#it's stuff like this that keeps me from practicing hellenism

[redactedresearch]

i wonder about the modern retellings of persephone's abduction and how it reflects society's (children of all ages) views of their mothers

[merriclo]

hihi!! i don't know exactly what to ask but i'm super curious. looking at you with my autistic eyes, if you want to talk about your religion, feel free to tell me any aspect of it that you want to talk about..,.,

AHAJJDKSK YAY OKAY !!!!!!!! i don’t get to talk about it irl because.. im the only person i know who practices it. so omg yippie

okay so i practice hellenic polytheism, which is just a fancy was of saying worshipping the ancient Greek Gods. surprise, their worshippers still exist!!!!!! tbh i completely understand why some people get freaked out or confused whenever they find out (another reason why i usually keep it under wraps most of the time) because.. it’s weird as fuck from an outside perspective. without any genuine knowledge of modern day hellenism, it’s strange seeming.

i’m personally a devotee to Lady Aphrodite, Goddess of love, beauty, and passion! it’s actually kinda fun how i came to worship her. a few years ago when i discovered hellenism, i was like woah.. this resonates…. and then that night i had a dream where a beautiful woman held my face and told me i was a follower of Lady Aphrodite. which was freaky and all woahhhhsjsjdjf what. the fuck? and now that i’m typing it out it sounds Very Strange. i promise im in the right state of mind i just have weirdly personal dreams sometimes

UHHANSNFK ANYWAYS. i love Lady Aphrodite very much and nothing makes my blood boil than seeing people spread hatred and bigotry in her name. i’ve seen a few TERFs claim her messaging and use her symbols as way to hate trans people and it’s like. whhat the fuck are you on about. have you even read her myth. do you even know anything about her. in certain theologies she was formed from a castrated penis and sea foam. and don’t even get me started on her children??????? anyways. Lady Aphrodite is not a fucking TERF for fucks sake

i’m actually not quite sure what else to say without getting into the real nitty gritty and personal stuff. if you have any more questions i’m so down to answer i love rambling about Lady Aphrodite

[witness2caesar]

Introduction Post !

Hello! I already had one of these but some has changed in that little amount of time and I decided to finally get on with it to rewriting it. So here is some stuff about me and my practice.

Before we get into it I would like to say I am so genuinely thankful for having people interact with me on here and be kind to me even when I ask certain questions for help. This especially applies to anyone who saw and comforted me on my very first post going over my anxiety with this and the post where I vented about my depression. I do not reply to comments under posts mainly because I am nervous to but please know that I am forever grateful for all the kindness and support. ❤️

I go by multiple names but as of right now I use "Alyce", "Amleth", "Nakoa", & "Heloise" the most. I have just turned 17 years old about a month ago, I use any pronouns along with Neos such as vamp.(Because gender is fun). I am a Puerto Rican Taíno, with some Dutch thrown in there from my moms side. My experience with my practice hasn't been for long, but my research makes up for it I think. I have been hyper-fixated on Greek Mythology in general since Elementary school but became interested and drawn to the Hellenic practice in middle school. I am not by any means saying my research has been 100% reliable or valid compared to actual first hand experience.

I am a baby witch! I have been interested in the idea of it since around the same time I've been interested in the Hellenic practice, my mom is a very superstitious lady so that still has effect on how I can practice in the house. I am still very new to Tarot, and I have a long way to go with it (Searching up on YouTube for shuffling tutorials)...

About my worship and relationships with Gods, I publicly worship Apollo, Ares, and Hermes. I mostly keep my worship and relationship with Helios, Selene, Nyx, Dionysus, and Aphrodite very private unless to post something silly or progress that I am proud of. This is just a personal choice of mine for now. So you will most likely see more posts of those three than those other five.

I am a writer! The main genre I stick to is around Thriller and Fantasy, and have at least 20+ unfinished book ideas in my docs. I've been feeling much more confident about my writing though and started thinking about doing writing commissions in the future. I do block a lot! So if anyone finds themselves blocked by me its just for personal preference on what I want on my dash, so please don't take it personally :3<

I have an Instagram and TikTok that is also for religious posts but I have just recently made the Instagram and for the TikTok you will have to dm for it because I do not feel comfortable giving it out on a site like this. Thank you:)

[leannan-sithe]

I’m wondering where I can learn about like, godspouse courtship processes, marriage rituals, what might be required of each sides in a marriage/relationship, etcetera. Details like that. I get its individual to each Deity or spirit/entity and each relationship, but like, I’m trying to find specific examples.

To be clear, I get that this is a very personal thing, I don’t blame the sources I’ve found for not going in depth. I’m not currently trying to get into a relationship with a Deity or other entity, and I don’t think I’m receiving interest. I just keep getting fixated on this. For some reason I keep ending up down rabbit holes searching, wanting concrete examples, as if I do have a relationship to figure out, even though I don’t. Sorry, if that’s weird. I was just wondering if you had resources that could help.

Yeah! I understand the drive to learn more. If you ever find yourself wanting to engage with the practice with a specific entity, send me a DM and we'll chat.

(You can also DM me to talk in general, I don't mind that, and I don't post callout posts unless it's like the person who dated the ghosts of serial killers and was super racist. Community-level threats get @'d, not randoms with opinions I don't agree with.)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there aren't godspouse courting processes or specific rituals, nor are there requirements. I can give specific examples (and I will) but there's not... anything set in stone. Sorry.

