Dog | 33 | He/They/It | Disabled & Queer System
♡𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗻♡
Eclectic Pagan | Primarily Hellenic, Celtic, Kemetic & Norse
Base for Icon - by Shutupem (DA) Base for Banner - by miktymiki (DA)
Who are you?
I am a He/They/It Transmasc-Nonbinary individual in a longterm monogamy with one of my fellow Transmasc-Nonbinary, (He/They) @kleptoparasitic
Appropriate Nicknames are Welcome!
What are you?
I am an eclectic pagan who leans heavily towards Hellenic, Celtic, Kemetic, and Norse beliefs
Who are your Patrons/Matrons?
Hephaestus (Hellenic)
Bacchus/Dionysus (Hellenic)
The Morrigan (Celtic)
Sekhmet (Kemetic)
Brokkr (Norse)
Jörðr (Norse)
Freyja (Norse)
Do you work with anyone else?
The Algea (Hellenic)
Ptah (Kemetic)
Forseti (Norse)
(I will edit as need be, I am a work in progress)
How Long Have You Been?
Admittedly, I am what you call a baby-pagan. I've fallen in and out during my teens between fighting with a different religion from my family. It has taken me years to work through shame and I continue to work through that.
I ask that you keep all talk appropriate and respectful.
I am currently located in USA
This IS an 18+ Blog as I am uncomfortable speaking with minors. I will do my best to keep my blog PG-13 but be aware that if you are underage, I would rather you keep your distance as I am 30+ and have little in common with you.
My ask box and DMs should generally be open but please be aware I'm not always the most talkative type.
I struggle with a variety of debilitating physical and mental issues that have left me legally disabled. Please be aware of this before you message me and be patient for my response.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask
I may come back and edit this pinned post more as things come to mind or need editing.
August 1st is the celebration of Lughnasdah / Lammas in the witch tradition. If you're not sure how to celebrate, it's simple - light a source of fire (as small as a candle or as large as a bonfire), and sit next to the flame with your journal.
Meditate about what harvesting mean to you.
Journal prompts:
🧡 Write about what you are harvesting in your life at the moment. What are you grateful for? What do you regret?
🧡 Make a list of everything you've accomplished in your life / in the last ten years / in 2026.
🧡 What will you miss most about summer once fall comes?
🧡 Write about professional goals and plans you have for September. What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to go?
🧡 How can you live a healthier life by next summer? What changes can you make in the year ahead that you will be able to harvest next summer?
🧡 What is one thing you love about where you live? Watch the nature around you. Write about what sparks joy.
🧡 What does abundance mean to you?
🧡 What does your body need right now? Is it rest, nourishment, movement, sunlight?
Emma Kisiel holds a bachelor of fine arts with an emphasis in photography from the University of Colorado Denver. “At Rest” is a photographic series depicting roadkill on American highways and addressing our human fear of confronting death and viewing the dead. Kisiel’s images draw attention to the fact that, while man has a vast impact on animal and natural life, dominant American religions insist that animals do not have a place in Heaven and are, therefore, of little value in our society. To cause the viewer to feel struck by this truth, Kisiel photographs memorials she builds surrounding roadkill at the location at which its life was taken. “At Rest” expresses the sacredness to the bodies of animals accidentally hit by vehicles while crossing the road.
Welcome to my Herbal Compendium, the little series in which I tell you all about plants that can be found right at home while foraging and/or in your local grocery store! Here we go over a plants physiological properties, medicinal uses, and mythological tales or folk stories to explain their metaphysical correspondences. Today we are talking about the peaceful lavender!
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Photo from Lavender Life Company
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An herb well known for relaxation and sleep
Lavender is one of the most popular herbs you can find in any garden, herbarium, or wellness shop, and for very good reason! It isn’t an herb that just has a pretty smell (although it does have aromatherapeutic purposes), but the oils in the flower and the flower itself offer several medical and physiological benefits beyond esoteric utilizations.
