heatherwitch

[heatherwitch]

outcast of the village

[heatherwitch]

“NOT WHAT I’M CALLED” has been in my head for the past few days so have this

[heatherwitch]

annalaura_art

[heatherwitch]

People who hate Frodo Baggins are my enemy. "He didn't do anything and was useless"--yeah, okay, so what you're not understanding is that he was the sacrificial lamb. He endured physical, mental, and emotional torment that got worse and worse as his will broke. Everyone knew this. EVERYONE KNEW THIS. That's why everyone was devastated about it. Because Frodo was the most innocent among them, that was the entire point. He represented ordinary peaceful people being destroyed by the horrors of war. And as a hobbit he also represented some of the last vestiges of magic in what was basically a post magic apocalypse.

Frodo was basically an innocent puppy thrown into the Torment Nexus so that EVERYONE ELSE could maybe have a hope of surviving. And he did that willingly. HE DID IT OF HIS OWN FREE WILL, KNOWING IT WOULD RUIN HIM.

Frodo haters won't see the light of heaven

[heatherwitch]

Gray Catbird + American Robin

Great Horned Owls

Tree Swallow + Bank Swallow

Spotted Towhee + Hooded Merganser

Northern Rough-winged Swallow + Osprey

[heatherwitch]

generative AI literally makes me feel like a boomer. people start talking about how it can be good to help you brainstorm ideas and i’m like oh you’re letting a computer do the hard work and thinking for you???

[heatherwitch]

[heatherwitch]

i understand why old people sit outside just to sit outside

[heatherwitch]

Xenia means you help your neighbours escape immigration police

Xenia means you feed, house, and respect the homeless, regardless of what got them there

Xenia means you do the work to unlearn racism, misogyny, homophobia, ableism and transphobia

Xenia means (with obvious exceptions) you treat criminals and felons as human beings worthy of dignity and respect

Xenia means you make your environments less overstimulating if you know you’ll be with an autistic person

Xenia means Fuck the police

Xenia means you talk to the elderly neighbour who’s living on their own, and has nobody in their life

Xenia means respecting your trans friends identity even when they’re not present

[heatherwitch]

how to dress so girls and crows will notice me but security cameras won’t

[heatherwitch]

Prehnite with Epidote and Actinolite inclusions - Mali

[heatherwitch]

Sleepytime

[heatherwitch]

i hate it when i cant even write a poem about something because its too obvious. like in the airbnb i was at i guess it used to be a kids room cause you could see the imprint of one little glow in the dark star that had been missed and painted over in landlord white. like that's a poem already what's the point

[heatherwitch]

"guys we're so cooked" "it's wraps" "the end is near" shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up. i say that with love because you are probably saying it out of distress and hopelessness, but for your own well-being and for everyone else's, please stop saying this shit.

no we are not "cooked." and by saying that, by the way, you are giving more power to the neo-nazi oligarchy in charge.

they want you to abandon all hope of a better life. they want you to believe "oh well, it's over, we might as well stop trying to fight back and just resign ourselves to despair forever."

every time you get on tiktok and comment "guys we're so cooked haha it's over," you are feeding into the mindset of hopeless compliance. you are, unknowingly, spreading this infectious idea that just because we've lost one battle, we've lost the entire war.

your words matter. i am saying this out of love and concern for our future, but please stop choosing words of defeat.

[heatherwitch]

Nymph Worship

Nymph: singular, a nature spirit in the Greek pantheon

Nymphai: plural form of nymph

First, let’s talk about what a Nymph is. A nymph is usually described as a ‘lesser’ Goddess in Hellenism. They tend to be localized nature spirits, though that’s not the only type of Nymph out there. What does that mean for your worship? Well, it means that most Nymph worship is going to be for the specific Nymphai in your area. While you may choose to worship some more famous Nymphai and ones from other areas, you’re likely to find that there are plenty in your own area that you can worship as well.

Types of Nymphai:

Here are some types of nymphs connected to nature:

Alseides (nymphai of glens and groves)

Anthousai (flower nymphs)

Asteriae, the (stars)

Auloniades (nymphai of pastures)

Aurai, the (breezes)

Crinaeae (nymphai of fountains)

Daphnaeae (laurel tree nymphai)

Dryades (nymphai associated with trees)

Epimeliades (nymphai of highland pastures, protectors of flocks)

Haliai (nymphai of shore lines)

Hamadryades (oak nymphai)

Heleionomai (nymphai from wetlands)

Hesperides, the (nymphai of sunset)

Hyades, the (celestial nymphai of the constellation Aquarius)

Leimakides (nymphai of meadows)

Limnades (nymphai who reside in lakes)

Meliades (apple tree nymphai)

Meliai (nymphai of honey, bees, and ash trees)

Naiads (fresh water nymphai)

Napaeae (mountain valleys)

Nephelai, the (clouds)

Nereids (ocean nymphai who are the daughters of Nereus)

Oceanids (ocean nymphai who are daughters of Oceanus)

Oreads (nymphai of grottoes)

Pagaeae (nymphai who belong to springs)

Pleiades (yup, like the constellation)

Potameides (river nymphai)

The second type of Nymphai are those who are associated with cities, or who serve in retinue to a specific Theos. Such as:

Lampades (torch bearer nymphai in retinue to Hekate)

Maenads (nymphai in retinue to Dionysos)

For the purpose of this post I’m going to talk about the Nymphai connected to the earth and nature.