I'm going to fictionalize and slightly dramatize some stories of people I know, with changed names and details.

You worshipped Cernunnos for years, getting into the practice because they reminded you of your childhood fascination with the woods and wilderness and learning about how to build shelters and traps and stuff. It started when you were 17 and were a "baby pagan," just learning about how worship and spirituality might look to you. You grew up in a Christian household, so you just don't know what to think or do. You make a habit of talking at Cernunnos over time, then when you get into spirit work, you start to get communication back (in signs, divination, dreams, etc). You joke and laugh and do things with Cernunnos, having fun with your godly buddy. One day, you're chatting with a friend who brings up godspousing, talking about specific things like dating or flirting. You make a joke about how "if that's godspousing, then you've been godspousing for at least a year." Your friend internet-looks at you blankly. Oh, shit. You've been doing godspousing for at least a year. The next divination you do is effectively a smug look from Cernunnos and a request for a "real date". Have you been dense enough to not notice they were FLIRTING flirting with you?

You're a Hellenic polytheist and you have a broad group of deities you work with in various capacities. You're fond of Hera and Aphrodite in particular, but you leave out offerings and whatnot when you want to appreciate the other deities. Or ask for their help in matters. You've been doing this for 10 years, it seems like. Since you were a preteen, and now you're an adult. You've been seeing a lot of things lately, the same sort of symbols. Lets say it's a specific fruit or color. That symbol has been popping up everywhere. What's going on? You mull on it for a few months until someone gifts you one of those fruits out of nowhere. Confused, befuddled, you leave the fruit on your altar for Hera to have. Over the next week you get these feelings that something is wrong, and you ask a friend to do divination for you -- your cards aren't doing shit for answers. The friend says there's a goddess that wants your attention. What? The friend also says that Hera is annoyed at you. You spend the next week pulling cards, looking into mirrors, analyzing your dreams before realizing she didn't like something on the altar. The fruit, maybe? The mystery goddess comes to mind randomly. You look the fruit up and-- of course it's Persephone, why wouldn't it be Persephone. You spend the next two years adding her to your roster of godly friends, until she starts dropping signs in your lap like mad. Daily, even. It takes another 6 months to figure out that she wants to *date* you. What. Why. How. You're wracked with worry about hubris and guilt, before you finally give in and join a godspousing group at your friend's recommendation. It takes you another 3 months to actually ask Persephone on a date. You do dates, shift her to central in your worship schedule, and.... just in case, you double check with Hades via divination that it's cool. (It is. He gives his blessing.) After a year of dating her, you start getting ring imagery everywhere. Repeatedly. She's proposing. You panic for another few months before writing out marriage oaths -- no one in the GSing community ever gives their vows/oaths verbiage in full as examples to others, it's a personal, sometimes sacred thing that we're all a little embarrassed about, you just gotta wing it -- and while you're practicing, Persephone pops in your mind and says "I do". Wait, no, that was. That wasn't the real one. She sends you mental images of putting rings on fingers. You spend a few weeks discussing it with her (and panicking) because you don't quite understand if it was legitimate or not, and it hurts your feelings a little that she just did it while you were practicing, but you come to the decision that you actually do like the idea of being formally married to her. So you decide it's the for real one.

You're in your early twenties, you decide your life is a bit boring so you decide to get into divination, specifically tarot. One of your dumbass woowoo friends you had a crush on was into them, and you kind of liked the art. In learning about tarot, you learn about witchcraft and crystals and stuff. Okay, sure. You'll do that. In a year, you're googling plant correspondences on tumblr whenever you cook a recipe. You always make your coffee with intention. But it still doesn't feel fine? Something was missing. You get into the wiccan side of tumblr witchcraft, and start adding deities into your lineup, making altars and worshipping any one of them that strikes your fancy. It costs a bit of money but it's worth feeling like you're doing something right. Eventually that gets boring for you and you sort of move on to other things. A few years later you get back into the woowoo stuff, and start thinking about the deities again. You feel a little guilty but don't get any closure about those worship relationships. It feels awkward. You swerve back into divination, choosing to pick up runes instead. You learn about how Odin is weird and masculine and can be evil. Whatever, you just want the runes. A few months in, someone questions an offhand remark you make about Odin being bad. You get corrected, learn a bit more about him, and... he sounds cool? You've known about the concept of godspousing for a while now, but you're a little leery about the whole worship thing, especially since it didn't work out last time. You approach Odin but you're CLEAR you don't want a relationship like a godspouse. You work with him for a few months. He shows up in your dreams as a variety of characters, you start to associate him with certain tv shows and watch those to bond. You started out fearing him a bit and worshipping him in a very rigid way, designing your own prayers and protocols, but now he's just the weird dude that watches Warehouse 13 with you and calls dibs on half your nachos when you make them. (You eat them anyways.) Eventually, you have a dream in which he kisses you. Um. Okay. No. You ignore it. You don't say anything to him, you just pretend it never happened. It happens again. This time, you sit down and have a conversation. You weren't interested in dating him. He's interested in dating you. ....... Well, maybe you're interested in dating him now. After all, he's not the terrifying figure you thought he was. You set a date in 6 months upon which you'll give him an answer, and tell him you expect him to behave until then and any misbehavior means you're booting him out of your life. He does behave, but another of your gods has to kick him in the ass for toeing the line. In 6 months, you tell him that you can date, and you set a bunch of rules out. No showing me imagery of the ocean or deep water, you have a phobia. No bothering me at work. Don't send me sexual stuff unless I ask for it. He reluctantly follows through but he does have to be reminded. Eventually, you dating Odin is just. The thing that you're doing. You don't really want to label it. It gives you some amazing sex dreams and weird fantasies that you're embarrassed about, but there's a lot of people who think about Odin that way online, yeah?

