Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Making Light: My Little Pony on My Little Altar

Making Light: My Little Pony on My Little Altar

Last updated on: December 30, 2015 at 5:00 pm by Sunweaver

Making Light: My Little Pony on My Little Altar 2015-12-30T14:04:12+00:00 Sunweaver

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’d like to start off with a little song (with apologies for the minor saltiness of the language):

First of all, thank you to everyone who replied to my previous article. The response was overwhelmingly positive and I was very glad to read that Jason Mankey offered a more positive view of what’s available here on Patheos Pagan. I even had some really great conversations with John Halstead in the comments section of the second part of a recent series of his pointing out a specific example of a failure to show xenia. Many of you expressed that you feel a similar kind of miasma, I guess, that lurks in the Pagan blogosphere, much of it on Facebook. It feels gross, is what I’m saying, like when you’ve had too much greasy food. You know it’s bad for you and now you really just want a salad and a glass of water. As a remedy, I offer in the Holy Name of Apollon and all his wacky relatives, a series of articles to detox your internet reading– and I certainly encourage others here on Patheos to do the same. Many already are. These are going to be things that make me happy and will not include any kerfluffles, flame wars, or other such shenanigans. I want to come back to our talk about xenia, but first I want to talk Ponies.

Photo by the Author

There are two My Little Ponies on my altar: Lyra and Twilight Sparkle. There’s also a little bust of Apollon I found at the thrift store, a plastic statue of Apollon that Sophia gave me for my birthday one year, a little dolphin statue I picked up at a touristy place in Florida, a resin replica of Athene Nashville, a resin dragon, and a tiny bronze sculpture of a slime mold that my brother made for me. Our paperback fiction is stacked up behind it, for no other reason than because I had to move the altar up away from little hands and the bookshelf was the best place. Technically, it’s a shrine and not an altar, the difference being that an altar is where votive offerings are made. I have a stone altar out back.

Why do I keep a shrine? For the most part, I like to look up and see the symbols and images that remind me of my gods. They are bigger than those images and They can take on many different forms, but those particular forms ping something in my brain that help me open up to Their influence. Different people use different sorts of altars and shrines in different ways. I have one altar at which I perform certain ritual actions for Hygeia that most people would call a “bathroom sink.” My altar to Hestia is what most people call the “stove.” There are little altars and shrines all over the house and most of them aren’t obvious or intentional. All of them help me connect with the Theoi in some way.

But why Ponies? If you haven’t seen the newest My Little Pony series, I highly recommend it. It’s one of those cartoons that’s only sort of for children. Between the subtle and not-so-subtle pop culture references and the positive messages about compassion and the value of friendship, it’s worth a watch. You won’t find anything out there that will show how to deal with a friend’s weird family or how the class bully might have some crap going on at home in a way that shows complex characters interacting in a way that doesn’t condescend to the viewer. They even had an episode that dealt with cults– charismatic leader and the whole nine yards. Still not convinced? Watch the Bronies documentary. There’s one part where they show a meeting of bronies who are in the armed services and one of them states how My Little Pony reinforces Army Values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. Many of those things are also important in many of our respective Pagan practices and that’s what I find there, too.

Like the Theoi, Ponies are not just flat archetypes. There’s a richness to them that speaks to the human experience. Twilight Sparkle is the bookish one, the focus of the show, but as she finds her arete, she also struggles with how to be a strong, effective, and compassionate leader. She learns when to let go of order and control and when to use her wisdom and organizational skills to help her community in a time of need. Her figure stands next to Athene.

Photo by the Author

Less is known about Lyra Heartstrings, whose name, according to the Wiki, refers to “deep feelings of love or compassion” and she has a lyre as her cutie mark. “Because lyre” is most of my justification there, but she’s also a unicorn, traditionally a symbol of purity and grace, but also wildness and ferocity. Unicorn horns are said to purify liquids and remove poisons, which goes right along with what Apollon is all about. This is a fair bit of syncretism and much of unicorn lore was developed in the Middle Ages, but I’m a product of contemporary history. That lore and those concepts are sitting in the back of my brain and I feel like the Theoi can poke those neural pathways with a stick to tell me “It’s like that.”

Never mind that the unicorns described by Ancient Greeks were actually rhinoceroses, “unicorn horn” was often narwhal, or that in Greece in the 5th century BCE “unicorn=purity” may not have been a thing. That’s not relevant. That connection was there in my brain before I even knew that I’d be following a Hellenic path. This wee smidge of syncretism is more about my very own brains and the experiences and knowledge tangled up in there than it is about “what the Ancient Greeks did.” If I had a figure or picture of Lee Adama from Battlestar Galactica, I’d probably put him right up next to Lyra and the thrift store bust because there are some very clear connections between the stories of Lee Adama/Apollo and those of Apollon, son of Zeus. Clint Barton could have a place, too, because when I think of the Far-Shooter, how can I not think of Hawkeye? Kate Bishop (also Hawkeye) could have a place up on the shelf to remind me of Artemis. The connections there are not exact or perfect by any means, but there’s a fair bit of “it’s like that” and it’s enough to zap those neural pathways in a way that turns my thoughts toward the gods.

