side blogs: @templeofelysium & @templekhrysenios & @ofravageandruin
please keep in mind that i am an adult (22) and although i don't mind receiving questions from minors please keep it to asks and out of dms unless necessary
hello everyone and welcome to my blog! content here will be primarily about witchcraft and hellenic polytheism, with some other pagan/polytheist practices in the mix.
i am contractually bound to hades, with very strong relationships with artemis and persephone as well. i am an artist, diviner, chaos witch, dragon enthusiast, and crystal collector. i am also an ambulatory disabled person and autistic.
i have been active in my practice for about nine years now, and have studied for that time primarily the art of divination (including tarot, osteomancy, runes, pendulums and more) and benevolent magic. recently i've also begun researching and practicing baneful magic, irish folk magic, and seidr! if you have any questions or need advice im always willing to listen!
Hades and 90s gangsta rap - struggling to survive, loss, and fighting against temptation and death. Not everyone will get it.
I saw a post not too long ago about someone trying to drip-feed more black artists/musicians into the helpol music rotation and I cannot get that out of my head. I hope someone enjoys this playlist as much as I do (but I doubt it lol)
getting started learning about astrology, currently reading "The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need" and watching the video series by shainaemily on YouTube. might make an astrology post if i don't immediately forget about this project like i tend to do sometimes
hi all! while i'm working on my next big project, i realized that i forgot to finish my entry for weyward grove's discussion questions for may! i'm so grateful for @hillbillybubbeleh for doing this for the community, i think it is/will be great for the space :)
WHAT IS MAGIC?
magic, to me, is a formless thing, impossible to predict where it'll be, but easy to see where it's been. i see magic as the thick, heavy clouds that roll through my hometown in the early mornings, the way the sun caresses my face on my birthdays, and watching vultures circle over a rotting coyote corpse. it's the most beautiful thing i've ever experienced, and the ugliest. magic took my mother. magic is my mother.
i know that's very vague, but the way i feel magic is vague. i couldn't tell you enough of my life experiences to convince you magic is real, but the sum of those things i've been through, big and small, add up to that knowledge.
DO WE CREATE MAGIC OURSELVES?
no, i think magic has always existed, but humans (and other animals, honestly) have learned how to channel it. i don't think that magic exists for us or because of us.
WHERE DOES MAGIC COME FROM?
i have no clue, and i don't think it's my business to know. i know that it has to come from somewhere, but there are so many different cosmologies that i can't even begin to describe it myself. i'm just one guy, and i've only been alive for so long.
DOES MAGIC HAVE A PURPOSE?
no, i think it would be here whether or not it had a purpose. i think magic pre-dates any sort of consciousness that might have given it a purpose, but i could definitely be wrong, again i've only been here so long.
IF MAGIC ISN'T "MAGIC," WHAT ELSE MIGHT IT BE?
i guess you could also call it "energy"? like life energy, solar energy, etc. etc. it's the undercurrent of power that exists in everything, even completely "inanimate" objects.
WHAT ROLE DOES MAGIC PLAY IN YOUR LIFE?
it is everything to me. in a life so full of confusion and misfortune, i turn to magic to help me understand and accept the things i cannot control. sure, i do my best to manipulate it in my favor through spell work, but i also just look to it for comfort and for guidance all the time.
witchdex is a comprehensive, dynamic, and mobile-friendly reference for magical + witchcraft correspondences based on several years of independent research. it's a work in progress and i am constantly updating and adding information so please remember to do your own research!
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CURRENT CATEGORIES
crystals, plants, fruits, planets, metals, colors, and one single mineral, which is salt lol
TIPS + TRICKS
search for whole words without punctuation - instead of "self-love" try "self love"
some of the most common terminology used for associations/traits include but are not limited to:Ā attraction, banishing, binding, cursing, divination, dreamwork, fertility, fidelity, love, lust, manifestation, protection, psychic abilities, power, warding
keywords for items include associations that would be considered benefic to the caster, and if an item also has a baneful association, it will be listed as such underneath its keywords - the same applies for items that may be toxic
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Saw your post on eclectic paganism and wanted to ask your opinion, one eclectic pagan to another, how do you feel about forms of worship mixing?
Nobody (as hard as people try) can worship the way that they were worshiped before. Big communal rituals are not something feasible for the average practitioner, and household worship can't always be done how it was (let's take what is known about Greek household practice, it's reliant on a family unit and gender expectation). But there is very little evidence on people's personal worship, what they did day to day and how their relationship to the deities was. So when it comes to daily practices there is going to be a lot of variance from history.
