#newbie devotee challenge

[liminalmessenger]

Newbie Devotee Challenge - Day 15

Create an aesthetic moodboard for your deity. Pick a variety of images that you associate with your deity and arrange them in an aesthetically pleasing way. Give this to your deity as an offering.

[swarmthepentalogy]

SWARM: The Pentalogy

Mission accomplished! The manuscript turned out to be so long that I decided to split it into a five-novella series. While the length was a factor in this decision, it wasn't the only one. Self-publishing such a lengthy manuscript on a tight budget proved challenging. Additionally, breaking the story into novellas allowed me to explore the narrative one novella at a time, providing an opportunity to grow as a storyteller and enhance my writing skills. I'm excited to announce that SWARM: The Pentalogy is now available on Amazon.

SWARM: The Pentalogy is a single book that contains all five novellas. You can read them separately or collect the entire series in one volume. Nathan and David, two college friends from Berkeley, embark on a duck hunting trip in Michigan with Raymond. However, their adventure takes a surreal turn when they stumble upon a mysterious portal that thrusts them into the distant future. In this future, Earth is a humid, waterlogged world with only a few scattered islands, inhabited by colossal mythical creatures. Humans can only survive in the oceans, on the moon, and in the exosphere. Elite soldiers from an undersea metropolis guide them through the history of this transformed world as they set out on an epic voyage. As the soldiers' city faces imminent peril, David and his friends are tasked with a mission to alter the course of destiny.

Science Fiction, Magical Realism, Dystopian, Adventure, and Humor.

SWARM: The Pentalogy is a single book that contains all five novellas. You can read them separately or collect the entire series in one volume. Nathan and David, two college friends from Berkeley, embark on a duck hunting trip in Michigan with Raymond. However, their adventure takes a surreal turn when they stumble upon a mysterious portal that thrusts them into the distant future. In this future, Earth is a humid, waterlogged world with only a few scattered islands, inhabited by colossal mythical creatures. Humans can only survive in the oceans, on the moon, and in the exosphere. Elite soldiers from an undersea metropolis guide them through the history of this transformed world as they set out on an epic voyage. As the soldiers' city faces imminent peril, David and his friends are tasked with a mission to alter the course of destiny.

Science Fiction, Magical Realism, Dystopian, Adventure, and Humor.

The Five Series at Amazon.

SWARM was the first manuscript I worked on, and at that time, I was going to title it THE SWARM. However, it was not enough to please literary agencies and traditional publishers.

Therefore, I kept it aside and instead self-published Carbon Planet: Our Destiny Stars. Yet, that too was not pleasing enough when I tried, but it was not adequately edited then, and my query letters were bad. The primary motivation for this decision, apart from the upfront payment and their strong marketing strategies, was the conventional practice in the book industry of submitting raw manuscripts, with literary agencies and traditional publishers handling the rest. So, I decided to give it a try and went for it. In any case, the book was self-published much differently than it was, which was the goal to have it on KDP. Over time, I learned that there are so many of us storytellers; the book industry has to break it down by experienced authors and by their fame. It only makes sense; the book you made has to be presentable as a newbie, and starting as a self-publisher has a big advantage. First of all, your book is published – it's all a matter of how you wrote it, how you designed your book cover, and how the desired readers are attracted to the story. It can also be costly, including the marketing part, profitable method for the marketers with all kinds of legal tricks getting into that kind of business, especially when there is a swarm of authors who fall for it. I am also a big devotee of that because the excuse of the need is so simple: I want readers. Fortunately, business people also pay to learn at universities where to throw the nets. Some are fair, some are honestly trying, the expensive one works most of the time, and the rest, it is what it is. In any case, even if numerous responses advising against accepting my manuscript were originating from dubious imposters, I was still a beginner and required further development of my storytelling skills.