In some traditions, the gods inhabit the figures, which I can totally see. Even the little plastic Apollon could be a big neon sign saying “APOLLON WELCOME HERE!” And I could absolutely see the value in spending a good chunk of change on a really nice piece of statuary, especially if one of the gods were going to be actually in it. I’d love to have this statue of Hygeia in my bathroom, but I just don’t have the disposable income or the space on my sink for that. What I’d really like to have is a framed print of “Woman Bathing” or “Child’s Bath” by Mary Cassatt. It wouldn’t even have to be an art print; an old calendar page in an inexpensive frame would do. Honestly, though, hot water, soap, and fresh towels make me think of Her more than anything.

In Ancient Greece, the kind of votive offering given depended on the status of the dedicant. There would be small, crude little statues made from common materials and larger, more elaborate statues made from more expensive stuff in the same time period at the same temple. The poor guy’s little whittled wooden statue had in it as much of an expression of thanksgiving and piety as the rich person’s big fancy gilded statue. The poor guy wasn’t less pious, he just didn’t have the coin to spend on something high-end. I feel ya poor Athenian guy. I feel ya.

There’s a lot going on behind the Ponies on my bookshelf. I don’t think the Theoi mind that I don’t have schmancy bronze statuary. It really is the thought that counts because if it makes me connect with Them, that’s enough. I don’t think they mind that most of what’s up there isn’t a reproduction of something from Ancient Greece, either. Twilight Sparkle makes me think of Athene. Lyra makes me think of Apollon. I wouldn’t necessarily get the same complexity of thought or emotion that builds on existing knowledge and experience from an authentically reproduced bronze Spartan horse figure. I have feels about Ponies and my relationships with the Theoi build on those kinds of feels. Maybe it’s unorthodox or heretical to have Ponies representing aspects of the Theoi, but we have neither an orthodoxy nor a particular doctrine for me to defy, so I’m not terribly worried about it.

Why do I have Ponies on my altar (shrine)? Why not? It works for me. You may use your statuary differently and I’d love to hear other perspectives on the purpose of votives, statuary, altars, and shrines. How do those statues help you focus your prayers or thoughts? What purpose do they serve for you? Do they help you cultivate relationships with your gods? Do tell! And please practice xenia in the comments. Be as awesome as you were in the other post.

Click here to like
Patheos Pagan on Facebook.

Click here to like
the Agora on Facebook

Making Light is an occasional column by Hellenic polytheist Sunweaver. Follow it via RSS or e-mail!

Please use the links to the right to keep on top of activities here on the Agora as well as across the entire Patheos Pagan channel.

Columns

Family & Household Practice

Literature, Media, Film, Music

Previous Post

December 29, 2015

Hills of the Horizon: Nun of the Above

Next Post

December 31, 2015 Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft: To Santa Claus or Not to Santa Claus? - Evidently that is the Question!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Lakeside Hearth Adventures in Wortcunning Alone In Her Presence Arts, Crafts & Cooking Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft Book of Blackbirds Book Reviews Born-Again Witch Cauldron, Sword, Spear, & Stone Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Dear Jasmine Druid Thoughts Editor's Picks Everyday Pagan Family & Household Practice Family Traditions Full Frontal Magic Gateway Goddess Guest Articles Happily Heathen Health and Wellness Hearth of Hellenism Heathen Woman Hills of the Horizon History Holidays Horse Goddesses Interfaith Interviews Irish-American Witchcraft Jewish Witch Lamp & Labyrinth Letters from Midgard Literature, Media, Film, Music Loop of Brighid Love, Sex & Relationships Magic or Magick Making Light Naturalistic Traditions Nature News Outside The Circle Pantheisticon Politics Prayers, Poems, Blessings & Stories Queer Femme Mystic Queer of Swords Recipes Ritual and Practice Science and Research Seekers and Guides Seeking the Grail Socially Responsible Magic Spear of Athena Star Made Witch Syncretic Electric Technology The Blooming Staff The Busy Witch The Cartomancer The Crow's Nest The Dance of Pagan Recovery The Hearth of Hellenism The Lady's Quill The Other Side of the Hedge The Path of She The Rantin' Raven The Witches Next Door The Zen Pagan Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Tree City Witch Urban Earthwitch Wayfaring Woman Witch on Fire Wyrd Words

Select a Month January 2026 March 2025 December 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many "types" of Psalms are often recognized (e.g., praise, lament, wisdom)?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Five or more One Ten only Fifty