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Post by MadGastronomer on Sept 28, 2013 22:15:52 GMT -8
I'm accustomed to developing rituals and observances for gods I have UPG or at least some small emotional connection with. I utterly fail to have any connection with Athene, but I'm a weaver and spinner, so I need to have some regular way of honoring her (aside from occasions when I'm pouring libations to a whole list of gods, which is all I've got now). I haven't so far been able to locate any prayers to her as patron of weavers (presumably because it was largely a thing that women did at home, rather than being a profession with a guild), or any indication of what a weaver specifically might do to ask her favor. I can't even find any myths that specifically involve her weaving, other than the obvious one about Arachne, or any cultic titles that refer to her as a weaver (I've been using Ergane, "of the works," which refers to her office as patron of craftspeople). I did make a devotional weaving for her, and it hangs in my ritual space. But I just have no idea what I can do as a regular devotion. Ideas? |
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Post by Admin on Sept 30, 2013 11:34:40 GMT -8
OK, my Google-fu worked well and I think you will find this interesting: books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&lpg=PA16&ots=s1Zn3LsEkE&dq=prayer%20to%20athena%20ergane&pg=PA29#v=onepage&q=prayer%20to%20athena%20ergane&f=falseCheck out pages 15 - 16 ish. There's some interested material on Athena Ergane, not a prayer, but some tidbits about the way she was worshiped as the patroness of craft. Also, check this out: en.arch.uoa.gr/fileadmin/arch.uoa.gr/uploads/images/evy_johanne_haland/e_j_haland_cosmos_20.pdf Information on how weavers actually worshiped Athena Ergane (like dedicating carved loom weights to her -- don't know what a loom weight is, assuming you do?). Just skimmed it, but it looks like you could recreate a pretty robust religious practice from the information here. |
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lucky
New Member
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Post by lucky on Sept 30, 2013 16:30:23 GMT -8
when i make things out of string or wire i mostly think on spiders and let my hands race as fast as possible, but i know a lot of knots also. i used to know a woman named athena and she was very kind and wise, lost touch with her about five years ago though
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Post by MadGastronomer on Sept 30, 2013 17:19:59 GMT -8
Thanks, everyone. Information on how weavers actually worshiped Athena Ergane (like dedicating carved loom weights to her -- don't know what a loom weight is, assuming you do?). Just skimmed it, but it looks like you could recreate a pretty robust religious practice from the information here. Thank you. My google-fu has been failing me. Yes, I know what loom weights are. The Greeks (and Romans and Egyptians, and basically everybody under the 12th or 13th century CE) used warp-weighted looms, meaning that instead of tension on warp threads being achieved through two beams that were tightened and held by friction or ratchets, as most modern looms are, the looms were vertical, with warp tension being achieved by means of weights. It explains a lot about the dimensions of cloth and why it was draped the way it was, actually. Fascinating stuff. There's a book available on Project Gutenberg called Ancient Greek and Eqyptian Looms by H. Ling Roth, if anyone is interested. I don't have a warp-weighted loom, although I'm hoping to acquire one (or, more likely, have it built for me). I might start dedicating shuttles to her instead, since they're discrete pieces essential to weaving, much as weights were then. |
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Post by MadGastronomer on Oct 5, 2013 2:39:58 GMT -8
I think, on balance, that what I'm going to do it to dedicate my spindles and shuttles to Athene Ergane, and to give to her all my loom waste. Since the style I weave in is very good for using up short bit of stuff, when I have a bunch, I'll do a weaving just for her.
I will contemplate getting a small unclothed figure, and dressing it in these weavings.
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Post by Admin on Oct 5, 2013 11:25:38 GMT -8
I love this idea! And you'll be connecting with this ancient current of worship. Awesome.
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Drekfletch
New Member
Hellenic-ish polytheist in NH
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Post by Drekfletch on Oct 13, 2013 20:00:17 GMT -8
I will contemplate getting a small unclothed figure, and dressing it in these weavings. Or perhaps a dressmakers form? |
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Post by MadGastronomer on Oct 13, 2013 20:38:35 GMT -8
That would make sense, if I had anywhere to put it. Besides, if I get a dressmaker's form, I'll want to use it to make things for ME! No, I'm thinking more of one of those posable wooden artists' models, make her a helmet, spear and aegis out of fimo or something, and dress that.
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Isira
New Member
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Post by Isira on Oct 15, 2013 7:37:06 GMT -8
Ariadne is Greek, a spinner weaver spider goddess.
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Post by MadGastronomer on Oct 15, 2013 16:11:55 GMT -8
Not so much a goddess, at least not in the Greek pantheon. I suppose it's possible that she's one of those adopted and demoted from another pantheon, but I've never seen any evidence for it. In the Greek myth, she's a mortal who would not show appropriate respect to Athene, entered into a weaving competition with her, chose poorly when it came to subject matter in her tapestry, hanged herself, and was turned into a spider by Athene. I am working on building a small wall shrine to Arachne, and consider her a heros and ancestor of my craft, but she's not a goddess, and the primary lesson I take from her is to remember to give proper honor and credit to Athene, to remember that my skill is a gift from her, and that I am not a perfect fiber artist. No, wait, hang on. You didn't even say Arachne. You said Ariadne. Ariadne eventually was deified, as the wife of Dionysos, but was not a patron of weavers or spinners. Ariadne was born the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, the king and queen of Crete. She gave Theseus the enchanted thread -- the ONLY reason why she's associated with thread, although naturally spinning was a craft nearly all women at the time practiced -- so that he could find his way through the Labyrinth to kill the Minotaur. Theseus took her with him when he left Crete, then abandoned her, and later she was found and married by Dionysos. She's not classically associated with spiders at all. ETA: That might have sounded a bit harsh. Sorry. But both of them are figures I'm researching pretty heavily, and my blog is called Ariadne's Thread and Arachne's Tapestry. I'm pretty well familiar with them by now, and get pretty frustrated when people a) conflate them and b) get them wrong. |
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