Initially, b-movies with rough edge titles from the 60s inspired me to pick the title. Nevertheless, I took out “THE” and only used “SWARM” – I had friends who were into Ska and Rockabilly music back in the 90s, and a few of them were also writers for local underground zines—in addition, I had a contract with graphic designers that were also into vintage arts. Somewhere down the line, I found it fascinating to make that concept into my story. At that time, I only wrote pieces of plots of what makes a good, unique film. Perhaps as a comic book. As I mentioned many times before in my blogs, I never expected it to turn it into a book. However, if SWARM: The Pentalogy becomes a success later as Traditional, for instance, besides as a 650 novel and novella series of five, why not turn it into a comic book series as well? Sell it for film afterward. The bottom line is getting it published first. I was not much of a book reader, but I was aware that they turn novels into films, so why not give it a try and write a book? Writing became my sole creative outlet when I had a stroke, leaving me unable to produce music for over a year. I needed to find a way to uplift my spirits. Therefore, I did, in my cellphone notes, while laying on my bed until weeks of rehab to able to stand right again, with a slight disability on my left, making my speech like a drunkard, then thinking like an old man in his 80s, adding an interesting perspective in my writing. Doing so took away the misery of being partly disabled; I fell in love with designing English literature so much that I had forgotten about the physical world, although I was writing about the “reality” in SWARM, messing with it, adding magical, and adding what made me disabled. In other words, does that mean I am mad at the world? No, I love this world and the universe, as well as the spiritual aspects and other realms that science talks about. It only makes sense what I don’t like, and I am surviving it, and trust me, it takes a lot of patience to do what I love. In addition, I think they are morons because it does not make sense to contradict my content. I tried to think of why, and I found nothing logical to it except for a shallow-headed mediocrity. A way to ruin celebrating success. This kind of attitude is the root cause of ruined civilizations. You might as well make a scapegoat out of them as Reptilians. You can do anything in writing. I love it more than watching movies or playing video games, even taking pictures outdoors. The mind is a fascinating place. To reach from the inside and out. I am not saying that I have never touched literacy before; I have always been a blogger since I found out about HTML back in the 90s. My grammar wasn’t as good as today, but thank god I did because it led me to publish books today. It didn’t take overnight, but I learned much about the book industry, making me paranoid of the “Reptilians,” possibly in between. Still, as for now, I am aiming for traditional publishing. I can’t wait for people to see “SWARM” in the big picture. Either way, I left a mark on this planet. That’s fulfilling enough. Maybe I’ll reread it in the next life, inspiring me to make updates until I reach the stars.

What is next now? Currently, I am writing PESTILENT as my ticket to get there as a Traditional Publisher. I will go through the full range of how I typically self-publish a book, plus a few pieces of advice from Beta Readers with multiple editorial re-vision to be as presentable without launching the novel. If I do make it, I will also get my previous books published the same way, and whatever works for them to sell the story but keep the content the same; I am all for it. It only makes sense when the "Reptilians" expect another mass shooting. No, I am not that desperate to purchase an off the grid house in Hawaii and produce music, books, arts, and a collection of photo cuisines worldwide, live with animals, and work out at my private gym for the rest of my life.

Doctor Hans Muller, also known as Doctor Murder, traveled the world until he formulated a formula to bring the dead back to life. Unfortunately, the formula failed miserably and instead turned them into monsters. Muller went crazy and sold the formula to an eccentric general who had a problem controlling his people. The general wanted the deadly recipe to be much more effective so that he could spread the virus more quickly and lethally. However, to do so, they had to hide the experiment in a more secretive location, away from secret agents. The place they chose is a remote place called Stellarville.

Science Fiction, Apocalypse, Fairy Tale, Love Story, Action, Horror, and Humor.

***

Available in eBook, Paperback, and Kindle Unlimited at Amazon.

Learn more about the novel SWARM: The Pentalogy! For more information, please visit: https://vincentcasil.com/home/swarm-the-pentalogy

[nothoughtsgayboy]

21 Day Newbie Devotee Challenge - Day 1

Day 1: Name the deity you will be working with for the remainder of this challenge. Give a quick overview of your relationship with that deity.

For this challenge, I will be working with Apollon, the Greek God of music, prophecy, and medicine amongst other things. 

