Flowers for Ceres

Roman Polytheist. Follower of Religio Romana. Devotee of Ceres who I worship above all others. Member of Nova Roma. Worshiper of the Kemetic and Arabian gods as well.

[flowersforceres]

Moving Blogs

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here. A lot has changed in my personal life. I’m still a polytheist though. And I’ve found a wonderful boyfriend who is fine with my religion. Thank Venus I have such a great man in my life.

Religiously though a couple of things have changed. I just consider myself to be a Roman Polytheist now though I may still occasionally pray or give thanks to some Kemetic and Wathan deities. I just have a deeper connection with the Roman deities and following the values/morals of Religio Romana.

Anyway, I’ll be posting more again at my new tumblr @flowersforgods follow me and drop me a message any time if you want!

[fleurdulys]

A Student of Nature - Linnie Watt

[glegrumbles]

I’d just like to mention:

You can be ace or aro and devoted to deities lumped in with the whole “fertility” thing. You can. You are accepted. Fertility doesn’t have to do exclusively with biological procreation. It’s about bounty and creating things. These things can be intellectual. Artistic. Anything you can imagine. It’s about creation and plentifulness.

Do not feel bad if the sexual innuendos put you off. Non ace/aro people who are devotees, please remember others when posting and tag accordingly. You don’t have to be sexual to be associated with a deity who is commonly associated with sex, but who is much more than that.

[flowersforceres]

Happy Liberalia! Liberalia is the festival in honor of Liber Pater (Bacchus) and his consort Libera (Proserpina and/or Ariadne depending on your interpretation). It was a festival with many parts. …

[thecolorblockcurator]

Les Bacchantes, Ernest Bieler

[gei-r]

@occupied-bajorts @deermouth

[iamidae]

things i have learned over time:

some gods will strike you down with a knowledge of what they are, others you must allow to unfurl, be on good terms with patience

[punkfistfights]

Modern Greek Mythology Aesthetics

Hera, Queen of Olympus, Goddess of Marriage

[theprincemononoke]

princess mononoke (1997)

“The trees cry out as they die, but you cannot hear them. I lie here. I listen to the pain of the forest and feel the ache of the bullet in my chest, and I dream of the day I will finally crunch that gun-woman’s head in my jaws.”

[gifbro]

[4gifs]

A Somali Red cheats at a cat show by getting cozy with the judge

[cricketsqueak]

(●´ε｀●) ♡

[africansouljah]

[love-personal]

[flowersforceres]

Me: *sees cat* No wonder the Ancient Egyptians worshiped these majestic fluffs of fur! So agile and graceful!

Cat: *gets claw stuck on something*

Me: *unhooking cat* So majestic...

[alimagifss]

Victoria’s Secret Holiday Commercial 2015 

[foodffs]

Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake  with Black Cherry Buttercream Filling

Really nice recipes. Every hour.

Show me what you cooked!

[jess-woods-deactivated20160802]

protection charm with salt, pine, cloves, cinnamon, peppermint, mugwort, rose petals, lavender, and bay leaf ♡

[stormbornwitch]

I’m currently working on a research paper which discusses the perception of witchcraft among scholars and can I just say...

I’m thinking of calling my paper Why E.E. Evans Pritchard was a complete dick and how he fucked over witches for centuries:  A lingering perspective on witchcraft

[wolverineandpearls-deactivated2]

Accurate, but perhaps not the snappiest of titles…

[stormbornwitch]

Damn, I thought I struck gold with that one. How about this one: E.E. Evans Pritchard’s internalised racism and its effects on the perception of witchcraft

[wolverineandpearls-deactivated2]

*nods sagely* I like that one.

[lehydra22]

Is there anyway you could link some of your resources or your essay when you’re done? I’d legit be interested in reading it.

[stormbornwitch]

Academic Witchcraft Research

I’m sorry to say that I can’t post my paper on tumblr because even though I’ve already submitted it (I got a HD!) I’m hoping to get it published in an academic journal once I add to it and I can’t do that if it’s already freely available to the public.

I’m happy to post some of my resources however! Below are some of the really interesting recourses I found while researching for my paper. These are all the ones with actually useful witchcraft history/knowledge however I’m leaving out all of Pritchard’s racist bullshit. Please keep in mind that a lot of these sources view witchcraft in an anthropological or historical light and are very obviously written by people with little to no experience with actual witchcraft so some are quite funny/ downright hilarious to read. However some of these sources are written by witches (you can tell by the way they write – they have a personal understanding of how shit works instead of looking at it from an outside perspective)

-          A Neglected Aspect of Witchcraft Studies - Francis Hsu (1960) The Journal of American Folklore

-          Abracadabra - Sorcery and Witchcraft in European History - WR Jones (1971) The History Teacher

-          Anthropological and Historical Approaches to Witchcraft Potential for a New Collaboration - Ronald Hutton (2004) The Historical Journal

-          Essex County Witchcraft - Mary Beth Norton (2008) The William and Mary Quarterly

-          How Do You Know She’s a Witch Witches, Cunning Folk, and Competition in Denmark - Tim Tangherlini (2000) Western Folklore

-          Invented Culture Invented Religion The Fictional Origins of Contemporary Paganism - Michael York (1999) Nova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions

-          Marriage or a Career Witchcraft as an Alternative in Seventeenth-Century Venice - Sally Scully (1995) Journal of Social History

-          Masculinity and Male Witches in Old and New England, 1593-1680 - EJ Kent (2005) History Workshop Journal

-          Mass Media and Religious Identity A Case Study of Young Witches - Helen Berger and Douglas Ezzy (2009) Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

-          Modern Pagan Festivals A Study in the Nature of Tradition - Ronald Hutton (2008) Folklore

