Transgender identity and Hellenic Polytheism.

Hello everyone

Χαίρετε!

Salvete omnes! 

I am a Greco-Roman or Hellenic polytheist, I've been involved in some Hellenic and Roman reconstructionist circles recently. I also use the term pagan for myself, but in this article, I will refrain from using that and just focus on polytheist instead.

Lots of trans people have different religions or none at all, but we are talking about mine specifically or at least people who practice similarly and from the same set of pantheon that we attribute to Ancient Greece and even Rome to some degree.

We will start with some brief summary of the history. One of the first thing comes to mind is the Gallae priestesses of Magna Mater in Rome, which is the Latin epithet for the Anatolian goddess Cybele as the Great Mother. Cybele is from the east and it was the Greeks who introduced Cybele through a Sybil that foresaw her cult as being an integral part of the Pax Deorum (Peace of the Gods) in Rome and the public cults. Mother Goddesses are important in many practices and societies today. Even then, some Goddesses get that too even if it runs counter to their mythos and worship. The Gallae priestesses, and yes this is the feminine inflection of the title (Gallus, Galli) despite them being socially assigned male then and now, and yes ritual castration was a signature part of their sacerdotal experience. Often historical examples of what we can interpret as transgender women existing in the confines of their society. People render trans women as a third sex, not male, but not female. This is not necessarily the same as non-binary gender. We see parallels in different societies such as the Indian Subcontinent with the Hijra role and identity, and also going back to Italy, there are Femminielli from Naples.

For myself personally I have a special element of my devotion to the Goddess Artemis or Diana, I even named myself after Her as it was a way of the Goddess calling to me.

Artemis protects and guides the vulnerable. She is the protector of young women, outsiders, those who walk the forests alone and are misunderstood by society. She walks outside the walls, liminal, sovereign, and untamed. By worshiping Her as a trans woman, you bring Her protection and fierce love to others who are often cast out, unrecognized, or endangered. You make Her visible in spaces where people need Her most.

That is a sample from a special ritual and liturgy I developed for this Goddess and for trans, especially transfem, devotees. There are many other countless ways of affirming my womanhood as a trans woman with this Goddess. I also find that other Goddesses help me too especially Aphrodite (or Venus) with both beauty and sexuality. She has more than just being a Goddess of love and beauty, she has her warlike parts, which also goes into the wisest Goddess Athena-Minerva. We also have the motherly Goddesses such as Hera or Juno, Demeter or Ceres, and Isis. Isis especially is important to me as she has appeared in my dreams and she is a Goddess of dreams. My own practice is about dedicating my transition to these Goddesses and seeing their power in affirming me as that girl I was always meant to be.

Trans people are sacred, especially us trans women, it's why I find myself linking my own experiences with my devotion to the Goddesses and Gods, especially certain goddesses as I mentioned. Aside from a few bad seeds, like the TERF or right wing pagans, modern pagan religions are generally some of the most LGBTQIA+ affirming religions out there, especially for trans people who need a spiritual home and want to anchor that in some religion for community and even a sense of tradition that we have been denied far too often. The old gods welcome us and yes especially the goddesses too.