Okay, Now I'm Feeling Vindictive

𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒 … ✧˖ °🐚✩°｡⋆

sometimes you just gotta sit in your room and watch ghibli movies as you feel your heart overflowing with love for the little but overwhelmingly beautiful things this life can give us

Roman Polytheism Resources

Roman Polytheism, also known as Roman Paganism, Religio Romana, and Cultus Deorum Romanorum, is the modern worship of the deities, deified virtues, genius loci (spirits of places), heroes, and deified humans of ancient Rome.  This intersects with Hellenistic polytheism, which includes Hellenic, Egyptian, Phrygian, Assyrian, Phoenician, and Syrian deities and Mysteries.

This list of resources is by no means exhaustive, and additions are welcome! Just send me an ask or pm with the book titles or links you recommend, or a note if you wish your blog to be included on the list.

Sources and Introductory Material

Roman Religion Reading List   Because it’s best to base your own conclusions on solid source material.

Nova Roma is generally a good source of information about the cultus deorum. This is not, though, an endorsement of the organization itself.

Roman Religion: Beliefs, Practices, And Institutions

Introduction to the Roman deities (pdf) Again, not an endorsement of the Res Publica Romana organization.

Major and Minor Roman Deities

Genii Loci

Mos Maiorum (Roman Virtues)

The Lararium and Household Religion

Prayers, rites, and worship

The prayers and rites listed here are in no way definitive, as there is no unbroken tradition of Roman worship. They represent modern interpretations that have worked for other people; feel free to respectfully modify them to suit your own needs, understanding of the gods, and lifestyle.

How to start practicing private rites

Simple Daily Home Rites and Prayers

Lararium rite

Daily Lararium rite

Kalends Lararium rite

Kalends rite for Janus

The Great Greco-Roman Polytheist Ritual Masterpost

Calendars of Roman Festivals:

http://www.novaroma.org/calendar/index.html

http://romanpagan.blogspot.com/2014/01/roman-calendar.html

http://www.musesrealm.net/rome/festivals.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_festivals

http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-festivals.php

Places to buy oil lamps, altars, statues, etc.

I have no relationship or affiliation with these shops, and cannot guarantee your experience - I only browse their wares with longing.

Venetian Cat

The Roman Shop

Sacred Source

Celtic Web

Other Roman polytheists at tumblr:

@hearthglow @dorkilypagan  @sassyromanspirits  @dimagnitemplum  @heliosthedemiurge  @redlotuscult  @evodije  @sonnefur @redrokingpunkwitch

Reblog if you think public libraries are important and should be maintained.

My illustration of Apollo for Sing, O Muse!

Hermes Offerings and Devotions

Offerings

Keys

Dice

Playing cards

Coins

Rocks/pebbles

Playing jacks (UPG)

Bouncy balls (UPG)

Lucky charms (Cereal)

Rabbit's foot

Horse shoe

Magic 8 ball

Coffee

Energy drinks

Herms

Road trip snacks (I like Hostess donuts)

Airplanes/trains/cars imagery

Foreign/new foods

Trail mix

Peanut m&ms (UPG)

Turtles

Lyres/string instruments

Sandals/shoes/running shoes

Journals

Camping gear

Survival gear, like multitools, fire starters, first aid kits etc.

Pens/pencils

Small (stolen) trinkets

Language dictionaries

Work out gear

Panpipes

Postcards

Letters

Mail

Stamps

Envelopes

Zodiac signs

Sheep/goats

Car parts

Backpacks/drawstring bags/bags

Crocos

Sticks

Saffron

Sticks

Board games (UPG)

Dominos (UPG)

Pick up sticks (UPG)

Books

Cups

Scales

Dream journals

Graveyard dirt

Cookie fortunes

Foreign money

$2 Bills

Dollar coins

Marbles

Travel souvenirs

Bikes/skateboards/skate

Old licenses/IDs

Sport trophies/jerseys/jackets/gear

Wings/feathers

Letters/numbers

Video games

Magic kits

Oranges/Lemons (UPG)

Devotional Acts

Write letters

Go for walks

Run

Road trips

Learn about alchemy, astrology, lucid dreaming/astral travel, astronomy, etc.

Learn basic car maintenance (change a tire, jump a car, change air filter, check oil etc.)

Give money/socks/cigarettes/water/food to panhandlers

Go talk to a panhandler and keep them company for a bit. I usually smoke a cigarette with them (only time I smoke) and just chat.

Pranks

Public speaking

Tip well

Stargazing

Geocaching

Learn new language

Learn ASL

Work out

Drive safely and predictably

Use your blinker fools

Bike/skate

Clean your car

Make a travel altar

Get a passport

Travel

Practice keyboarding

Have a penpal

Train your voice

Magic tricks

Check your mail/email regularly

Low risk gambling, like lotto tickets

Riskier gambling if you're mindful of it

Make sigils

Have a race

Play a tag

Be nice to wait staff

Play sports

Make maps of trails near you

Make maps of whatever you want

Play uke/string instruments

Make herms

Carpool

Uphold confidentiality

Coin tricks

Be a reliable worker

Thrifting/yard saling

Dumpster diving

Making trades and barters

Help look for missing people/pets

She who is modest, dark-veiled Leto, She who is ever gentle and full of care; Great Mother of all and twin-bearing goddess.

Queen of Great Kindness, i declare my praise to you; for you have gifted me with the ability to love those around me so strongly. you allow me to feel a love that comes from you, ever-flowing.

O She-wolf Leto, i thank you for your care. i thank you for your divine love and protection. hail, Mother of Truth, whom i promise to worship and adore. Lovely-haired Leto, i shall light candles and write letters to you; i shall love and care for those around me in honor of you.

my appreciation to you overflows from my soul, dear Goddess.

