoi, is an open list for announcements, introductions, and general sharing of information and ideas. The other consists of the handful of people who came together to develop the organization itself and is where we get our hands dirty with bylaws, planning of sacred events, etc.
We don't all agree on every single point in the organizational list, and it's fuckin' beautiful. We're free to disagree profoundly and hammer out consensus on issues of the day. We all want an organizational structure that's elegant and appropriate to the task at hand, and don't feel that we find a perfect fit in any of the other options currently available. (This has apparently upset one or two people who would prefer that we work from within XYZ organization, but I strongly suspect that they would be uncomfortable with the amount of reformation we would seek.)
I like much of what I see in what's visible of Elaion's organizational structure (although their over-all approach doesn't speak to me personally). I don't get the impression that this is a popular opinion in very many circles, although I'm not torn to shreds over it in Dadoukhoi.
So, anyway, where I'm heading with all this is that I pester the Dadoukhoi founders almost constantly to address issues in terms of What do you want from a Hellenic polytheist organization that you can't find elsewhere? I keep pushing that button, and pushing it, and pushing it.
Screw polite deliberation. I want to find out people's true agendas and see them prepared to engage their companions in zealous pursuit of an ideal, healthy organization. Kick my ass. Tell me what you think. And be prepared to fully disclose what you're trying not to say. That's my approach. We can save the pretty words for when they flow naturally and for announcements to the Dadoukhoi list.
I generally try to let/provoke others to speak up before I do, because I have a way with words and can be rather forceful in making my point. But once others have had a reasonable chance to chime in, it's my turn.
With that in mind, here is some of what I want:
I want to see to it that there's one functioning Hellenic polytheist organization with a balance of traditional and reformation practices and principles.
It seems perfectly appropriate to me that a revival of Hellenic polytheism will involve a good deal of personal inspiration tempered with Socratic dialogue and research into what has proven effective in the past.
We have already seen profound limitations in our ability to reconstruct ancient practices & ideas in our modern context.
Personal inspiration, however, overly emphasizes eclecticism, which is ***perfectly fine*** but very, very hard on which to lay a foundation.
Socratic dialogue is a wonderful pain in the ass, capable of forcing us to dig deeper inside ourselves and one another for the truth lying beneath the surface.
I believe that reconstruction of a core matrix of practices and ancient ideals capable of standing the test of shifting culture can form a foundation. Innovation can form the building constructed on that foundation. And the Socratic Method as introduced by Plato and enhanced by two and a half millennia of Western philosophy can bind it together with integrity.
I see this as the balanced approach most capable of building a sacred structure in which the Deathless Ones may be venerated and mankind lifted up in a spirit of Humanism.
I don't give a rat's patoot if a Hellenic polytheist has a Catholic spouse.
If Hellenic polytheists try out ideas such as in-house mantikoi or a full-blown thusia and find that these simply don't work, that's great! Give it a shot or don't based on your best justification for whatever choice blows your mind.
I want an organization in which, frankly, it's considered OK for people within the org and the org itself to seek guidance from the Deathless Ones in making *at least* decisions about how to approach the Deathless Ones themselves.
I don't believe a month of organizational deliberation should take place without us at least once taking a breather to pour a simultaneous libation while asking the gods to guide our hands and mouths in our actions.
I don't believe a year should pass without a period of formal purification and attendance to sacred space.
I believe the Deathless Ones should receive offerings, and that we should set do our best to provide *to anyone who wants it* information on how and when they can make such offerings as an individual, a family unit, or a community.
I believe that the gods involve themselves in natural disasters, hunting trips, wars, and maybe even poker tournaments.
I believe that it is essentially irrelevant whether one is a hard polytheist, or believes that the gods themselves are particular expressions of a Platonic form of abstract deity, or suspects that they gods are somehow tied in with human perception and the subconscious. People must be free to make up their own minds, and a spirit of openness and engaging dialogue should support the quest to continually re-evaluate individual and collective understandings of truth.