to Cross that Severed Gateway @hail-our-lady-underground - Tumblr Blog

Main: @flashingdaydreams

Witchblr: @warmth-and-wonder

my neocities eshrine

I am a longtime devotee to Persephone, who is the main focus of this blog. I am a very lazy tagger, but am trying to fix that!

And, though it annoys me to have to pin this to the preverbal wall, my Gods and I despise bigots.

#do not reblog #mine #fave #tagged for later #<for navigation

bugkeeping

Albino Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)

by Ken Rohling

ochipi

When handling archaeological human remains gets weird

We’re all professionals, but sometimes you catch yourself realizing how weird things are looking when handling human remains

Trying to shake out clumped together dirt from someone skull

Brushing someone’s teeth with an actual toothbrush, something they have never done in their lives

Comparing someone’s bones to yours

Judging their dental hygiene

When the earworm of the day is Johnny Cash’ s “Ain’t No Grave”.

Scooping someone’s eye sockets clean with a spoon (or just their whole brain)

When some bones are just … off … you judge hard

Talking in your head to them as if they can hear you

#archeologists 🤝 morticians: judging teeth

herpsandbirds

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) preening, family Cathartidae, order Cathartiformes, southern BC, Canada

photographs by Cat Curti

irisrainbowplumed

Lesser-Known Epithets of Persephone 🌺

This is by no needs an exhaustive list. Her common epithets listed on Theoi have been repeated many times over, so I just wanted to catalogue a few I haven't seen as often. Its been a very insightful devotional act!

Καλυκώπιδι / Kalykopis - face like a budding flower.¹ It's the second epithet used of her in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.

Καλλίπαις / Kallipais - producer of a beautiful child.²

Μωνογενίη / Mounogeneia - only-born.³ Another variant is μουνογόνη/mounogonē.⁴

Νύμφη / Nymphē - bride.⁵ It was used as another byname like Kore in Northern Greece (where mounogonē was attested as well.)⁶

Πασικράτεια / Pasikrateia - universal queen. From an inscription in Silenus, Sicily, thanked alongside Malophoros (almost certainly Demeter) and Zeus Melinchios, among others.⁷ This is most likely Persephone. The name Pasikrata is elsewhere attested in Magna Graecia, possibly distinct from pasikrateia and thought to be local versions of Aphrodite, Hekate, and others.⁸

Μελίβοια / Meliboia - honey-sweet cow. I'm not positive on the meaning (so if anyone knows for sure, please feel free to correct me!) but its attested in Hermoine as a euphemism.⁹ With this I will also leave: μελιτώδης / melitodes - sweet as honey¹⁰, and μελινδία / melindia, another euphemistic epithet of her's.¹¹ These are mentioned on Wikipedia, but I wanted to actually look into it and see if it was right.

Περικαλλής / Perikallis - very beautiful.¹² Another epithet from the Homeric Hymn. I'm sure you can tell by now I have no order in this haha.

Κυανώπις / Kyanopis - dark-eyed.¹³

Αρρήτου / Arretou - Unnameable.¹⁴ Helen calls her "ἀρρήτου κούρας," maiden who cannot be named.

Χρυσάνιον / Chrysanion - Of the golden reins.¹⁵ This is usually an epithet of Hades, but Pindar invokes Persephone in his hymn as "Πότνια θεσμοφόρε χρυσάνιον," Law-giving mistress of the golden reins.

And... with this I shall stop haha. I'll probably make my own list of *all* the epithets I can find for personal use in my documents. If anyone has anything to add or correct I'd love to hear it! Demeter and Persephone mean so much to me and I'm overjoyed to learn more about them in any way I can.

mismedleym

toward the sun, from the sun

xshayarsha

“Her hair falls down like tears.”

— Angela Carter, from The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories; The Lady of the House of Love.

wrathful-warhound

hello!!! I’m completely obsessed with your mood boards. Would you be able to make one for Persephone, Demeter, and either Nyx or Hekate with themes of accepting/allowing a dark side? No worries if not!

Demeter, Hekate, and Persephone, on accepting ones dark side

unhingedjulie

Krteček (The Little Mole) illustrations by Zdeněk Miler to heal your soul:

#aesthetic

Today I worked the funeral for one of my high school teachers, who was a big reason why I was confident enough to pursue deathcare as a career. I’ve never cried at work until today.

It was a privilege to be her student. It was a privilege to be the last person to hold her hand. It’s a privilege I could never earn, but was gifted by Persephone’s grace. I love this job, and I’m so glad I could give back to this woman who taught me it was ok to want to love it. She’s now in Hades, absent of all pain, and thank the gods for that

#mine #<- I have to replace this tag it’s too mainstream but. ugh. difficult day #I got to hug her and tell her I work at the funeral home a few months before she died. I’m so thankful for her