Deity Profile: Phanes

As we develop a better sense of deities over time, we want to share our findings and encourage others to share their experiences as well. Though some of this information is taken from text sources in ancient Greece, much of it comes from my direct experiences with Phanes. If you have had different knowledge arise from your work with Phanes, please share in the comments!

Pantheon: Greek

Pronouns: He/His/Him or Ze/Zir/Zim or They/Their/Them

Original Text: Orphic Hymn to Phanes

To Phanes

[video shows a white button down top and a necklace with a crystal heart]

Invocation for Sovereign Phanes

"Great Winged One
Protogonos, come
We follow thee from dark to light
O scepter bearing Father of Night
Sovereign Phanes, come."

- Written by Rainbow Melissa ra Karit

The Sweetness of Hermaphroditus

This past weekend at the Rainbow Moon Circle Loving Moon, we got to enjoy some of the lovely energy of Hermaphroditus, the intersex child of Hermes and Aphrodite. I wanted to share some of the delightful highlights here, so that you can partake at your own altar at home.

Rainbow Moon Circle offers the Loving Moon honoring Hermaphroditus

Come As You Are To…The Rainbow Moon Circle’s Loving MoonA Full Moon Circle Honoring and Celebrating Gender Diversity
Saturday, May 6, 8:00PM
Doors open at 8:00PM, circle is cast at 8:15PM
Please arrive on time, no one is admitted after the circle is cast.

The Sacred Well, 536 Grand Avenue, Oakland (wheelchair accessible)

$10-$20 donation accepted, no one turned away for lack of funds

The mxgender Priestxes of Come As You Are Pagan Congregation invite people of any and all genders - or none - to join us in honoring and nurturing our loving nature. We recognize the places where we have been wounded or torn and seek healing and wholeness within ourselves. We call on Hermaphroditus, the intersex love deity of the Greek pantheon, to share Their message.

You are welcome to bring an item to charge on the altar, as well as cakes and ale to share after the circle is opened.

Our Mission: The Rainbow Moon Circle is a safe and sacred space for all to explore the spectra of gender and identity. We honor the holistic experience of self-determined identity and its infinite intersections. We celebrate the glittering prism of Divine existence that is powerful, delightful, enthusiastic, playful, transformative, magickal, compassionate, and reverent. Live the Spectra!

At the Beginning

Phanes is the intersex creator deity of the Greek pantheon.

At the Beginning

I asked Phanes

How was it, at the beginning?

And Phanes answered:

It was like cupping the world in my palms

Like breathing the sacred breath

into them

The only source of light in the world.

I

in the black darkness

My great snakes coiling about me

With this tiny impossible spark

Shimmering, its surface shifting

A complexity beyond imagination.

My wings unfurled

And my daughter, Nyx, curled around this new world,

cradling it

I could let go

My heart breaking with fear and joy

Giving everything for the hope that

this life would survive