All this to ask what you think of blending other worship methods (for example rosary type prayer beads)? I'm aware it's a slippery slope to (once again) suppress the deities with Christianity.
there are definitely forms of worship mixing that i think are valid and understandable.
if we're talking specifically about mixing with Christian practices, then i try to look at how the people treated conversion when it happened.
take Icelandic folk practices for example. in many entries of the GaldrabĆ³k Christian deities or figures are invoked (including Jesus, Beezlebub, and Satan) alongside heathen gods like Odenn and Thorr. while it would be inappropriate to completely coopt their practices into Christian or other religious practices, some blending is normal and filling in the gaps is understandable.
on the other hand, if the conversion to Christianity looked particularly violent, or there was a very stark line in between "them" and "everyone else," you can probably assume it's better off leaving things alone.
i know it's frustrating that we can't recreate many ways of old, but there are ways to simulate them for the solo practitioner, or do your best to understand what they Probably did (instead of filling in that gap with another cultural practice)
if we're looking at your example, i see no problem with using prayer beads for many kinds of gods. it's not like the ancient greeks didn't have devotional jewelry, it just wasn't, as far as we know, used in prayer like that.
and anyways, what a lot of us eclectic pagans are doing is filling in the gaps based on our intuition, doing things that we feel will help us connect to our gods. ive adapted several parts of my practice ahistorically, but i've done a lot of research to make sure im not making a total ass of myself. i know what cannot be replaced, and most importantly, i know the history and culture of this group of people. i know that not all gods can be treated the same (i can even feel it in my interactions with them), but im not out here trying to put a one size fits all approach onto things like some people might.
anyways im rambling. i just think it's important to adapt to the cultures your practice comes from as much as possible, and be respectful when building your practice.
hi y'all, while i'm working on my book in the background, i thought id write up something real quick that has been on my mind for a while.
i know there will be a lot of differences of opinion on this matter, and i'm more than willing to have a conversation about it! i wanted to just share what being an eclectic pagan means to me, but i'm in no way trying to set some sort of precedent or create rules around this concept. i do think there are better ways to go about things than others, but at the end of the day, there are much better sources for information on this topic than me. iāll provide some links below.
Cultural Appropriation vs Appreciation
Cultural Appropriation 101
WHAT IS ECLECTIC PAGANISM?
Wikipedia defines it as follows: "[...] where practitioners blend paganism with aspects of other religions or philosophies, including the blending of separate pagan traditions."
However you feel about Wikipedia, I feel like this is a good enough introduction to the concept. But I still think it would be pertinent to create my own definition, weaving in some of my personal opinions and practices.
ECLECTIC PAGANISM: a religion consisting of modern polytheistic or pantheistic practitioners that adapt personal praxis to multiple cultures, traditions, or belief systems.
Why not use the term āpaganā in my definition? Well, I've noticed that "pagan" has become too often synonymous with cultural erasure. Sorting Hellenic polytheists and Norse polytheists under one umbrella term feels irresponsible and disrespectful to not only the practitioners, but also the cultures their religion hails from.
How does this differ from omnism (belief in many or all religions)? From syncretism (blending of two religious frameworks, often because of cultural blending)?
Well, that largely depends on the individual, but I can give at least a little insight. I am an omnist. I am also an eclectic pagan. I am an eclectic pagan because I am an omnist, but not the other way around. It is definitely possible (and I know this because I've seen it) for an omnist to be a reconstructionist (someone who attempts, to the best of their ability to worship exactly how it was done in antiquity) or a revivalist (reviving and adapting ancient frameworks for modern praxis).
Syncretism is very common when looking back across history, considering how ideas and culture were transferred through emigration, trade, and domination. Meaning, syncretism is a word often meant to refer to blending of culture that has already happened, before the days of the internet and global politics. Take Greco-Egyptian polytheism, for example, a syncretic tradition with its own gods and legends that arose (largely) because of political control over and trade with Egypt in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Of course, that isn't to say that worship couldn't adapt and change on its own. Local cults were a thing for a reason, but that's a somewhat separate topic.
Anyways, eclectic paganism. Eclectic paganism is neither of these things because A) omnism is more of a philosophical belief, rather than a religion in its own right, and B) syncretism is an action, not, again, a religion.
There's something else I feel needs to be said. Being an eclectic pagan is not an excuse to bastardize religions and cultures that are not your own. It is not an excuse to scoop up what you like and dump the rest. It is not an excuse to slap a pseudo-evangelical Christian label onto a community with a rich artistic, linguistic, political, or historical identity.
