TO THE LADY OF THE ROADS𓃗

IN THE LANDS OF THESSALY exists a unique goddess who trails the roads, brightening the darkened streets with her torch as she treads upon her horse. Ennodia is a goddess of ancient Thessaly, unique to the area and a fundamental part of its regional religion.This card is a resource for those seeking to venerate Ennodia and participate in reconstruction and revival of ancient Thessalian local religion. While this is largely intended for hellenic polytheists, anyone may use this to learn more of lady Ennodia and her Thessaly. This is also under the assumption that the reader is familiar with Hellenic polytheism, but if you are not our resources section has some books about general ancient Greek religion.We take the stance that Enodia is her own, seperate goddess and not an aspect of Artemis, Hekate, or any other divine being. However, if you do see her that way, you are more than welcome to use this resource to learn more about your goddess.

LINKSABOUT ENODIAENODIAN WORSHIPFREE DIVINATIONRESOURCESON MELISPHAE'S PRACTICETHESSALIAN CALENDARTHESSALIAN RECONABOUT THE CREATORS

ABOUT LADY ENODIA

A bloody moon means the witches—said to be of Thessalian origins—had dragged Selene down from her horse-drawn chariot to steal her divine blood. Such myths were spread about the northern territory of Greece in antiquity, called Θεσσαλία, romanised to Thessalía and called Thessaly in our modern tongue.Enodia, also spelled as Ennodia, Einodia, ( Greek: Ἐννοδία, ‘the one in the streets’ or ‘In the Road’) is a uniquely Thessalian goddess and patron to the city of Pherae. She is a goddess of roads, apotropatic protection, ghosts, cemeteries, purification, and is connected to civic and family life. Enodia watches over entrances and stands on the main road that leads into a city, watching those who enter, and protects the home by standing in opposition to negative forces. Her place within ancient Thessaly is that of major importance, as she is apart of the Thessalian Dodekotheon alongside Hestia, Demeter, Themis, Aphrodite, and Athena. The polis Pherae was especially connected to her as she was said to have been born there. Enodia is also an epithet of Hekate as the two goddesses were identified together—Artemis being another goddess Enodia could be identified with. Hermes also possesses the Enodia's name as an epithet.ICONOGRAPHYIconographically, Enodia is depicted a young woman with a cross-girdled chiton poderes, as seen on a first to second century stele. She is often shown bearing a torch and riding horseback, as seen by coins found from ancient Thessaly. Enodia may also appear with dogs.While her iconography is very similar to Artemis, Enodia is shown riding horseback unlike Artemis who is frequently depicted in the style of Artemis-Bendis in ancient Thessaly.Similar to Hekate, Enodia is associated with keys.HISTORICAL EPITHETS
➺ Alexeatis (Greek: Ἀλέξεατις) ‘averter of evil’. This epithet is attested in a 5th century inscription to Enodia Alexeatis in the city of Larissa.➺ Astika (Greek: Αστικές) ‘of the City’. This epithet is attested in Larissa around 450-425 by a dedication from an unknown woman. This epithet suggests that Enodia has two aspects, that of the city and that of the countryside.➺ Ilias (Greek: Ἰλιάς) an epithet shared with Athena.➺ Korillos (Greek: Κοριλλος) an epithet that is attested in the second century.➺ Koroutarra (Greek: Κορουταρρα) ‘which makes one grow’ or 'the one who provides food'. An unclear epithet that may suggest a connection to the ancient Greek feminine world or a kourotrophic function.➺ Mykaike (Greek: Μυκαικα) an epithet meaning 'the protector of tombs'.➺ Osia (Greek: Οσια) an epithet from Macedonia that may have a connection to purifications, especially with Enodia's connection to Zeus Meilichios.➺ Patroa (Greek: Πατρωα) An epithet meaning ‘ancestral’ or ‘paternal’ attested. This epithet is attested in Larissa in the fifth or fourth century as Ennodia Strogike Patroa and may suggest that she was honoured by kinship groups. Enodia also is apart of the Patrooi Theoi, a group of gods in Thessaly of kinship and groups. This Larissan epithet alongside Astike suggest that Larissa contested Pherae for connection to Enodia. Athena and the Moirai were also worshipped under this epither.➺ Pheraia (Greek: Φεραίᾳ) ‘Of / belonging to / associated with Pherai’. This epithet could be put before or after her name as Pheraia Enodia or Enodia Pheraia.➺ Phosphoros (Greek: Φωσφόρος) 'light-bearing', usually referring to torch-bearing. Artemis Phosphoros was worshipped in ancient Thessaly and she may have inherited the title from Artemis or obtained it due to her torch-bearing iconography.➺ Strogike (Greek: Στρογικά) “of lightning" or 'the goddess who wields lightning', likely in the sense of a bringer of light.The epithet is invoked with patroa at Larissa.➺ Stathmia (Greek: Σταθμια) an epithet attested in that may be connected to the animal realm due to one of the word stathmos meaning stable in third to second century Larissa. Scholarship has proposed this epithet is equivalent to the epithet propylaia held by Hekate and Enodia.