So, something I haven’t blogged much about here is the fact that I seem to have settled into a rather unexpected Pantheon.

If you had asked me before, I would have insisted that I’d be a Celt. I like the Celts. I like the culture, the music, the myths. I’m Irish, for pete’s sake, though you have to go a couple hundred years back to get there.

Then, I wound up with the Greeks. Sure, at first it was just Dionysos. He followed me home from Beltane, and after it was clear he was not going anywhere, I decided to invite him in.

Turns out, he brought all his buddies with him. So, I now find myself scrounging around for information on the Greek Pantheon, since apparently they have claimed me as one of theirs.

It’s been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, there is a lot of evidence and information out there, which is great for a research nerd like me. On the other hand, it’s much more unfamiliar to me, and it can get overwhelming very quickly. I have a tendency to want to jump into things feet first, so I keep reminding myself that I don’t have to become a perfect Hellenic pagan all at once, I can just take things one step at a time and Zeus will not strike me down (I hope) if I don’t duck into a phonebooth and reappear as SuperAwesomeHellenicPaganGirl!

So. Baby steps. The next question is…where to begin! There’s so much! Of course as soon as I asked that, I helpfully stumbled across this blog post from Kallisti: An Apple in Pandemonium. The Metageitnion challenge is both an effort to get people to engage in Hellenism on a practical level, as well as contributing to one’s physical arete by establishing a workout routine.

Naturally, this is one of the more difficult steps for me to take. Me? Active? Yeah..not so much. The biggest workout I’ve gotten lately was wearing high heels two days this week. (Don’t laugh. My thighs and butt were killing me.) But physical activity and athleticism are an important ideal of this culture I’ve landed myself in, so here I go. I think I’ll probably start with some yoga, and basic exercises like push-ups and crunches that I can do at home.

Metageitnion, as best I can tell, begins today. Or possibly yesterday. This gets even more confusing when you note that according to the Hellenic calendar, days begin at sundown of what we would consider the previous day. So, technically, today began yesterday evening.

Confused yet?

At any rate, I’m considering today until sundown to be the first day of Metageitnion. I’m basing this on a mash-up of two different calendars, and also the fact that the time zone I’m in is behind Athens. I’ve already failed at a morning workout attempt, since I slept right through the alarm clock, only to be woken by the Hungry Purring Cat alarm. But tonight–yoga, you will be mine!