I genuinely don't know what information I can give you, but again, feel free to DM. Hope these were entertaining at least.

[wychwoodroad]

Come Refresh my Altar with me!

Today is March 1st, and on the first of every month, I take the time to refresh my altar space. This is a great way for me to keep my physical space clean while also keeping my spiritual space clean. It's been something I've done for nearly two years now, and it's such an integral part of my practice.

Before we begin, let's take a look at the state of my altar now:

While not cluttered, my space is certainly been well-used and not as tidy as it was at the start of February.

The first thing to do is to take everything off: I do this in steps. The top section of my altar being one space I tackle, then each lower surface being their own separate spaces I work on. Keeping things in sections helps me not be so overwhelmed when doing this.

Once everything is off, I wipe the surface down to rid any dust (making sure to wipe off my many items for dust, too), and anoint the space with olive oil. I do only anoint the bottom space will oil; a preference for the Hellenic entities I work with versus the Norse and Kemetic ones I work with on the top part. Then, once cleaned and oiled, I put everything back.

I don't always put things back in the same way I took them off. I like rearranging things slightly - and sometimes I just can't remember how they were before. This is another way I keep things fresh. It also helps create more intention in what to focus on for the month ahead. In this case, my focus for this month centres around 'resetting', which is something I feel in need of.

Let's see how things came together after putting everything back:

As you can see, some stuff stayed the same while other things have been moved and arranged a little differently. Sometimes putting things back on the space feels like a puzzle I need to solve: what pieces go where, how do they fit together? It's a fun little game I play with myself at the start of each month.

And finally, while refreshing my altar is the main ritual I have at the start of each month, it is not the only ritual I have: I also light incense. in this instance, I light Jasmine to welcome in abundance and prosperity for the month of March (I ran out of cinnamon incense). Specifically abundance through my Etsy store and prosperity from those around me I care for and who care for me.

I wanted to share this part of my ritual since I really love how the smoke looks in the photos I took.

And that's it! That's my little ritual I do the first of every month. It helps keep a routine in my life and that's something I'm very thankful for.

I hope this look into my practice helped you gain deeper insight into who I am and what I do. Spirituality and divination are such a large part of my life that it's important to me to let you know that it goes beyond just doing it as work. It's also something I do for fun.

Thank you so much for taking the time to come with me on this journey. Be sure to check out my Etsy and Instagram for more content like this! Thank you and have a happy March!

STORE | INSTAGRAM

[divine-crows]

- About Me -

Celtic Pagan -- Mild Animist -- Witch

Art/Main Blog: @corvidnothous

PAGANISM INFO

From a young age I always resonated with polytheism so I can't really pinpoint a time frame for when I was practicing because I prayed to deities on and off throughout my youth in secret.

As you can probably see already, I identify as a pagan, I also refer to myself as a polytheist at times but pagan just feels right to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I try to mainly approach my practice from a reconstructionist angle but I also sprinkle in UGP in areas I can't seem to find sources in

Mainly Irish-Celtic Pagan, Interested in Brythonic, Germanic, and Gaullic Paganism but not fully immersed into it yet.

Former Hellenic Pagan (no hard feelings, I just needed to move onto my next step in my path!)

I'm a closeted Pagan so I can't do too much fancy stuff (sad) but I try my best!

I post random thoughts relating to my faith, occasionally offering-type stuff to my deities, and I reblog a lot of pagan stuff I find neat/helpful!

I mainly venerate. . .

- Lugh (Irish Deity)

- Brigid (Irish Deity)

- Cernnunos (Gallo-Roman Deity)

- Belesama/Belisama (Gallo-Brythonic Deity)

WITCHCRAFT INFO

I've been on and off practicing for years starting some time in early middle school? My practice has grown a lot since then!

I kinda lean towards "Traditional/Folk" style methods of doing magic (I think thats the best way to put it?) A practical witch if you will.

Closeted witch so I can't do much fancy stuff, I have to keep it lowkey but I try my best!

I reblog tarot spreads I like, spellwork info, and witchy stuff I find neat. Occasionally I make posts that I think might be helpful to others!

My favorite witchy practices are. . .

- Divination

- Hedgework

- Working with 'the spirits of the land'

- Utilizing the Witches Compass

- Art magic

This is NOT the page for you if you are. . .

xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist or fascist.

I do not tolerate 'folkish'/'volkish' ideology, and likewise I don't tolerate those who appropriate from practices.

[[DNI or I will block you as I see fit]]

[dairedara]

hi, i hope you're doing okay. i'm sorry to ask this - but considering you made a switch from hellenic to brythonic/irish paganism, i was wondering if you had any advice for me. i'm worshipping many hellenic gods, and my shrines are overflowing with statues and devotions build up over many years. and yet i feel the pull of welsh deities - i have had one in particular reach out - and i find myself overwhelmed. i want to explore this new path, without the old feeling either 1) abandoned, 2) unworthy of my attention, or 3) forced if i can't beat the anxiety of the former 2 options. How did you tackle this? What was your experience? Thank you for your time.