It is most often used for relaxation because it contains linalool and linalyl acetate, which exists in other flowers, but is most present in lavender. Linalool has been conducted in several studies as a promising natural compound in treating depression and anxiety by intervening pathways of neurodegenerative and behavioral disorders. When consumed as a tincture or tea, or applied topically as an oil it also has anti-inflammatory properties to reduce inflammatory related pain such as joint pain or menstrual cramps, as well as decrease the appearance of acne, fine lines, and dark spots (although topically it should be diluted to negate skin irritation). Not something that’s a permanent fix in and of itself, but it is a useful tool to work alongside other methods of these various treatments! Linalyl acetate is similar, but not the same, going a step further to act as a mild natural sedative for sleep and even to interrupt or prevent seizures. When in the form of a highly concentrated oil, lavender has been historically utilized as an antibacterial and antimicrobial to clean dirt and prevent illness from Ancient Rome to even being used as an antiseptic in both World Wars.
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Photo from Dean Allan Photography
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From Cleansing to Love to Divination
The use of lavender as a cleansing and aromatherapy agent was first found in ancient Arabia through distilling oils, but the Romans are what really popularized it throughout Europe. They named lavender after the word “lavare” which means “to bathe” as they utilized steeped bundles of lavender in their bathwater. Before then lavender appeared frequently in the Bible as a symbol of cleanliness and purity, even turned into its own cross for protection either to be carried or hung above windowsills or doors. Ancient Egyptians used lavender as one of the many herbs in their embalming process due to the strong and soothing fragrance, but it’s also said that lavender was a fragrance Cleopatra commonly used for seduction. Throughout folklore in Europe, lavender became quite popular in love workings as well! Putting a sprig of lavender under yours or your love interests pillow to dream of one another, or to bring a vision of your true love in your dreams. On its own or in a mixture of other plants, lavender comes up repeatedly as a tool for protection, divination, and seeing beyond the veil.
Lavender was commonly used in conjunction with other herbs to achieve a particular esoteric or physiological goal. It was a popular reagent to protect people against the plague in the middle ages! Lavender is one of the herbs theorized to have been in Four Theives Vinegar, an elixir that was used by graverobbers to steal from the deceased victims of the Black Plague without contracting the plague itself. During the Plague itself Plague Doctors had their bird-like masks as a way of storing antibacterial herbs, including lavender! At the time we didn't understand how illness was passed from person to person, the belief for most of human history being that illness was caused by bad smells. Which isn't entirely wrong!
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Photo from Diliana Nikolova
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How This Can All be Applied to Your Practice
Lavender has proven itself to be a very versatile herb! One of my favorite uses for lavender in my own craft is for beauty magic and to act as a stabilizer for my spells. I don't just use tea for drinking, but I also fill a spray bottle with it or pour it over a paper towel to enchant tools like my mirror for enhancing the sight of my own beauty or jewelry that I wear to either attract romance or calm my surroundings. I also enjoy drinking lavender tea, as a little ritual before bed, although I have very active dreams without it. And it is helpful that we can utilize lavender in nearly every beauty product we could own to magically enhance their effects!
Lavender, as a calming and cleansing agent, I use it in nearly every spell I do. This is of course wholly optional! But in my experience lavender clarifies my intentions in my spell quite a bit, allowing the spell to offer me just the amount of challenge and growth I need without turning the spell's effects too chaotic. Spellwork is meant to get to its goal along the path of least resistance, but sometimes people (including myself) don't recognize the unintended consequences of the spell or their actions depending on the casters state of mind while casting the spell, or things they simply don't see. I find lavender can negate that to a degree, especially as someone who can have an anxious mind every so often.
Finally, I have gotten a lot of assistance from lavender in my spirit work! Often in combination with mugwort and a few other herbs, I think it's somsthing that helps to clear my mind, soothes my soul, and relaxes my body in a way I need to commune with spirits be it in my day-to-day life or while actively crossing to the Otherworld. Of course, this includes divination ad well. Clearer minds allow for clearer messages and finely tuned intuition for deciphering and recognizing those messages. This could be while you're actively utilizing a divination tool, or looking for a sign throughout your day!
