IAPETH

work in progress

[skaldish]

UPG question time for my fellow polytheists

Who’s the most niche/minor/unknown deity you’ve ever worked with and what where they like?

[serpentine-sorceror-deactivated]

Eostre is warm and calm, a soothing presence in the dawn. She wakes the color from the green and makes life grow full and ripe.

[boatcat]

Minadea introduced herself to me several years ago as a chthonic goddess of “rain and damp earth.” She’s an entirely unrecorded deity as far as I can find, and I rarely talk about her bc people find that... bold

She’s generally playful and curious, and has the power to be very destructive. She’s a little like touching cold marble — wide and cool and full 🖤

[boatcat]

Been thinking about the Delphic maxim, “know thyself”

Because one one hand I’m extremely introspective and I challenge my knowledge about myself and my worldview and I know WHY I do things and HOW my past choices have gotten me where I am and WHAT I need to do to get where I wanna be

But on the other hand, I don’t have a stable sense of self like who the fuck am I

[witchofapollo]

ATTENTION ALL WITCHES WHO USE BLOOD IN THEIR CRAFT!

A lot of us out there are afraid of using needles. Plus there’s always the risk of them being unsanitary. A lot of people don’t like pain either. 

Well I Have an Answer For You!!

See these things above? Up top, we got a lancing device and below we got little lancets. Lancets are little needles attached to a bit of plastic to go into the lancing device. Push the button on the device (You don’t have to look either!) and the needle goes in and out within a half-second. It’s quick and painless and DOES draw enough blood (reasonably). These are usually used by diabetics who have to check their blood sugar by exposing a blood meter to their blood (i.e. why the lancet device exists). I was raised by my diabetic grandmother and helped her with this multiple times a day. And it’s only ~$6+ for the device (at Walmart) and you can get a 200 pack of lancets “for sensitive skin” for ~$4! The best part in my opinion is that you can get these without a prescription. These babies are over the counter. 

**Please be careful and take extra precautions with your safety with the use of any blood in your magick. Also please study up on the usage, purpose, and effect of blood on magick before attempting such**

[growing-yet-into-magic]

i personally have no blood in my craft but I am ALWAYS down for safety and health precautions!!!

[boatcat]

Anybody wanna join a server about past lives?

I made a Discord for past life chat. Kin are welcome, but it’s not a kin chat. Any spiritual beliefs or lack thereof are welcome but cultural appropriation and racism will get you booted. Message me for a link or if you’ve got questions!

Here’s the description from the server:

Past Lively is a group chat to engage in discussion about past lives and experiences with reincarnation. It is open to people who have had/remember having/believe in past lives, as well as those who wish to (politely) sit in on and participate in conversations with believers.

This is not a group for any particular religion, but welcomes practitioners of any religion. Cultural appropriation or inappropriate practices of closed religions, however, will not be tolerated. This is also not an otherkin group, but discussion of otherkin identities is welcome as long as it's appropriate to Past Lively chat.

There won’t be a ton of rules, but if you have a problem please talk to me about it. I care about people's happiness, health, and safety and will take necessary measures to protect them.

Rules:

-sensitive topics, such as abuse, assault, and violence are allowed, but should be confined to the sensitive channel, and even then should contain content warnings at the top. As a group about past lives, this won't inherently apply to discussions of death, but cases of violent or gruesome death will be subject to the same rules.

-RESPECT EACH OTHER. Obviously there will be no tolerance for sexism, racism, lgbtphobia, ableism, or threats. Additionally, ridicule or invalidation of one's beliefs, including speaking about your own beliefs as though they were "the correct beliefs," will not be allowed. You're welcome and encouraged to discuss, and trade information and concepts, but speaking to others as though you are right and they are wrong is inappropriate and inconsiderate.

-There is an 18+ chat for a reason. Exposing minors to sexual content is a one-way ticket to bansville. Keep explicit sex-talk confined to the 18plus channel.

[thesuburbanwitch]

[heartmindalignedspirit]

Black-Owned Metaphysical & Spiritual Supply Store Directory 🕯🌿💎💸✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to buy all of my magick supplies - candles, herbs, crystals, etc. - from Black-owned businesses this year but I couldn’t find a comprehensive list anywhere.

