#RELIGION AND I…HAVE A VERY COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP

[hekateanwitchcraft]

Hello! I'm curious to know, where do you draw the line between traditional Hekate worship and modern? After reading up on the history of Hekate, it seems like She has a lot less original associations than I thought. Like, Her traditional associated colors are red, black, and white, but what if I associate a deep berry purple with Her as well? Not specifically that, and I hope I didn't make this question too convoluted, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm now starting to feel serious about working with and worshipping Hekate, but I fear there's a lot of rules and associations to stick to.

If one isn't completely disregarding Her traditional existence, how strict should the practice be?

This is a complicated question and I may not be the best person to ask depending on what you’re looking for. As a reconstructionist, my worship of Hekate is mainly informed by tradition and the structure of Ancient Greek religion. So for me, there’s not much I do without some precedent in Her historical cult.

However, I’m also not a religious authority. While I am a historian and I’ve devoted 15 years to studying Hekate, I can’t tell you what is and isn’t correct in an abstract spiritual sense, only what history informs us of in terms of practices related to Her ancient worship.

Personally I find rules very helpful. The structure of traditions and the orthopraxy of Ancient Greek religion provides an important framework for my spiritual practice. But I understand that not everyone feels that way.

If you are getting serious about worshipping Hekate, I encourage you to continue learning about the traditional viewpoint of this goddess. I understand that it can seem like a lot of things to learn, and things that are very different from pop culture and neopagan ideas about Hekate, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are being restricted. It’s just getting to know a deeper side of Her, and providing a firm foundation to your understanding.

I’m not going to tell you that you have to approach your practice through Ancient Greek traditions, but I will pose a question to answer your question. If you feel drawn to worship Hekate based on non-traditional associations and understandings, ask yourself why. Why do you associate these other things with Her? Is it because they hold significance to you, because it matches modern popular ideas of what Her domains relate to, or because you feel spiritual connection to them? And if you find difficulty in connecting with a traditional view of Hekate, it can also be fair to ask yourself why you feel drawn to this goddess and why you wish to connect with Her.

This is not to say that if your answers to these questions complicate your approach that you shouldn’t worship Hekate. Rather I think it’s useful to have a basic understanding of all of the parts at play in order to build a strong foundation to your practice, relationship, and gnosis.

[vervielle]

hii to celebrate pride month i drew a little art of my favorite gay rocks

Also all except the first are doodles I haven't shared yet

sorry i couldnt do more i am kind of going through a personal rut but heeyyyy at least i finished school its summer time gangy #survived another month hahahaha.. hha... WOOOOOO I'M GONNA BE MORE ACTIVE NOW HOPEFULLY WOO WOO

[khajiitclaws]

MiqoMarch Day 24 — Reason

Hear. Feel. Think. The words of a goddess she knew not the true nature, but would follow her call all the same. This was her purpose, the reason of her existence.

[theatrekidenergy]

Any other non-Catholics still make the sign of the cross? Idk my family is Catholic so I grew up not exactly in the church, but very very close to it. As my mom described my upbringing it was “Catholic adjacent but with liberal beliefs.” I did attend mass growing up and partook in a lot of Catholic traditions and ways of practice (including signing the cross) since that’s how she was raised, and also how most of family worships, so it feels natural for me to do so.

I typically just as I’m Methodist (and a veryyyy liberal one even by UMC standards. Some of my beliefs could be considered Unitarian / Unitarian Universalist even. Faith is complicated, I just say Methodist because it feels right) and culturally Catholic, so I developed this very bizarre relationship with faith and how I practice it. 🤷‍♂️

[heycerulean]

the inevitable bond between "person who has a habit of breaking everything she touches, mostly literally but also metaphorically, who truly believes she can never learn to be gentle" and "person who has a disease that removes her from almost every aspect of the culture she's tried so hard to love and understand but simply cannot connect with in the same way others can"

[daz4i]

i am aware i will sound. ig ignorant is the right word here? but every time like. i watch a wendigoon video where he brings up his connection to religion. or when he brings up other creators of horror content who are religious and use it in their horror. i am so baffled

like to me, from all the people i met throughout my life (both jewish and christian), it's hard to think about religion as a good thing. i know more people who are ex-christians or ex-orthodox jews than ppl who believe in god (or rather, the ppl i do know who believe in god, aren't really people i was ever close to. more like neighbors in my old building). religion is something that has been traumatic to most people i know who had any connection to it. i personally see it as something that's been forced on me and is still forced on everyone in my country regardless of if we believe in it or not, ever since we were kids