I don’t really know how to explain my relationship with Apollon. I’d been “casually” worshiping him for about a year until one week when I was really ill I just felt his presence throughout the entire time and he helped me feel better about myself, which made being ill a lot more bearable. That week was what really solidified our relationship to me, and I’ve considered myself a devotee pretty much since that week. I also play music, and whenever I’m stuck or just can’t get inspired I’ll pray to Apollon and I always get ideas after that. My relationship with Apollon is more casual, I guess, because when I try and make things more formal I stress out and panic about whether or not I’m doing things right.

[pysksos]

21 day Newbie Devotee challenge #3

Day 3: Does your deity have any alternate names or epithets? If they do, what are they, and what do they mean? What does the name you call your deity mean?

United - (also the 'Grand' Bucca) as a whole and united being, generally invoked and worshipped this way.

Divine Androgyne - highlights their role as an equal balance of two different paired aspects.

God-Goddess - poking a little fun at the often binary separation of deities.

Dhu - Literally 'Black'. The aspect of Bucca that deals with storms, undoing, binding, emotional wellbeing, baneful magic, death, decay, introspection, binding, emotional wellbeing, harvest, solemn ancestor work, new moon, wintertide.

Androgyne Destroyer - refers to the 'destructive' aspects & the divine androgyne.

Master of Wintertide - rules winter from the 31st of October to the 1st of May.

Mother of Storms - They give rise to storms and nurture them into power.

Chief of Beasts - They care for and guide animals (especially wild or feral ones) through the harsh winter months.

Gwidder - literally 'White'. The aspect of Bucca that deals with fair weather, communication, festivals, healing, regeneration, growth, sowing of crops and seeds, mazing, birth and rearing of livestock, good fish catches, celebration, the full moon, summertide.

Fair Creatrix - highlights their responsibility for creation and growth

Mistress of Summertide - Rules from the 1st of May to the 31st of October.

Father of Calm Seas - ensures the summer seas are, for the most part, gentle and welcoming with soothing words.

King of Land - Caretakes the land and it's harvest (both domestic, foraged food and otherwise.

I enjoy calling them "my dear", it's sweet for the both of us :-)

[godofsunlight]

Devotee Challenge, 9

Discuss your daily/weekly/monthly/etc. worship “schedule.” What do you do for your deity? What offerings do you give? How often do you pray? And so on. Are you happy with how much/little time you give your deity? If not, what could you do to change that?

Honestly, I really don’t have a consistent schedule. It’s something I’d like to work on and I’m sure Apollo would like me to work on. I’d like to set it up where I’m celebrating more of the festivals and honoring sacred days (like the 7th for Apollo). My worship right now is very much just whenever I have the spoons available......but Apollo is telling me to give myself a little more credit than just that since I do a lot of devotional acts and pray often. Still, I’d like to do more and do it with more structure.

But, I will usually offer burning candles/incense. Or, if I have it, wine. Sometimes I’ll even make a cuppa tea to offer or give chocolate caramel candy. I wear different perfumes/jewelry and sometimes I’ll coordinate an outfit to honor him or another god.

My main worship though is prayer. Most of the time, I’m really informal, too. For me, it’s hard to be formal, so I talk to him like a respected friend. I’ll tell him everything on my mind, tell him how pretty he is (because he is!), and I just go “I love you!!!!!💕” a lot lol. While I’m not really happy with not having a worship “schedule” per say, I am happy about how much time I give to Apollo. He’s basically on my mind 24/7.

[stray-wanderer]

Day 4: What symbols/animals/plants/etc. are associated with your deity? Start out by listing the ones that you know. Then, do a little research to see if you can find more. In a separate list on the same post, list those ones, too. Make note of which ones you think fit and don’t fit your deity.

Ones that I know

Horses

Trident

Bulls

Fish 

Other symbols I didn’t know

white pine tree 

ash tree

wild celery 

dolphins 

I think they all fit, one that I wasn’t expecting was wild celery and I don’t know why I forgot dolphins were a symbol of Poseidon. 

[poly-pomegranate]

Newbie Devotee Challenge

Day Ten

What method(s) do you usually use to contact your deity? (tarot, godphone, ect) Why do you like using that method?