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Photo from Professor Francis Ratnieks
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This series is inspired by my love ecology! The earth has gifted us with immeasurable bounty, and I want to give back. The earth is suffering from human activity, as such so are we, but we have the ability to mitigate or even reverse it. If you have the means, consider donating to The Nature Conservatory, The Rainforest Trust, Clean Air Taskforce, or any other organization you know and trust! $10 can prevent the warming impact of ten tonnes of greenhouse emissions! Even if you can't donate, I hope you learned something useful and can share or reblog my post with your friends! Knowledge is power, and there are so many ways of supporting the planet and our local ecosystems from our homes to volunteer work. When everybody makes reasonable and consistent strides into taking care of the earth in our every day lives, no matter how small, the continuous ripple effect is felt throughout the world and amongst future generations of plants, animals, and people.
Because my alter is right underneath my fire alarm, and I also have cats and rats, I tend to use smokeless ways of cleansing.
🎶 Bells!
- I personally have this little bell shaped like a clown that was thrifted some time ago. I use it to cleanse my alter when I need to cleanse quickly.
👃 Smokeless Scents
- Because I can’t use smoke or incense in my apartment (for previous reasons), I often set out incense unused as an offering, or use it similarly to the bell, waving it around, imagining it cleansing.
- I also use a candle burner or wax burner. Wax burners are self explanatory, but nice smelling wax (or safe waxes without toxins) can be annoying to buy (atleast personally). With a candle burner I use a heat safe glass dish and add herbs/spices depending on intention.
🪨 Crystals
- This can also depend on intention, but using specific crystals (themselves cleaned by water/moon/light/or smoke if you so wish). I typically use a clear quartz or a herkimer diamond for cleansing, but feel free to use what works for you.
😀 Shear Willpower
- Yelling at your alter with pure love and reminding it to be cleansed. Bonus points if imagine it being cleaned with light and love :)
💧Water or specially made concoctions
- You can use sun/or moon water depends on your tastes. You can also mix oils or cooked spices and combine them in a water mix and spray it.
At the end of the day, it’s all about intention. Do a lot, or do the smallest amount, it’s up to you. I was inspired to make this post after seeing many others post similar ideas, I just wanted to add what I do!
A community for those beginning or deep into their journey of occult and esoteric teachings ☥ ꩜ ⚕
Does anyone have any spell or charm ideas or advice?
I don't necessarily have to have a 'send back' or 'reverse the damage' thing going on, most of this is so I can move on with my life. Due to numerous callouts and the false things on my name from a years-old ex-friend, I've become incredibly anxious and secluded myself worse than I used to.
I've purchased a 'Full Moon Let It Go' candle from my local small-shop that I plan to do on the 28th for the full moon. Is there anything that would be helpful up until then? Or to do when I get there?
I just want to feel safe again. I want to give myself comfort and relief.
I don't want to be on edge all the time wondering what is being said now.
Any advice is helpful, thank you
Back story below the keep reading
I made a friend back in 2017 online... in under a year, we split our separate ways, under a year I tried again and gave them another chance, and under a year split again... I was the one who split us due to their behavior not being good in any sense of the term.
I don't want to go into details because it's not that important and I just wish they'd move on already. Long story short, they asked me out, I turned them down, so they started spreading lies about my partner and myself.
2024-2025 they got into a relationship with someone and got mad at me for befriending someone they were bullying so they put a callout and a blog just... calling me every name in the book with the only 'evidence' being mostly made up of things that aren't even mine, I'm guilty by association I guess.. The blog has since gone silent but they're still talking behind my back every chance they get.
This person has been obsessed since 2017... and I would like to move on with my life.
