#pagan rambling

[paracawsal]

I think I’m gonna redo my Beltane ritual tomorrow since it’s the “real” date and the full moon anyway. And I should be able to go outside this time lol.

I still need to edit the part I don’t like though.

I have always had a hard time relating to this holiday. It feels so heteronormative, binary and focused on procreation that it’s a bit alienating for me.

But I read a blog post yesterday about the holiday representing an end to (winter) seasonal depression for the writer and that I can understand. For me, Imbolc not only represents what it does but also the light coming back and the depression starting to lift, and Beltane feels like the end of that process. And also, when it gets warmer my joints hurt less. It’s like a return to being a person, mostly.

And you know what? I think that’s okay. I don’t like celebrating holidays for no reason (I am just once for my bardic course, just to give ‘em a try) but if there’s a practical element, it’s much more likely to ‘stick’ for me.

So yeah. Giving it another shot tomorrow. Just probably without the wand-in-chalice, etc imagery 😒

[exoflash]

a concerning amount of witchblr will be like "um actually new years was stolen by europeans from the ancient god scroobus mcdoobus" and then you actually try to research scroobus mcdoobus and it turns out he was invented in the 1940s by a conspiracy theorist who powdered every meal with ketamine and thinks that queer people are reincarnated fish

[seashore-winds]

honestly im a dumbass because first i ask my gods, mainly and specifically Dionysus, to bring to me that which i desire. and then he puts it at my reach and i tremble. i shake with a watering mouth and wide eyes and i love it. few things i enjoy more than the hunger of desire, that comes to me so rarely and with this strength.

[boxingcleverrr]

Popular Hades & Persephone "retellings" are, rightly, getting dunked on all over the socials right now and, as a Pagan who has an altar to the Queen, I could not be happier. But also, I feel like a lot of people miss WHY they're bad - aside from just plain bad writing and lazy tropes. Which are, yeah, also REALLY bad.

Pretty much all retellings try to wave away, or excuse, or twist the whole kidnapping bit. And I actually do have sympathy and understanding for why, when speaking from a modern perspective.

But honestly...you gotta get over it. There are other stories to play fix-it with, not this one.

The Abduction is The Thing.

Were I a little more sober I could bring up chapter and verse of the Hymn to Demeter but frankly, if you know even the middle school mythology curriculum version of the story, you SHOULD know the themes. The story of Persephone was one mothers and daughters in the ancient world held dear, because it was a reality: you will, one day, be swept away from your home to go cleave to a man you most likely know nothing about. You will miss your mother, but chances are very good that he will be a good husband, once you get to know him, certainly better than Zeus or Ares, and he will make you a queen of his home.

Leaving home to marry was often scary, and violent (look up the history of the tradition of Bridesmaids, if you don't already know it - they were originally decoys on the marriage road). Centuries later we'd have tales like Beauty & The Beast serving the same function: comfort, hope, you are leaving your safe loving home to figure life out with a (often older, powerful) stranger. Your trauma over this sudden ending of your childhood made manifest in a Beast, or a God of The Underworld.

It's wonderful that we don't NEED stories like this anymore to comfort us (here, at least, in this culture). But if you try to force them into modern vernacular it just will not work, not really, because you're gutting out the whole point just to have a more tidy romantic male hero.

I have read MANY very good ...novelizations? fanfic(? however you would frame them, but they're certainly not "retellings"), etc. that simply take advantage of the blank spaces in the myth, and there are many!

It's not explicit that sexual assault happens - "The Rape of Persephone" as a title was coined in much earlier eras, when the word was just as often used to simply refer to abduction.

"She was starving!" the gods didn't need to eat. So it's easy to read her eating the Pom seeds as a deliberate choice on her part. Like, shit, people, scholars have written whole papers on the symbolism of this moment, between marriage rites and even yeah, Seph choosing both worlds with her husband's knowing consent.

And that, I think, is the real heart of the thing. People want an utterly mundane, spelled-out story here, as opposed to what it really is, has always been, just like any other myth or religious parable: IT'S A METAPHOOOOOOR.

