Today is Theoxenia on the Treasury’s calendar. Theoxenia is the day when Apollon returns to us from His abode in Hyperborea, where His focus was no longer upon the everyday needs of mankind, but instead set upon the many, many deeply primal aspects of creation, over which He governs. It is widely accepted that during this time, Apollon is absent from our world, yet, as many devotee’s of the god will know, He often is most keenly present in our lives during His Hyperborean stay.
This might be due to the nature of the connection that intimate devotees share with Him. Not only are we in constant contact with Him, what we experience of Him during the Hyperborean season especially, is well below the surface of what He shows to many others. He is Lykeios and Telkinios, the wolf and the wind, ripping and cutting away the weak, in nature. He is the blizzard that whites out all before you, leaving you stranded yet totally enveloped by Him. He is also the spark that dwells in your heart and never fades, its light always there to show the way through the darkness. And in this darkness, in this reality of the Hyperborean season, we walk a path that He has laid out– a path that leads to Him.
So, as He does each year at the height of the winter darkness, Apollon seizes the hearts of many new devotees. These will be led through the wilderness of the Hyperborean season, and out through the gates of coming spring. And then they will know Him in His completeness, as the light grows with the passage of time.
When He arrives at the doors of the House of Apollo, made up of the households and individuals dedicated to Him, He carries the enthusiastic and unfiltered love and adoration of those whose hearts He won in winter, who will be added to the glorious collection of souls that greet Him on Theoxenia. For, as befits a conqueror, Apollon comes bearing the fruit of His conquest.
May we all celebrate the inclusion of our new fellows among the blessed of Apollon. May we welcome them openly, and share what we have to share without hesitancy. And, may we love them under the light of Apollon, as the members of His family that we all are. For some, walking an Apollonian path may be difficult, and they may desire varying amounts of guidance. May we be gentle in our interactions with them, remembering always, that once, many of us were conquests, too.
Hail Apollon! Blessed Theoxenia!
— Columbine
Treasury of Apollon 