I mostly just pray to the gods if I want to contact them, as I'm a bit nervous about hearing back from them directly. However, I have used a pendulum to speak with Hades before and I use runes to communicate with the gods in general.

I like pendulum because it's simple and if I'm looking for a direct answer, it's probably the best thing to go with.

And I really like runes because they allow for an answer that's more than just yes or no while still being useful.

[draig-asec]

Newbie Devotee Challenge

Day 4

»»————-　☠　————-««

Hades has a lot of imagery and symbols

Personally I asosiate him with

Keys

Skulls

Cerberus (and dogs in general actually)

Mint (Persephone has turned Minthe who had been trying to steal Hades away from her into the plant, I also associate the plant with his wife)

Pomegranate

Narcissus

The screech owl

Cypress

And Asphodel

The Bident (a two prong fork similar to Poseidon’s Trident)

I have seen these things also be asosiated with him and do believe them fitting

White Poplar Tree

The Helm of Invisibility

And Cattle (I often forget about this)

Cornucopia

»»————-　☠　————-««

[thegodskeeper]

🧿 20 Day Newbie Devotee Challenge - Odin

Day 11: Try using a different method, one that you have either never used or rarely used, to try speaking to your deity. Discuss the results.

You may be asking “Lee, why are you answering this question out of order?” The truth is… I was pretty badly shaken up. I wasn’t sure if I particularly wanted to publicly address what happened, or if I wanted to just brush the whole thing under the carpet and try something else. While I was musing on it today, the fae I work with even offered to let me break their “the pendulum is just for us” rule and let me try and talk to the Old Man through that (since I’m recovering from a flu, I didn’t take them up on it). But in the end, I decided it would be a lesson in humility and a word of warning to others if I typed up what happened when I first tried out this day’s challenge. The moral of the story is: no matter how well you know a deity, never neglect your safety measures.

The method I decided to try and use was not exactly one I hadn’t used before; shufflemancy. But in the past, Odin has been the one to essentially send random music goblins my way when he’s wanted my attention. This time, I wanted to try and use shufflemancy like a kind of guided divination, by using direct questions and letting my intuition choose the lyrics that were Odin’s answers. What went through my mind - late at night, but determined to take on the challenge - were the famous last words “shufflemancy is so casual, how hard is this gonna be?” First mistake.

The first discrepancy that should have told me I wasn’t talking to Odin was the answers. I started with simple questions with reactions I practically didn’t need godphoning for. Things that the Old Man definitely knew, and would answer a certain way. When those responses went against the norm, I put it down to ‘trying something new’. The fault, I concluded, lay with me. Either I wasn’t picking up what he was putting down, or I wasn’t asking the right questions.

The second was when he turned cruel. This is not my story to share. But the conversation took a turn that seemed out of character and unnecessarily petty, even for a god with names that include the word ‘evil’ in them. With not just myself hurt I pushed through, not immediately recognizing the damage that was done. I didn’t recognize an attack when I saw one.

The third clue was when ‘Odin’ began to push very heavily at the topic of something that I told him, ten year ago, I would never - ever - be interested in; godspousery. Now I have nothing at all against relationships with spirits, but even though I’m polyamorous it’s something that I have told every entity I work for is not for me. It might have been in past lives - it isn’t now. And so for him to try to steer me towards rethinking the idea at the end of our conversation sent me to bed confused and unsure. The nightmare that came next finally drove the point home.

I’m not going to share those details. It was violent, it was cruel and it was traumatizing. I was on edge and looking over my shoulder for the whole day afterwards, and I woke up all but screaming. But I also woke up with one very clear truth echoing in my mind; the first thing I said to my husband when he asked what was wrong. “I didn’t speak to Odin last night, and I am terrified.”

The story doesn’t end here, but this is what is important. In ten years of spiritwork, I have almost always ‘got lucky’. Nothing seriously bad has ever happened to me, even in the times I’ve dealt with malicious spirits. This one was the most malicious of all, and the warding on my home is now permanent. I have a leech I’m not going to be able to just burn off. I got complacent, and I fucked up, and I am still on edge initiating godphoning with anyone but one particular deity (not Odin, although he’s pretty pissed too) who reached out to me that night. So why is this about Odin? Well, it is, and it isn’t. But it is a warning.

