Sane Polytheism

There was a very informative comment thread a couple MMs ago with some links to resources for anyone wanting to engage in devotional practice for the Roman Gods. I've compiled here some key parts of the thread.

First, from neptunesdolphins :

Books:
-The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden: Religion at the Roman Street Corner by Harriet Flower
-An Introduction to Roman Religion by John Scheid


And, from boccaderlupo :

I would recommend Associazione Tradizionale Pietas, which is based in Rome but has various chapters around the world. They have a lot of good resources, especially in Italian (Latin speakers might be able to make use of those), including a weekly Q&A/podcast. They were recently recognized by the government and have set up the first new Tempio Giove in Rome in a good long while, as well as temples elsewhere in that country.

https://tradizioneromana.org/

Next, this very helpful and lengthily comment:

1) On Roman Polytheism, I've found the essays of Horatius M. Piscinus to be a great source of obscure info, though they can be a little overwhelming and too detail heavy. Neopolytheist's blog is a great introduction for a beginner and I recommend starting there.

For literature, Cato's On Agriculture, Varro's On the Latin Language in 25 Books, Varro's Agricultural Topics in 3 Books and Macrobius' Saturnalia will be where you want to start hunting for flecks of gold.

And now for my personal religious views, which should be taken with a single molecule of sodium chloride and thrown out forthwith if you have a different interpretation:

The Roman Gods are not Greek Gods, though they might be called twins or close siblings. Many gods which appear to be "imported" are in fact the Romans projecting their own gods onto cultures they admired and were probably a little jealous of, though the Romans did import many foreign gods such as Aesculapius, though there was often a distinct "this is a Greek god, so we must worship him with the Greek Rite, while this Roman god represented with a greek statue and with Greek myths grafted on is Roman, so we use the regular Roman Rites for him."

Second, there's a lot of confusion about who the Lares are, since later Roman authors refered to multiole beings. I treat "Lares" as a catch-all term like "spirits" and use them primarily to refer to the spirits of the house (lares domestici), the spirits of the land and neighbourhood (lares compitales) and the spirits of the roads and crossroads (lares viales) and I call the spirits of my ancestors just "ancestors" instead of lares familiaris to decrease confusion. Also, while some scholars believe that every man has a guardian Genius and every woman has a guardian Juno, other scholars disagree with this interpretation and so do I, so I consider Genius to be the term for the gusrdian of every person and every piece of land (much less confusing). Your friend may find these artificial distinctions I've made useful, or not. Just remember that like the Romans saw a statue of Athena and said "Look, a statue of Minerva! Let's bring it home and build a temple to Minerva!" these are mostly my projections, influenced by my own desires and cultural artifacts, trying to make sense of a convoluted system mostly lost to time and unable to be entirely perceived by flimsy human intellects anyway.

Here are some links to get started:

Absolute Beginner:
https://romanpagan.wordpress.com/household-shrine-and-ritual/

One of the first Horatius M. Piscinus essays I read. Every essay is gold, though don't be afraid to discard specific practices that are too inconvenient (like using spring water or water gathered from rivers in the four cardinal directions).
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religioromana/2013/05/odds-and-evens/

Useful for invoking Janus, which is done a lot. The prayer offered is almost verbatim a section from the oldest Roman ritual invocation (fragmentary of course) still existing:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/religioromana/2013/01/kalends-rite-for-janus/

http://societasviaromana.net/Collegium_Religionis/contributions.php

One more thing: stay away from Nova Roma. They started as a bunch of atheists more interested in awarding themselves fancy Roman titles and creating a "micronation" of larpers, with Roman Religion just one more part of the larp. Over time that has changed and there might be some legitimate polytheists involved, but I worry that their egregore is permanently tainted along with their reputation. Best to just avoid them altogether and skip the viscious back and forth drama.

Finally, I've omitted recommendations for Nova Roma as a serious resource, as (per my own investigations into the matter) I agree with some of the sentiments expressed in the thread that NR are primarily LARPers, and most of them are probably atheists too. In other words, going to a group like that for advice on serious devotional practices or spiritual counsel in general, would be rather ill-conceived. It would be nearly as absurd as asking a Christian for advice on how to properly venerate Jupiter.