#praying to sappho

[russiansappho]

My dear followers, I am one happy lesbian right now... I am crying... Thank you so much for your support and for making my novel an Amazon bestseller.

[petaltexturedskies]

Sappho, from If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (tr. by Anne Carson)

[liyazaki]

come here.

GAP THE SERIES | EP. 7 [2022-2023]

[sevikasenby]

you think if i said sevika’s name 3 times in the bathroom mirror at exactly 3 am i would be able to draw again

[liqsouls]

Damn, tomorrow will be now or never moment cause I will try to get tickets on 3rd august 2024 concert 🫣🙏🏼

[lonlonranching]

reading fragments of sappho at work rn

[floofysmallbob]

my family saying a blessing: dear father,

me praying to sapphic jesus, the little gay freak who lives in the sky: sup lesdyke bitch

[sappho-favourite-pupil]

please²?? aren't you imaginative, darling.

why don't you get yourself right to the edge and ask me again then. I do so love knowing that the instant I allow it, you'll cum all over your fingers

-🌋

I did it, but literally i've been waiting for days now, it doesn't take that much to get me to the edge at this point.

I swear i'm like two seconds away from coming, may i, please? I'll be good and cum right after you tell me to.

[becaexists]

No I'm so normal rn what are you talking about? Oh the very loud sobbing while Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls was playing on repeat for the past three hours coming from my bedroom until you knocked and then the sound of many, many cans falling over while someone that sounded just like me kept whispering "oh shit" over and over while approaching the door? Nah I don't know anything about that

[edwardian-masquerade]

"Beyond all hope, I prayed those timeless days we spent might be made twice as long. I prayed one word: I want. Someone, I tell you, will remember us, even in another time."

-Sappho, A Fragment Of An Ode

[antigonenikk]

(Mark's Theme by Black Country, New Road)

"All the while, believe me, I prayed our night would last twice as long." -Sappho

for @guarnerepdf

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

Personal Dionysian Ritual

This is the ritual form I use for my Sunday worship (or, in this case, first-day-of-Anthesteria worship). I think this may hit closer to Catholic or Christian formats than historic Greek pagan ritual formats, at least if the book Hellenic Polytheism - Household Worship is to be believed. But this format is just a bit easier on me in terms of supplies, time, and ability to keep it semi-covert. I don't have the ability to light fires in my current space, but when I do, I usually include a prayer to Hestia at the beginning and end.

Dionysian Ritual (for Sundays) (Usually) (It's not set in stone)

Approach the altar or worship space. With you, there must be:

A bowl or other vessel filled with water (can be small).

Optionally, you may have:

Wine

Barley

Sea salt

Divination tools (I prefer tarot, or Sappho/Homeromanteions when I can get my hands on it).

A candle or other source of heat/light/incense (smells, basically)

Place the bowl of water either in front of your statue of Dionysos, or, if no statue is available, in a central spot in your space of worship. The wine and extra supplies may be placed anywhere else. Begin:

Orphic Hymn to Dionysos (Apostolos N. Athanassakis translation) I call upon loud-roaring and reveling Dionysos, primeval, two-natured, Thrice-born, Bacchic Lord, savage, ineffable, two-horned and two-shaped. Ivy-covered, bull-faced, warlike, howling, pure, You take raw flesh, You have triennial feasts, wrapped in foliage, decked in grape clusters. Resourceful Eubouleus, immortal God sired by Zeus when He mated with Persephone in unspeakable union, Harken to my voice, O blessed one, and with your fair-girdled nurses, Breathe on me in spirit of perfect kindness.

After the Orphic hymn, consecrate the bowl of water to make khernips. You may add salt if desired.

Dionysian Khernips Prayer (In between each verse of the Khernips Prayer, I move from just having the bowl on the altar, to holding the sides of the bowl, to holding the bowl up for the last verse.)

After the Khernips Prayer, I pray to Hagios as I actually ritually wash myself with the newly made khernips.

Hagios (For every verse of Hagios, I start with washing my face, then move to washing my hands, and finally sprinkle khernips on my feet, especially if I'm planning on dancing. This isn't actual washing, but more like lightly splashing water on the different parts of me that I wash.)

After Hagios, if there is wine, then I consecrate that, which I'll link my prayer for below. If there isn't, then I libate clean water (will be writing a prayer for that at some point soon), and move on to the next part of the ritual.

