#pagan basics

[sandandlightning]

Crystal and Gemstone Cleansing Safety

I just wanted to do a quick PSA about cleansing gemstones in moon water! I had someone ask how to cleanse stone at a con recently and mentioned you should use sand for stones that can't get wet. They had no idea that was A Thing!

THIS IS A REAL SAFETY CONCERNS, SOME STONES BECOME TOXIC WHEN SUBMERGED!!

Stones, crystals, minerals, ect you should avoid cleansing with water at all costs:

-minerals ending in -ite (tend to get damaged easily/quickly, may become dangerous to touch while wet- like malachite- many soft enough to outright dissolve-such as calcite)

-minerals with copper or iron inclusions or base structure, such as turquoise and chryssocola (these will rust and destroy/alter the inclusions and even change the color of the stone, as the color is a byproduct of the metal)

-gypsum, tourmaline, desert rose, anything 'flakey' (will dissolve)

-opal (becomes cloudy/loses flash)

Minerals that can be damaged from long exposure but quick rinsing will not hurt:

-onyx and most jaspers (will risk coloration loss or fragmentation if soaked)

-moonstone, aventurine, and other feldspar (again cracks and bleed damage if soaked, loss of flash)

-aquamarine (causes cracks and fragments, don't soak)

What you CAN get wet and let soak no peoblem:

-anything quartz based (amethyst, citrine, ect)

-agates

-obsidian and other natural glass

-most high mohs hardness gems we are all probably too poor for (diamonds, emeralds, ect)

[sorceryundone]

paganism pro tip: don't have, or want, a date for valentines day? ask aphrodite to be your valentine! honor her by making it a day of devotion and self love. get yourself your favorite chocolates and treats, and set some aside for aphrodite. grab a bathbomb or some bubble bath, and take a long warm bath as a devotional act. make some valentines inspired arts and crafts, and put them on your altar. wind down by watching your favorite romcoms, no matter how outdated and campy they are (or whatever genre you like, if romance isn't your thing!)

[etherealtrashrat]

Normalise dressing fancy to read tarot to talk to a deity even though you don't even know if you're doing it right but it doesn't matter because you still get answers and you felt fancy while getting them

[antiquatedhag]

“There’s no wrong way to practice, if you want to worship, just start praying. “ and “you have to have a basic understanding of the foundation of Hellenic polytheism before you delve in” are two things that can and will coexist.

[manifestmoons]

Magical Herbal Properties by Manifestmoons - Part 1

You’re setting up for spellwork, the energy is building, and then—ugh. You go blank. What herb do you need? Do you grab Bay Leaf for protection or Basil for abundance? Now you’re digging through notes, scrolling through your phone, completely breaking the flow.

Been there. So I made something to fix that. Print it, keep it, use it. Spend less time searching and more time casting.

[sofiaruelle]

Would you dance, if i asked you to dance? 😫🫣

A wip for now,,,,

[princessofghosts-posts]

Was thinking back at the whole "Apparently Riordan confirmed Nico and Will religions" post I made a couple of weeks ago,and I realized that the demigods don't really worship the gods.

We have the offerings during every meals,sometimes they pray to them,but that's usually when they are in danger and needs help,and also sacrifices something to them,but that's it. They don't have altars (you don't really need them but they are useful to remember your path in more of a tangible way),no hymns,no libations,they don't do rituals. And even the few prayers we read weren't really that...respectful? Yes,praying to your mom/dad to help you survive the day,and do the bare minimum in your life,can't be awesome but at the end of the day they are still Gods.

PJO Greek Gods are totally different than the hellenic Greek Gods,some more than others (Looking at you Ares),and we all agree that Riordan rappresentation of them isn't that good,but they are still Gods and they need to be treated and worshipped with respect and the right methods.

Chiron should be in charge of teaching them everything about that part of their lives,but he barely does something useful other than have some conversations with Percy and teaching Thalia. He is totally useless when he should be a guide to demigods,helping them embrace and understand that part of them,teaching them the proper ways to address Gods and in general the religion.

He doesn't and most of the demigods are straight up disrespectful to them. Which,again,the Gods in PJO are asshole most of time so it's fair for the children to feel like that,but you can't being disrespectful to a God without fearing a punishment from them (Looking at you HoO).

Rachel is basically one of Apollo's priestesses,the most important one,but it's talked only for a bit in the Hidden Oracle,and we got robbed of seeing her embrace her role and devotion to him. Apollo is basically her God from the moment she welcomed Delphi and accepted to be the new oracle. Where is the importance of that at??

Worst thing? it's just crazy how I started to realize this only now,after years of being in this fandom and reading the books.

On the side note I kinda understood how the whole double religion work. It's s like when you have multiple faiths and believe in more than one religion,right? I'm an atheist,and while I respect all religions,it's a bit difficult for me to understand certain things,especially when you believe in both a monotheistic and polytheist religion.

But even with this,I still stand on the ground that it was a dumb move since half of their identity is about pagans gods. I don't see anything wrong in having multiple faiths but they are children of greek gods,so for them is a bit more than"I choose the religion I want to practice" like we do,when we want to follow a different religion than the one our family has.

[thedansemacabres]

perhaps a controversial helpol opinion but I don't think the orphic hymns are a good for 101 guides. orphism is a sector of scholarship on its own, with a particular context (especially when you get into the "orphism never actually existed" side of it) and the overall uniqueness of it. it is so different from most other sides of helpol I imagine it only confuses people--it did for me, particularly with the syncretism.

