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The thought of ancestor worship makes me flinch.  It is not that I do not respect my ancestors or think that they are not deserving of honor, because they do.  It is the phrase “worship” that gives me pause.  The only ones deserving of worship are the gods. 

Asklepios (Aesculapius) is traditionally described as the mortal son of Apollo by Koronis or Arsinoe who was then deified after death.  Traditionally it is said that as a babe Asklepios was cut out of his dead mother’s body and raised by the centaur, Kheiron, who taught him the arts of healing.  He later became so proficient that Zeus ended his life to maintain status quo.  Asklepios then was raised up as a god with many temples where people would seek cures.

Young Hermes finds his grandfather sitting on his throne pensively gazing across his island lost in thought.  “Grandfather tell me a tale.”

Of the blogs I’ve written so far, this one by far has taken up the most of my time, frustration and with not nearly enough to show for it.  I’ve got more questions than answers. This week’s deity is from the Mesoamerican pantheon.  This area is widely known home for the Mayans, Aztecs and Incans.  Their pantheons overlap so much it is hard for a layman to pick one out from the rest.  So I’m going to tell you what I found on one of their deities that caught my attention, listing it in the order that I found it.  I make no promises of the accuracy, so this is mostly just an information dump to start you on your own search or for you to throw more information to aid me in mine.

In reviewing an item, I came across a deity named Acat who was described as a Mayan deity of tattooing and tattoo artists.  Now I thought this was pretty cool, so I wanted more information. Commence headache.  The majority of the information I found in English was the same thing ad nauseum. 

So I recently read a blog that said if you want to pray for help for Syria, then pray to the old gods of Syria.  I think that is an interesting idea.  Who would know the people, their needs, their problems and the sources of dissension more accurately?  Who would want healing and unity more?  Send them the energy to help them heal their people.  For non-polytheistic Pagans, who the gods of the region are may seem unimportant to you but think of it in terms of context.  For hard polytheists, it would be important to know who the gods of Syria are.  For soft polytheists, it may be important to know to who they are similar.  Alternatively, ask your own divinities to relay your prayers/gifts/well-wishes to their Canaanite brethren.

I started a new job this week.  It is a job that I’ve always wanted.  I work in a library.  Responses from my friends have been highly amusing.  Anything from “that is the perfect job for you!” to “that’s like putting an alcoholic in charge of a bar”. 

I started wondering what god has libraries in his purview.  My first thought was Hermes but I connect him more with the internet and buyer/reader beware.  My second thought was Thoth or Seshat but neither of those felt right.  So I did some googling and stumbled across a blog suggesting Janus as a modern symbol for libraries.  Now that is an interesting thought.

(An insomniac's Prayer to the God of Sleep)