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OK, fine. We're all an all-heterosexual group, anyway, so the exclusion of potential homosexual participants is not an issue for us. The broader question remains, do we even wish to observe this festival? If the answer is yes, THEN the question is, how do we do so and is the resulting observance one we can accept?

Temple of Venus at Baalbek, Lebanon. This is a public domained photograph from 1899, believe it or not, even though it is in color. Some sort of lithographic process was used to apply color to what was originally a black and white photo

The Lupercalia is too important a day to simply ignore, having given birth to two modern holidays : St. Valentine's day, and Mardis Gras (aka Carnival). As we shall see, there is a a real and important aspect of life addressed by it. The question is, are we the group to host the celebration? Properly speaking, this is NOT the domain of Aphrodite Ourania. Aphrodite Pandemos would be more like it, Ourania being more naturally allied in the conception of a shrine to Hera, the ever faithful, than to the promiscuous Pan.

One point that we try to make over and over, is that Hellenic Paganism is not a "one stop shopping" oriented religion. No religion that is so devoted to moderation ever could be. Moderation comes about through the opposition of forces. One group argues for restraint. Another argues for license. Much like the prosecutor and defense attourney in a court of law, each is able to argue his case zealously, because he does not put himself in a conflict of interest with all of its subconscious consequences by trying to play both roles. As worshippers of Aphrodite Ourania, it is our job to make the case for restraint, generally speaking. It would be the job of a Shrine to Aphrodite Pandemos to make the case for license. Each group, as it gently corrected the other in service as the other's loyal opposition, would help the community find its way to a rational middle position. The problem? At the time of this writing, we're the only Classical Pagan group that we know of, in the entire Greater Chicago area, that exists now or had existed at any point in the second millenium AD.

Right now, we have no choice but to play both roles. It is our hope, that we may find a group to play that needed opposing role, some day. One thing that makes this temporary situation salvagable on an ethical level is the fact that relatively speaking, we are the advocates of license right now, and so the conflict of interest has been temporarily set aside by events beyond our control.

The Aphrodite of Knidos

For all of the posturing to the contrary we see so much of, the "Pagan" community in Chicago is overwhelmingly a very judgmental, puritanical place, still very much locked into a 1990s mindset. One of the better examples of that mindset I can think of, offhand, is that of a young lady who, imitating some of those who went to the first Woodstock concert in the 1960s, went nude to the second one during the 90s, to prove how "liberated and free" she was. In the course of being interviewed, she expressed absolute disgust and scorn at the thought that anybody might enjoy the scenery. "I'm going to be as naked as I want, but you'd better not enjoy it". Oh, please, dear, lighten up! The outward forms of an era somebody was clearly fascinated by were imitated, but the spirit was altogether lost.

There's a lot of that around. Yes, we see our neighbors being very open about their willingness to whip and brand each other, but to accept a simple moment of joy at the beauty of another produces scowls of self-righteous rage. But the passion that starts one down the road to marriage is born of such moments of joy. Under such an unwholesome circumstance the two aspects, Aphrodite Urania and Aphrodite Pandemos, will abide as comfortably under one roof (in ritual terms) as will two formerly quarreling cats will under a single bed when they feel threatened by the presence of an intruder, leaving them feeling close by contrast. But it is not a situation one should seek to preserve. It is fitting, we think, that the Lupercalia, in its modern, Christian sequel, split into two : St. Valentine's Day, and Mardis Gras. The former is more in the spirit of Urania, the latter more in the spirit of Pandemos. It is a division that, in more wholesome times, a demipagan might seek to make his own. But, for now, we join the two into one under the shared roof of our present shrine, and see which compromises can be found for which the case may be made.

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