➺ Wastika (Greek: Ϝαστικᾶι) an epithet possibly referring to an urban aspect of Enodia, or Enodia of the community of Larissa as a way to contest Pherae's connection to the goddess.HISTORY OF ENODIA'S WORSHIPZeus, king of the gods, appears within Thessaly in an obscure goddess in eighth century Pherai. At this shrine over 3,000 known votives had appeared, collecting over the centuries of worship of the two deities. In this shrine he is venerated under the title of Thaulios and the obscure goddess is Enodia. She appears as a goddess of the resting dead, especially as this shrine was founded over a gravyard.Some of earliest evidence of Enodia's cult is found in the 6th century, two hundred years after Homer in the form of a grand Doric style temple in Pherai. The earliest evidence is from Larissa in the form of an inscription to the goddess. While the exact time frame that her worship began is unknown, a sanctuary such as this implies she was known and favoured by the people living within Thessaly—enough that the aristocracy saw it befitting to build her a temple.Enodia was a popular civic goddess who was later risen to a stately cultic status alongside Pythian Apollon by Jason the tyrant and future Thessalian rulers. She began to appear on Pheraian coins and her worship grew due to this push for Thessalian identity. Enodia was transformed into a disctinctly Pheraian goddess, which led some scholars to believe that her worship had originated there. Meanwhile, evidence from the city of Larissa defines her as a Larissan deity—implying there was discourse over who exactly "owned" the goddess' primary patronage.Outside of Thessaly Enodia was chiefly known as the goddess from Pherai despite the other polis' claims to her. She even appears as a goddess on the local Dodekatheon alongside Aphrodite, Athena, Demeter, Hestia, and Themis. The masculine side of this Dodekatheon is unknown, but it likely held Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollon.Her worship was imported into Macedonia, Thrace, and continued well into the Hellenistic era. With syncretism, Enodia's cult was further spread across the ancient Greek world. As Artemis Pheraia, Enodia-Artemis was imported to several other Greek polis, including Athens, Argos, and Sikyonian. Hekate-Enodia was honoured in Sparta as attested by Pausanias. Hermes could also bear Enodia's name as epithet, likely due to the road-side nature of her worship.In the post-Flamininus era of Roman conquest, Enodia's status as a political goddess of Thessaly wavered. Her name stopped appearing on the local calendars and coins not longer depicted her image after 196BC. The new Thessalian league did not recognise her as a patron goddess either, as recognised by the fact that the new did not publish their decrees in her sanctuary. This does not mean her cult ended—it loomed over the landscape of Thessaly, popular and larger than ever in Roman Thessaly, but her role in Thessalian identity had ended. However, Polyaenus Strategemata 8.43 (published c.162 AD) described Enodia as the national deity at the time of the Ionian migration, though this may have been propaganda rather than truth.CULTIC WORSHIP IN ANTIQUITYZeus and Enodia were frequently paired in worship, particularly under Zeus' Thessalian epithet Thaulios and Meilichios. Her pairing with Zeus Meilichios alongside some of her epithets suggest a connection to families and purification. Enodia, as stated before, even appears upon the local Dodekatheon. Her popularity grew and she began to be attested, sometimes with Zeus, in Macedonia and Thrace. She could be honoured on the sides of roads—or at cemeteries within Thessaly, as was it was custom to put said cemeteries on the sides of roads.Offering wise, her most attested votive is the fibulae used to hold clothing together. Almost half of her existing votive record in her eighth century shrine is fibulae, which were preferred to pins to hold together funerary clothing. Other grave goods are found dedicated to Enodia, such as votive images of dogs and horses (and possibly bulls and snakes), though the evidence to compare to other cultic centres is lacking. Despite this distinct chthtonian character, Enodia is not wholly chthonian—she was also honoured in a manner similar to the Olympian gods.Ennodia is also attested in Thebes in the early third century. She was imported and known in other regions of ancient Greece, such as Athens, Argos, Sicyon, Epidaurus, possibly Nemea and Sicily. However, Ennodia in these regions was assimilated with Artemis. In Pausania's Description of Greece she is also named, but as Hekate-Enodia who received a black dog as an offering.She also appears in On Sacred Disease as Hekate-Enodia as a goddess of ghosts, particularly to mock the "magicians" the text was arguing against. As an epithet of Hekate, Enodia describes her role and power at crossroads as Trioditis/Trivia.