That is to say: you cannot practice a religion completely separate from the pre-existing cultural framework.
In fact, some days being an eclectic pagan looks more like reconstructionism for me than it does anything else. As a Hellenic polytheist, I've read the PGM, I've read the Theogony, I've read the hymns, the Iliad, and the Odyssey. Hell, I've read dissertations and scholarly articles so long it would have most people bleeding from their eyes. But I did that so I knew what was required of me to be respectful and honor the living and dead Greek people. I did that so I knew the history and background of the worship and magic I engaged with.
WHY DID I CHOOSE ECLECTIC PAGANISM?
Okay, forgive this side tangent for a bit before I get to the āhow,ā because I want to keep the framework I set up in the title.
For background: I grew up in a staunchly atheist family, with non-denominational Christian grandparents. I've been dragged to Church maybe three times in my life, and my parents threw somewhat of a fit each time. My Dad is very strict with me and my brothers on this topic, and entertains no discussion of ghosts, magic, religion, or spiritual beliefs. He calls my tarot cards "bullshit," is very openly critical of religious folks, and trashes modern witchcraft like all hell.
Due to that and my raging authority problems, I have never felt comfortable listening to or obeying the rules or guidance of any religious figure. When I discovered witchcraft and paganism (it happened at the same time, which is why I group them), I had quite the conniption about it. It took me months to even justify my beliefs to myself, and I'm no closer to being fully open about my religion to many of my friends and family than I was at the very beginning.
At the end of the day, my beliefs and praxis are private; they're for me, not anyone else. In the beginning, when I had no community or any idea that so many people like me existed, I convinced myself I had to make it all up on my own. I hadn't even heard the term Hellenic Polytheism before I stepped foot into tumblr, I just knew I worshipped the Greek gods. And yeah, maybe it's a little embarrassing to admit that I was like that for as long as I was, but I try not to feel ashamed of things I can no longer control.
When I found the HelPol and wider pagan community here on tumblr, I immediately knew I wanted nothing to do with Wicca, with strict reconstructionism, or, god forbid, Greek and Roman philosophy. I've always hated listening to the rules set out for me by men dead for my age a hundred times over, whether that be the Constitution, the Bible, or Plato. But I also knew I had to be respectful of the culture, now that I had a better picture of what that looked like.
So, with much trial and much error, I did as much due diligence as was possible to get to know Ancient Greece, the Ancient Greek religion, and modern practitioners.
And what I discovered? It's not easy to do both.
HOW CAN I BE A "GOOD" ECLECTIC PAGAN?
Well, first of all, dispose of any notion that you should be doing anything for that purpose at all.
The Purpose, and in fact the only reason at all, you should choose eclectic paganism, is because you've tried every other option and still felt unfulfilled. And even then, eclecticism may not be the right choice for many people.
Right now, I'm working on researching Irish folk magic and polytheistic beliefs. It would be, under no circumstances, acceptable to warp or change the traditions of a culture already so close to being destroyed by Christianization and time as it is. It would be inappropriate to blend it with Greek/Roman/etc. practices (unless Iām willing to dive into historical syncretism), and should be kept entirely separate.
In fact, in being an eclectic pagan, my day to day looks a lot more like juggling multiple clay balls, not smashing them altogether in some gross amalgamation. So again I must reiterate that practices within a certain cultural framework should never be removed from that background, and to do so would be extremely offensive to everyone alive or dead.Ā
Because all too often does that become rewriting, then cleansing, then dictating the rules for a culture that still exists. The moment your tone turns from one of "this is how I do things for me," to "this is how I think everyone should practice!" you need to put your phone down and lie face down in a lake until you wake the fuck up.
Take Diana for example. Diana isnāt a divine feminine archetype from a duotheistic Wicca, she is a goddess from a real, living, breathing, group of people, and fucking with that is frankly disgusting.
But at the end of the day, Iām still here asking myself whether Iām doing things āright.ā I question whether I should be spending more time researching Greek history than pointing my sights in a new direction every other month.
And maybe it is a little ambitious for me to try to research literally everything I can about so many different people and practices, but Iām doing my best. I think itās my responsibility to be as comprehensive as possible, and Iām just really interested in these topics anyways.
HOW DO I JUGGLE ALL OF THAT?
Well, yāknow, itās not super easy or straight forward.
