First and Last: A Devotional for Hestia

by Terence P. Ward (Editor), Tina Georgitsis

She is the First, and She is the Last. Eldest and Youngest Child of Heaven and Earth. The Hearth at the Center of Creation. Few myths and rites for Hestia survive from the classical world. A Goddess primarily of the domestic sphere, She was so central to ancient beliefs and practices that the Greeks actually wrote down very little about Her. She simply Was. And Is. And so we come to the purpose of this anthology: not just to present ancient material about the Goddess, but, more importantly, to fill in the gaps in belief, practice, and understanding which were not handed down through the intervening millennia. Within these pages, Her devotees recreate Her worship, craft new devotional practices, write new hymns and songs and even myths, develop new recipes, and create new artwork in Her honor. Hestia remains highly revered and respected, and new devotees are finding their way to Her. As in ancient days, she receives both the least and greatest of offerings. May she never be forgotten.

Genres: Paganism, Spirituality

218 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2017

About the author

Sometimes writes under the pen name "Terentios Poseidonides"

Terentios Poseidonides is a temple priest—hiereus—of Poseidon, a job that is performed in a variety of ways including by acting as oracle of the bull god, researching both ancient and modern ways to honor Poseidon in the context of ancient Greek (Hellenic) culture, and providing spiritual support as needed to practicing polytheists who seek it. Poseidonides' practice includes the honoring of a number of other deities and spirits, and is expressed by stretching the understanding of spirit-work into the realms of grammar, economics, and political theory.

Residing in Mid-Hudson Valley, NY, Ward is a journalist and practicing Pagan for more than thirty years. He has been bound to a Wiccan coven, communed with the Earth as a backpacking Pagan (sometimes known as a Gaiaped), and been tapped by the Olympian gods. He manages his depression through his work as a priest to Poseidon, and he's a minister ordained through the Church of the Sacred Earth: a Union of Pagan Congregations in Vermont. Ward is also a member of the order of the occult hand.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm happy to see a devotional to Hestia since there's so little in Greek mythology to work with compared to some of the other Olympians. First and Last is a slim book, but it covers a lot of territory, with prayers, poems, new myths and short stories, new takes on old myths, hymns (including music, although you may need a magnifying glass to read the scores), photographs of artworks, and scholarly essays. It was inspirational, which is a good quality in a devotional!

[♡✧⁠*the waterlily fairy⁠✧⁠*⁠♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these devotional anthologies. They bring me closer to the Gods each time.

[Aj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another devotional book from Bibliotheca Alexandrina. For the most part I enjoyed this, though I had hoped for further insight into this goddess, for the most part it was reciting in many different ways what is already known about her. I always read these devotionals looking for that bit of extra...if you do not know much about Hestia, this is a good volume to have.
In the matter of clarity, I did contribute to this volume.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply grateful to find anything devoted to Hestia, but I don't think the prose was particularly inspired. The mini essays were good things to muse on. Also included a list of epithets and public domain hymns, and some associations for her.

[Mizzy Mint · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for a very important deity who I feel is often overlooked or done pretty dirty in popular media. This is a of short stories, poems, and history that really set you up for devotional work for Hestia. It's also one of the few printed resources I could find that is more than a dozen pages which is the most commo occurrence in devotional text.

[Foxlynx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. It's nice to read more on Her, especially from modern writers and worshipers of Hestia. There's not a whole lot on Her, so much of my worship comes from trial and error, reading others' experiences, and diving with the Goddess. This book is definitely joining the New Vesta Tradition books just below Hestia-Vesta's shrine.

Just as I'm doing for this Vestalia, I'm going to make it a new tradition of reading this book every Vestalia from here on out. It's nice that I now have more hymns, prayers, and poems to read to Hestia, instead of the few historical ones that I have.