By god, Socrates, I'll tell you exactly what I think [of getting old]. A number of us, who are more or less the same age, often get together in accordance with the old saying ["God ever draws together like to like"]. When we meet, the majority complain about the lost pleasures they remember from their youth, those of sex, drinking parties, feasts, and the other things that go along with them, and they get angry as if they had been deprived of important things and had lived well then but are now hardly living at all. Some others moan about the abuse heaped on old people by their relatives, and because of this they repeat over and over that old age is the cause of many evils. But I don't think they blame the real cause, Socrates, for if old age were really the cause, I should have suffered in the same way and so should everyone else of my age. But as it is, I've met some who don't feel like that in the least. Indeed, I was once present when someone asked the poet Sophocles: "How are you as far as sex goes, Sophocles? Can you still make love with a woman?" "Quiet, man," the poet replied, "I am very glad to have escaped from all that, like a slave who has escaped from a savage and tyrannical master." I thought at the time that he was right, and I still do, for old age brings peace and freedom from all such things. When the appetites relax and cease to importune us, everything Sophocles said comes to pass, and we escape from many mad masters. In these matters and in those concerning relatives, the real cause isn't old age, Socrates, but the way people live. If they are moderate and contented, old age, too, is only moderately onerous; if they aren't, both old age and youth are hard to bear.

Plato, Republic 329a-d

In this way, then, though soul is a divine being and derives from the places above, it comes to be encased in a body, and though being a god, albeit of low rank, it comes thus into this world by an autonomous inclination and at the bidding of its own power, with the purpose of bringing order to what is inferior to it.

Plotinus, Enneads 4.8.5.25-28

How to overcome bad habits and characteristics

1. Sincerely wish that you will be happy, fulfill your highest purpose, and live in tranquility. Sincerely wish to be beautiful before God. Commit to obtain the purity that lies within you and that comes from divinity.

2. Imitate great men, such as Socrates, or any others you know. Remember how they behaved in difficult situations.

3. When anything happens - a temptation or a problematic situation or anything else - call on the aid and support of God. (By the way, it is perfectly correct to use singular God within the context of polytheism. Of course you can call upon a specific God too.)

4. Tell your thoughts and feelings to wait a moment, so that you can see what they’re all about. Tell them you don’t want to be swept away by their speed and momentum. When they ask you to start imagining all sorts of things that might happen, say no and instead think of something beautiful and noble.

5. Offer a sacrifice and prayer. To whatever extent you committed a wrong, gave into temptation, etc., acknowledge that in your sacrifice and prayer.

6. Consciously note every day that goes by since you were last defeated by your problem. “The last time I lost my temper was yesterday.” “The last time I was overcome by lust was three days ago.” Enjoy your victory each time.

7. If you defeat your problem for thirty days in a row, offer a sacrifice to God.

Source: Epictetus, Discourses 2.18

Today, February 8, is the birthday of Proclus, one of the great philosophers of history and a man we pagans owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to for preserving so much detail about our Gods. Consider giving an offering in his honor.

I recommend this organization.

"If you haven’t found your spiritual home and have found yourself feeling like an outsider in church; If you have tried a foreign religion and felt like a stranger in a strange land; If you feel like most modern spirituality is full of quacks and frauds. Don’t worry, you’re not crazy."

https://www.romanistsociety.org/

Truly Rhea is the source and stream of blessed intellectual (realities). For she, first in power, receives the birth of all these in her inexpressible womb and pours forth (this birth) on the All as it runs its course.

The Chaldean Oracles fr. 56

I beseech you, Lord, father and guide of the reason in us, remind us of our noble origin, which we were deemed worthy to receive from you. Act with us (as we are self-movers) for our purification from the body and its irrational emotions, that we may be superior to them and rule them, and that we may use them as instruments in the fitting way. Act with us also for the precise correction of the reason in us and its unification with the genuinely existent things through the light of the truth. And the third request to the Saviour: I beseech you, completely remove the mist from the eyes of our souls, 'so that we may clearly know,' as Homer says, 'both God and man.'

Simplicius, Commentary on Epictetus' Handbook 454

O you gods, grant good character to our young,
and peace and quiet to the old, and to the race of Romulus
prosperity, posterity,
and every glory

Horace, Secular Hymn 45-48

It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested. But when it is squandered in luxury and carelessness, when it is devoted to no good end, forced at last by the ultimate necessity we perceive that it has passed away before we were aware that it was passing. So it is - the life we receive is not short, but we make it so, nor do we have any lack of it, but are wasteful of it.

Seneca, On the Shortness of Life 1

It's Lupercalia. A time for Roman lads to get naked, tear through the streets and whip young girls with goat skin thongs. This will make them fertile and will purify the city so please do it

When you receive an impression of some pleasure, take care not to get carried away by it, as with impressions in general; but rather, make it wait for you, and allow yourself some slight delay. And next, think about these two moments in time, that in which you’ll enjoy the pleasure, and that in which you’ll come to repent after having enjoyed it and will reproach yourself; and set against all of that how you’ll rejoice if you’ve abstained from the pleasure, and will congratulate yourself for having done so. If you think, however, that a suitable occasion has come for you to engage in this task, take care that you’re not overcome by its allure, and by the pleasantness and attraction of it; but set against this the thought of how much better it is to be conscious of having gained a victory over it.

Epictetus, Handbook 34

I call upon you, great, pure,
lovely and sweet Eros,
winged archer who runs
swiftly on a path of fire,
who plays together with gods
and mortal men.
Inventive, two-natured,
you are master of all:
of the sky’s ether, of the sea and the land,
of the all-begetting winds,
which for mortals the goddess
of grass and grain nurtures,
of all that lies in Tartaros,
of all that lies in the roaring sea;
you alone govern
the course of all these.
O blessed one, come to the initiates
with pure thought,
banish from them
vile impulses.

