This part of the meme is something that I actually feel strongly about considering that I made my living for several years as a professional tarot card reader. There are those who consider the tarot and other forms of divination to be nothing more than the power of suggestion. In my opinion this attitude does not account for the power of the Gods to show us what we need to know at any given time (providing that we are open to that knowledge) by means of whatever divination method that we choose to employ. It is no accident that there was divination in ancient times and there should be little argument that HOWEVER it works, it works on a deep level within humanity. To use the tarot as an example, divination often uses archetypes to give us the message that we need. The archetypal images in some decks can be traced back at least one hundred years, and in some cases even more.

Mysticism is something that some people do not want to see as part of Hellenismos even though the tradition of mystics is also found in the literature. Even Socrates (as portrayed by Plato) was a bit of a mystic as he describes a ‘personal’ spirit that advises him and is invariably telling him the right path to walk. The mystic will often have a deep relationship with one or more of the Gods and will feel the presence of those Gods in his or her life.

As for other “woo” stuff like these examples, I take each case on its own merits. There have been sad cases when people have thought they WERE the “bride” or “husband” to one of the Gods. These I tend not to believe unless the person can demonstrate to my satisfaction that they are talking in the metaphorical sense and not in a more physical sense. There are cases where synchronous events took place after a prayer and/or offering to one of the Gods. These I tend to believe were caused by the Gods, even if it was only the “personal” god that Socrates speaks of.

Do I tend towards mysticism? I would say that I do. However, that does not mean that I will not apply the logic I have learned to various experiences as time goes on. After all, the power of prayer is sometimes a very important part of daily life. And that will be what I explore in tomorrow’s blog entry.