What I tend to do, most of the time, is dedicate one day to one project. One day will be researching Ancient Greek necromancy, the next early English folklore, the next pre-Christian Irish polytheism. It keeps me entertained (as I have raging ADHD), and satisfies my unending craving for knowledge.
I wonāt go on to create a list of āclosed practices,ā as I feel thatās largely reductive, but what I can do is recommend you always research the origins of a practice, and become familiar with what descendants are telling modern practitioners. For example, there are plenty of resources from indigenous sources online about the usage of white sage and the misusage of the term āsmudging.ā They should first and foremost be the people you turn to, NOT just some random white guy online (including me).
I canāt for the life of me find the post on here talking about the usage of sage that was written from an Indigenous American perspective, but if I do Iāll come back and link it here.
creating an altar to yourself: an exercise in manifestation and passive control
recently my best friend told me about a change he made to his personal practice that completely revolutionized the way he felt fortune flowed for him. i've seen people talk about creating an egregore of themselves or their alter ego, but this approach is uniquely secular and occurred completely detached from this online space.
and what was it he did? well, he created an altar to himself.
and i know what that sounds like, but hear me out. this isn't so much an altar of worship or reverence--at least not in the way we think about those things--it's a passive spell that runs in the background, an act of self-care for his past self, boosting his self-confidence for his current self, and manifesting the person he wants to become.
WHAT IS AN ALTAR TO THE SELF?
This temple can be created from a very wide variety of items, but most often includes things that are meaningful or attractive to the person. For me, this includes crystals, trinkets, bones, flowers and herbs, pictures or drawings, sigils, and salt or ash. My friend also has a little statue that represents him, self-affirmations, and a devotional jar of beads in his.
I was introduced to this idea as not just something to help improve my self-confidence, but also as a way of shaping my future self. Each crystal will have its own meaning or trait that I'm is hoping to embody, and I can move them closer or further away depending on what I need more in the moment.
And even if you didn't care for a spell like this, from a psychology standpoint, this absolutely seems like it could be a productive exercise--especially if you're a more visual person.
HOW TO MAKE THE ALTAR
For this I'll introduce two different methods, one that I employed, and one that my friend employed.
My method:
Start with your favorite color(s) and maybe even an aesthetic (like cottage-core, dark academia, etc.)
Choose items that represent those colors or aesthetics, for me this would be green, pink, or purple crystals, naturey trinkets, and drawings that combine the two
Include things of great importance to you, even if they don't fit in the aesthetic, and try to make them look right
Arrange everything in a visually appealing way (I'll give some examples of this later)
But what my friend did was kind of the opposite, building the altar from the top down with things that were important to him, and just making it look good from there.
You've probably noticed that I make a big deal about the visual appearance of this altar, which is on purpose. I believe that it is of great importance this altar is appealing to you, since it's supposed to represent you, and it's supposed to represent your interests. If you don't really care as much about things being artistic or aesthetic, that's okay! As long as you can look at it and go, "Yeah, that's the vibe, that's what I want for myself," then you've done it right.
You can also add things like sigils, salt, or ash for an added layer of protection or a "boost" to the magic aspect, which I've added to mine. I also really like bones and don't have anywhere else to put them, so I add those, and I'll throw in some lavender to the salt since that's my favorite herb to use in workings.
WHY CREATE AN ALTAR?
Have you ever felt tired of being subservient to the whims of some external force, of waiting for things to happen rather than getting to decide that for yourself? If you do, this might be for you.
And it's not that this is supposed to snub or push aside worship of actual deities (I mean it can but it doesn't have to), but add to it. Think about it, most of us already have a self-care routine, something sacred to us, that we may even dedicate to our gods. All this altar is meant to do is add to that, to create a holiness to self-love and self-care.
The ultimate purpose of this exercise is to manifest the things you want in life, to design your future self, and combat the helplessness many of us feel when things start to change. It's meant to feed your energy, to form a conduit between you and something physical (which is helpful for those of us that dissociate often).
It is not meant to feed some heretical "fuck you" to the gods or the universe, rather give these forces a framework or "checklist" of things you want. At the end of the day, this is more similar to a spell than making yourself a deity that you want other people to worship.
creating an altar to yourself: an exercise in manifestation and passive control
recently my best friend told me about a change he made to his personal practice that completely revolutionized the way he felt fortune flowed for him. i've seen people talk about creating an egregore of themselves or their alter ego, but this approach is uniquely secular and occurred completely detached from this online space.
and what was it he did? well, he created an altar to himself.
and i know what that sounds like, but hear me out. this isn't so much an altar of worship or reverence--at least not in the way we think about those things--it's a passive spell that runs in the background, an act of self-care for his past self, boosting his self-confidence for his current self, and manifesting the person he wants to become.