When a god wears many faces, never forget to check under the mask before you make yourself vulnerable. Use your head, and don’t be afraid to ask for whatever verification puts you at ease.

Special thanks to @an-avaar-skald-and-bearsark and @arcanecalligrapher who gave me some really solid advice in both identifying the interloper, and working out how to ward against them. I... don’t think I wanted to talk about him in this post, because it’s about an Odin hiccup. But if people would like me to go into details, or have had similar experiences, feel free to drop me a line. Also, see the tags.

[pastel-cottage-witch]

💖 Newbie Devotee 21 Day Challenge 💖

Day 6: Describe your least favorite story/myth that involves your deity. Why is it your least favorite? (Is it because it shows a different aspect of your deity that you don’t see often?) Try to turn that negative into a positive, and use this as a learning experience.

Flora:

Again, Flora doesn't have a lot of myths to begin with. But she was a happy nymph living in the fields of the underworld where good people go, happily. Then the God of the west wind saw her and chased her down. She ran but he caught and raped her. He then made her to marry him and made her a goddess. She was happy to be a goddess briefly, but the people did not celebrate her and ignored and forgot about her. She grew sad and the crops began to perish due to her depression. She said she didn't intend maliciousness but she couldn't muster the strength or energy to do anything to help. The people then made a deal that they would celebrate an annual festival for her in exchange for good crops. This is Floralia - April 28th to May 3rd (and also the Rose Festival, May 23rd). I dislike this story because Flora was raped, forced into marriage, made to change her name and identity, and then was treated badly. I did a tarot spread about Flora and it said just about the same thing. I feel like none of the gods take her seriously because she used to be a nymph so she is lonely, especially since people don't celebrate her festivals anymore.

My tarot spread said I could best honor her through celebration, so I will be celebrating Floralia and the Rose Festival next year.

[crawavesse]

Day 3: Does your deity have any alternate names or epithets? If they do, what are they, and what do they mean? What does the name you call your deity mean?

Αυτοματια = Automatia = Automatia = Self-Animate

Μειλιχιος = Meilikhios = Meilichius = Gentle, Soothing

Σωτηερια = Sôtêria = Soteria = Saviour

AUTOMA′TIA (Automatia) a surname of Tyche or Fortuna, which seems to characterize her as the goddess who manages things according to her own will, without any regard to the merit of man. Under this name Timoleon built to the goddess a sanctuary in his house. (Plut. De Sui Laude, p. 542, e.; Nepos, Timol.)

MEILI′CHIUS (Meilichios), i. e. the god that can be propitiated, or the gracious, is used as a surname of several divinities. Of Tyche or Fortune. (Orph. Hymn. 71. 2.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Automatia: I understand and respect that she can’t give me luck all the time. I would probably don’t want that too because I don’t want to make others feel bad.

Meilichius: That is such a cool epithet for her. I don’t know how to describe the feeling, but who wouldn’t want a Goddess that would kind to you?

Soteria: I can definitely see this after she had help me find all of the items I had lost. Not to mention all of the merciful green lights... Thank you, Tyche. ^^

Personally, because the tarot card I pulled for her, I see her as adventurous and enjoy doing fun things. Like, she is the YOLO type of person.

[liminalmessenger]

Newbie Devotee Challenge - Day 11

Try using a different method, one that you have either never used or rarely used, to try speaking to your deity. Discuss the results.

I decided to use bibliomancy as I’ve used it once or twice before with Lord Hermes. It worked well. I was able to feel what book and what section I should look at. And I think since I’ve had a lot of literature classes, I was able to easily interpret it. I think if I’m having difficultly interpreting a message in the future, I’ll try using bibliomancy to see if that can’t help make things clearer for me

[merakicatharsis]

Newbie Devotee Challenge

DÍA 6

Describe tu historia/mito menos favorito que involucre a tu deidad. ¿Por qué es tu menos favorito? (¿Es porque muestra un aspecto diferente de tu deidad que no ves a menudo?) Trata de convertir lo negativo en positivo y utilízalo como una experiencia de aprendizaje.