THESSALIAN CALENDAR

This section is a reconstruction of what is known of ancient Thessalian ritual calendars. Unlike other calendars, the Thessalian one corresponds to the zodiac and matches with the Jewish calendar. As such, we have put a reference both in this section.On our blog, @lady-enodia, we will be having celebrations for the known festivals and celebrations for the theoi. If in the future we decide to create a new festival for Ennodia or other Thessalian deities, they will be added to this section with a note that they are, in fact, modern.

The new year begins at ItoniosFormat
Greek Name & Romanisation
Hebrew month
Zodiac
FestivalἸτώνιος Itonios
(August 23)
Elul
VirgoAthena Itonia at the start of SeptemberΠάνημος Panemos(September 23)
Tishri
LibraPan(?) on October 10thΘεμίστιος Themistios(October 22)
Chesvan
ScorpioThemis, aspect unknown around October 31-November 5thἈγαγύλιος (Agugulios)(November 22)
Kislev
Sagittarius.Artemis Agugulaia(?) At the start of the monthἈπολλώνιος (Apollonois)(December 21)
Tevet
Capricorn.Apollo, aspect unknown in the middle of JanuaryἙρμαῖος Hermaois(January 20)
Shevat
AquariusHermes, aspect unknown right before the month endsΛεσχανόριος Leschanrois(February 18)
Adar
PiscesApollo Leschanrois in the early days of MarchἌφριος Aphrios(March 21)
Nisan
Aries.Zeus Aphrios. Festival at the very start of the monthΘυῖος Thuios(April 20)
Iyar
Taurus.Dionysus Thuios(?) A week before the month ends, May 13Ὁμολώιος Homoloios(May 20)
Sivan
GeminiZeus Homoloios on May 30thἹπποδρόμιος Hippodromois(June 22)
Tamuz
CancerPoseidon Hippodromois On July 6thΦυλλικός Phyllikos(July 22)
Av
LeoApollo Phyllios(?) Festival August 14thNEW FESTIVALSThe Thessalian calendar is incomplete and so therefore the priniciples of reasoning from revivalism may be applied to create historically minded modern day festivals. Morgana and Melisphae have created a few festivals to hopefully fill in the gaps that you may choose to celebrate.PHOSPHORIANamed after Enodia's epithet Phosphoros "light-bringer", this is a small festival on the half moon in June to celebrate Enodia. We light candles in the spirit of her torch and sing our hymns to her. This meant to be a small special day for Enodia and us, of which you may celebrate if you inspire to be an Enodian.

