Note: our historical comments here are very tentative, and should be taken with a grain of salt. We are in the midst of reading about this material, and this should be merely taken as a statement of the impressions we hold now. It's a work in progress. Do not treat it as a historical reference, OK ? There's enough misinformation, already.
---------------------------- Some will take offense, at what we have just said about Artemis. To this, we would respond, real Artemis worshippers don't cry.
Artemis was never thought of as a kindly deity. True, few deities, including the one in the Old Testament, seem especially cuddly in the old stories. Certainly, as we argue elsewhere, the character of a deity in a myth may have more to do with the mentality of the myth writer, than any characteristic of the deity. But, we never see her character become gentler in the stories, and it doesn't seem to become any more so, in any texts mentioned, even after the passage of centuries. Artemis isn't a female form of Jesus, which some "Pagans" seem to insist on trying to make all goddesses into. She is more a force of nature, an embodiment of primal rage. Consider the body count that she is piling up, in the course of the stories, and how lightly she kills.
Do we scorn her or feel that she is unnecessary? No. As Hellenic Pagans, we believe in moderation and balance, and each of the twelve brings some necessary aspect of this to the worshippers. Yes, we respect her. But, there is a difference between respecting someone, and liking her.
Without anger, the unjust meet no resistence, and thus the just see no defense. To turn one's back on anger, then, is to turn one's back on compassion. But uncontained anger is a menace to all who come near it, especially in an era when mass destruction is all too effective. This deity, while essential, is one that we would never want to see put in charge of the others. A deity so sorely in need of guidance herself, may be evoked. We may pay her our respects. We may ask her for guidance and strength. But we do not worship her.
What's the difference ? Strictly speaking, to refer to "worship", in reference to the religion of pre-hellenistic Greece, would probably be an anachronism. The kind of intense identification with deity, that we think of as worship, is, to the best of our knowledge, one that first appears with the advent of the mystery cults, which arose as a result of cultural exchanges with the Near East. The respects payed to deity before, to us, would probably have seemed more casual and businesslike. There were expectations both of the deity, and the devotee, and an exchange of considerations. But this was more akin to the relationship beween a citizen of the community, and one of its leading members, than that between a present day Christian or Muslim and his God. One type of prayer offered was open criticism of the deity, heard when she failed to live up to what was expected of her and offered in the traditionally cathartic Mediterranean fashion.
In other words, there is no entry of deity into the soul of the devotee, in this act of faith, and none is sought. If this seems strange, consider in how often the hero in a myth is of partially divine parentage. Consider the story of Deucalian, in which in order to restore the human race, casts behind him "the bones of his first ancestor" - stones. Gaea, the earth herself and the grandmother of Zeus, was that first ancestor. In the Classical Hellenic view, deity and man were not master and slave, but members of a common family, the "gods" being the first among equals. Religious ceremonies were not acts of submission and supplication, but a matter of paying one's respects to the elders of that common family. Thus, if the deity falls short, it is only to be expected that the devotee will express anger, as he tries to get her attention. Look to your own experience. In the past, when you felt that a parent or older sister had dealt with you unfairly, how gentle were you about it ? The same principle applies here.
But, sometimes, more than a casual exchange of courtesies is needed. Yes, we still embrace this sort of free spirited relationship with deity. We see the virtue of it. The gods are encouraging us to develop backbones, which is what one would expect out of those who see us as being family, in some sense. But, while this sort of devotion is adequate when our souls are at peace and what we seek is help with temporal matters (or to know how it is that we are to do our part, on behalf of the deity), sometimes we lose our way and need guidance on a deeper level. Or, are so sorely afflicted, as to need some extra attention. It is at this point, that we speak not of devotion, but of a deeper connection which, for the moment we will term adoration or worship.
This, from a Classical Greek point of view, is a novelty, and it raises new issues. All of the twelve receive our devotion in the sense mentioned above. Each has something to tell us that we need to hear, and can offer us needed help. But to open oneself up so totally to deity? That would seem to depend on the deity, and we are intensely uneasy with the notion of doing so with Artemis. It seems a little like touching a match to dynamite. If nothing happens, you've wasted your time. If something does, you won't be enjoying your success for long. We would see the effort as a flirtation with psychosis and probable hubris. Artemis is aloof, even from the other Olympians. Why would she be seeking any sort of union with one of us?
We mentioned not liking this particular divinity.
We have yet to encounter a single story in which she committed so much as a single act that showed compassion, or even a single reference to suggest that this aspect of her portrayal in myth was out of step with how her 'worshippers' saw her. Yes, deities do change and we expect them to do so. Yes, even Aphrodite, once, as the conception of her developed out of notions about Ishtar, showed a dark and uncompassionate side. But, if Artemis was changing for the better, she was doing so very slowly. So, we do view her with a little uneasiness and more than a little wariness. Which is probably what the mistress of the hunt would want from us in the first place. But we are not going to her for moral inspiration.
Let's return to our previous discussion, now.