waddleonmywaywardducks

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

Hellenic Deities: Aphrodite

🌹 Goddess of love, beauty, sex/desire, fertility and war

🌹 Symbols: Roses, myrtle, the ocean, seashells, pearls, the beach, apples, mirror, honey

🌹 Sacred animals: Swans, bees, doves

🌹 Colors: Pink and red

🌹 Crystals: Rose quartz, aquamarine, aragonite

🌹 Most Important Myths:

-Birth from Uranus�� severed genitals and the sea foam

-Arranged marriage to Hephaestus

-The exposure of her affair with Ares

-Judgment of Paris

-Death of Adonis

-Seduction of Anchises

🌹 “Don’t take the myths literally” understanding:

Aphrodite is not envious, petty or vindictive. She is an incredibly loving, warm being. She also does not envy anyone because she doesn’t need to. She’s Aphrodite! Comparing someone to her, beauty-wise, will not anger her. But, she wants you to see your own beauty through her, instead of trying to make hers rub off on you. She does insist on great respect and has a fierce side that should not be underestimated. Yet, she is absolutely delightful.

It is also not exactly that she was horribly “unfaithful” to her husband. She was forced into a loveless marriage and then actually found love. She just found it elsewhere and was shamed for it. That story is less about infidelity and more about how you can’t force love that isn’t working and have to follow your heart, even if that has consequences

🌹 Devotional acts: Self-care of any kind (skincare, salon trip, spa day), a long hot bath (with bath salts/essential oils/bath bombs, etc), shopping, putting a nice outfit together, doing your makeup, writing romantic poetry or love songs, writing yourself a love letter, watching a romantic movie, sexual pleasure (either alone or with a partner), buying yourself flowers (especially roses) or chocolates, doing self-love affirmations in the mirror

🌹 Assistance and Support:

-Obviously, Aphrodite is a huge help in romantic matters. But, it may not be the help that you are expecting. If you are yearning for or with someone who isn’t good for you, she is notorious for imploding or ending such situations. She will wake you up to what is really going on. Aphrodite wants you to actually be happy in love, not to invest in or stick to what you think will make you happy but really isn’t. Yes, she can also help you manifest the right person. You just need to do the inner work and healing required to align with that kind of relationship.

-She also is well-known for helping people when it comes to self-love and self-esteem, especially those who are more feminine. She will push you to improve your body image, feel more confident in your skin, see your beauty and attractiveness, and, above all, to know your worth

This is the only way I have found she can be a bit strict or “tough love”. As you build a bond with her, she will not tolerate you being down on yourself or accepting less than you deserve. But, this comes from a place of affection and love

-Aphrodite can also improve your relationship with sex. She encourages sex positivity, teaching you to fully embrace your pleasure, rid yourself of shame, and feel comfortable in your sensuality

-She also can teach you the power and the value of femininity. If you are a more feminine individual, she will encourage you to embrace that and own it, regardless of society’s negative ideas about femininity. If you’re more masculine, she will get you to do the same, to accept your feminine side without fear

-She can be called on when doing glamour magic, love magic, sex magic, and even earth magic, as she is a fertility goddess

🌹 Additional Note

-It is best to work with her on Friday, as this is the day she rules. You can and should, of course, work with her any day but this will be the most “charged” day in terms of energy

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

More of a life update... I am moving out soon!! And getting my own place with a super cool roommate! The only thing I'm nervous about is idk how do I know if they're cool with the whole "I'm a practitioner and a Hellenist" because while they are non religious and super nice, I am still worried they might be a little eugh about my witchcraft, which is completely fine...I've met a lot of people who have told me my practice makes them anxious....but If Im going to finally be in my own home and something that I AM PAYING FOR, I want to be able to make home altars, home wards, stuff of that sort....I don't know, any advice??