Ooo this is a good question!

Alright, so, my main switch happened during a pretty sizable break I was taking from religion in general, when I was very burnt out and stressed, but I did incorporate some Celtic deities into my practice before that switch happened— namely Arawn, who I found out had been a presence in my life since I was young but I hadn’t been able to name him, and also the Dagda and the Morrígan.

My advice to incorporating these new deities is to get into the mindset of an ancient polytheist. When a Roman soldier went to Brittania and sacrificed to the new gods he met, he wasn’t abandoning his old ones— he simply made more room for them on his altar. Also, he didn’t necessarily have a super deep complex relationship with every deity he ever honored. He may have offered or prayed a few times to one for a specific reason.

The reason we associate gods with different concepts or things is because we need them in different spheres of our lives. We, as humans, are always growing, always changing, and as pagans we are going to naturally gravitate away from certain gods and go towards new ones. We may return to the old ones eventually. The gods understand this. I always think about it like my relationships with other humans. I have childhood best friends that I grew apart from, whether because of circumstance or because we just naturally parted, but despite the fact I don’t talk to them I still think of them fondly and appreciate the memories of them because they helped make me who I am today. One thing I did to ease the process was to do a new moon ritual where I thanked my “old” gods for all they did for me before I formally welcomed my “new” hearth cult.

One advantage of moving towards celtpol as a helpol rather than something else is the fact that there is… pretty much zero way to correctly practice celtpol from a reconstructionist perspective. If you are used to a certain style or process of ritual and/or worship, you can keep doing that. There’s no need to replace a working part of your practice when there is literally nothing to replace it with, lol.

Just some general advice for dealing with Celtic deities: you will have to rely on UPG a lot. Read the Mabinogion, read the Irish Cycles, wherever your deities are found. Read them multiple times, take notes. Eventually you will start to associate certain things with them. The archaeology just isn’t there like it is with classical religion, so there’s much less academic stuff out there if you’re used to that sort of thing. You will have to do a lot of extrapolation and put in the work.

One helpful resource I enjoyed from a contemporary perspective was Morgan Daimler’s Irish paganism books, she is one of the only Celtpol authors I trust and enjoy. Unfortunately there’s not really a Brythonic equivalent for her stuff, although maybe we’ll get one someday.

In terms of celtpol community, you’ll find it’s a lot lonelier than the helpol community. There’s just simply not many of us, and also we all just have radically different beliefs. There’s basically nothing that’s agreed upon. You’ll have celtpols who are very regionalist, anti-woo, etc. and you’ll have celtpols who are hyper-syncretist, very woo-y and whatnot. I’m in America, so it might be different for real-life communities in Ireland/the UK if that’s where you are.

Thank you so much for the question, nonnie <3 I wish you good luck on all your journeys, and please feel free to reach out again with asks or DMs if you have any other questions!

[ofsappho]

oooh can you talk about what being devout means to you?

Hi anon! I’m happy to!

I want to start off by saying that “devout” will mean totally different things to different people. I cannot and will not judge someone else’s piety by my own standards because they just don’t apply and that’s not how that works.

However, some level of piety and devotion is, to me, a necessary part of Hellenic Polytheism. Even if your piety and devotion looks different from mine, I do think you should have it if you want to be a part of this religion. Do it in your own way, find your own path, but that doesn’t mean you should throw the whole concept of piety out the window.

I think that religious trauma (particularly of the American Protestant type) can make concepts of piety feel triggering and “bad”, but I view piety and devotion as simply another level of respect I have for the Theoi. Every relationship, religious or otherwise, involves respect. For yourself and for the other party (or parties). Because I respect the gods, I do things that they would (and have historically) liked, just in my own way. Being pious and devout doesn’t have to mean you have to give up to parts of yourself, if anything, being devout has only added to my life.

Okay, enough of that. Things I do that make me devout (to me):

- I pray every night. I do have formal prayers that I recite, that I wrote myself, but I go off script sometimes if I need to. This is just a check in with the gods, I thank them, it helps me feel closer to them by communicating with them and it helps keep them on my mind everyday.

- I keep the gods on my mind as much as possible. I’ll read about them, I’ll reblog tumblr posts about them, I’ll discuss aspects of Hellenic polytheism with friends, I try to see the gods wherever they can be found in my life. Being devout can be as simple as that. I am taking a class on Greek mythology next semester, I read plays and books and hymns, I read academic articles and keep up to date on archaeological news. All of these count to me.

- I have tattoos that mark my devotion to my patron, Aphrodite Areia. So tattoos were not considered a good thing in Ancient Greece. It would be ahistorical and inaccurate of me to claim that. However, I’m Filipino, and in pre-colonial Philippines, tattoos were a huge part of our culture, our society, and our religious practices. They could tell the story of who you were, who your ancestors and family were, your place in society, etc. Historically, Hellenic Polytheism was adopted/syncretized in places outside of Ancient Greece and those traditions were mixed with the traditions of that specific place. This is one example of what I mean when I say being devout has added things to my life. I have tattoos to honor Aphrodite because that’s how my ancestors honored their gods and spirits, it was a hugely significant and respectful thing to do, and I am giving Aphrodite that respect and significance per my culture.