So, I’m starting a list of online stores, so I’ll know where to go. 

Black Cat Apothecary ~ Dallas Hoodoo Drug Store

The Original Grandma’s Candle Shop

Serpent’s Kiss ~ Magick Shop & Botanica

Demure Lyfe

Nirvana Wild

Free Spiiirit

Strings of Success

JDRXX on StoreEnvy

REDWholistic on Etsy

Siren Garden

Ashley’s Naturals

The Hood Witch

[chrisriddellblog]

Instructions by Neil Gaiman

[nymbruyn]

Une gorgone pour le quatrième jour d'Inktober! ^_^

[animalsandtrees]

Creating a Bee-Friendly Garden A Few Simple Homemade Devices Can Go a Long Way

“Have you noticed a dearth of pollinators in your garden of late? Honeybee numbers are declining due to several factors, and it’s finally starting to make headlines. The loss of bee colonies has far-reaching consequences. About one third of our crops are pollinated by bees.”

[pomegranateandivy-deactivated20]

Reading Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece, By Joan Breton Connelly and it’s pretty neat. Here are some interesting points so far.

“….. Instead, religion was embedded in every aspect of life and was intensely local, highly dependent on regional tradition.”

“The Greeks did not even have a separate word for religion, since there was no area of life that lacked a religious aspect.”

“Cleaning, weaving, washing, dressing, decorating, grinding, cooking, and feeding can all be seen as the work of women in both house and sanctuary across the ages. It is this powerful analogy between house and temple that provides a critical foundation for female agency in Greek religion”

“For priestesses, failure to observe cult requirements represented not just a lapse in duty but a serious crime. It could arouse the wrath of the divinity and cause disorder in the harmonious functioning of the community.”

“As practitioners of household worship and the host of rituals occasioned by domestic life, Greek women assumed the role of ‘priestess’ within their own families.” This is interesting to me, because I’ve seen the same idea discussed about men as the head of the household assuming a role of ‘priest’ within the home, but this is the first time I’ve seen the idea posed for women.

[divine-adoration]

Very interesting tidbits, especially the last one. Thank you for sharing them

[cinemagorgeous]

The Oracle by artist Giles Ketting.

[boatcat]

so which deity is sending me pictures of fluffy white cats when im sad?

[antigonick]

BAKKHAI : But Death will discipline him. Death takes no excuse.

Euripides, Bakkhai (tr. by Anne Carson)

[boatcat]

Where are the Gods?

Keep in mind this is all my own understanding of things. I don’t mean to speak as though I’m an expert.

The universe, in the ancient Hellenic understanding of it, is comprised of several different realms. There are Ouranic realms, like Chaos and Olympos (which is named for the mountain, or perhaps the other way around, but the two are not the same). There are also Chthonic realms, such as Hades and Tartaros. There are realms in between, too, like earth as we know it!

(This is also referenced in the Norse mythos – Asgard, Midgard, Helheim, etc – as well as Abrahamic myths – heaven and hell – if that has any bearing on your understanding!)

I believe these realms exist sort of as interwoven alternate universes. Perhaps by fate, perhaps by design, these “universes” are mashed together, causing an ability – however slight – for certain beings (or beings of certain talents?) to travel between them.

The gods, for the most part, reside in Olympos (the realm). That’s where they’re the most comfortable, the most solid. They’re real beings (as I understand them) but a different “species” than humans, with different capabilities and limitations.

Hellenic polytheism was spread by word, by traveling priests and preachers. Unlike Christianity, for example, there were no holy texts. Only stories that were told, changed and improved by their narrators as they saw fit – through dialect, euphemism, censorship, morality, nationalism. When the spread of Orthodox Christianity made its way to Greece, the people there were already used to learning their religion in similar contexts – the traveling priests and preachers simply had to discuss their religion publicly for the ideas to take hold.

[boatcat]

Unlike Norse polytheism, however, there aren’t myths in the Greek mythos about gods going dormant or being trapped anywhere. At least according to surviving mythological texts, the gods didn’t go anywhere... in fact, they may have grown as an “empire,” spreading farther north where they were worshiped by Romans in the Religio Romana.,, that is, if you believe these sets of gods are the same.