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

Ok here's a thought, or more so something I've been dealing with lately

I'm sure some of you guys have seen my last post saying how I got a well paying job!! Before this job I was unemployed for umm....a long time....can you guess what country I live in?? LOL anyways, now that I have this job I've been very busy bc I'm working on getting my life together after some time of unemployment and rotting. So, I took a break from my practice. Which I do feel guilty about but I've been thinking about it and here's my thoughts on my practice:

I am very hard on myself about my religion, I come from a home of Christianity and in my home anything that was so slightly wrong could be a sin. I lived under a lot of pressure to be perfect, which still shows in my work, my band, my relationship with my partner, and even my daily life, and unfortunately...my practice. I am very hard on myself to follow the Hellenic religion to a T. I wash my hands before prayer, I try to keep my room clean to please the gods, I wash my clothes immediately out of fear my filth will displease them, I replace offerings as much as I can. It becomes a lot for me to deal with and constant paranoia that I am displeasing a god in some way. I realized I might be projecting my trauma from my Christian household onto my OWN practice.

I've decided that now that I am moving into my OWN SPACE, into my OWN apartment, that I will practice in a way that is SPECIFIC TO ME.

Idk if this like "yeah obviously chaos, you're supposed to make your practice/religion your own"

This is just a big revelation to me ok 😭😭

I'm very excited to sink my hands back into something and finally make it my own.

Okay thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

The gods have blessed me yet again, I finally have a well paying job!! I'm planning on moving out soon and I can't wait to give them the altars they deserve...GUHHHH IM SO EXCITED FINALLY I can't wait to finally have time to devote to my gods bc honestly, I've been in burnout for a while.....I can't wait to finally reconnect with them....anyways yeah...if anyone has any good money saving tips lemme know!!

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

HEEELLLOOOOO

making a small post today bc life has been the worst these past couple of months....sorry for being so inactive

but I wanted to make a post on diy things to do for your gods!! I'm the type of person who will always take the cheapest option, and in this economy sometimes the cheapest option is to just DO IT YOURSELF!! so here are my ideas...

DIONYSUS

recently I've been looking for grapes at thrift stores to put on my altar for Dionysus...ya know those grapes that you see in Italian restaurants or maybe the ones you'll see in a 80s kitchen, so far not luck but!! I have found that with some cardstock or cardboard you can EASILY make some grapes, it will be completely your style and since you are making it yourself more love devotion will go into it!! I'm currently working on these rn...

VINES!! I love adding fake vines to Dionysus altar. you can buy a huge pack for it on Amazon, but if you are boycotting, again, you can make some on your own!! still super cheap and easy to make!!

too young to drink?? not a drinker at all?? literally no problem, you can find wine bottles or really any kind of cool bottles at a thrift store, super cheap and super cute!!

need a altar cloth for dionysus?? get some fabric paint (or just water down acrylic) and paint some leopard print on it BOOM altar cloth.

APHRODITE

seashells, again you can get some from thrift stores or if you live near a beach, there you go!!

i got the cutest offering trey from pop shelf its a seashell key trey but its so cuteeeeee

i don't have a actual statue for Aphrodite, but I found a pink angel that I SWEAR LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE Aphrodite!! is it Christian?? yes. do I care?? NO!!! I love my Aphrodite statue!!

I put love letters from my girlfriend on my altar to Aphrodite, super cute and I love sharing my love with her

HEKATE

i put my tarot cards on hekates altar, she loves it

i have collected rusted railroad spikes and placed them on her altar as well, idk they just remind me of her

my girlfriend cooks alot and the garlic she doesn't use in her cooking I just put on Hekate's altar bc again, it just reminds me of her

i have black nail polish that I associate with her on my altar for her too!! I'm wearing it rn LOL another way to show appreciation and also for protection

thats all I'm putting for now!! if anyone has any suggestions for other diys/cheap things to make for gods let me know and I'll add it to this post!! ok back to my grave

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

Dionysus Agyieus, please protect all of your queer and marginalized children as we step forward into an unknown future.

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

reblog this if you're okay with booping spams please !!