I think a lot of people are recommending them because they're hymns, not for the actual content and theology of them, since I doubt most people are going for that heavily syncretic eventual upg based practice. I see it more as an extra pursuit, akin to me reaching into Thessaly's religious practice for Enodia.

[gods-and-accolades]

Something I really love about Apollon, both mythology wise and in my experiences with him, is the air of duality about him.

He’s the God of healing but also the bringer of plagues, he creates light but takes it away just as quickly, he carries his golden lyre and can play the most beautiful melodies but his silver bow and arrows are never too far away, he’s so full of love yet many of his romances end in tragedy, he’s fiercely loyal to those he cares for but ruthless and unforgiving to those who offend him. He’s an artist. He can be joyous and whimsical and see all the beauty in life, but he’s not unwilling to embrace the dark sides of it.

And he does embrace it, and he makes me feel like the more” undesirable” aspects of myself are things that I can embrace too. That I don’t have to be ashamed because I’m not perfect all the time. That my flaws are a part of life and life is beautiful and therefore I am beautiful.

You can have times where you’re angry, upset, miserable and bitter - you could even feel like that more times than not - but that doesn’t mean you’re unworthy of being loved and accepted.

[the-nettle-knight]

My thoughts on the Just Stop Oil publicity stunt at Stonehenge, as someone who worked there, an archaeologist and a pagan: I'm massively annoyed.

Not at JSO actually. At the hypocrisy I'm seeing everywhere.

I'm angry at the politicians who haven't said a word about the A303 tunnel that is going to do irreparable damage to the site and the archaeology. (don't get me wrong, I know a lot of the archaeologists who will be on the project, I have every faith in them, but it is a commercial venture, limited by time, budget and frankly just the techniques available to us now). It's going to be really bad for the environment.

I'm also annoyed at the online pagan community. I've seen so many neo pagans/wiccans with the most surface level "they've made an enemy of their closest allies" take. Well, we can see that you don't actually care about the environment if that's all it takes to turn you away from this. Closing a road would have created environmental damage from all the cars hanging around for hours! Also, where have they been in the campaign against the A303?

Or the fact that Salisbury Plain is being eaten up by new build housing estates that don't support the needs of the residents and stresses local services. Because Stonehenge is just the most famous archaeological monument on the Plain but there are tens, if not hundreds of sites that are being lost. I have literally worked on one- a Bronze Age barrow cemetery with several ring ditches, a potential Neolithic god-pole like structure, Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement evidence. All destroyed by a new build estate that cannot be supported by local infrastructure, literally in terms of the roads.

They're also the sort of people who complain about the cost of Stonehenge. There is a very good reason that it's so expensive- it basically funds a significant chunk of Historic England (which is far more than just the monuments and sites you can visit). Many of HE's sites are free and they still need to be maintained, which is incredibly expensive. And they're the sort of people to culturally appropriate from other cultures, rather than looking to the archaeology they're fake outraged by.

The paint was made out of cornflour, so not actually a huge conservation issue (I mean, it would definitely better to have not happened but honestly probably the least worst option). The damage done by smog and other air pollution is significantly worse.

People should be angry that this is what people are being forced to do to have their voices heard.

[inacatastrophicmind]

Somebody asked me to make a tattoo design with the words Rejoice in the Lord and I'm here like thinking , sweetie, my favorite shows are Supernatural and Helluva Boss, are you sure I'm the right person for this?

[sandandlightning]

On Reverent Irreverence

Approaching deities can be intimidating. Religion as a whole often feels like it has to be very serious and stuffy. There are certainly entities that appreciate formality, but when your patron is a trickster with a sense of humor it's sort of a whole different ball game.

Dunno who needs to hear this, but it is 100% okay to approach your altar with the greeting ‘Ey what up it's me, ya boi,’ so long as you and whoever you're working with have an understanding. I speak to Set like this regularly, and if I get too formal he starts trolling me until I relax.

But this isn't how I approach every entity I work with. I most definitely don't communicate with Belial like this. Ashta | Ishtar or Anpu would find something like that funny on occasion for sure, but it's usually just Not The Vibe.

The point being you shouldn't let others tell you how to communicate with your divinity, and it will vary from God to God and from person to person. I have a habit of being very casual with and calling Lucifer Lulu or Luci. Other people might not be comfortable with that. He might not be comfortable with that with other people. It's not because I am any more or less close to him than another person, but rather his greater understanding of what an individual most needs from a relationship with him.

If you get more out of a religious experience by being formal then be formal! If it feels more natural to be loose and a bit silly, do that! It's your relationship with your gods, don't let anyone else tell you how to do things.

[seaside-apothecary]

Plant wards? Gargoyles? Guardians? Physical wards? Shields? Those are all great, but ya’ll ever rock with a water ward?

[manifestmoons]

Welcome to manifestmoons :)

I'm sharing some basic symbols and meanings associated with the practice of witchcraft. There are 12 of them. One step at a time, baby witches!

More info on manifestmoons

[sacredheart-stigmata]

i make an active effort to stay in my lane when it comes to other religions but also like. as someone whose family is from the area and who is writing a book on it. slavic (neo)pagans please look into academic (like ACTUALLY academic) sources behind the gods/practices that you've found bc i promise 99% of them have a) no historical backing and b) been ACTIVELY invented by neonazis

[xoxochb]

me and the girlies praying to hecate