Wine Consecration to Dionysos (From the part where I say "This is the gift that..." through to "on the slopes of Mount Kithairon", I raise the wine towards my statue Dionysos as though toasting Him, which is inspired by art showing Maenads serving Dionysos wine.)

After the wine consecration, I pour out a libation of wine to Dionysos while praying my prayer to Dionysos Theoinos:

Theoinos

After the prayer to Theoinos, whatever happens next is up to you. If I'm doing any divination, I'll say a prayer to Dionysos Mantis before going ahead with it. Otherwise, I may dance, or talk about my day, or simply do prayer after prayer after prayer until I've kind of exhausted my talking point. Since most of my rituals are done at night, however, the consistent part is frequently the end, which is my second prayer to Dionysos Nyktelios:

Nyktelios II

And there you have it! I definitely finished this a bit later than I was planning, but that's okay - I got it out, and that's all that matters! I hope everyone has a good night and a beautiful Anthesteria, and that this was helpful to some degree :)

[sex-death-rebirth]

Sappho Praying to Aphrodite by Margaritis Georgios, before 1843

[mswyrr]

"platonic soulmate" sounds, to me, an awful lot like doing all the work of being someone's wife and then not getting all the benefits - someone to hold you when you're sad or sick or just need a cuddle, someone to do half the chores, someone who makes you feel special, makes you laugh, takes care of you, listens to you and takes your feelings seriously, who takes your side, who puts the time and effort and love in to learn to fuck you just right

i'm not sure how it's more "feminist" and "pure" to imagine a woman getting a raw deal like that. or why another man or woman (if she's queer) would put up with her giving all of that wife-y care and time and passion (for minimum 14-16+ hours out of 24, six days a week) and energy away to a "platonic soulmate"

how is that more feminist than a woman wanting and then getting what she wants and all the pleasures and costs that come with it? why is only paying the cost and not getting the full deal inherently purer?

anyway here's Wonderwall Sappho (translated by Anne Carson)

because I prayed this word: I want

[beautyofaphrodite]

ODE TO APHRODITE

Aphrodite, subtle of soul and deathless,

Daughter of Zeus, weaver of wiles, I pray thee

Neither with care, dread Mistress, nor with anguish,

Slay thou my spirit!

But in pity hasten, come now if ever

From afar of old when my voice implored thee,

Thou hast deigned to listen, leaving the golden

House of thy father

With thy chariot yoked; and with doves that drew thee,

Fair and fleet around the dark earth from heaven,

Dipping vibrant wings down the azure distance,

Through the mid-ether;

Very swift they came; and thou, gracious Vision,

Leaned with face that smiled in immortal beauty,

Leaned to me and asked, "What misfortune threatened?

Why I had called thee?"

"What my frenzied heart craved in utter yearning,

Whom its wild desire would persuade to passion?

What disdainful charms, madly worshipped, slight thee?

Who wrongs thee, Sappho?"

"She that fain would fly, she shall quickly follow,

She that now rejects, yet with gifts shall woo thee,

She that heeds thee not, soon shall love to madness,

Love thee, the loth one!"

Come to me now thus, Goddess, and release me

From distress and pain; and all my distracted

Heart would seek, do thou, once again fulfilling,

Still be my ally!

-Sappho

[deathlessathanasia]

Did Hera send a storm to Menelaus and Agamemnon when they left Troy? Or did she help them navigate one? I'm confused

I don't know of any source in which she is described as doing anything to harm the Greeks returning from Troy. In Book 4 of the Odyssey we learn the following about Agamemnon's return: "But your [Menelaos'] brother escaped that fate, and slipped by with his hollow ships, protected by Lady Hera. Yet, as he neared the heights of Cape Malea, a tempest caught him and drove him, groaning deeply, over the teeming waves, to the edge of that land where Thyestes once ruled, and at that time his son Aegisthus. But there the gods altered the wind’s course: a fair breeze blew and showed him the safe path home."

Sappho also makes mention of Hera helping both Atreidai in their trouble at sea: "Be here, by me, Lady Hera, I pray Who answered the Atreides, Glorious kings. They gained great things There, and at sea, And came towards Lesbos, Their home path barred Till they called to you, to Zeus Of suppliants, to Dionysus, Thyone’s Lovely child: be kind now, Help me, as you helped them…"