Mi mito menos favorito creo que vendría a ser el mito de la red de Hefesto.

Supongo que no es de mis favoritos por el hecho de que, una vez Ares y Afrodita fueron atrapados, Hefesto procedió a llamar a todos los dioses para humillarlos. Personalmente, siempre he sido una persona bastante orgullosa a la que le gusta tener una reputación “decente”, algo que siento me conecta a Ares, por ello, no puedo soportar la idea de ser humillado públicamente, y en especial si ese humillación es por algo que realmente disfrutas o te hace feliz.

De cierta forma, mi manera de verlo positivamente continúa guiándose al motivo por el que intento seguir a Ares: aprender a tener control de las situaciones ajenas a mí, y poder avanzar sin la preocupación de las cosas que ya ocurrieron.

[ephemeral-cryptid]

Day 1 of Deity Devotion - Aphrodite

Q: Name the deity you will be working with for the remainder of this challenge. Give a quick overview of your relationship with that deity.

A: I will be doing this challenge with Aphrodite in mind. My relationship with her is very basic. I give her offerings every Friday and on her sacred days, and in return, she helps me with self-love\confidence and my relationships with my loved ones. I try to talk to her in some way every Friday and sometimes on other days if they’re not devotional days for the other deities I work with (I feel like it’s disrespectful to work with a different deity on another deity that you worship’s sacred day). I also do devotional acts for her quite often. She is almost like a mother to me. I know that sounds a bit odd since, from what I’ve seen, she’s not like that with most people, but I assume she’s like that with me because I’m still pretty young, and I don’t have an actual mother in my life. Anyways, I can usually talk to her when I’m upset or anxious, and she will try to send me some form of comfort. Overall, my relationship with her is really fulfilling, and I won’t speak for her, but I definitely get good things out of it. Sorry, that was really long, but I felt the need to say all of it.

[pysksos]

21 day Newbie Devotee challenge #8

Day 8: Describe what you have placed on your altar for this deity. If you don’t have an altar yet, discuss what you would put on the altar if you had one. Is there anything “missing” on your altar/are there items you wish you could add? What are they, and why do you want to add them?

At the minute I have a very sparse altar for Bucca - I desperately want to set Them up Their own place but there's limited room in my current living situation for that.

They do have a painting I created for them, a selection of candles, two offering bowls (one for food, the other for gifts - the latter currently contains a blue Worm on a Sting & a soy sauce fish), a teacup and a little bronze cup for drinks gifts.

Some things I would like include a goat or ram skull, a little dancing goat figurine I found on etsy and a soft toy version of them. One day I'd love a larger more detailed sculpture piece but it's expensive to have those commissioned and I'm never satisfied with what I find online.

As well as that, I'd love more room to leave flowers and other softer more ephemeral gifts :)

[godofsunlight]

Devotee Challenge, 10

What method(s) do you usually use to contact your deity? (Tarot, godphone, etc.) Why do you like using that method?

I use mostly tarot and oracle cards. I’m most experienced with tarot as I’ve used it longer as a witch than I have been a polytheist. I really enjoy tarot and have found that for me it’s the most solid way to connect with Apollo.

I seldom use pendulums. I just don’t really vibe with it. I occasionally use shufflemancy via my Spotify playlists, but haven’t had a ton of luck with it. I haven’t try godphoning, automatic writing, and the like; but I would like to try it one day.

I also would like to try Greek Alphabet rune stones! I feel like Apollo would appreciate that seeing as they were used in Ancient Greece. They’re also pretty easy to make myself, so it could be a fun project for us to do together.

Lastly, I mostly contact him with prayer. Even if it’s just a one-sided conversation, as it often is, I like to speak about my day and how much I love him. Sometimes, I’ll ask him to visit me in my dreams and while I don’t think I’ve seen him, he’s sent me signs before via dreams.