A spiritual community dedicated to the ascent of the soul through philosophy, contemplation, and sacred practice, rooted in the Platonic tradition.
Missoula, MT
Joined September 2022
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Had a great conversation with the @FolkAsatru's Aidan McMillan about Building Pagan Communities.
youtu.be/t9kWf70zi-k
O Magna Mater, womb of stars and source of all becoming.
In your depths, all things are born, and to you, all return.
Grant us the strength to endure, the grace to grow,
And the wisdom to embrace the dance of life and death.
Hail, Mother of the Gods, eternal and unshaken!
"We do not yet possess ourselves, and we know at the same time that we are much more. I feel the same truth how often in my trivial conversation with my neighbors, that somewhat higher in each of us overlooks this by-play, and Jove nods to Jove from behind each of us."
-Emerson, Self-Reliance
The gods outside the Divine Triad are living intelligences, cosmic minds shaping reality itself.
In Romanism, these gods govern fate, liberation, and divine order. Watch this clip to understand their role.
"Plato also says, that the soul is tripartite; and that the first part of it is reason; the second anger, or irritability; and the third appetite, which we may likewise call cupidity. But health, strength, and beauty, are then present with the animal, when reason governs the whole soul; when the two inferior parts are obedient to it, and anger and cupidity, being concordant with each other, desire nothing, and excite nothing, which reason judges to be useless."
-Apuleius
Doctrines of Plato Book I
Platonists recognize that beauty, strength, and health can only come about when the body is ordered by reason and the lower passions are controlled by our highest part. Some wrongly assume Platonists hate or reject the body, but cultivating its proper order is the goal. If we must sacrifice our pleasures and anger to put reason in the chariot of our soul, then that is what we must do.
"It is difficult to discover God, and impossible when found to enunciate him to the multitude.”
—Plato
Timaeus 28c
Not everyone is suited to understand the mysteries of God. If you try to tell the many about Him, you will receive every opinion imaginable, yet very little wisdom. This isn’t a flaw. Most people are not prepared to receive these mysteries and have other things to attend to in this life. Those who know about these matters should not be contemptuous of those who know little but show them compassion and do what they can to lead others toward the Good in whichever way they understand.
"God is the Good because, as the cause of all good, he brings good to all things according to His power. He is Beauty because natural perfection is complete and harmonious. He is Truth because He is the source of all truth as the sun is of all light. He is the Father because He is the author of all things, and He guides the celestial intelligence and the world soul to Himself and His thoughts.”
—Alcinous
Handbook of Platonism 10
We know God through his energies and operations. Truth, Beauty, and Goodness are the three most prominent of these. All things find their completion and purpose in the Good. Beauty brings harmony and perfection. Truth lights the way by dispelling falsehood and illusion. He is the father of Gods and Men and draws all intellectual beings and all souls to himself.
"Therefore the effort to arrive at the Truth, and especially the truth about the gods, is a longing for the divine.”
—Plutarch
Isis and Osiris 21
Our desire to know and learn about the gods is ultimately a longing within the soul for the divine. While our impulse to study philosophy may be to know the divine, our studies often take detours along the way. There is the potential to use philosophy to ingratiate our egos and speculate endlessly when we would be better served to sit in stillness with the divine. Our longing should be for the divine in all things and we should be aware of when we stray from the goal.
"The authors of the Orphic hymns supposed Jove to be the mind of the world, and that he created all things therein, containing the world in himself. ... Jove, therefore, is the whole world, animal of animals, and god of gods; but Jove, that is, inasmuch as he is the mind from which he brings forth all things, and by his thoughts creates them.”
—Porphyry
On Cult Images fr. 3
Jove is the Nous, Mind, or Intellect itself. By his thought, He creates all things. All things exist within Him, and He is not separate from what He creates. The immanent God that pervades all, knows all, and sees all. Each of us shares a fragment of His divine nature, and through this, we can return to Him.
“In the case of sacrifices offered to the gods: the [sacrifices] are not so much an honor paid to the gods as evidence that the worshipers are grateful for what they have received.”
—Porphyry
Against the Christians Apocrit. IV.20-IV.23
Our newest post explores the interplay of unity, multiplicity, and the nature of the Gods — link in bio.
What does heresy mean regarding the revival of the classical Western spiritual traditions?
Link in bio
