of fire and faith @ivy-kissobryos - Tumblr Blog

A reminder that I am active on Instagram @ivy.crowned and occasionally posting on my blog at uponthealtar.com 🖤

the astrolatry continues! today is Castor--my helical setting star

he (and everyone else) is encouraging me to incorporate more writing into my practice, so as part of today's ritual i dedicated a journal to him and i also launched my Patreon... crazy

fret not i will continue posting here as usual, but if you'd like some more long form writing & theory & experiences, check it out!

willowthewhip

y'all gotta try this--two candles and some offerings when the moon is approximately in the decan / mansion of a fixed star--because it hits

i literally haven't stopped writing content since this ritual, after months of just feeling so uninspired

willowthewhip

an inventory of all the materials i've gathered for the tuba veneris--soon to be consecrated with this coming new moon

willowthewhip

it is done. the necessary items have been interred and now i wait (oh so patiently) until the venus hour tomo night to retrieve them

willowthewhip

tonight's the night y'all, finally time to conjure these spirits and see what happens!

dea-syria

In a class of legends, "specially connected with the worship of Atargatis", wrote Professor Robertson Smith, "the divine life of the waters resides in the sacred fish that inhabit them. Atargatis and her son, according to a legend common to Hierapolis and Ascalon, plunged into the waters--in the first case the Euphrates, in the second the sacred pool at the temple near the town--and were changed into fishes". The idea is that "where a god dies, that is, ceases to exist in human form, his life passes into the waters where he is buried; and this again is merely a theory to bring the divine water or the divine fish into harmony with anthropomorphic ideas. The same thing was sometimes effected in another way by saying that the anthropomorphic deity was born from the water, as Aphrodite sprang from sea foam, or as Atargatis, in another form of the Euphrates legend, ... was born of an egg which the sacred fishes found in the Euphrates and pushed ashore."

--Donald A. Mackenzie, "Myths of Babylonia and Syria"

dea-syria

“I,” said a voice—“I am Desire. In Greece I am revered, and there I am Aphrodite. In Italy I am Venus; in Egypt, Hathor; in Armenia, Anaitis; in Persia, Anâhita; Tanit in Carthage; Baaltis in Byblus; Derceto in Ascalon; Atargatis in Hierapolis; Bilet in Babylon; Ashtaroth to the Sidonians; and Aschera in the glades of Judæa. And everywhere I am worshipped, and everywhere I am Love. I bring joy and torture, delight and pain. I appease and appal. It is I that create and undo. It is I that make heaven and people hell. I am the mistress of the world. Without me time would cease to be. I am the germ of stars, the essence of things. I am all that is, will be, and has been, and my robe no mortal has raised. I breathe, and nations are; in my parturitions are planets; my home is space. My lips are blissfuller than any bloom of bliss; my arms the opening gates of life. The Infinite is mine. Mary, come with me, and you shall measure it.”

--Edgar Saltus, "Mary Magdalen"

winebrightruby

(my) epithets for Athena

There was some talk in the Hellenic skype chat of how epithets work and why you might worship a god under various epithets. This prompted me to think about the epithets I most often use for/engage with Athena. In the interest of maybe helping someone else, I figured I’d list out my most commonly used, to illustrate some of the range. These are not all of Athena’s epithets, by a very long shot. Rather, these are the epithets that I most often use in my prayers, offerings, and devotions to her:

Athena Glaukopis: gray-eyed Athena. This is important to me 1) because I like the term “Glaukopis” and it works for me poetically; 2) because her gray eyes link her (imo) to Zeus’ storm-god role

Tritogeneia: there’s no clear etymology for this epithet, but I use it for its poetic echoes.

Pallas Athena: there’s no clear etymology/source on this one, and there’s a lot of contradictory myths. I use it because poetry and it’s been used for so long.

Athena Kissaia: Athena of the growing ivy. A historical but locally applicable epithet.

Athena Kyparissia: Athena of the cypress grove. A historical but locally applicable epithet.

Athena Alektor: Athena of the rooster. The epithet I mutter at in the morning when I’m stumbling down to my car on my way to teaching; I associate this facet with early morning and with education/the act of ‘waking up’ someone to the truth.

Athena Nike: victorious Athena. Self-explanatory?

Athena Hippia/Athena Khalinitis: Athena of the horses/bridler of horses. Patron of the Fairgrounds. UPG is that she is particularly close to Poseidon and to Pegasus as this epithet.

Athena Soteira: of her many, many “saving everybody” epithets, this is my preferred one – Athena Savior.