Edit to Add: I am not friends with ANYONE involved anymore, for unrelated reasons
(Basically I get to rant because I can and this is my blog.)
“Working with deities is dangerous”
How? These are ancient divine beings who were honoured by literal children and even toddlers. Plus, the idea that pagan gods are dangerous is very Christian idea. @valathun made this quote for an example of how ridiculous this idea is:
“yeah sorry, I don’t think Christianity is really beginner friendly, the whole practice is about worshipping one really powerful god, and I just don’t think thats safe for beginners 😕” (source)
“You must be protected at all times!!”
Another one I don’t get because deities are a source of protection. As an example: Herakles Alexikakos (averter of evil).[1][2] This is a whole aspect of his devoted to keeping away bad spirits, illness, etc. And it’s not like he’s the only one with such an Apotropaic function. Magic and religion being divided is a fairly modern idea.[2]
“Imposters will steal the offerings!”
Okay but like why would a god let a spirit steal their offering.
“Working with deities is not beginner friendly!!”
According to whom, exactly? Once again, these gods were honoured by children for centuries — especially gods who have a function of protecting children. Sure, it might be a bit overwhelming at first but that does not mean that a dedicated and studious person should be barred from this. And who decides who gets to do this? Who decides when they’re ‘ready’? Admittedly it feels very elitist.
Sourcing for specific information
[1] Johnston, S. I. (2018). The Story of Myth (Illustrated ed.). Harvard University Press.
[2] Ogden, D. (2009). Magic, witchcraft, and ghosts in the Greek and Roman worlds: A sourcebook. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Deities from the same pantheon have been worshipped together for centuries, you do not need to pick between deities like Hera and Dionysos.
You do not need to be like a deity to worship that deity. Men can worship Artemis, you don’t need to be a warrior or an athlete to worship Ares, you don’t need to drink and do drugs to worship Dionysos, ect…
I will die on the hill that no one should stop you from wearing a PIECE OF FUCKING FABRIC if you personally wish to. Your body, your beliefs, your culture, your history, your choice. No matter the religion or lack there of, race, gender or culture.
I do occasionally wear my head scarf and tbh I want to wear it more, I want more pretty ones to cycle through.
What would Hades jewelry look like without the usual stereotypes?
While researching symbolism for Greek mythology-inspired jewelry, I keep coming back to one question:
Why does Hades-inspired jewelry so often look like “death” jewelry?
Black stones.
Skulls.
Bones.
Darkness.
Occasionally a pomegranate if Persephone is invited to the meeting.
And while death is obviously part of Hades’ domain, reducing him to a generic god-of-the-dead aesthetic leaves out a huge part of his symbolism.
Hades is the ruler of the Underworld, but he is also associated with the wealth beneath the earth, which is reflected in his name Plouton (“the Wealthy One”).
There are also other symbols and associations that could offer completely different directions for jewelry: keys, the cypress, narcissus, Cerberus, the cornucopia, the bident, underground riches and precious stones, among others.
One response to my survey actually mentioned wanting mythology-inspired jewelry that avoids:
“stereotypes like black rough designs for Hades and flowers for Persephone.”
And that really stuck with me.
Because a piece can still feel unmistakably connected to Hades without literally putting a skull on it.
So I want to ask the Hades devotees and mythology lovers of Tumblr:
If you had to design a piece of jewelry inspired by Hades without using skulls, what would you use?
A symbol?
A plant?
An animal?
A gemstone?
A particular myth or epithet?
I’d especially love to hear about less obvious or historically attested associations that you feel deserve more attention.
I’m exploring questions like this while developing APHRES, a contemporary jewelry project inspired by Greek mythology and Hellenic symbolism.
