G. What's with the weird site name?
Click here to skip ahead.
During each summer, would come that all too brief time when the fruit was fresh, and ripe, sitting in stands as the farmers sold it to people who knew the difference. And within that fruit, one would often find a pit. What to do with it? Are you kidding? It's a pit. It's garbage. Throw it out.
But our grandmothers would say "no", telling us to save those pits, especially those of our apricots and peaches. Plop! Plop! All summer long, those pits would be disappearing into jars of foul smelling liquor. We were sure they were insane.
But at the end of that summer, those jars were full of home made amaretto, one of the finest of liqueurs. Gradually gathering what seemed to be nothing, the older women of our community knew how to find a hidden treasure locked within.
This, to me, seems a good metaphor for Traditionalist spirituality. There are no prophets here, no great charismatic leaders. Perhaps, thousands of years from now, when a tradition is established, there may be, because people will be ready to believe in them. But, for now, we build that folk tradition, out of a thousand small contributions, each building on that which came before. Like our grandmothers, we may be gathering things that on their own, seem small, and inconsequential, but gathered together, and remembered, from generation to generation, they create a world of experiences, a hidden treasure that only patience and time can find.
H. Who may drop by?
Click here to skip ahead.
One of my great ambitions, as I get the Shrine going, is to set up festivals that actually look like festivals, and feel like festivals. That means, with a large and varied crowd, and without a claustrophobic feel. The doors, I feel, should be open, but not wide open. One shouldn't have to be a Hellenic Traditionalist to drop by, but one must be respectful of both the religion, and the cultures.
Wiccans remain barred from the Shrine, even as visitors, for historical reasons. Our openminded Eastern Orthodox and Catholic neighbors are welcome to come to the festivals. In many ways, I think they will find themselves at home.
If and when mystery traditions begin here, as one might expect, they will be limited to Hellenic and other Classical Traditionalists.
As for the private respects paid to deity, an actual physical shrine is but a dream, now, but its doors would be open only to group members, and only a few at a time, at that.