-          Out of the Broom Closet The Social Ecology of American Wicca - Gary Jensen and Ashley Thompson (2008) Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

-          Some Modern Books on Witchcraft - Sona Rosa Burstein (1961) Folklore

-          The Disenchantment of Magic Spells, Charms, and Superstition in Early European Witchcraft - Michael Bailey (2006) The American Historical Review

-          ‘The Divels Speciall Instruments’ Women and Witchcraft before the ‘Great Witch-Hunt’ - Karen Jones and Michael Zell (2005) Social History

-          The European Witchcraft Debate and the Dutch Variant - Marijke Gijswijt-Hofstra (1990) Social History

-          The Pursuit of Reality Recent Research into the History of Witchcraft - Malcolm Gaskill (2008) The Historical Journal

-          Urbanization and the Decline of Witchcraft An Examination of London - Owen Davies (1997) Journal of Social History

-          Who is a Witch Contesting Notions of Authenticity among Contemporary Dutch Witches - Martin Ramstedt (2004) Etnofoor

-          Witch Doctors, Soothsayers and Priests. On Cunning Folk in European Historiography and Tradition - Willem de Blecourt (1994) Social History

-          Witchcraft - British Medical Journal (1922)

-          Witchcraft for Sale Commodity vs. Community in the Neopagan Movement - David Waldron (2005) Nova Religio The journal of alternative and emergent religions

If you would actually like to read the racist bullshit thanks to Pritchard I’ll post it separately (or maybe send them in a message) but I’m gonna say it straight up that it is not pleasant reading AT ALL. A lot of it demonises African cultures that practice witchcraft while being highly condescending and a complete dickhead.

I didn’t enjoy reading his crap (and the academic papers that were influenced by his crap) but it did provide me with heaps of evidence to show “Here – look at this mountain of evidence which shows what a massively racist prick Pritchard was! And look at the devastating impact this has had on the perspective of witchcraft in the academic community! Look at how he has poisoned the academic profession with his bullshit!!!”

- Marci

[pagansuncensored-deactivated202]

Artemis is a lesbian, get over yourselves lmao

[winebrightruby]

I have more evidence for her being bisexual than anyone does for her being a lesbian. Just saying.

[moonlit-maiden]

I am now semi-tempted to debate with you about that vs. Her being Ace but I have a feeling you’d have much better sources then I… XD

[winebrightruby]

I mean, either one is an interpretation, and I’m fine with anyone seeing her either way. It’s only when people get all One True Orientation about her that I get tetchy.

[moonlit-maiden]

Same.

Though, I am now curious; why do you intemperate Her as bisexual?

[winebrightruby]

Short version: Orion, whom she loved, and Kallisto, whom Zeus seduced by assuming Artemis’ shape. Obviously there are plenty of other versions of both those myths, but that’s just how my experience of her aligns.

[moonlit-maiden]

With Kallisto, though, wouldn’t that indicate that she would have lesbian tendencies but not necessarily Artemis Herself? Could you elaborate for me please? ^^;

[winebrightruby]

I read it as, Kallisto and Artemis tended to get naked and affectionate together. Thus when “Artemis” got all naked and cuddly, Kallisto was down, until she realized hey wait a minute… So basically I view Artemis as frequently involved with her nymphs and handmaidens, and occasionally involved with men (mortal or otherwise) who catch her fancy.

[moonlit-maiden]

Aaaah, I see.

It may be I don’t get romantic/sexual vibes from that, then, because I was raised in a household where being physically affectionate was normal. My friends and I cuddle and are pretty physical with one another but it’s all platonic and not romantic/sexual.

Hmm, says a lot about myself. Thank you for elaborating Mari! :)

[winebrightruby]

I mean, I’m also a very physically affectionate person; I touch and hug and drape on my friends all the time. I do not, however, do it naked (unless I’m into, like, doin it naked). Either way though, like I said, it’s just my interpretation – my various experiences with Artemis line up to indicate this to me, backed up by various myths. I’m totally down for other people having their own interpretations. The gods are ultimately far beyond any label of sexual orientation we could slap on them, anyway. 

I could probably most accurately say, “My study of Artemis’ worship and mythos, combined with my personal experience, leads me to a view of her that most closely aligns with the mortal concept of bisexuality, in that it includes attraction of varying types to more than one gender.” But as always, that’s just my experience of her and just my shorthand use of mortal language to describe my experience of a beyond-mortal goddess.

[moonlit-maiden]

Then again, you hit the nail on the head (as usual); how we interact with the Theoi does color of view of Them. I’ve never had any… I guess feelings or experience???… with Artemis when it comes to sexuality. It’s like… a void I guess?.. for me. Basically we never discuss it, it never comes up. Sexuality exists but we just don’t talk about it due to it not being an aspect about Her I am curious about and She doesn’t really speak on it either (Apollon on the other hand…. >.> ) So that “void” (for lack of better terms) mixed with her being usually shown as a chaste goddess have given me the impression of asexuality with regards to Her.

Sorry I’m using you as a mental sound board! X-x

[winebrightruby]

I don’t mind being a sounding board! Truth be told, I think it’s actually good for the community to have this diversity of experiences out there so that newcomers (and established folks, for that matter!) can see the multiplicity of experiences.

Like, there’s stuff that directly contradicts established mythology (although mystery cults and local cultus afford more variation there than many may realize), and I’m pretty skeptical/cautious about that. If someone wanted to say Hera was Zeus’ daughter rather than wife, for instance, I’d be pretty darn skeptical. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and all that. But otherwise? Things that are up for interpretation? I think it’s to everyone’s advantage that many or all interpretations are being explored. Welcome to having a living, developing tradition, right? ^^