{"id":293,"date":"2016-12-02T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T22:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?p=293"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:32:05","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:32:05","slug":"volcanoes-and-hephaistos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/12\/volcanoes-and-hephaistos.html","title":{"rendered":"Volcanoes and Hephaistos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

When I first learned about catastrophes such as happened with Mt Etna and Mt Vesuvius \u2013 volcanic eruptions resulting in mass deaths \u2013 I said to everyone who would listen, \u201cWhat kind of idiot would live so close to a volcano anyway?\u201d \u00a0I was an unforgiving child and the logic was pretty clear on this \u2013 volcanoes are bad, they kill, don\u2019t live near them and don\u2019t complain if you get killed by one if you do choose to live near one.<\/p>\n

I moved to where I am now back in 1997 when I was 11 years old, I obviously had no choice in the matter. \u00a0I still said that stuff about living by a volcano until, many years later coming up on adulthood, I realised the absolute stupidity of my statement, not to mention the stupidity of my own self.<\/p>\n

\"Volcanoes
Mounts Leura and Sugarloaf. By Bekah Evie Bel, 2016.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Third Largest Volcanic Plain in the World<\/h2>\n

Leura Maar is the name of\u00a0a\u00a0volcanic complex, 2.5 kilometres long, 1.7 kilometres wide and up to 50 metres deep (Google the conversions yourself). \u00a0It is just one of the over 30 maars in the south west of Victoria, and is part of the third largest volcanic plain on this planet. \u00a0The main points of Leura Maar are Mt Leura and Mt Sugarloaf, which are two small grassy mountains separated only by a large crater. \u00a0At the base of these two mountains lies a town.<\/p>\n

My town. \u00a0My town sits at the feet of two volcanic mountains, inside a large volcanic maar, within the third largest volcanic plain in the world.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the idiot now?<\/p>\n

Leura Maar doesn\u2019t hold any of those fancy volcanoes, all jagged and rocky looking, with broken tips and molten rock inside of them, visible for all the brave to see. \u00a0No, Leura Maar holds two small mountains that look like nothing more than overgrown grassy hills \u2013 smoothish sides, native trees growing everywhere (I may have planted some of those trees).<\/p>\n

It is easy to forget they are actually, technically, volcanoes. \u00a0Inactive and \u201cextinct\u201d volcanoes, but volcanoes nonetheless. \u00a0And honestly, how volcanoes that are only 20,000 years old (yes, that is actually young) can be considered extinct is beyond me. \u00a0But to my mind an extinct volcano is nothing less\u00a0than a volcano waiting to destroy the planet any minute now.<\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s easy to forget they are volcanoes \u2013 so perhaps I can be forgiven for making those stupid statements about people who live near volcanoes. \u00a0Sometimes it is easy to overlook the most obvious things, the things that fill your sight so largely but so often can sometimes cease to be seen. \u00a0So I might also be forgiven for not thinking that it might be a good idea to be honouring some\u00a0volcanic entities in the hopes they don\u2019t explode my life in a molten rocky\u00a0hell. \u00a0Okay not really, but there are volcanoes in my town and it seems pretty obvious, now, that they should be playing a role in my practice \u2013 which is likely to involve Gods or other entities.<\/p>\n

Hephaistos God of Volcanoes<\/h2>\n

So I have been searching and researching Hephaistos, or Hephaestus if you prefer. \u00a0I know a little bit about Him, but have never worked with Him or offered to Him before. \u00a0Indeed I\u2019ve felt little connection to Him at all before now. \u00a0I know He is married to Aphrodite, or a Grace, depending on the story. \u00a0I know He is considered ugly, but maybe not in the overall\u00a0sense, more in the sense that He is lame and that equals ugliness \u2013 considering athleticism was a big deal to the Greeks, it stands to reason that anyone who is lame would be considered ugly, even if they are otherwise good looking. \u00a0It\u2019s sometimes difficult to tell what is meant though.<\/p>\n

He is the son of Hera and perhaps Zeus, He was conceived either by Hera alone or by Hera and Zeus without Zeus being aware of it. \u00a0Hera may have thrown Him off mount Olympus when He was born, or Zeus may have at some later time. \u00a0Either way His lameness was made complete and permanent by the fall. \u00a0He is loyal. \u00a0He makes all the divine weaponry and the beauty of His creations makes up for His ugliness.<\/p>\n

He is the God of fire, artisans, smithing, metals, crafters and volcanoes. \u00a0He and His forge reside\u00a0within a volcano, and it can be said that all volcanoes are His forges.<\/p>\n