They don't need to be destined, or meet at a goddamned BALL and then CONSPIRE to fake her kidnapping, or shit, I once saw one where Hades got MIND CONTROLLED by Zeus?! Jesus.

Persephone was yoinked into the Underworld against her will.

That's how it went.

I don't mean this in a "stay out of my belief system!" way, shit I'm a white American chick with delusions of witchery. I mean this in a "stop stressing yourself out trying to make things palatable" way:

This is a very real, very precious myth to many people, BECAUSE for at least that one event, Persephone had no autonomy, BECAUSE for thousands of years most women had no autonomy. Erasing that, sanitizing the fact that a girl is ripped out of the spring, from her mother's arms, is erasing the thing that gave comfort to women for centuries. And people can and should still find power and healing in it now!

Fill in the blanks the story leaves in whatever manner seems fit to you, there's plenty of room, but. Come the fuck on.

[something-to-believe-in]

As I’ve gotten into deity worship and have been more open about it with friends the number one response I get is ‘but you don’t really believe in that do you?’

and yes, I do, but if you MUST argue with me about it

I grew up non religious and described myself as agnostic for a long time, and I do still hold truth in that. I think it’s arrogant to say we know for sure whether there is or isn’t some higher powers. But if there’s really just nothing

WHO CARES

it’s fun to believe, it’s motivating, it’s energizing. Even if the gods aren’t ‘real’ in a scientific sense, they are real in my mind.

Even if when I die it’s all been nothing but a placebo effect, that’s okay!!

it’s helped me get by, it’s helped me be happy, and that is enough

[worshipthesunshine]

i’ll never get over how beautiful hellenic polytheism is

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

i think the fastest and most effective prayer to any God in an emergency is just "[insert name], please help me". specifics are good in like, formal situations, but let me tell you: i parked my car in mud which froze overnight (temps in my area dropped from 50 degrees fahrenheit down to about 10 degrees with windchill), and after trying for almost a full hour to get my car unstuck from the mud, i just stared vacantly to the sky and said "Hermes, please help." and wouldn't you know it, about three minutes later my car's wheels somehow managed to gain traction and the frozen mud around them loosened enough to actually allow me to back out.

i have more thoughts on this whole (very good) incident namely involving a tiktok by olympianbutch on invocations (not tagging him because i'm not writing that essay yet), the power of the names of the Gods, and how the Gods are very, very, very good. but it's almost 3am and my brain is potatoes, so we'll post that all some other time :)

for now, i'll give a simple thank You Hermes for getting me unstuck from the mud <3

[beastrambles]

Shout out to all of my fellow witches who are too exhausted and busy to do complicated rituals and elaborate spellwork- the simple life does just fine, really.

[the-fire-within0]

I'm a Hermes devotee, of course I stutter and struggle to communicate my thoughts and feelings from time to time.

[sunshineewines]

it's probably the christian trauma but who knew the hellenic God's were so kind

Don't get me wrong, I understand they are not to be messed with, but I just had the sweetest experience.

I've applied to a college recently and now all I can do is wait for the decision and I've fallen in love with this college recently and honestly don't know what i'll do if i dont get in. I didn't do the best in high school so I'm just praying at this point.

I had a pretty bad anxiety attack about this last night that ended up turning into health anxiety because I convinced myself I was having a stroke when in reality I think i just injured my shoulder at work and have a pinched nerve or something.

Yesterday I discovered that both Hades and Athena were wanting to talk to me as well as Aphrodite and Poseidon so I did a huge tarot session where I spoke to them one on one. -- Which I had no clue would be so exhausting.

All of them kept reassuring me that I'm on the right path and that everything will work out and they helpfully told me the type of working relationship they were looking for. By the time I got to Athena last, I was absolutely exhausted but was determined to speak with her. When I asked her to confirm she wanted to speak with me she said no, and when when I asked some follow up questions she basically told me "Ask me later, go rest." and i don't know I just found that super kind??? I think i'm just new at this.