- when I get married, I will have a religious ceremony and I will cover my hair. I would probably need to write a whole separate post on my choice to cover my hair after marriage, but TLDR it will be an expression of how my role in life and in this religion have changed, a coming of age marker, etc. As a wife and (gods willing) a mother, I take on new responsibilities and new identities in relation to the gods. This is a highly personal choice, I don’t believe anyone should cover or uncover their hair for any reason but their own personal reasons.

There’s probably more stuff I just can’t remember rn. Thanks for asking anon! Feel free to ask more if you’d like.

[wife-of-the-crane]

hey! i am a beginner witch and i need some help. what do you do when your mom is super religous and hates witchcraft? cuz i feel like i have to hide myself from her. my dad is kewl tho we gets me. we get crystals and kewl shit from spencers and hot topic :)

i mean i can try?

my mom is a witch as well so i have never had to deal with that. the most i get is weird looks when i am visiting family and they bring me with to church so i’m not home alone .

maybe try researching what you can do with kitchen spices/seasonings, research spells that don’t require witchy stuff, maybe try writing down sigils for intents on paper and keeping them on you. if you need a website for sigil making

also, maybe make a makeshift altar, if you want, in a drawer or something. the alter doesn’t have to be much, and if you want to do offerings or something to a deity (if you wish to take that route of witchcraft, i did. i’m a hellenic witch aka a heathen :3), research offerings for that specific deity. for example, lady artemis is goddess of the hunt and moon, so i generally offer her nature related things.

also, if you are trusted with candles by yourself, you can use candles for a lot of spells. you can also write down intents (sigil form or not) and burn them.

a non suspicious way to maybe get witchy stuff is ask for flowers? i know you can use different color roses for a number of things. you can also do stuff with orange peels, so you can try drying them out so they don’t mold and using them :)

if you live somewhere where they do a moment of silence before announcements at school, you can do prayers. i know it seems odd, but it works. for example, i live in the usa, and during the moment of silence after the pledge of allegiance, i sit, hold a important necklace or crystal (or both, important crystal necklace) and usually think “stars give me strength”

wow i know a lot more about secretly practicing witchcraft than i thought! anyways i hope this helps but it might be a little different since i practice witchcraft with deities. if you arent, you can still do some of this stuff, just some parts of it are more deity relying for me.

[druidofthealders]

Brigid of the Alders

So I guess it's important to foster pagan community to, like, actually talk about the kinds of things you do, your UPGs, your deities, etc. So I figured I'd talk about my stuff.

I've been a pagan since I was a lil kid, and I'm in my 30's now. It's been a long and winding road, through a lot of wild experiences and youthful appropriative practices (shout out to my teens "shamanism" phase lol). I mention this because by the time I hit my mid-twenties or so and I backed away from closed/appropriative shit, I felt unmoored in my spirituality. A lot of the practices I'd run into -- and pantheons and their accompanying worship -- were born of cultural experiences that I, as a white middle-class American girl, did not have.

So, I thought, how about I look into some of the pantheons of my ancestors, in Ireland and Scotland and Russia? But turns out "blood" doesn't turn into cultural experiences :P GO FIGURE. I am no more "Irish" than any other born-and-bred American. I looked into various flavors of GaelPol and Celtic Reconstructionism, but I guess it turns out it's important to me to come at it from my own cultural context. I had a really really hard time connecting. (And do note, this is for my personal comfort and experience; what works for y'all is what works for y'all!)

I eventually considered, like, okay, then fine, what kind of gods would a white middle-class American girl with ancestry in a variety of places worship? Who's out there who can work with me? The answer was a couple of things:

Local land spirits (I try to look into local indigenous practices, not to "become" anything but to treat the land in the way they think is best)

House spirits

"Shards" of Gods

What the heck are "Shards" of Gods?

Well, here's my personal take, on something that really works for me and jives with me. Just as there are original gods of the homeland, I think that immigrants definitely take their gods with them. And gods are born of humans, just as humans are born of gods, and so as the immigrant culture changes and evolves, so does the god, so that there's a splinter shard of that god that serves a people.

It's a kind of mix between the legacy of those that have gone before me, and making my own pantheon. Shards are gods in their own right, cut from existing cloth but grown into a new shape, a new existence.

I've circled Brigid for ages but never quite was able to match with her until I came down to this paradigm -- and then got hit with the clearest, most "HI THERE" I've ever felt. So -- I present my splinter of Brigid, Brigid of the Alders.

Brigid of the Alders

Like the Brigid of Ireland, Brigid of the Alders is a goddess who focuses on smithing, healing, and poetry. However, she's a PacNW splinter for the modern day. Smithing, for her, seems to be Creation -- but specifically Creation that is of your hands, with raw material. I've tried dedicating my day-to-day work to her -- digital art -- but that doesn't seem to stick. When I did some sculpting, however, that rang very nicely for her.

Healing remains the same, as does Poetry. My Brigid requires a poem every time I work with her. It doesn't matter how good it is, it can just be dashed out in my head. But it is required before she'll answer my call.

I love Brigid of the Alders deeply. She is so important to me, and I genuinely feel like she cares about me too. She's guided me through a lot of my healing I've had to do recently. She's helped me reconnect to my crafts.

