[Help] Is it possible to practice Witchcraft with Hellenismos

[Lucid]

As the title is a bit more broadened than the specific types of magic I am talking about; I'd like to point specifically about Divination and Spells. Later in this post I will talk on how I use magic in worship and how I can see it as Virtuous. I am an new eclectic Hellenistic Revivalist as well as Reconstructionst. I take what is available from ancient text as well as from scholars own research in order to worship the Gods as they imbue me with their will on these matters. With all the introductory process out of the way lets get into the why of my question.

In the Homeric 4th Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Apollo tells him many things; In particular he states:

"Whosoever shall come guided by the call and flight of birds of sure omen, that man shall have advantage through my voice, and I will not deceive him. But whoso shall trust to idly-chattering birds and shall seek to invoke my prophetic art contrary to my will, and to understand more than the eternal gods, I declare that he shall come on an idle journey; yet his gifts I would take."

I have seen this interpreted as those who practice divination are doing so by which is against the Lord Zeus' Will and by that they shall be punished. Following this he states:

"... I will tell you another thing, Son of all-glorious Maia and Zeus who holds the aegis, luck-bringing genius of the gods. There are certain holy ones, sisters born -- three virgins gifted with wings: their heads are besprinkled with white meal, and they dwell under a ridge of Parnassus. These are teachers of divination apart from me, the art which I practised while yet a boy following herds, though my father paid no heed to it. From their home they fly now here, now there, feeding on honey-comb and bringing all things to pass. And when they are inspired through eating yellow honey, they are willing to speak truth; but if they be deprived of the gods' sweet food, then they speak falsely, as they swarm in and out together. These, then, I give you; enquire of them strictly and delight your heart: and if you should teach any mortal so to do, often will he hear your response -- if he have good fortune. Take these, Son of Maia, and tend the wild roving, horned oxen and horses and patient mules."

Here he is talking of the Thirae; Golden Nymphs with the Body and Wings of Bees. Showing the way to Mortals and Immortals alike only if they have been shown the right light of the Gods.

Personally this strikes me because Hermes has been with me throughout my life and up until recently I haven't been able read the signs he was showing me. As I casted lots he spoke to numerous times and; even introduced me to The Holy Mother, Hekate, who showed interest in my journey. Because of this I had bought Lenormand, Tarot, and Oracle Decks in order to have multiple channels in order to reach towards the Gods Divine will.

I know by action of invoking the sacred names; through spoken word, incense and offering. That I am acting in line with the Virtues of Therurgy but coming across this indeed made me worried. I had planned to protect those who helped me with scripts from the PGM, as well as Curse those who had hurt me in ways that I am sure will effect others by nature of their own ignorance. In dreams Hekate, as well as Hermes, instruct me on use of Sigils and Marks associated with them as to make their power more present in my life and for this I am grateful. Everything just seems to be falling into place and I am right to be suspicious of those who are claiming answers direct from the ancient world itself.

TLDR:
In Homer's 4th Hymn addressed to Hermes; Apollo makes an appearance and teaches his younger the ways of nature and sooth-saying (divination), in the end he assigns the task of sending Omens to the Immortals as well as Mortals through flight of bird.
Apollo specifically states

"...as for sooth-saying [...] of which you ask, it is not lawful for you to learn it, nor for any other [Immortals]: [for] only the mind of Zeus knows that."

This brings me back to the original question, is it the Will of the Gods to practice Divination as well as preform magic? These may seem elementary for they are as I am a recent conduit of the Gods will and would rather stray away from the path that I had just started.

Thank you for your time and may golden favour shine on those who read this. Much Blessings!

 

[Magus314]

You might want to take a look at the PGM (Greek Magical Papyri). In late antiquity the line between Greek folk religion, formal ritual practice, and what we’d now label as witchcraft was very porous.

This site has a solid amount of well-organized material on the PGM that you may find useful:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[frater_pan]

One of the first things I did divination on when I resumed magickal practice as an adult was if I could learn and work magick through the PGM materials that we have. I got an overwhelming yes + a clear lesson that I would need to adapt the material for my needs.

 

[weirdbird]

Aren't you treating it too much like Christianity with sacred texts, dogmas and precepts? The modern paganism is not a reconstruction, it is a reinvention based more on the mythology of their pantheon than on the ancient religious practices. In fact, a lot of widely accepted gods and teachings might very well have been later inventions (for example, there is a high possibility that Loki was written into the Icelandic pantheon during the christian times, and the western slavic Marzanna was most certainly not considered a goddess until very recently).

Back to the topic, there wasn't one single unified hellenic religion with defined dogmas and rules, and you shouldn't treat Homer's poetry as a holy scripture. Maybe divination was illegal or looked down upon in Ionia during Homer's times but it's just one small geographical region over a very narrow time period. Attempting to communicate with your gods to receive guidance from them directly is the only way that makes sense.