[crazycatsiren]

Christianity did not exist when the Olympic Games began in Greece.

Just leaving this historical fact here.

[acrystalwitch]

I often worry about why the gods spend time interacting with me and other people.

I feel I am lesser than them, and like… why would a god hang out with a human?

But I think honestly..it’s just such a pointless question to worry about. I could wonder all day every day and use my worries to invalidate my own practice. but it wouldn’t change anything.

Because they are there nonetheless, because they have answered questions and prayers. And because I can feel their love and sometimes their displeasure too.

Whether I feel worthy of these interactions really is irrelevant at the end of the day. Because they are happening and I should just be happy for that.

[fabledfoxglove]

I feel like both Hestia & Demeter would love stardew valley. I’m gonna play some stardew valley for them later I think

[c0gito]

hmmmmmmmm how about narinder pre-godhood? or maybe baby lamb?

also i dunno, might be cool if you drew some pikmin... kicks a pebble or whatever..

unfortunately i am not well versed in pikmin.. but i am very insane abt my lamb lore

Also LAMB NAME REVEAL!1!1!

Ok so, to preface, I’m irish and based the lamb’s culture off of celtic mythology so yeah

The lamb’s mother, Dana, comes from the name of the mother goddess in irish mythology who gave name to the ‘tuatha de danann’ (tribe of goddess danu, tribe of the gods) which is what i base the lamb’s close following on (stay with me here) So its kinda to say that from the lamb’s mother giving birth to them, she effectively raised all ‘children’ (following) of the lamb if you get what im saying?

The lamb themself takes the name of the famed goddess Ériu who is the matron goddess of ireland and gave it its name. SO staying on theme that the cult is named after the lamb themself, it fit nicely imo.

The lamb was born just as the reaping began, so their mother chose a name she hoped would bring them luck to spare them from the reaping. Hoping it would bring them to safer lands with ‘bounty and abundance’ as the name means. It was wishful thinking, although she knew not what her child was to become the very symbol the name portrayed.

sorry i’m really bad at putting my ideas into words it’s so late so i hope it’s comprehensible 😭🙏

[khaire-traveler]

For the first time in a while, I prayed to a few deities I haven't spoken to in quite some time. I asked them to assist in having a good time with a brand new friend. The conversations that followed with that friend were life-changing. I realized how much I had been ignoring myself and my own well-being. I realized how fucked up certain situations I had gone through recently truly were. I realized how low I had made my own standards when it came to making and keeping friends. I realized how desperately I needed someone to listen to my recent traumas and validate my experiences, instead of immediately putting me down. I want to humbly thank Aphrodite and Dionysus for the time I had with that friend. I believe that they helped contribute to the genuinely life-changing experience that I had.

I say this all to emphasize that having good, strong relationships with deities doesn't mean giving them offerings every single day, saying prayers every time you get the chance, or going out of your way to do things for them at the cost of your own well-being. Having a solid relationship with deities doesn't look like receiving some immense spiritual sign every single time they reach out to you, hearing their voices speak from the heights of the heavens (or the depths of the underworld) as clearly as one breathes air, or being able to perfectly interpret every type of divination you receive from them.

You don't need to have some profound experience to know that your deities are there, supporting you through some of your toughest battles. Sometimes the divine express themselves in ways that are as mundane and average as seeing a butterfly outside your window or finally feeling motivated to take care of your physical needs.

Something wild and extraordinary isn't going to happen every twenty seconds while you're worshipping a deity. That's simply not how life works, but that also doesn't mean you're doing something wrong. That doesn't make your relationships any less valuable or important. That doesn't invalidate the more mundane experiences you've had with your deities. It's ok that you don't have something "interesting" happening every five minutes. You don't need to. You don't have to.

All that truly matters is that you feel happy, that you feel content within your worship. Make sure your relationships with your deities feel like a safe place for you because if they don't, maybe something needs to change.

[shewithbloodofdevotion]

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