Those are the basics. \u00a0Except for the information about volcanoes \u2013 the stuff about volcanoes is the entirety of what I could find. \u00a0There is nothing else about Him and volcanoes. \u00a0No epithets, no poetic titles or names, no hymns, no stories, no festivals, no rituals. \u00a0Nothing. \u00a0This appears to be because He seems to have become a volcanic God only after His syncretism with Adranus-Volcanus, the Italian volcano God.<\/p>\n

How in the hells am I supposed to honour a specific aspect of a deity if I cannot find anything about that aspect? \u00a0I am in no way against honouring Hephaistos in His other aspects, but that was not my purpose here. \u00a0I am looking at volcanic deities specifically.<\/p>\n

Eclectics Appropriate, Syncretics Borrow<\/h2>\n

I long identified myself as an Eclectic Pagan, and now use the label of Syncretic Hellenic Pagan. \u00a0They basically mean the same thing though, Eclectic and Syncretic \u2013 sometimes they are synonyms. \u00a0The syncretism of my Hellenism is mostly about adapting Hellenism to Australia and the southern hemisphere, as well as the modern day and the fact that I am a Hearth Witch \u2013 my previous Eclecticism was much the same really, but more about general Paganism rather than\u00a0specifically Hellenism.<\/p>\n

Eclectics appropriate, Syncretics borrow \u2013 they essentially mean the same thing, it\u2019s all about taking what doesn\u2019t naturally or traditionally belong, and probably doesn\u2019t belong to you. \u00a0My form of appropriation or borrowing comes by looking at various cultures and beliefs and using those as inspiration. \u00a0I don\u2019t take things like deity names or exact rituals or anything like that \u2013 I don\u2019t really want them anyway.<\/p>\n

I Googled the basic and simple \u201cVolcanic gods\u201d and came across a nice little article on Aztec\/Mexican volcanoes and lore<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the center of each patio, families built small shrines consisting of mountains modeled from clay, stone, and potsherds crowned with crudely carved heads of humans or serpents. Some are clearly effigies of Popocat\u00e9petl. Beneath each carved stone head is a chimney that leads to a charcoal-filled chamber dug in the patio floor. Smoke would have puffed out from under each head in imitation of the ash and vapor plumes expelled from the crater during volcanic activity.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What a fascinating idea that is. \u00a0Can you imagine it? Building a small imitation volcano, say in your front yard, and having a sort of small cavern underneath that can be lit and spew smoke out of the volcano. I won\u2019t be doing that, however, an imitation volcano with Hephaistos\u2019 name carved into it wouldn\u2019t go astray for shrine use. \u00a0Similar\u00a0to the basic aspect of Aztec\/Mexican idea, but not a direct copy or appropriation of their beliefs and culture.<\/p>\n

Tradition requires that he be venerated with offerings placed in sacred caves high on the slopes of the mountain, an example of the general Mesoamerican metaphor of caves on mountains and temples on pyramids. Ten years ago there were still specialists well versed in the rites of propitiation for the volcano, but when the last of these died, the rituals were not performed correctly and, for the most part, the offerings were discontinued.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First, that\u2019s just seriously sad. \u00a0Secondly, duh, of course place offerings on the volcano itself! I probably would have thought of it, but I read this first so now we\u2019ll never know. \u00a0Our volcanoes have no caves but leaving offerings, ones that decompose quickly and don\u2019t interfere with nature, on the top of the mountain or really anywhere on the mountain, is a good idea. \u00a0Which leads to the obvious, if I do any festivals in honour of volcanic Hephaistos, procession up the mountain is the way to go \u2013 which is daunting, I hate walking up that mountain. \u00a0It has a road on it and it\u2019s not like rock climbing or anything, but it\u2019s a hike and I am lazy.<\/p>\n

Of course there is some lore from hellenism regarding volcanoes, but so far it all seems to be about specific volcanoes and there isn\u2019t much in the way of ideas for practice. \u00a0I still need to look a bit more deeply at Roman mythology and traditions regarding volcanoes, hopefully there is something there \u2013 and Roman religion is quite close to Hellenism, \u00a0so quite easy to adapt.<\/p>\n

There Are No Answers Here<\/h2>\n

I do hope you weren\u2019t expecting answers with this post, because I have none. \u00a0I have only questions and ideas. \u00a0The ideas themselves are more ideas on what ideas I need to figure out, similar to how I make lists of the lists I need to make.<\/p>\n