Other Shards

I haven't really come into any yet, but I've been getting drawn more and more to the Hellenic pantheon. It's possible I'll find a new Shard relationship there, perhaps not. But I'll try to document here as I keep it up.

I'm also absolutely going to look into homebrewing my own deities as well. I'm very familiar with thoughtforms and I know when I was a youngun I practically had my own pantheon I'd made. Some of them I might bring back. Who knows?

Anyways! This is my experience. Hope it helps or at least entertains, haha

[solvicrafts]

Hi, do you have any new stuff on Riordan's opinionated bullshit? The quotes you posted are great but they do all date back to 2005-7 and I'm wondering if he since changed his pretentious opinions or not.

That's a good question. I don't follow or keep up with him at all, or use twitter or Facebook, so I have no idea what other things he says. It's possible he might have changed? It's also possible he hasn't. Still doesn't negate the damage he's done to the pagan community, particularly among those fans of his that ARE pagan.

That I said I did find this when I just checked his website again. This bit isn't dated like his blog posts, but it is on his website under his Resources page, which is separate from his blog and very easy to find:

The Lightning Thief explores Greek mythology in a modern setting, but it does so as a humorous work of fantasy, and makes no attempt to subvert or contradict Judeo-Christian teachings. Early in the book, the character Chiron draws a clear distinction between God, capital-G, the creator of the universe, and the Greek gods (lower-case g). Chiron says he does not wish to delve into the metaphysical issue of God, but he has no qualms about discussing the Olympians because they are a “much smaller matter.”

Source: https://rickriordan.com/resource/the-lightning-thief-rationale-incomplete/

So it appears he's still perfectly fine letting people think pagans and their gods are trivial and undeserving of equal respect to Christians.

If he's since come out and apologized for the shitty things he said on his blog, that'd be great, but this is on his main website and just a click away so I'm guessing he very much still holds those opinions.

EDIT: So I don't have a source for this, but someone did send it to me and I have no reason to believe it's made up:

That said his website still openly insults pagans, so he needs to get on that because way more people are going to see him insulting pagans as opposed to this apology practically buried on twitter. I honestly feel like posting it on twitter but leaving the website as-is is his way of trying to smooth things over with his fans without really having to commit to anything, but I hope I'm wrong.

It's worth noting it wasn't just Hellenic pagans he insulted, he also went after the Norse pagans and hasn't mentioned anything about them.

*shrug*

I hope he's sincere in his effort to move past his previous religious bigotry, but personally this feels like too little too late. If he IS being sincere it's a good start, and I hope he does genuinely improve on his views and makes more of an effort to state so on his own website.

[lexstellaris]

Daily Draw - 28/4/23 - Sacred Rebels Oracle (Alana Fairchild)

41 - Bring It Into Form

I've drawn this card a few times in previous readings. It's a call to action, to stop thinking, and start doing. A card of action, and creative expression. You can't achieve things simply by thinking them. You have to do them. It's definitely something I often struggle with, not just with creativity but with other mundane life things too.

It's that sense of uncertainty, not wanting to know, maybe it won't work, maybe I'll fail. That often stops me from doing things I need to do. And it ties in with some of the things Sobek was telling me in meditation tonight. Do the thing. bc you'll regret it if you don't.

I actually really like the imagery of this card, of someone walking along the shoreline, where the waves are moving back and forth, and their footprints remain there in the wet sand. That's what it evokes for me. And the water drops become flowers - or fireflies - as they come into the air. It's that change in form, from something passive, to something active.

There are definitely things I've been procrastinating on. I've got minecraft builds, and artwork, and fics, and ofc other life admin and spiritual/magical work to do. Sometimes I do need that kick in the pants to do them, or finish them, bc otherwise I'll just let them stay by the wayside, forgotten ideas that could have been great if I'd done something with them.

I almost didn't do Senut tonight. I was out at a comedy gig, and while we were home before 9pm, I was still tired, and almost just went for the shortform Kemetic rite I have in my daily rituals book. But Sobek was gentle, and said it was still a good day, and I could do Senut. Just change into clean clothes. The habit won't form if I don't keep it up. And I'm glad I did, and that I have gods so willing to work with my limitations.

I've spent a long time trying to build my spiritual practices back to where they used to be. The pandemic and uni and burn out took a lot out of me, and I'm honestly surprised I kept my 5 min meditation in the morning throughout it all. But it was the anchor that kept me going, and now I'm in a headspace where I'm ready to expand my work.

I've adopted the Hellenic custom of the day starting at sunset. I do most of my spiritual work in the evenings, so it makes sense to use this time to prep for the next day, as that's what I do anyway. So much of what I've been trying to do is to find the right flow, so that these things feel effortless.

So in the evenings, it's Senut and card draws, and some other magical work that's oathbound, bc I've been neglecting that particular thing for a while and I need to get back into it.

In the mornings, I anoint my wrists with some oil dedicated to the planet of the day, then read the Orphic hymn to the same planet, then a hymn to Sobek, then the Orphic hymn to Hekate. Light incense and LED candles, and meditate for 5 mins. It's simple, but it primes my brain, and even if I don't always use that time for Work, but instead let my brain just wander, it's still valuable time to me.