(not to mention my personal gripe with god as a trans + disabled person lmao. my biggest enemy fr)

so seeing people treat religion as something positive is. ig the best word here is. alien to me. people using it in horror not as the thing that's horrifying (or rather, using demons as the thing that's horrifying, rather than the god fighting them) just feels wrong

logically i know people find meaning in it. i heard stories of belief saving people's lives. i have met people who are incredibly sweet and still religious (tho, i can count them on one hand). but at the same time, as a whole concept, and the way its people are currently working to ruin the lives of almost everyone in my country besides themselves, i can't help but view it as something vile. the things it makes people do are awful. the wars it causes. the human rights being trampled because of it. it's hard to imagine how someone could be entrenched in it but come out kind while still holding onto faith

[fosterscribbles]

Been doing some freakass divine shit with Vinny

can't help but hit my faves with angelic/holy beams bc I am haunted and unwell

[deadgirlsam]

thinks about arab sam celebrating ramadan all alone at stanford. yet another aspect of his life he can't bring himself to share with jess. bawls my eyes out

[quatregats]

Yes my finals are going great! (<- has been obsessing over Solomon a Gaenor for the past 48 hours and has been rendered completely incapacitated by it)

[baconcolacan]

Hey quick thing, does Tom in any of your AUs express any kind of religious trauma? Or things that make Tord go

‘huh’ *jots down in a notebook*

At like any point in his life? Doesn’t have to be big or anything just something that managed to trickle into his teen/adult life unconsciously

You’re talking to a catholic guy.

Yes he has religious trauma, in all AUs lmao

[daddy-socrates]

so glad i have therapy tonight im. Ready to talk about scary things

[loganremade]

.

[echidnana]

I think another thing that always bothered us about the specific brand of xtianity we grew up with was how selfish it felt. probably mainly through the dad. because it was all about redemption and preparation for the afterlife and getting in god's good graces and never about making earth a better place. always about the saints who were martyred for their beliefs and not those who helped others. about jesus being persecuted but not the people he fed. the sex workers he befriended.

[knight-of-the-graces]

~~~~~UNDER THE CUT~~~~~

It had been the night they'd taken the throne; once they'd talked Scott down from his panic enough to sleep they'd left him in the palace and gone straight to the church. They'd thrown the door open and stormed across the threshold and up the aisle to the altar. Lurching side to side with exhaustion and unfamiliarity with the added gangliness they'd gained from their most recent growth spurt. Trailing mud and blood and the smell of the soot and smoke that was all that remained of their parents' corpses.

The few priests still there had scattered. Even those who had taken their side. Xornoth had ripped the crown from between their antlers and slammed it down on the fine woolen altar cloth, staining the white and gold with the rusty-brown of old blood. Their father's blood.

"If he ever hears your voice the way I hear Exor's," Xornoth had proclaimed through gritted teeth, the heat gathered at their fingertips singeing the fabric. "Then I will burn this place to the ground, grind the ashes into the midden, and turn that statue of yours out there into so much dust."

That's not how it works, you fool! The demon in their head roared in rage, You cannot escape me. And he cannot escape my brother. It is fate! Balance! A Battle forever locked!

Xornoth did not look away from the golden antler crest above the altar. "Do you understand me, Aeor?"

There was no response in words but the atmosphere in the sanctuary shifted, the few candles still lit flickering as if bent by a breeze. A vague sense of acknowledgement rolled over Xornoth's soul and they took the choked off anger from the place in the back of their mind where Exor dwelt to mean it was an affirmative.

Xornoth had never been an elf of many words. They left the heat-warped crown there on the altar, glistening golden in the low lights.

And Scott's mind had always been his own.

His mind but not, apparently, his life, Xornoth thought as, decades later, they once again stood on those same, flawless quartz stairs, a different crown for the same kingdom settled between their antlers, a weight rendered almost invisible from familiarity.

And whose fault is that? Exor sneered. Xornoth ignored him. Turning on their heel to jab a finger at the back of the stag statue's head.

"If I step foot in here and you smite me, Scott will be sad. And he'll have to be king and then he'll never have a full nights sleep ever again and you know it."

They pause a moment. There is no response but there is no roll of thunder either or sudden stormhead over the mountains, so that is probably as good as Xornoth is going to get.

Enough procrastinating. They have a brother to apologize to.

-

AU Masterpost

Fic Snippet: Complicated Relationships

Religious trauma comes in some interesting flavors when gods walk among you.

random little snippet from The AU In Which All the Marriages Are Arranged that i thought y'all might like

~500 words, canon-typical gods and possession talk, also some referenced murder.

-

Xornoth had been inside Aeor’s church exactly once since…since Everything.

Keep reading

[donovankinard]

its been a while since ive been to church but im thinking about asking my mum to take me to a friday service at my primary school

[shorlinesorrows]

hey y’all sorry for the sudden burst of religion-related posts I just discovered there are chill religious queer people on tumblr and nearly cried with joy

if you come to tumblr and want to avoid religion for whatever reason (I know it’s hard for some people, for a variety of reasons) feel free to block the tag shorline (re)blogs religious stuff