Isn't it actually so beautiful that deities take the time to try and guide and teach us? How wonderful is it that they care for us so deeply that they'd share their wisdom, knowledge, and insight so freely? I think a deity's love is something to be cherished, and I cherish this. 🧡✨

Larentalia of Ancient Rome was a day at the very end of the Saturnalia, around December 23, celebrated in honor of various Deities. Some attest it to the celebration of Acca Larentia, the mythical mother of Romulus and Remus equated with the great she-wolf Lupa, whereas some call it the day of the Lares, protective household Deities of the Roman era. Multiple Di Inferi such as the Lares, Di Manes, Di Penates, and such received due praise on Larentalia.

Known also as Parentalia, Larom, Lemuria, Mania, this sacred day has a long history and roots from the beliefs and customs that preceded the very formation of Rome.

Larentalia has a complicated history, much like most Roman holidays and festivals do. Some sources attest it to be the day when Acca Larentia was praised and worshipped, as she was believed to have raised Romulus and Remus as their adoptive mother. Some stories speak of Acca Larentia as a woman who happened to have a large fortune left after her wealthy Etruscan lover, Tarutilus, passed, and that she gave the money to the people of Rome. Some call her the wife of Faustulus, the shepherd who found Romulus and Remus in the she-wolf's burrow. Some call her a courtesan and the mistress of the great Hercules given to him in a game of dice.

The latter might be a contributing factor to why Acca Larentia got slowly merged with the imagery of a she-wolf Lupa who raised Romulus and Remus according to the old myth: the word for a courtesan (lupa) and the word for a she-wolf (lupa) are cognates. Her other name, Acca, might be compared to the Sanskrit "akka", which means "mother" and rightfully allows us to consider her Mater Larum, the Mother of the Lares whom Romulus and Remus became for Rome after their deaths. The festival to honor the Lares was called Larom and coincided with Larentalia. Some, like Ovid, also referred to it as Mania after a corresponding Sabine Goddess.

The name of Quirinus is tightly connected to the cult of the Lares. Initially, this is likely the name of an Ancient indigenous agricultural Deity of Roman and Etruscan peoples who later was merged with the deified Romulus to represent a giving, prosperous ruler of the Empire.

Quirinus is also one of the epithets of the God Mars, one of the most beloved and treasured among the Roman Gods. Mars Quirinus was the peaceful face of the God of War when He guarded the civillians. Maurus Servius Honoratus in his notes to the Aeneid wrote the following: Mars enim cum saevit Gradivus dicitur, cum tranquillus est Quirinus ("When He rampages, Mars is Gradivus, but when He is at peace, He is Quirinus"). Gods such as Janus and Jupiter were also given the epithet Quirinus. Thus, the very name, Quirinus, became strongly associated with the image of provision, protection, and stability, which explains why Romulus was attested this name as well.

Such a diverse variety of ways Quirinus can be interpreted is partially due to the variety of theories that were created at the time to explain Romulus' death. Some authors claimed him to have been taken by a thunderstorm, some that he was killed by the Senate in a manner much similar to the way Julius Caesar died. Some claim that Romulus and Quirinus are one and have been one. The pre-Romulean function of the Divinity remains much of a mystery, though some argue that He might have been a part of the triad alongside Jupiter and Mars, thus constituting the three most beloved Gods of the Roman Empire.

Quirinus thus has connection to three most important areas of the Roman life: agriculture, military, and the afterlife. This creates a very chthonic identity of the newly coined Divinity, which explains why Larentalia was the day of honoring the dead.

The cult of Quirinus has birthed the new religious rank within Rome, flamen Quirinalis, which coexisted with flamen Dialis and flamen Martialis and seemed to perform a major religious function within the cult and across the entirety of Rome.

Larentalia was celebrated at the place of the supposed tomb of Acca Larentia, the Velabrum located between the Capitoline Hill and the Palatine Hill, not a long way from the old city. There, pontiffs and flamen Quirinalis sacrificed to Di Manes. Di Manes were the souls of the deceased loved ones, connected to other indigenous Roman Deities such as Di Penates, Genii, and the Lares. The festival to honor the Manes and Acca Larentia included performance of parentatio, or funeral rites. The Latin name of the ritual is the reason why Larentalia is also sometimes called Parentalia.

As the Mother of Lares, Acca Larentia received offerings given to the guardian spirits under her protection. However, the holiday wasn't limited to just her and instead celebrated all the Lares.

The nature of the offerings varies depending on what time period and what author we refer to. For example, Macrobius says that at first, Di Manes, as they were among Di Inferi, received offerings in form of human sacrifice. However, according to him, this tradition did not last for long and, under Junius Brutus, was replaced. Starting from Brutus' times, human sacrifice was substituted with offerings of garlic and poppy. In the same book Macrobius also states that people would hang up woolen human-shaped figurines on the day of the Manes to ward off anything bad happening to the family. This, as well as the fact most rituals likely happened at night, points out that this day was devoted to the chthonic Deities.

Among other offerings during Larentalia were homemade cakes and pigs sacrificed for the Di Inferi. Some writers suggest that if during the Larentalia, any piece of food was to fall on the ground, from the moment of touching it the food became an offering to the Lares and was to be burned. A similar tradition is seen among the Greeks who also believed that food dropped on the ground belonged to the spirits dwelling in the house.

As a part of the Saturnalia, Larentalia was one of the holidays of passing when the old died out and allowed the coming of the new.

Note: Do not use the decor in this post. I made it myself, images not mine. Please, be respectful. This holiday mentions the souls of the dead.

Sources are in my pinned.