I also have other magical work I've been planning on doing, and this card feels like it's poking me about that too. Stop procrastinating. Stop feeling like there's only one correct way to do the spells you wanna do. Just do them your own way. Let your self-expression come through and make them your own.

This line from the book has stuck with me:

"You are being asked to honour yourself with a commitment to complete your inspired tasks. This will help you grow ... but there is another reason - you know that your inspired ideas are worth translating into practical forms so that other people can access them and experience something special too."

I'm feeling this a lot with much of the Pharaoh Cub fics I've been working on and contemplating writing. Fanfic is very much an avenue for me to process gender feels and explore spirituality and god stuff in a way that's abstract enough for me to work with.

But there's also things here with my Minecraft Java solo world. It's build as a town centred around Hekate and Her worship. I'm working on the cathedral that will sit in the centre of town. And I know I'm procrastinating bc I don't want to mess it up, even though I've built it already in creative and I just need to copy that. There's the fear of it not turning out as good as I want it to. But it won't build itself, so in order to continue the lore of that town, I need to finish it.

Since I don't need to work again until Wednesday, I have plenty of time to start working on these things, and putting in some work towards completing them. bc sometimes you need the universe to kick you in the pants and make you do the thing.

[samwisethewitch]

Norse Pagan “Holy Water”

Note: This is something I’ve come up with by combining my American folk magic practice with Heathen cosmology and prayer. While some modern Heathen magic is based on spells found in historic sources, that’s not what this is. This is 100% modern and 100% of my own creation.

As someone who practices Southern/Appalachian folk magic but is not Christian, I sometimes have to get creative when replacing the Christian elements in my rituals and spells. Holy water is one of the elements that has had me stumped for a while.

In a Christian context, holy water is water that has been blessed by a priest or other member of the clergy. Holy water is a mainstay in Catholic churches, but it’s made its way into several American magical traditions, even those that are more Protestant-leaning. Holy water has a wide variety of magical uses, from purification to healing to protection from enemies.

This presents a problem for pagan witches, because many of us don’t feel comfortable using Christian elements in our practices. Personally, I feel that using water blessed by someone else is less personal and thus less powerful than using water that I have blessed for myself.

I’ve seen other witches substitute moon water, sun water, crystal water, or just water that has been charged with their positive intentions. I think all of these are great ideas, but I like the idea of using water that has an explicit connection to my religious beliefs and the gods I worship.

I got this idea after we had a thunderstorm followed by a freeze. An empty flower pot had filled with water from the storm, then frozen over. I realized that this water was now connected to some seriously powerful Heathen forces — thunderstorms, which are associated not only with Thor but with Odin and, to a lesser extent, Freyr, and ice, which is one of the two primordial forces in Heathen cosmology. I decided to save some of the water in a jar and add the other Heathen primordial force, fire.

My method for infusing the water with fire energy is based on the process my partner uses to make khernips (Hellenic holy water) in his Religio Romana practice.

This stuff has some powerful vibes, so I thought I’d share for any other Heathens who might want to try!

You will need:

Water collected during a thunderstorm

A way to freeze your water

Matches or a lighter

*optional* Sacred wood of your choice (I used redcedar, which is native to my area and which I find to be strongly cleansing and protective.)

*optional* a very small amount of bleach — 1/4 tsp for every gallon of water, or 4 drops per quart.

Collect rainwater during a thunderstorm. If you want, add a tiny bit of bleach to the water to keep it from growing bacteria or algae. (Note: Even if you add bleach, I still don’t recommend ingesting this water.)

Freyr is associated with rain, as well as with sunshine. Thor is, of course, the god of thunder and lightning, but Odin also has associations with thunderstorms through some his kennings: Þundr (“Thunderer,” from Gylfaginning, Hávamál, and others), Viðrir (“Stormer,” from Gylfaginning, Lokasenna, and others), and Hveðrungr (possibly “Weather-maker,” from Óðins nǫfn). You may choose to invoke any or all of these gods in your blessing of the water.

Speaking of blessing, the one I would use is: “I honor the spirits of this water. I honor and thank the spirits of rain and the spirits of thunder who have blessed this water. I honor and praise Thor, Odin, and Freyr, who have touched this water with their power.”

If this blessing doesn’t quite work for you, feel free to use a different one!

Now, you need to freeze your water. Ideally, you could simply leave it outside overnight and let it freeze naturally. If it is too warm to do this, place it in a freezer indoors. Just be careful — remember that water expands when it freezes, and you don’t want to shatter your container!

Once your water has frozen, speak this blessing or a similar one over it: “I honor and thank the spirits of ice who have blessed this water. Ice of Niflheim, primordial power, bless this water.”

Now, thaw out your water. Once the water is room-temperature, it’s time to add the energy of fire. If you are using sacred wood, set the tip of the wood on fire, then quickly douse the flame by dipping it in the water. If not using sacred wood, simply light a match and then douse it in the water.

Follow this up with this blessing or a similar one: “I honor and thank the spirits of fire who have blessed this water. Fire of Múspellheim, primordial power, bless this water.”

You now have water that has been blessed by the storm gods and by the two primordial elements. You can use this water in the same ways Christian witches use Christian holy water. I find it especially useful for purifying a person, object, or space.