RECOMMENDED READING

LIBRARY LINKChatzinikolaou, K. (2010). Locating Sanctuaries in Upper Macedonia According to Archaeological Data. Kernos, 23, 193–222. https://doi.org/10.4000/kernos.1580Day, J. M. (2016). Servants of the goddess: Female religious agency in archaic and fifth-century Greek epigrams and dedications. ENS Éditions eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.enseditions.5889González, M. G. (2019). Funerary Epigrams of Ancient Greece: Reflections on Literature, Society and Religion. Bloomsbury Publishing.Graninger, C. D. (2009). Apollo, Ennodia, and fourth-century Thessaly*. Kernos, 22, 109–124. https://doi.org/10.4000/kernos.1775Helly, B. (2010). Consécration d’un enclos funéraire à Ennodia Ilias à Larisa (Thessalie). Kernos. https://doi.org/10.4000/kernos.1566Johnston, S. I. (2013). Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. Univ of California Press.Larson, J. (2016). Understanding Greek Religion. Routledge. Mili, M. (2015). Religion and Society in Ancient Thessaly. Oxford Classical Monographs.Morgan, C. (2003). Early Greek States Beyond the Polis. Routledge.Parker, R. (2011). On Greek Religion. Cornell University Press.Santin, E. (2016). L’épigramme dans tous ses états : épigraphiques, littéraires, historiques. ENS Éditions.

THESSALIAN RECONSTRUCTION

Enodia is a goddess of Thessaly. While her worship had spread to as far as Thebes, Enodia was a patron of the city Thessalian Pherai and held incredible importance for the people of the region. Some of her most well-preserved dedications are found in Larissa, which is Thessaly's modern capital. By studying her and her domains, we are in turn finding insight into the lives of Thessalians. In a day and age where Athens and Sparta steal the headlines in Greek regions, learning about equally influential but tinier city-states and kingdoms is vital to understanding the full spectrum of ancient Greek lives. I hope this resource showcases all the beauties of Enodia and of the people whose lives she was vital to.WORSHIP IN ANCIENT THESSALYAs with every region in ancient Greece, ancient Thessaly had their own traditions and unique regional epithets of the theoi. Many of the panhellenic theoi were venerated here, such as Zeus, Dionysus, Artemis, Apollon, Athena, and Aphrodite. However, Themis largely takes the place of Hera in ancient Thessaly. This region also focused upon Chthtonian epithets, which may be reflected in their regional goddess Enodia. This section focuses upon the epithets and deities attested in Thessaly. Enodia is not listed as she has her own page in this carrd.EPITHETS & DEITIES ATTESTED IN THESSALYZEUSMeilichiosThauliosTHEMISThemis, alongside Poseidon, fulfilled the gap that Hera fulfills in ancient Greek religion.ARTEMISAPHRODITEPandemosATHENADIONYSUSKarpiosHARMONIAHarmonia has been present in Thessaly since at least the fifth century in Larissa. She is a goddess of harmony, opposite of Eris (Strife), and is well-known for the supposed curse Hephaestus placed on a gift to her. She is the grandmother of Dionysus by Kadmos.HELIOSThe sun himself, Helios's worshipped is attested in a few inscriptioins, with one naming him with the epithet Basileus meaning "king."POSEDIONTYHKEHERO WORSHIPAKHLLEUS