If you want to contribute to the research, I’m still collecting responses to my anonymous 2-minute survey:
here are some genuinely useful tips and hacks for spellcraft:
- great value's organic spices come in little glass containers that are perfect for spell jars
- instead of making a messy salt line everywhere, dissolve a bunch of salt into some warm water and use a paintbrush to paint salty water everywhere you'd like a boundary
- spiritually cleanse the insides of your spell jars and witch bottles before using them by putting an incense stick inside and letting them fill with smoke (i use frankincense)
- to burn loose herbs without a charcoal disc, put them in a metal strainer and set over a candle flame (supervised!)
- repurpose items that have bad memories attached to them by performing a cleansing ritual of the items and banishing the memories' presence
- for buried/inaccessible workings, create a small "charging remote" spiritually connected to your other workings that you can charge up the entire thing from
- if you can't stay focused and grounded for the entire duration of a working, listen to a song that has the same vibe as what you're going for and sing along to it while you craft
When I built my first altar, it looked like a sad thrift store shelf, mismatched candles, half-melted incense sticks, a chipped mug standing in for a chalice. I was so desperate for it to look witchy, like the glossy photos in books.
But it didn’t feel like mine. It felt like a stranger’s stage.
It took me years, and many messy, candle-wax-soaked attempts, to realize: your altar isn’t an Instagram post. It’s a heartbeat. It’s your magic’s nest. It should feel like home, because it is one.
Here’s how I’ve learned to build an altar that breathes with you, one that feels like warm floors, familiar shadows, and the exact right hush of your spirit.
🕯️ 1. Know What An Altar Really Is
Strip away the fancy words: an altar is just a sacred spot. It’s where you gather your power and your gratitude in one place.
It can be as humble as a windowsill or as grand as a dedicated room. A shelf, a table, a box, all that matters is intention.
Think of it as a tiny crossroads: your body, your spirit, and your magic meet there. The rest is just trimmings.
🌿 2. Start With What Calls You
Forget the shopping list that says you must have a pentacle, a wand, a chalice, this and that.
Ask: what do you reach for when you feel witchiest? A candle that smells like your grandmother’s kitchen? A stone you found at the river? A jar of salt?
Your altar is not a museum. It’s a nest of meaning. Let it be ugly at first. Let it be real.
🔮 3. Give It a Heartbeat
I always tell baby witches: your altar’s alive if it changes with you.
Maybe you set it up on the floor for a spell, then move it to a shelf when you get a cat who loves knocking things over. Maybe you swap the flowers every season. Maybe you leave offerings that rot a little, because magic is not sterile.
Mine has bits of charred candle wicks, a cracked seashell, and a scrap of cloth from my mother’s apron. I clean it, but I don’t bleach it of history.
🗝️ 4. Make It a Conversation
An altar is not a monologue. You don’t just speak at it. You speak with it.
When you light a candle, linger. When you place a new object, ask it, “What do you bring here?” Listen.
Maybe you rearrange things when they feel stale. Maybe you sleep with a stone under your pillow before giving it a spot on your altar, so it knows your dreams.
This is the bit the books forget to tell you: your altar listens back.
🌙 5. Protect It, But Don’t Police It
It’s good to cleanse your altar, blow off dust, pass smoke over it, ring a bell if it feels heavy.
But don’t let perfectionism be your deity. I once wasted hours agonizing over where to put a feather. It’s a feather, Nyra. Spirits don’t care if it’s center-left or right.
Your hands are sacred. Trust them.
🕸️ A Few Simple Ideas To Try
Place something that represents each element, but only if it feels real to you. A rock, a candle, a cup of water, a pinch of salt.
Add one thing that smells good. Scent ties your spirit to memory.
Leave an offering to your guides or ancestors, even if it’s just a whisper of thanks.
Keep a tiny cloth or broom nearby to sweep off old energy when needed.
🌒 A Final Whisper
Your altar is not a shrine to aesthetics, it’s a mirror for your spirit.
Build it slow. Let it shift. Let it hold your tears, your giggles, your burnt matches and hopeful wishes.
One day you’ll sit at that sacred little corner, a mug of tea in hand, and think: This is mine.
And it will hum back: Yes. And I am yours.