Athena Ergane: Athena the Worker, the goddess of crafts and making things. I pray to Athena Ergane and dedicate work to her when I am making jewelry.

Athena Paionia/Hygeia: Athena the Healer/of Good Health. I don’t have a relationship to speak of with Apollon, so I’ve gotta take healing where I can get it :P

Athena Apatouria: Athena the Liar, Athena the Deceiver, Athena the clever plotter.

Athena Agoraia: Athena of the marketplace. I pray to her along with the other gods of the marketplace before major shopping trips or retail choices.

Athena Chrysia: golden Athena. I use this epithet alongside Athena of the Tigers when I’m feeling fancier – I don’t know that it’s at all grammatically accurate, but I wanted a way to color her purple and/or gold for the face of her I celebrate at LSU

Athena Mousaea: Athena of museums/libraries – I treated this as two separate epithets for a while, but I’m increasingly getting that it works for both locales, possibly because they are so close in attitude

Athena Promakhorma: Athena, the Protector of the Anchorage. This is her role as harbor/port goddess, and I often use it in conjunction with my modern, more vague ‘Athena of the River’ when we are having storms.

Athena of the rivers/River: what it sounds like, this is the Athena I pray to for engineering expertise for levees, canals, etc., and also the facet of her that was, y’know, born by the river

Athena Anemotis: Athena of the winds, another epithet I use along the river and during our storms here.

Athena of the baton: Athena the patron of Baton Rouge, the capital city.

Athena of the Tigers: Athena the patron of LSU specifically, born beneath the live oaks on campus (or what would one day be campus).

Athena of the Acropolions: these are a particular set of lion statues on the bayou side of the peristyle in City Park, and I don’t really use it as an epithet, but I do pray to her specifically in this place.

Athena the Teacher: I didn’t put this one in the list because it’s not an epithet I use, but it is very definitely the role in which I most often pray to Athena. I just wanted to mention it – she is the goddess of wisdom, after all, and her role in mythology is largely helpful to humanity. She teaches skills, helps heroes, and dispenses good advice. I consider her my patron as an educator.

#Athena

portalibis

"Cybele! Cybele! Great Mother, hear me! Primordial Light, ethereal flame, ever-flashing in boundless spaces, within which echo and image of all things lie hidden! I invoke Thy shining messengers, O Soul of the universe, Warmer of abysses, Sower of suns, Trailing Thy star-woven mantle through the ether!…

Subtlest Light, Hidden and Invisible to the carnal eye!… Great Mother of all worlds and Gods, Keeper of all Archetypes in Thy Womb!..."

— From the Phrygian Mysteries Art: Cybele in her temple, 2nd-3rd C. AD.

luthienne

Only water can change water, can heal itself. Not even God / made water. Not on any of the seven days. It was already here. / Or maybe God is water, because I am water, and you are water.

Natalie Diaz, from Postcolonial Love Poem; “exhibits from The American Water Museum”

blackthornwren

About "Twin Flames"

If you scroll through the witchcraft, tarot, or divination tags with any sort of regularity, you are bound to come across the mention of Twin Flames - and you may be thinking, “oh, this is just another flaky term for soulmates”. You’re partially right, but it’s also a cult. The Harmonious Twin Flames Universe is a cult that was created by Jeff Divine (formerly known at one point as Ender Ayanethos) and his wife, Shaleia.

Much like Scientology, HTFU aims to take your money by exploiting your weaknesses - specifically, a desire to love and be loved by a soulmate. HTFU relies on similar cult models as L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology and Keith Raniere’s NXIVM; combining new age concepts with religious belief, as well as multi-level marketing and wellness. Twin Flames recruiters often use YouTube or other social media platforms, offering divination readings using numerology, tarot, angel numbers, etc., to essentially cold read a new recruit and get them interested in the HTFU.

One of the main features in the HTFU is the use of the “mirror exercise” which aims to take any event that left the participant feeling sad or unhappy and re-frame it in a way that places the blame directly on them. It is specifically designed to adjust someone’s thoughts and keep them within the cult, and rapidly becoming more dependent upon it.

How:

By offering courses for “ascension” and instruction on how to “clear blockages”. Participants pay for these classes and begin a cycle of instruction which frames every bad thing in their life as being their fault; and that they must continue to pay for further teachings to remove these spiritual blockages which prevent them from ascending to their more divine self - which will make them deserving of their own perfect Twin Flame.