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

OP!!!! I DREW APOLLO WITH A KITTY!!! hope you enjoy

Given how much cats love bathing in sunlight, I'm surprised and disappointed I've never seen art of Apollo with a bunch of very content cats all over him

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

saw a post that was like "it's weird that cats aren't associated with Apollo bc cats sun bathe all the time! I wish we had some pottery with Apollo and some content looking cats" which made me want to draw Apollo with a cat! if anyone can find the original post so I can link it PLEASE DO it was so real actually

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

can't stress this enough. when you promise something to someone, obviously they are going to want you to uphold that.

I promise the gods understand our lives wayyy more then you comprehend, this is their earth, we are their people. if it brings you some comfort to raise a hand to the sky, then ok, but please don't stress yourself out. leave out offerings, dust off their shrines, do something devotional for them. the world will still turn and you will be ok

The biggest advice I can give to a person who is new to worship the Greek pantheon from someone who began four years ago:

This is really important. I need you to write this down and internalize it. DONT PROMISE THINGS TO THE GODS IF YOU ARE NOT 200% SURE YOU CAN COMPLETE IT.

Remember you are not a king from an ancient myth. You don’t have to make grand promises or offerings to the gods for them to give you blessings. They know your situation. You are just one person from a really small religious minority trying to worship them. They don’t hold you to the same standard. Why do you hold yourself to that standard?

I promise you the gods are okay with receiving a glass of water or gummies or fruit or even gum.

DO NOT MAKE GRAND PROMISES IF YOU CANNOT KEEP THEM. IF YOU DO, TALK TO THE GOD IN QUESTION TO SEE IF THERE IS ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE BUT PLEASE SAVE YOURSELVES THE HEADACHE.

This has been a PSA.

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

poorly drawn dinoysus bc I can't stop thinking about him

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

I've waited a very long time to worship dinoysus after thinking about him almost every day for months. but today my body just started moving, I went back to the forest where I left his old altar and collected it all, I haven't been back there because it's such a walk and my body isn't the best, but nonetheless, I walked. I didn't even plan to make him a altar today, there was no thought, no plan of action just doing it and in some way I felt like I was honoring his madness. I'm currently washing off his old cloth and making him a candle and setting up a altar on my balcony. dinoysus, god of madness, you work in such weird ways. welcome to my home :)

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

Ares and Aphrodite <3

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

ALL IS WELCOME I LOVE MY COMMUNITY AND SO DOES OUR GODS!!!

please i hate going to helpol blogs, only to see random queerphobic sentiment of any kind.

please reblog if;

you love your trans brothers, sisters, and siblings

you support aces and aros

you support 'weird' and 'contradictory' labels [i.e. lesboy/turigirl/etc]

you support mspec lesbians and gays

you support multigender folks

you support agender folks

you support all nonbinary & genderqueer identities

you support neopronouns and xenogenders

you support microlabels

i don't like to talk about my specific identity, but i personally use contradictory labels! i contain multitudes and that's wonderful!

we don't gatekeep the queers here.

unfollow if you feel differently

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

i did a very bad thing (I made a coven with my friends)

I bring a sort of "let's make a coven" vibe to the function that my friends and family don't really like 😞😞😞

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

I miss this everyday

Shoutout to that era in the 90s when Dionysus temporality possessed home renovators and grape themed kitchens were a thing.

My future kitchen tbh I had one like this as a kid living on a vineyard.

[waddleonmywaywardducks]

Do not despair when you are crossed, for if you honor the gods of the world below, they will hear your cries. When you are wronged, dig at the earth, howling and screaming, calling on Hekate, named Brimo, and the Erinyes, the Furies who attend Her. Cry out in your agony, pouring libations into the earth and giving your words of distress as supplication. They will come to you, snakes in their hair, carrying whips and flaming yew, bringing vengeance and righteous fury with them. Offer to them the names of your oppressors in this moment of pain and they will not deny you. They will bring you the justice you deserve.