terminology

For this section, grey definitions pertain to Enodia, purple is terminology relating to modern paganism, and blue refers to academic terms we thought to be useful for aspiring Enodians.Defintions for this section have been sourced from textbooks cited in the resources section, Oxford Dictionary, and The Oxford Classical Dictionary fourth edition.DELPHI (Greek Δελφοί) — noun. One of the most important religious sanctuaries of the ancient Greek world, dedicated to Apollo and situated on the lower southern slopes of Mount Parnassus above the Gulf of Corinth. It was thought of as the navel of the earth.DELPHIC ORACLE — noun. the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, regarded as particularly holy; the characteristic riddling responses to a wide range of questions were delivered by the Pythia, and have given rise to the use of Delphic to mean deliberately obscure or ambiguous.ENODIAN — 1. adj. a modern word meaning "relating to the goddess Enodia"2. noun. A follower of EnodiaHERO WORSHIP — noun. the worship of the deceased as heroes, typically occurring at the grave or cenotaph of the person in ancient Greece.LARISSA (Greek Λάρισα) — noun. The modern day capital of the Greek region of Thessaly and where Acrisius, grandfather of Perseus, was said to be buried.PHERAE (Greek Φεραί) — noun. a city of Thessaly and legendary residence of Admetus and EumelusROMANISATION — noun. Romanization originally meant the spread of Roman civilization to Italy and the provinces. The term was coined in the 19th cent. and used unreflectively until the 1960s, when scholars influenced by post-colonialism started to question its underlying assumptions. In recent years its fitness to describe the complex processes of interaction between the dominant culture of Rome and the local cultures of the empire has been hotly debated, although an alternative term has yet to win broad consensus.SPIRIT WORK — noun. the practice or art of working with spirits, often through prayer, veneration, or acts of magic.STELE (Greek στήλη) — noun. An upright carved stone marking an antique grave but also for dedication, commemoration, and demarcation.UNVERTIFIED PERSONAL GNOSIS — noun. spiritual and religious knowledge and belief obtained by personal experiences, divination, or intuition that cannot be supported by scholarship and historical tradition.VERTIFIED PERSONAL GNOSIS — noun. Unvertified personal gnosis that has been found to be in alignment and supported with scholarship and historical tradition, therefore distinguishing it as historically aligned.

MODERN WORSHIP

POST-RECON is a term that can apply to any revitalised ancient belief system. Once the research has been done, the festivals made, and the guides curated what is left is to practice what we have forged. We will continue to research and attempt to flesh out what is here, but we must build the foundation for something more to grow from these ancient texts and stone steles.This section will briefly outline what we can pull from history to offer to her and then a section for modern hymns and prayers for all to use.

𓃗ENODIAN PRACTICESBeyond the basics, forming a modern practice can be hard if the deity you seek to venerate does not have modern group of worshippers. As such, here are some practices we have reconstructed from evidence or developed along our three-year long journey with Enodia.Similar to the hekataia, Enodia was venerated at doorways and such. A dedication from fifth century Larissa tells us that Enodia was worshipped at the threshold of a house and her image was likely placed upon the base with the surviving dedication. Along with this dedication was an iron key and a keyhole. We can adapt this into the modern day by placing stones dedicated to Enodia, possibly with keys, to venerate her and advert evil from our homes. While we do not know what these were called or even if they have a name at all, we have elected to call themHIEREIAI CULTUSEnodia has two attested priestesses, named Khrysame and Timarth. We honour them as heroes to learn more of and to grow closer with Enodia. Nobody is expected to follow this as we do, but we have let them guide us in our worship.𓃗HISTORICAL OFFERINGSThe left section will be exactly what is historically attested to her and the right section will be offerings broadly used across ancient Greece. While we lack direct evidence that Enodia was offered wine, knowing ancient Greece it absolutely happened. By applying general knowledge of ancient Greek religion we can continue to develop and deepen the understanding of our practices.

