Higher Divine Greek Self

Long ago the ancient gods lost their divine bodies thus making the mortal and immortal parts of them no longer intertwined.
This forced the mortal part to incarnate in mortal form while the immortal part was trapped in the spirit world until they once more unite.

So my question is if anyone in here think they have a Higher Divine Greek Self and if: who do you believe (/know) you were (if you have an idea).

My story:
My deepest self was as the Titan Krios and out of a part of his heart Zeus created Hermes. So those two are part of my Higher Divine Greek Self.

[Hazel]

Originally Posted by Dreamweaver

Long ago the ancient gods lost their divine bodies thus making the mortal and immortal parts of them no longer intertwined.
This forced the mortal part to incarnate in mortal form while the immortal part was trapped in the spirit world until they once more unite.

This is the first i've heard of this but when i thik about it....well i think im quite like Peresphone....Maybe she's my higher greek self?

Well, I don't believe in the concept of a "higher self" (hierarchical understandings of reality don't work well for me) nor the italicized portion of the OP. I would say, though, that anyone and everyone identifies or resonates with various aspects of reality (gods or otherwise). I'm no exception.

My brand of Neopaganism doesn't put emphasis on old gods of ancient Pagan pantheons, but the Hellenic pantheon is the only one I include in my path at all. The reason for that is an otherworldly contact that has identified itself as a Greek god. There are many ways to interpret that. Patron god, "higher divine Greek self," whatever. Though frankly, if this god is my "higher divine Greek self" that has some profoundly disturbing implications. This would be true of most of the Greek gods, honestly. They're not exactly sparkles and fluffy kittens. Which begs the question is calling it "higher self" even appropriate in the first place given what most people tend to mean by the term...

[psychoslice]

I like Italian's better, so my higher self is Italiano, Mama Mia.

In ancient Hellenic religion the gods are immortal and everlasting (and not always possessing bodies, Homeric poetry/myth is only part of the mosaic). The defining characteristic of gods was that they were deathless, and humans were all destined to die. The idea of humans being reincarnated gods is a rather anathematic to Classical beliefs. The temple of Delphi had the maxim 'Know thyself' inscribe at the entrance, and it refers to knowing that one is mortal, so one does not transgress natural boundaries with hubris - a breach of natural order existing between gods and humanity.

Yeah, I was thinking that as well but didn't want to say it. I suppose I gave the OP the benefit of the doubt that they're aware there is no basis for this idea in Pagan antiquity; I assumed it was intended to be viewed Neopagan thing and contemporary mythology, not something that is historically accurate or academic. This forum by and large doesn't seem to concern itself much with academic integrity.

Originally Posted by Quintessence

Yeah, I was thinking that as well but didn't want to say it. I suppose I gave the OP the benefit of the doubt that they're aware there is no basis for this idea in Pagan antiquity; I assumed it was intended to be viewed Neopagan thing and contemporary mythology, not something that is historically accurate or academic. This forum by and large doesn't seem to concern itself much with academic integrity.

Good point. It's admittedly one of my pet peeves at times. I think modern paganism/neo-paganism needs to embrace academic information more willingly and discard outdated anthropological ideas that seem to be rampant in some circles (universal, matriarchal witch cult in pre-Christian Europe is one); In so far as being revivialists for polytheistic and pagan traditions and religion.

As someone with an academic personality, I sympathize. At the same time, as someone with an academic personality, I realize it is completely unreasonable to hold everyone else to that kind of standard. So long as it is recognized what is backed with good, academic-style research and what is not I'm happy. When it comes to one's personal religious path, academic standing is largely irrelevant anyway. Even in my own path, my personal experiences of things tend to trump external authorities. I won't present such personal experience as if it were some sort of historical fact, though.

Originally Posted by Quintessence

As someone with an academic personality, I sympathize. At the same time, as someone with an academic personality, I realize it is completely unreasonable to hold everyone else to that kind of standard. So long as it is recognized what is backed with good, academic-style research and what is not I'm happy. When it comes to one's personal religious path, academic standing is largely irrelevant anyway. Even in my own path, my personal experiences of things tend to trump external authorities. I won't present such personal experience as if it were some sort of historical fact, though.

Yes! That's definitely the best attitude to hold.

*sigh* I understand what is basically said: to make sense to people who make worlds out of books you have to talk with the words from books. But the irony of this is that any written word at some point or another originates from the mind of some individual. When we buy things the less intermediaries there is the better it is, should it not be the same for wisdom. So when I write down some now it is not good enough because I have not used a intermediator but if someone have done the same thousands of years ago it is considered okay? that make no sense.

But it is not true to say that what I propose have not been written about before. Homer wrote about Herakles that a part of him was in the underworld and another part of him resided on Olympus. That is basically the same as I wrote. And if we look through the different Pantheons we find more exambles. Though the Tuatha dé Danaan is accounted to have been mortals it is also accounted that under the stars in the sky it is not known if they were from heaven or from Earth. If we look at Norse Mythology many of the gods are accounted by Saxo in the Gesta Danorum to be actual mortals. Greek Mytholgy is also big on Demi-gods. Herakles is a Demi-god and is said to have a mortal part in the underworld and an immortal part on Olympus.