#Apollodeity

[lucifersmockingbird]

I love Him so much. I just wanted to share His altar. 💛

[sunquiver777]

Rainbow of approval

[rens-apollo-shrine-blog]

Being an Apollo devotee is having that Morticia eye lighting but instead of moonlight it's sunlight

[teawiththegods]

All roads lead to Apollo

[whispersinthewaters]

Lord Apollon, my bright shining star,

Some say when the sun is gone you have gone a far,

But even when the sun has gone away,

I still hear the melodies you play,

Your healing hand glows soft and bright,

Even through the darkest night,

And in a Black-crow call,

Or in a wolfhounds maw,

I hear your voice,

And I Rejoice,

To hear such a sweet sound!

(Border by firefly-graphics, go check out their page)

[thechthonicherbalist]

My humble Altar

Before I put it away for the winter holidays and local solstice celebrations, here's my little pop-up altar, complete with offerings. Sharing in response to my friend @jehan-the-necromancer who has been curious for a while now and the lovely @chthoniclakewitch who asked about it.🥰 (I thought I might as well put the pics in a post, I hope you two don't mind being tagged. 🙈)

Mostly I'm working with Apollo and Aphrodite, Gods of Love, Sexuality, Queerness, Healing, Muse, Poetry, Inspiration and Beauty! The reason is mostly my own queer gender identity and sexuality, as well as a life-long love for art, music and writing.

But also my experiences with CSA, depression and hurt are relevant in regards to many of these topics, as well as the struggles that come as a result. Apollo and Aphrodite give me security, capacity to practice self-love and consider the love others have for me, when anxiety threatens to lie to my heart and make me doubt it. They are also who I turn to for comfort and where I seek refuge when these things get hurt or when it's difficult to navigate them. And they are the ones I pray to, when I want to extend my love to others or when I hope to see people I carry in my heart protected, healing and cared for. Especially in situations where I directly help a person with these things... Aphrodite helps me learn how to think, act, speak and connect with deep love and care for the human essence. Apollo helps me learn how to see the light and beauty of things and how to tap into my healing potential through creative expression. Both these things are life long journeys.

I also pray to Ares and Hecate. Ares because I am a very sensitive person who experiences others and their own emotions very deeply and easily gets very deeply impacted by them. It can be like I absorb the emotions of others and then have to work through them and understand them in all detail myself, even if they don't even fathom that or don't have to do that themselves. So I often carry lots of fear, sadness and hurt in my heart, or need to untangle the anger of others or sometimes also myself, because it mostly servers as a protective response. Simultaneously I have a profound inability to take in and hold the emotion of anger very well, due to complex childhood trauma where people with unresolved anger issues would lash out in life- and safety-threatening ways due to their lack of self-control and and cause both physical and emotional damage. Therefore it was equally life-threatening in this environment to express anger or any other emotion or to protect myself by removing myself from situations that overwhelmed me. To this day, there is nothing more terrifying to me than a person who cannot control their anger, who cannot communicate an issue, fear or a hurt in other ways than by lashing out. It still feels life-threatening, it gives me mortal anxiety and I can't process and react to that in real time. I will always shut down and struggle to comprehend even my own thoughts and memories in this moment. I am reduced to pure fear and survival instincts at this point. And it took me many years to learn from Ares that I am allowed to protect myself, guard my peace and well-being by taking breaks when this become too much, especially when I'm under intentional attack.

Ares reminds me that it is okay to feel and express my own anger, but also that I do not want to follow examples of toxic, unhealed anger expression, by reminding me of the warrior's honor. He reminds me that unfiltered emotion equals war and destruction. And in collaboration with Aphrodite and Apollo, that such things have no place in healthy, loving connections. That there is always a hurt or a fear underneath such strong and violent emotions, that seek to be protected. And that it is important to step back, to process my anger, yes, but to write it down, over and over until I am calm and understand the essence of what I want to express, without hurting the ones I love. And that others are equally responsible to do moderate their own emotions and that I don't have to expose myself if they have not been responsible enough to put in the work and effort it takes to learn how. Ares is also who teaches me to enforce boundaries. That I am worthy of divine and earthly protection and justice. That it is okay to fight injustice and mistreatment, instead of quietly tolerating it. That my well-being, my rights and my existence are worth fighting for. That my life and I am worth fighting for. Worth defending. That if nobody stands up for me, it is okay if I do that. That peace is fought for, negotiated over, not merely tolerated. He and Apollo are who I pray to, for strength and endurance in my battle against depression, chronic illness and now cancer. He is the first god I ever prayed to, who I ever recognized as a god, when I was a child.

And Hecate is... Hecate. The mother, the maiden and the crone. The witch goddess. Protector of the crossroads. Those who know her, know her. Those who do not... fear her. I pray to her for protection, for guidance. And to help me heal the witch-wound. The wound all people carry who have been othered or unjustly accused and punished out of fear for their knowledge and powers, rather than being honoured, heard and understood. She is also known as the goddess of Boundaries, the Underworld, Plants and Herbalism as well as the Moon. I'd like to say that my connection with her is much more... obscure and yet personal than with any of the other gods. I refer to her as mother, when I pray.

[shewithbloodofdevotion]

I tell Apollo "good morning" on my way to work as the sunrises every morning. He helps start my day off a little brighter

[loverofdoves]

i wasn’t in the path of the total eclipse and the picture i did get did not get the entire vibe of the grey desaturated lighting but i still had a wonderful eclipse! i set out cards for Apollon and Artemis on my altar and because it finally feels like spring more than it has since the equinox, i lit some pink candles and rose incense. i also made some eclipse water to cleanse my altar with and do rituals with. i hope everyone had a good eclipse if you could see it!!