There are theories that, due to population rises and the spread of information throughout the world, there are actually more hellenic polytheists now than there were in ancient greece.

[boatcat]

Where are the Gods?

Keep in mind this is all my own understanding of things. I don’t mean to speak as though I’m an expert.

The universe, in the ancient Hellenic understanding of it, is comprised of several different realms. There are Ouranic realms, like Chaos and Olympos (which is named for the mountain, or perhaps the other way around, but the two are not the same). There are also Chthonic realms, such as Hades and Tartaros. There are realms in between, too, like earth as we know it!

(This is also referenced in the Norse mythos -- Asgard, Midgard, Helheim, etc -- as well as Abrahamic myths -- heaven and hell -- if that has any bearing on your understanding!)

I believe these realms exist sort of as interwoven alternate universes. Perhaps by fate, perhaps by design, these “universes” are mashed together, causing an ability -- however slight -- for certain beings (or beings of certain talents?) to travel between them.

The gods, for the most part, reside in Olympos (the realm). That’s where they’re the most comfortable, the most solid. They’re real beings (as I understand them) but a different “species” than humans, with different capabilities and limitations.

Hellenic polytheism was spread by word, by traveling priests and preachers. Unlike Christianity, for example, there were no holy texts. Only stories that were told, changed and improved by their narrators as they saw fit -- through dialect, euphemism, censorship, morality, nationalism. When the spread of Orthodox Christianity made its way to Greece, the people there were already used to learning their religion in similar contexts -- the traveling priests and preachers simply had to discuss their religion publicly for the ideas to take hold.

[phunockery]

Ask a spider: a witchy treat for not killing a spider

This is a simple spell. All you need is a glass jar and a spider who you have just found invading your house space.

Most people run to their shoe closet, but saving these critters isn’t just good for conscious and the environment.

It gives you a free question.

As with anything that gives you a free wish or question: choose yours with care.

This question HAS to involve one of these things. Magic, creativity or intuition. This is not a wish so you can’t ask for more magic powers, but you can ask how to get said powers. You can also ask what project to do next or how to make am intuitive decision that has been plaguing you recently.

Now mind you, this spider MUST be an invader in your home. You can’t just snag a spider from outside, toss it in your house and expect a question of them. That terribly rude and honestly hope there is bad juju for that kind of nonesense.

When you find said uninvited guest carefully slip her into a save container (Mason jars are perfect for this). While you get your shoes on think of the question.

Then, as you are taking the spider outside to a safe place (foliage is best) mentally or audibly explain to the spider that she was an invader of your personal space and you had all rights to kill her (she would understand because that’s how she lives her life). But instead you are doing her a favor by rescuing her from your space.

While you’re in the act of releasing her ask your question, mentally or audibly.

Your answer will appear within 1 to 6 days so keep your eyes open.

I got this spell ‘Magical Housekeeping’ by Tess Whitehurst, an awesome book for those who need a little spark in cleaning up thier house.

[hotpain]

i love this

[thepaganstudygrouppage]

Can I worship the Hellenic gods without being traditional? I'm a college student so I don't have much time/money/space for offerings and a lot of the recon ways seem really strict, which I'm afraid I'll end up struggling with. I keep seeing people mention non-recon, but i can't find much about it, is that like non-traditional?

Many people worship Hellenic deities without being traditional, though it is less unheard of to worship the 12 without doing the recon work. Depending on who you ask, many would say that it can’t be done, because even just working with one deity (Nyx) required me to have a very simple altar that I had to hide after every time I worked with her because I was in college, mostly because that’s the respect she deserved. It ca be done but you also might find yourself doing things for it, that you might just decide to go ahead with the recon. Here’s an article which talks more on the subject and should be able to help you. 

Hope this helps! 

~Solano 

[boatcat]

Non-recon and revivalism are totally possible! The gods are happy getting attention no matter the context as far as I’ve experienced.

Like, societies change and, as the gods are kept alive by the efforts of their people, gods change and adapt with them! If there’s not a lot you can do, for whatever reason, it’s okay! I personally don’t stick to recon at all, opting instead for communication and compromise with my gods.

[boatcat]

Oh, and hmu if you wanna talk non-recon!