Poseidon

How Poseidon is worshipped

Poseidon is most naturally and powerfully approached at the sea itself — the shoreline, a harbor, or any body of saltwater. When access to the sea is not possible, a bowl of salted water can serve as a ritual focus. Dark wine poured into the sea is the most ancient and appropriate offering: Homer's heroes routinely pour libations over the side of ships before and after voyages. Sea shells, fish returned to the water, and coins or valuables cast into the waves are all attested forms of propitiation.

In the ancient sacred calendar, the eighth of each lunar month was sacred to Poseidon in some traditions. The great Isthmian Games, held at the Isthmos of Corinth every two years, were dedicated to him and featured athletic competitions in which the victor received a crown of pine (or wild celery in some periods) — pine being his sacred tree. The Isthmos itself — the narrow land bridge connecting mainland Greece to the Peloponnese — was understood as Poseidon's special territory, the strip of earth surrounded on both sides by his sea. Any practitioner who makes regular sea voyages, works on or near the water, or lives in a seismically active region has a particular reason to maintain consistent relationship with him.

Approach Poseidon with respect and with awareness that he does not forget slights. He is not a god to be treated casually, to be invoked once and then ignored, or to be approached with the assumption that a single offering settles any outstanding debt. His resentment is patient and his memory is long — ten years of storms for Odysseus. The appropriate attitude is one of ongoing, genuine relationship: acknowledgment before and after any journey by sea, libations at the shore, gratitude expressed when you arrive safely. Do not neglect him and then expect him to intervene favorably in crisis. He rewards consistent, honest devotion and punishes those who ignore the sea until they need to cross it.

How do I start honoring Poseidon?

If you are new to Poseidon, begin at water. Any natural body of water will do, though the sea is ideal. Stand at the shoreline and pour a libation of dark wine or water into the waves. Say his name and his primary epithet — Poseidon Ennosigaios, the Earth-Shaker — aloud, so that the sound goes out over the water. Tell him why you are there. He is not a god who responds warmly to casual half-attention; he responds to genuine acknowledgment of his power and consistent, honest respect. Read Homeric Hymn 22 (To Poseidon) — it is very short but captures his essential character. Then read the relevant passages of the Odyssey (beginning with Book 1, the council of the gods) to understand the full weight of what it means to have Poseidon as an adversary, and conversely how valuable his goodwill is. Over time, build a practice of acknowledgment before and after any sea travel, any time you cross a significant body of water, or any time you feel the earth move. He is not the easiest Olympian to work with — he is proud, temperamental, and long-memoried — but he rewards genuine, sustained relationship with extraordinary power and protection.

A prayer to Poseidon

Poseidon, dark-haired god, Earth-Shaker,
Lord of the wide sea and the deep places,
Who holds the trident and the wave,
Who can split the mountain or still the storm —
I pour this [wine/water] into your domain
With honest hands and honest asking.
Guard those who cross your waters today.
Let the sea receive them and return them.
I know your power, dark-haired one,
And I come not demanding but asking.
Hail Poseidon Ennosigaios.

Festival days

• Isthmia (the Isthmian Games held every two years at Corinth, on the Isthmus sacred to Poseidon; one of the four great Panhellenic athletic festivals; pine-crown or wild celery crown for winners)
• Poseidea (Attic festival in the month of Poseideon, roughly December/January; held in winter, the stormy season when his power at sea was most acutely felt; the month of Poseideon was named for him)
• The eighth of each lunar month (associated with Poseidon in some traditions; appropriate for monthly devotion)
• Tainaria (festivals at Cape Tainaron — the southernmost point of the Peloponnese, where there was a cave entrance to the underworld sacred to Poseidon; Spartans sacrificed horses here by drowning them in the sea)
• Hippokraia (festival at Troizen, sacred to Poseidon Hippios; honoring his role as creator of the horse)
• Before any sea voyage — not a dated festival but a ritual obligation; libation poured into the sea before departure and upon safe return

What people get wrong about Poseidon

• Poseidon was not originally a sea god — the epithet Ennosigaios (Earth-Shaker) and the Linear B evidence from Pylos suggest he was primarily a deity of the earth's movement and chthonic power before the Greeks became seafarers. His maritime domain was grafted onto an older, deeper earth deity, which is why he governs both the sea and earthquakes.
• Poseidon is not second to Zeus simply because his lot was the sea rather than the sky. In the Iliad (Book 15), he explicitly disputes this claim and asserts equality with his brother — their domains differ but their power is equivalent. In the Bronze Age, Poseidon appears to have been MORE prominent than Zeus at some cult centers.
• His many monstrous children (the Cyclops Polyphemus, the giant Antaeus, the sea-monster Charybdis) do not make him evil — they reflect the ancient understanding that the sea and the shaking earth generate forces of both destruction and creation, and that Poseidon as their lord is the parent of both terrifying power and extraordinary possibility.
• The Roman Neptune is significantly more benign and aesthetically pleasing than Poseidon — Roman imperial cult softened Neptune into a more decorative sea deity. Poseidon is fiercer, more resentful, more politically assertive, and more dangerous than his Roman counterpart.
• Poseidon's loss in the contest with Athena over Athens should not be read as weakness. His power was not diminished by the judges' decision — he promptly flooded Attica to demonstrate this. He was eventually given joint worship in the Erechtheion on the Acropolis itself. The 'loser' of the contest still received significant cultic honor.
• Poseidon Hippios (of Horses) is not a minor or unusual aspect — it is ancient and important. His creation of the horse is one of his most significant mythological acts and is attested in multiple sources. The horse was the most transformative military and agricultural animal of the ancient world, and Poseidon's claim to have given it to humanity is a theological statement of enormous importance.