Orphic Hymn to Eros

What is that which always is and has no becoming, and what is that which becomes but never is? The former is grasped by understanding, which involves a reasoned account. It is unchanging. The latter is grasped by opinion, which involves unreasoning sense perception. It comes to be and passes away, but never really is.

Plato, Timaeus 28a

Meditative Reading

A simple but profound technique.

1. Select a short passage to meditate upon, such as a quote from Plato or Homer or the Golden Verses. Remember, the texts of our tradition are not mere historical curios, they are the works that have inspired our greatest minds and continuously refreshed our civilization century after century.
2. Pray for wisdom and guidance. (There is no wrong God to pray to, but Hermes is an example of a God who would be perhaps especially appropriate here.)
3. Carefully read the passage. Take your time. Think about every word. Look at it from every angle. Question it, draw out the implications of it, think of how you can apply it to your life. Try to really get at the timeless essence of the wisdom behind it.
4. Quiet your thoughts, sit in silence, and listen. If any insight comes to you, gaze at it with unthinking intellectual sight.
5. Thank the Gods. You can also give an offering of thanks.

In the highest level of beings, the abundance of power has this additional advantage over all others, in being present to all equally in the same manner without hindrance; according to this principle, then, the primary beings illuminate even the lowest levels, and the immaterial are present immaterially to the material. And let there be no astonishment if in this connection we speak of a pure and divine form of matter; for matter also issues from the father and creator of all, and thus gains its perfection, which is suitable to the reception of gods. ... Observing this, and discovering in general, in accordance with the properties of each of the gods, the receptacles adapted to them, the theurgic art in many cases links together stones, plants, animals, aromatic substances, and other such things that are sacred, perfect and godlike, and then from all these composes an integrated and pure receptacle.

Iamblichus, On the Mysteries 5.23

To justice belongs the capacity to distribute to each his deserts, to preserve ancestral customs and laws and also the written law, to be truthful in matters of importance, to observe one's agreements. First among acts of justice come those towards the gods, then those to deified spirits, then those towards one's country and parents, then those towards the departed: amongst these comes piety, which is either a part of justice or an accompaniment of it. Also justice is accompanied by purity, truth, trust, and hatred of wickedness.

pseudo-Aristotle, On Virtues and Vices 1250b 15-24

"The beauty of a household consists in the conjunction of man and wife, united to each other by destiny, and consecrated to the Gods presiding over nuptial birth and houses, and who harmonize, and use all things in common for their bodies, or even their very souls; who likewise exercise a becoming authority over their house and servants; who are properly solicitous about the education of their children; and to the necessities of life pay an attention which is neither excessive nor negligent, but moderate and appropriate. For, as the most admirable Homer says, what can be more excellent

Than when at home the husband and wife
Live in entire unanimity.
(Odyssey, 7.183)

That is the reason why I have frequently wondered at those who conceive that life in common with a woman must be burdensome and grievous. Though to them she appears to be a burden and molestation, she is not so; on the contrary, she is something light and easy to be borne or, rather, she possesses the power of charming away from her husband things burdensome and grievous. No trouble so great is there which cannot easily be borne by a husband and wife who harmonize and are willing to endure it in common."

Hierocles, Ethical Fragments: On Marriage

To mortal men the gods allot woes which cannot be foreseen: despite the pain in your spirit, have the courage to bear your share of these. Take courage from the assistance of Athena and the favorable oracles of Phoibos, and moreover from the present help of the heroes.

Apollonius of Rhodes, The Argonautica 298-302

"Everything changes; nothing dies; the soul
Roams to and fro, now here, now there, and takes
What frame it will, passing from beast to man,
From our own form to beast and never dies.
As yielding wax is stamped with new designs
And changes shape and seems not still the same,
Yet is indeed the same, even so our souls,
Are still the same for ever, but adopt
In their migrations ever-varying forms."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.164-172

O, Absolutely Transcendent! (what else is it rightful to call Thee?)
How shall I fittingly hymn Thee, that art of all things most exalted?
How would words speak Thy Splendor? For words cannot name or denote Thee,
Sole Unspeakable Being, since Thou art the cause of all speaking.
How might the mind know Thy Nature? For mind cannot grasp or conceive Thee,
Sole Unknowable Being, since Thou art the cause of all knowing.
All things existing, the speaking and speechless together proclaim Thee.
All things existing, the knowing and nescient together, adore Thee.
All keen desires or lust, all painful passions are yearnings
Only for Thee. Thine is the whole world’s prayer; to Thee all,
Sensing Thy tokens within them, utter a paean of silence.
Everything issues from Thee. Only Thou art dependent on nothing.
Everything nestles within Thee. Everything surges upon Thee.
For Thou art the Goal of all beings. And Thou art One Thing, and All Things,
And yet neither one thing, nor all things.
O, Most-Named, how then shall I name Thee?
That art alone the Unnamable? What even Heaven-born Mind then
Could possibly penetrate Thy distant Shroud? I Pray Thee, be gracious!
O, Absolutely Transcendent, what else is it rightful to call Thee?

Uncertain authorship, Hymn to God

The whole combination of soul and body is called a living thing, or animal, and has the designation ‘mortal’ as well. Such a combination cannot be immortal, not on any reasonable account. In fact it is pure fiction, based neither on observation nor on adequate reasoning, that a god is an immortal living thing which has a body and a soul, and that these are bound together by nature for all time.

Plato, Phaedrus 246c-d