[dionysianfreak]

Do you think Hellenic Polytheists need to worship exactly the way the ancient Greeks did? I've noticed this sentiment somewhat heavily, and while I think it's important to understand the historical basis for our practice and adhere to the values (xenia, kharis, etc.) It strikes me as... weird the insistence that you can only worship as the ancient Greeks did and it's kinda made me feel insecure about my practice. Would love to know your thoughts!

I just wanna disclaim that this is my opinion. this isn't a question I alone, or anyone alone, and answer. everyone has different opinions on it, and this is mine.

i don't think Hellenic Polytheists need to be reconstructionists (aka adhering to the ancient praxis rather than making your own) in order to respect or be valid in your worship. however, I also don't think that you can remove Gods from their religious cultural context without disrespecting that culture or the people who made the religion.

what I mean by this is that almost every religion has "rules" (loose term). Christianity has guidelines to avoid sins, Islam has customs you adhere to during certain times like fasting during Ramadan, and Hellenic Polytheism is no different. there's a difference between going against a norm like choosing to worship at home instead of in church as a Christian and violating the rules of the religion such as commiting a sin in Gods name. the same goes for Helpol—it's important to stay clean to the best of your abilities and observe our religious concepts like Xenia in order to avoid the religious consequences if you violate them.

one thing about some of our customs though is that they are sometimes neutral consequences of being mortal. cleanliness is important in our religion because humans are believed to be inherently "dirty" and it's respectful to be clean when facing a pure Being like a God. this isn't a punishment, it's just how it is. if you don't clean yourself, you can suffer consequences like illness which is true. if you don't keep yourself clean you're more likely to get sick. most people already keep up with good hygiene but this luxury wasn't afforded to the ancient Hellas so it was a bigger deal to them. still, we can be respectful and wash our hands before giving offerings.

other concepts like Xenia are a moral obligation to many of us, and I'd like to think most people already practice Xenia without any ties to Helpol. this is because it's good to not be an asshole. Xenia just tells us to be kind to our neighbors and offer help when we can. be kind to your fellow people and the people in most need. a lot of people outside helpol agree with this already.

so, to wrap it up, there's a difference between observing the obligations that a religious upholds and being a reconstructionist. I can stay clean and be kind even without making my rituals the exact same as the ancients. it's disrespectful in most religions to violate these obligations because they come along with the belief system. if you're going to worship Zeus, it is a direct offence to be a dickhead to those in need because He is the God of Don't Be A Dickhead. that is what we mean. don't remove Gods from Their religions just to avoid the level of piety that religion asks of you. you can be a revivalist practicing modernly while still upholding the values our religion asks of us.

and if it makes you feel better, I'm nowhere near a reconstructionist. if ancient values were the standard, the Gods would have turned on me a long time ago bc I am too neurodivergent for recon stuff. detaching my worship and self worth from what others were doing was the best thing I ever did for my practice :) if the Theoi are happy, then who am i to tell you what They want from you

[crazycatsiren]

I saw you reblogged a post about god spouses & people who date gods and was wondering if you could explain it because I’m still new to all this and how does it work?

It's not something I would recommend if you're still new to all this, that's for sure.

Marriages and romances between mortals and divine beings are legitimate religious practices, and they have been done since ancient times. There are certainly no shortage of established traditional lore featuring stories of gods and their mortal lovers/spouses.

But problems arise when people of modern day, many of whom with barely surface knowledge of history and theology, will jump right in and lock themselves into life long commitments without knowing thoroughly what they're getting themselves into.

There is a reason why it takes a vow to wed. A marriage vow is in a sense, a type of oath. I'm not knowledgable enough about other polytheistic religions in which godspousing is practiced, but in the case of Hellenic Polytheism, that is a huge deal, not something you can just walk away from when you feel like it.

Even a romantic relationships that never leads to marriage with a god should not be taken lightly, in my opinion. There are consequences for making promises you can't keep. Remember what happened to Cassandra when she didn't keep her end of the bargain with Apollo.

Bottom line: know what you're doing before you even consider getting into such an arrangement with a god. Too many people do stuff like this for the completely wrong reasons and trust me, a god can see through a mortal's BS real easy, and pissing off a god is never something you want to attempt.

[pinkhellenicgods]

ready for another hot take before bed tonight

This religion is one of welcoming, kindness, respect, and reciprocity. But our community is full of one upping and attempting to be better than each other. There are so many people in the hellenism spaces on tumblr that have this idea that they have to “keep up” or that their ideas are better or more important than others. That they have to be Right and others Wrong. 

But our religion is about multiplicity. It’s about celebrating in difference. The ancient Greeks worshipped differently to each other. They practiced xenia, they celebrated and valued reciprocity. That’s what this religion is founded on.

And we’d go a whole lot farther as a community if we also focused on sharing and growing and welcoming. I know many do... But I also know there’s a lot of shame. I remember coming into this community a few years ago and being met with tons of people telling me who I should and shouldn’t listen to, what I should and shouldn’t do, and it created a lot of anxiety. I’m so thankful that I had the determination to get through that and shut out their voices... But y’all...

That stuff still exists. We still have new people scared and confused as to who or what they should listen to and I just gotta say... those of us who have been here for a bit need to be INTENTIONAL to welcome the newbies

Because this religion only grows if we welcome them. And that’s like............. a MAJOR point of our religion. 

And we also need to stop seeing people who do things differently from us as “Wrong.” We are not a monolith, and we were never meant to be. This religion can and should be personalized. Just get over it.