[hellenic-reconstructionism]

Masking as a devotional act

Wearing a mask as a devotional act to Asklepios and Apollon...thoughts?

[pinnacledpits]

throughout my practice and my life, Apollo has been there wether I knew it or not. he was there when I started paganism, and there when i thought it wasn’t for me. Coming back to it a few days ago, i started seeing signs of him, and thought more about him. if anybody wasn’t there for me, he was, and that’s something i can’t get anywhere else☀️

[matriarca-inodora]

A modern take on Apollon Smintheus (UPG)

(this is a non-scripted ramble, all views here are my own)

I had a very interesting (personal and def upg) insight about Apollo's connection to mice and rats while I was playing with my pet rats earlier today.

My lord always finds ways to surprise me. I knew the fact that I recently got pet rats is one of many ways I'm battling depression, but it's so, so much more than that.

You see, rats are often very negatively portrayed in contemporary culture. They are seen as a pest, as a synonym to illness, as something to be fought against. People see them with disgust for what they are. Hell, even Apollo Smintheus is often seen as a rather scary aspect of the god.

Now, this is the thing. This is also very much how I see myself in my worst days of depression. Horrible, pestilent, surrounded by mourning and illness. I have been very deep into this pit and it feels like all you wanna do is eliminate that pest that is yourself.

And then I saw it all under a new light. Slowly, with intense ups and downs, until the idea shone on me.

Pet rats are wonderfully smart and loving creatures. They are fun, energetic, and full of surprises. Despite being quirky compared to most usual pets, they have a lot to teach in their short, fragile lives.

That is how I perceive myself in my bright days, too. As a mortal, I know I'm fragile, ephemeral, and small compared to the enormity that is life on this planet. And imagine just how much "smaller" a rat is. Small, short lived, fragile, and yet absolutely curious, full of live. The duality, clear as day, terrible as the night.

Their existence taught me once again what it is to be alive. Being limited, being human, is not something that hinders our lives. It doesn't diminish their, or our worth. The fact that I am small, or that my rats are small, doesn't make any of us less alive.

Apollo Smintheus, lord of rats, taught me that just as there is death, there is life. To me, he is a fierce protector of mental health and (alongside Dionysos, Aphrodite and Eros) a god that celebrates live as the amazing flame it is.

Not just that, Smintheus, by very definition, is ambiguity. Leader of rats, destroyer of rats. A protector, yet unpredictable. There is a very fine line that threads these oppositions, and in this nuance I once again find the old wisdom of Apollo.

I remember I am mortal and I cherish my life, twice-given by him.

[hestiashearthfire]

Hi so I the think lord Apollon is mad at me, for reference I am a devotee of Helios and I have been getting kinda mad at people recently for assuming that Apollon is the sun god and or just replacing Helios entirely and I know this is purely a me issue and I have prayed and given libation to him to let him know that I still respect him and don't think of him the way I am of some people and such but I have been seeing a lot of dead snakes recently (yes I know not everything is a sign and yes I know that snakes are associated with a lot of gods but idk about this one)

Khaire, dear Anon! I don’t think Apollon is mad at you in the slightest. We must always remember that the gods, while capable of anger, are gods. They’re closer to the Good, and certainly wouldn’t get angry over something small like this. Now, if you murder your parents or something, you might need to worry, but generally we don’t have “sins” in Hellenic polytheism, so the gods aren’t here to punish us for every mistake.

Regardless, even if you had somehow angered Lord Apollon, you offered him libations and expressed your sincere apology. Why should Apollon not accept it? Again, the gods are not so petty they’d reject a well-made offering. The poets may say one thing, but that doesn’t make it true.

I’m not sure what to make of the snakes, but I wouldn’t worry too much. With all this hot weather we’re having, our snake friends are probably just more active than usual.

[sunquiver777]

[rens-apollo-shrine-blog]

If.. if I say that Apollo looks a lot like Zeus, what happens, like he could grow a beard and that just blonde smaller Zeus. Like there's a lot of his mother in him but, Apollo is someone you can't deny is Zeus' son.

Do you think he is aware that he has a resemblance to his father, choosing to remain young looking , beardless to keep onto his own path, something other than his father.

Also Athena, almost exactly like Zeus, if he was a woman she'd be Athena, eldest daughter curse doesn't discriminate. The same look in their eyes the curve of their noses, the tone of voice.

[teawiththegods]

My mini shrine to Apollo on my desk at work. It’s important to me to have Apollo with me at my job bc not only is he my main deity overall, but considering I work in a library he’s also my patron deity at work.

Personally, I see libraries as modern day temples to Apollo. So supporting your local libraries can be seen as a devotional act to him! 📚☀️

[whispersinthewaters]

Hebe

Shes like a summer day, playing with your friends, making crowns out of flowers, jamming to ABBA as you cruise down the road with your sunroof open. You stop at a coffee shop and order your favorite drink.

Apollon

He's like an autumn afternoon, strolling down the sidewalk, looking up at the trees that are turning colors as rays of light filter through creating a mosaic above you. Thunder rumbles from afar, so you stand in the sun to get the last of it before it is swallowed up by the approaching clouds.

Artemis

Shes like a winter night, your breath makes clouds in the air. You shiver, thinking of going inside, but something stops you. And as you look up into the sky, fluffy snowflakes floating down, the moonlight shines on your face, and the stars glitter. You decide you'll brave the cold for a few more minutes.

Aphrodite

Shes like a spring morning, you step outside, and, for the first time in months, little flowers surround your doorstep. Tiny birds flit overhead and you smile. You hop in the car with a loved one and decide to get breakfast before starting your day. You go to a cafe and get a croissant with chocolate drizzle and some coffee. You stir the honey in, and pour the cream, and as you look at that person whom you love so much, you wonder what in the world you did to get so lucky.