WHAT IS AN ALTAR TO THE SELF?
This temple can be created from a very wide variety of items, but most often includes things that are meaningful or attractive to the person. For me, this includes crystals, trinkets, bones, flowers and herbs, pictures or drawings, sigils, and salt or ash. My friend also has a little statue that represents him, self-affirmations, and a devotional jar of beads in his.
I was introduced to this idea as not just something to help improve my self-confidence, but also as a way of shaping my future self. Each crystal will have its own meaning or trait that I'm is hoping to embody, and I can move them closer or further away depending on what I need more in the moment.
And even if you didn't care for a spell like this, from a psychology standpoint, this absolutely seems like it could be a productive exercise--especially if you're a more visual person.
HOW TO MAKE THE ALTAR
For this I'll introduce two different methods, one that I employed, and one that my friend employed.
My method:
Start with your favorite color(s) and maybe even an aesthetic (like cottage-core, dark academia, etc.)
Choose items that represent those colors or aesthetics, for me this would be green, pink, or purple crystals, naturey trinkets, and drawings that combine the two
Include things of great importance to you, even if they don't fit in the aesthetic, and try to make them look right
Arrange everything in a visually appealing way (I'll give some examples of this later)
But what my friend did was kind of the opposite, building the altar from the top down with things that were important to him, and just making it look good from there.
You've probably noticed that I make a big deal about the visual appearance of this altar, which is on purpose. I believe that it is of great importance this altar is appealing to you, since it's supposed to represent you, and it's supposed to represent your interests. If you don't really care as much about things being artistic or aesthetic, that's okay! As long as you can look at it and go, "Yeah, that's the vibe, that's what I want for myself," then you've done it right.
You can also add things like sigils, salt, or ash for an added layer of protection or a "boost" to the magic aspect, which I've added to mine. I also really like bones and don't have anywhere else to put them, so I add those, and I'll throw in some lavender to the salt since that's my favorite herb to use in workings.
WHY CREATE AN ALTAR?
Have you ever felt tired of being subservient to the whims of some external force, of waiting for things to happen rather than getting to decide that for yourself? If you do, this might be for you.
And it's not that this is supposed to snub or push aside worship of actual deities (I mean it can but it doesn't have to), but add to it. Think about it, most of us already have a self-care routine, something sacred to us, that we may even dedicate to our gods. All this altar is meant to do is add to that, to create a holiness to self-love and self-care.
The ultimate purpose of this exercise is to manifest the things you want in life, to design your future self, and combat the helplessness many of us feel when things start to change. It's meant to feed your energy, to form a conduit between you and something physical (which is helpful for those of us that dissociate often).
It is not meant to feed some heretical "fuck you" to the gods or the universe, rather give these forces a framework or "checklist" of things you want. At the end of the day, this is more similar to a spell than making yourself a deity that you want other people to worship.
Iāve been at this since like September. Originally the plan was to do five panels but by the time I reached three I realized it was absolutely going to be too heavy. If the back bothers me then Iāll just buy some black fabric and sew it on.
I pinned it excessively since I have been warned the feathers wonāt flatten unless blocked aggressively. They still donāt behave themselves 100% but again, if it bothers me Iām willing to steam block it in the future. Super fun before and after pics.
Pattern is of course the feathered wings shawl by my favorite pattern designer craftyintentions.
i think one of the most important things i've ever done for my practice was starting to learn about and appreciate the land around me, and the plants and animals that occupy it
featuring: green swarovski crystals, tigers eye, hematite, and brown agate
(this barred owl foot was obtained from a lab on campus that got them through an ecological restoration project run by the state a few years ago. please do not engage in the buying or selling of protected animal parts, fish and wildlife will throw you against a wall until you turn into nothing more than bone jelly)
hey y'all, my next project is going to be a doozy, an over 70 page long PDF providing information on herbs for magical purposes. BUT i need your help first
what's the format you would prefer i release this in?
free ko-fi listing
google drive link
both
Voting ended onMay 27
thank you so much in advance! i should have it released in about a weeks time :)
Reminder: People can get on the internet and say anything; but just because they say what they say with confidence and academic language, does not mean they're correct.
People love to be loud and wrong, so please make sure to also do your own unbiased research!
