Yesterday, we were ALL Greeks!

On this particular day, as I sit here on my computer remembering the calls for a “Day of Solidarity” with the Greeks who are protesting stringent austerity measures I also look at that day as a day where, intentionally or not, we also were called to honor the Greek Goddess Hestia, who is commonly thought of as only the Goddess of Hearth and Home instead of a Goddess of Community. In another blog (http://greekreconmommy.blogspot.com/2011/07/ares-and-hestia-partners-in-social.html) , I have called her a goddess involved with social activism. And it is in this spirit I can say with happiness that “Yesterday We Were All Greeks”

Yes, home is where Hestia dwells. But, does that home have to be in a fixed location or can our hearts be our hearths as well? In my personal experience as a (currently) “homeless” person the ‘home’ referred to does not have to be in any specific place. These experiences have helped me appreciate that the realm of the Flame-Hearted Hestia is not and cannot be contained in the structure of a set ‘place’ although most of us do equate to a fixed place to return to each night. But, as the Warm One is more than just a Goddess of place, she is what gives structure to what we see as our home, not the physical building. In this way she shows herself to be a Goddess of Society as well.

The Occupy Movement in the US and growing revolutions around the world show us the power of people in community. Sadly, we are still struggling with the balance between that community, with its responsibilities, and ourselves as individuals striving for the things that ‘profit’ us (however we define them). This is a far from painless struggle as establishing or changing community values is very like the process of a child being born. It is our society being born, or at least born anew. The peaceful Hestia partners again with Ares in the 21^st century as they did in the 20^th and hopefully the results will be as strong and long-lasting.