𓃗MODERN OFFERINGSModern offerings can in truth be nearly anything that is appropriate and seemed fitting by the worshipper. For this section, we have included ideas that are more broad and are from the modern day.MODERN OFFERING IDEAS𓃗PRAYERS AND HYMNS[name]
by MorganUPGAs Morgan and Melisphae have been worshipping Enodia for around three years now, we have naturally come across our own UPG. Here we have decided to share some of our personal experiences and beliefs as she is an obscure goddess.We both hold that that Enodia is a daugther of Zeus and Themis. Enodia was paired with Zeus frequently and while Themis almost "replaces" Hera in ancient Thessaly, so to us it almost seems natural that she is a daughter of the two. Enodia possesses a strong civic character, which aligns with Themis and Zeus. Greek tragedy does call Hekate-Enodia a daughter of Eleusinian Demeter, which is likely due to Hekate rather than Enodia. However, Enodians are welcome to rather acknowledge Demeter as her mother if they wish.Another practice we associate with Enodia is hero worship. As a goddess associated with purification and ghosts, Enodia can allow us to properly honour heroes and pacify them if needed.

TO THE MAIDEN OF THESSALYBY MELISPHAE

Worshiping Enodia is a lot like worshiping a ghost. You have to dig to find anything on her, you can expect to tell all your friends about it, and if you're really lucky (or unlucky) stuff will fly around your house. As a very region-locked, niche goddess, it is vital that a worshiper learns everything they can about her. However, as expected, the information on Enodia is very limited. We are missing swaths of her mythology with only speculation, and we have crumbs of historical worship practices.WORSHIP IDEAS:Enodia has many associations which can give us great offerings. Some object offerings can be:➺ Fibulas (brooches)
➺ Antique items
➺ Keys
➺ Childhood items
➺ Torch bases
➺ Animal-themed itemsThere are also many devotional actions one can take. Some options would be:➺ Volunteering at animal shelters
➺ Working with children
➺ Visiting a cemetery
➺ Cleaning your home
➺ Being an active, moral, and just political citizen

FREE DIVINATION

To help with our goal of providing helpful answers, we ask that all requests follow these rules. Non-compliant requests will be unanswered and deleted. Please read all of these before sending in an ask.DIVINATION REQUEST RULESPlease try to strike a balance between shortness and detail. Overcomplicated questions can lead to overcomplicated answers. However, if there are important factors or details requested, that can help the reading. If an example would help, send in the plainest version of the question and follow with additional information requests.Please send something along the lines of “This is a divination request” in the beginning of your ask.NO MEDICAL QUESTIONS. If you are concerned about you or someone else’s health, please consult a professional, unlike Melisphae.Overtly malicious questions will be ignored. This may be subjective, but if it can be sensed your plans to use the answer can or will lead to harm, an answer won’t be given.Because the runners of this card are busy students, please allow some wait time for responses.Avoid providing sensitive information about yourself or someone else. If someone could doxx you by knowing it, please do not send it in.Questions about deities can be asked, but please be aware of the limitations. Deities from closed practices or are otherwise unfamiliar to Melisphae will not be contacted.If you want the ask to be answered privately, please mention so!Please be aware that these services are provided free, and that divination as an art can be inaccurate or changed. If something doesn’t pan out please do not blow up the ask box about how we suck at our jobs, much thanks. The same applies if you receive an answer you do not wish to hear.TAROTMelisphae’s decks are as follows: Murder of Crows Tarot, Kabbalah Tarot, Antique Anatomy Tarot, Literary Witches Oracle. You can request a specific deck be used, or leave the diviner to select.HOMERIC ORACLEThe Homeric Oracle is a method that utilizes dice rolls and select lines from the texts written by Homer (Iliad and Odyssey) to divine. The numbers on the dice are used to find lines, which are then interpreted and applied to the question.

ABOUT THE MODS@lady-enodia

MORGAN

I am called Morgana, Morgan, or Astyphaelos. I found my way to Enodia through Melisphae and I act as the "scholar" for this blog. I'm very excited to share what I know and bring new things to hellenic recon!

Slovak/Mexican
he/him

Irish/Sephardi
he/she/they

MELISPHAE

I'm Melisphae, a devotee of Enodia. Since she is such an obscure goddess, I hope this blog will spread the knowledge of her further. I'm excited to share the journey, as well as getting some actual work done.