What’s up, swimmers?! Eclipse season is over! Mercury is direct! Beltane is coming to set us all ablaze!
Speaking of Mercury, or as he’s known to the Greeks, Hermes—Last week, I had the great pleasure of going back to New York City to celebrate the incredible accomplishments of a dear friend, which included seeing the hit Broadway musical, and big-time personal fave, Hadestown.
If you’re not familiar, it’s a bluesy retelling of the myth of the tragic lovers Orpheus and Eurydice. You know, the one where King Hades let’s them walk out of hell, but Orpheus must go ahead and not look behind him or Eurydice would be sent back?
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t end well.
The week before heading to New York, I had an amazing conversation with spiritual teacher, writer, and gorgeous human, George Lizos. I can’t wait for you to listen to it! We met to talk about his brilliant new book Secrets of Greek Mysticism, and while we didn’t spend much time on Hermes (don’t worry, he gets a whole chapter in the book), we did talk about both musical theatre and Orpheus!
George considers himself to be an Orphic—someone who is aligned with the philosophical school of Orphism, which stem from the writings and stories of the tragic hero-poet Orpheus. Orphics believe that even the gods move through the soul’s journey of ascension, meaning they were once single-celled organisms who have evolved through plants, animals, humans, heroes, legends, etc., to become gods.
(This belief might actually point to where Orpheus was on his ascension journey in Hadestown, when he’s a touched-by-the-gods son of a muse, but still tragically human.)
Evolving, yet eternal gods is a radical notion when compared to more rigid views of divinity, but I absolutely vibe with it. In fact, some scholars view Pythagorean philosophy (which is the spiritual lineage of my numerological practice and teachings) as being so close to Orphism that some considered themselves to be students of a secret third philosophy called Orphic-Pythagoreanism.1
All of this philosophical speak barely scratches the surface of the generous wisdom that George shares, both in his book and in this juicy conversation! I hope there are as many takeaways for you as there were for me!
Keep reading to get to know George, Secrets of Greek Mysticism, and what you’ll hear in today’s episode! Then, consider sharing this episode with a friend you think might be into it, or on your socials, newsletter, blog—spread the word.
George Lizos is a spiritual teacher, psychic healer, Greek pagan priest, creator of Intuition Mastery School, as well as a #1 best selling author (Be the Guru, Lightworkers Gotta Work, Protect Your Light) and host of The Lit Up Lightworker and Can’t Host podcasts. He has been named one of the top fifty health and wellness influencers, and his work has been featured in Goop, PopSugar, and MindBodyGreen. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in metaphysical sciences, a MSc in Psychology, and is trained in various spiritual and healing modalities.
George took part in the first official priesthood training in Hellenic Polytheism organized by the Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes (YSEE) in Athens, following the religion’s legal recognition by the Greek government in 2017. Since then, he’s been a practicing priest of the religion at the world’s first modern temple of Zeus in Cyprus. George has taught about the Greek gods and spirituality in his books, workshops, and online courses, and his research on Aphrodite has been published by Soul & Spirit magazine and The Numinous.
George’s new book, Secrets of Greek Mysticism, is out now! I highly recommend it for anyone with a passion for, or interest in, Greek gods and goddesses, and ancestral pagan traditions. It’s rich, accessible, and full of George’s wisdom.
In this thrilling conversation, George and I chat about his temple-hopping trip to meet the Greek gods, enjoying and embodying direct connection to their virtues and energies, as well as past lives, musical theatre, and where to find George’s most simple, yet profound, spiritual practice.
If you’d like to connect with George, check out his website, GeorgeLizos.com or find him on Instagram @georgelizos.
Some of my favorite moments with George include:
“As soon as I connected with this energetic cord that I had to my ancestors and their religion, my spirituality suddenly all started making sense. It's like the floodgates opened and there was wisdom coming in that I couldn't access previously because we do have energetic cords connecting us to our ancestral spirituality, but also to like past life spirituality. There are many cords that we have, but I activated that specific ancestral cord that allowed all the information to come in so much more easier than it would have if I was trying to connect otherwise.”
[W]e don't see the gods as more powerful and more almighty than us. We see the gods as we are, all in together. My teacher always used to tell me, we don't need to certify the gods outside of ourselves because we're already swimming in the ocean of the gods, right?… That's why when we pray, it's affirmative prayer. We extend the hands up to the sky and we say, thank you, rather than going down and shrinking and saying, please.
“I don't like control. I don't like trying to convince people to join anything. Like you do, you boo. Like it's all good. Just find what works and work it. And that's what pagan religions are. They're very open. They're earth-based. It has to do at the end of the day, our relationship with the earth, and the respect that we have to the earth.”
“Just go out there and live your life and do everything that you want to do. Don't be mediocre on following your life purpose. Express it all because you can do it all.”
But there are so many incredible insights within. Let me know which moments stood out to you!
Until next time, just keep swimming!
xx, Rebecca
Betegh, Gábor (24 April 2014). "Pythagoreans, Orphism and Greek Religion". In Huffman, Carl A. (ed.). A History of Pythagoreanism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 149–66.
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