Named Nymphai

Some Nymphai are specifically named in myth. These are usually Nymphai who are associated with specific plants, but also one’s who’ve played a role in a Theos’ story at one point or another, and one’s who are patrons to specific towns and cities. This is just a sampling of some of the Nymphai who are named in myth.

Aba- Naiad of the town Ergisce in Ciconia, Thrace

Aigeiros- Hamadryad of black poplar

Asopis- Naiad Nymph of a town by the same name

Balanos- Hamadryad of evergreen oak

Bateia- Naiad of Sparta in Lacedaemonia

Daphne- Naiad who became the laurel tree

Io-Argive Princess and Naiad who was loved by Zeus

Karya- Hamadryad Nymph of nut trees, including hazelnut, walnut, and chestnut

Khloris- Oceanid and Goddess of flowers

Klytie- Oceanid who loved Helios and transformed into the heliotrope flower when He left Her

Kraneia- Hamadryad Nymph of cherry trees

Leuke- the white poplar tree

Lotis- Naiad who transformed into the lotus

Minthe- A Naiad who was transformed into the mint plant

Morea- Hamadryad of mulberry trees

Pitys- Oread Nymphs who transformed into the pine tree

Ptelea- Hamadryad of elm trees

Syke- Hamadryad of fig trees

How to Worship Nymphai: Building a Shrine or Altar

When you’re talking about worship in Hellenism, a lot of people think about shrines and altars, since they give us a place to actually give offerings. Altars were historically built with the idea in mind of “how do I get this offering to the Theos it belongs to?” That means that Ouranic (heavenly) altars were raised up towards the sky. Khthonic (relating to the earth and death) altars were usually dug into the ground as the Khthonic Theoi were thought to reside under ground.

Altars for entities like Heroes and Nymphai were kind of odd. Some people would build them as khthonic altars, some people would build them as Ouranic, and it was’t uncommon to find that their worship was mixed with elements of both Ouranic and Khthonic ritual. Shrines and altars to the nymphai were almost exclusively built outside though from what I’ve seen. They were also built near where a Nymph was thought to reside when possible.

Personally, I like to have my altar for the local Nymphai outside, and raised up, similarly to how Ouranic altars are built. You don’t have to do it that way, it’s just the way I handle it. I also try to build any altars dedicated to the Nymphai with natural materials. So, for example, an altar for the local Nymphai in my area may be a flat stone on the edge of the forest near my home.

Giving offerings

Since Nymphai are regarded as living in or around the area where you would be making offerings, the need for Ouranic ritual, which is designed to send the offerings upwards, isn’t really there. There’s two ways I’d say you could approach this.

The first would be that you can give offerings in a khthonic manner, since Nymphai are khthonic in their connection to the Earth. This would mean pouring libations to the soil, and either burning or burying other offerings.

The other way you can approach offerings is to simply set any offerings before your altar or shrine, and leave them there for the Nymphai. An example of this would be to set an apple on your shrine as an offering, and leave it for a set amount of time before cleaning it up. If you are leaving offerings outside in local habitats be sure that you're using foods or plants already native to the area, and things that won't poison any animals who might eat it up.

Personally, I follow khthonic ritual when giving offerings to the Nymphai. I pour libations into the soil, I bury fruit, and I give the offering in it’s entirety to the Nymphai. I don’t consume any of what is meant for the Nymphai. Again, you don’t have to do things the way I do.

Types of Offerings

Any of the classic offerings can be given to Nymphai. These include:

Bread

Cheeses

Fruits

Flowers

Grains

Honey

Incense

Meat

Milk

Olive Oil

Statues (please don't be littering and leaving statues in the woods though)

Wine

You can also give them offerings from the surrounding area. If you have blueberries that grow wild in the area, then blueberries may prove to be a great offering. Again, I suggest sticking with things that are natural. Since Nymphai are nature spirits, giving them something plastic may not go over real well, especially if you’re leaving the offering outside in nature. Basically, be sure you’re not littering and leaving things that aren’t going to decompose when leaving offerings in nature. And please make sure you're not accidentally introducing invasive species of plants via fruit/seeds/ect.

Devotional activities would probably relate closely to the Nymph in question, though I do have a few general ideas.

Clean up the area where you believe the Nymph resides

Get involved in local conservation efforts

Go on nature walks and admire the influence and beauty of the Nymphai in your area

Nymphai and Prophecy

Nymphs, like many rustic deities, were considered to be connected to prophecy. Nympholepts were devotees of local Nymphai who also worked as prophets. Astragaloi, a form of divination using knuckle bones from sheep, was popular for communicating with Nymphai, and sets of astragaloi bones have been found in multiple caves where Nymphai were worshiped.

That’s certainly not the only option you have though when approaching Nymphai with the intent of divination and prophecy, and a little exploration and trial & error may turn up local Nymphai willing to communicate via other methods of divination.

[heatherwitch]

Out in the world beyond

Looking out to the world beyond

[heatherwitch]

How many Great Horned Owls do you see?

True distance from owls, the cross trail is very busy with dog walkers so they chose to be near people, once I spotted them from that trail I backed up to give them more space. I got eyeballed a few times but they were more concerned by the young kestrels flying above them.