Additionally, because the HTFU demographic is a majority of women, former members of the cult have stated that the leaders and the readers will attempt to even out this imbalance by informing cishet women that they are actually the embodiment of the divine masculine in their Twin Flame relationship. The gaslighting is real, y’all.

Former members have cited abusive behavior amongst the leaders and inner circle members; this information can be found in books, podcasts, news articles, and documentaries that have been created about the HTFU over the last few years. The point of the cult is to create a vicious cycle of emotional abuse that keeps its victims dependent on expensive classes that give nonsense answers and shift blame back onto the victim, which then keeps them coming back for more.

Why it’s Important:

Current spiritual and witchcraft communities can use similar language - a repetition of jargon and buzzwords that shut down critical thinking. No, witchcraft as it currently stands, does not have a specific cult that I can tell you to watch out for; but it is important to familiarize yourself with the language so that you know what to look for. Influencers can be dangerous; people who put themselves in a position of authority, promising things such as:

-Online attunements, alignments, or initiations. You know how reiki has attunements and you have to pay for them in order to level up your reiki skills? Yeah. That’s because reiki is a holdover from a cult too. The internet has made it so much easier to work these kinds of grifts as well - because everything can be done online, over zoom or a voice call; and well, sometimes it “doesn’t take” and you have to get the ritual done again…for a fee, of course. But hey, maybe you’ll get a discount if the first one didn’t work!

-Things that build dependence such as the promise of exclusive mentoring, healing sessions, guidance and ritual. In and of themselves these are not necessarily a red flag, but it’s how the person behaves, how they attempt to steer a customer’s mind that makes the difference. Do they try to keep you coming back for more? Do they tell you that you are under some kind of attack? Do they make you feel special or chosen?

-Perpetuating an Us versus Them mentality that is both hostile and isolating. A charismatic leader will also portray themselves as a victim of unfair persecution; and with this they look to get you on their side, make you isolate yourself going to extreme lengths to defend and protect them - after all, you may be “the only one they can trust”.

There can also be specific focuses on things like the law of attraction, spiritual hygiene, and paid-for purification rituals to clear your miasma or put you in tune with your higher self/guardian angel/guiding spirits/etc. These practices can be extremely exploitative; not just taking a customer’s money, but also creating a mentality of blame - if things are still going wrong, they feel as though they haven’t been purified enough or they’re not “clean enough” to reach their guardian angel/attunement/higher self/whatever. Additionally, the fear of things like spiritual or psychic attacks, psychic vampirism, or spiritual parasites cultivates this feeling of dependence upon a person who appears to be wise and powerful that can “save” or "protect" the victim.

The capitalism and the consumerism of the current witchcraft community is literally setting us up for a cult. The substantial increase in influencers working to monetize their craft by selling expensive services and classes is already a very good entry point for someone who wants to take things further and create a very dependent, very parasocial, very exploitative relationship with a group of loyal followers.

tyetknot

Reblogging this for now but I have some personal experience with twin flame cultists that I will be relating later on when I have a minute because: God damn these people are insane.

thetwotorches

This, plus good shout also to the bullshit cult fraud that is "reiki". Stay safe out there, guys.

jakattax

You said people shouldn't begin with goetia, what could we start with? I'm interested in goetia but don't want to mess anything

Hey there.

I’m not saying you should never ever start with that Ars Goetia, but I do believe that working backwards through the full Lemegeton may be beneficial. Most people (myself included) tend to skip the Ars Notoria, even though when the full rite is performed it may grant perfect knowledge and memory. However the text is sketchy and most editions totally omit the actual Notes and symbols in which one must draw.

So working from Almadel, to Paulina to Theurgia Goetia will build up a healthy and protective relationship with aerial and celestial spirits. As I’ve said numerous times, the spirits of the Goetia are feral to a degree, they carry a heavy power to them, a power that can be better faced when you are backed by spirits of a celestial nature.

I’m not saying it’s a requirement as many magicians (myself included) jumped straight into the Goetia before building up these relationships and boundaries. If anything I’m lucky that I haven’t fallen foul or incurred any serious consequences, as one must remember that even though demons may be misunderstood and complex in their nature, they remain infernal spirits of malevolence.

So really I would recommend that you purchase or read the full Lemegeton, if you really want to give the Ars Goetia a solid crack, read that book in particular and keep on reading it. Acquire the essential tools, substitute those tools that are more difficult to acquire.

Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis (‘The Lesser Key of Solomon’)

This is the wonderful Joseph Peterson’s version of the full Lemegeton which remains as true as possible to the original manuscripts.

Your doing the right thing by being hesitant as it’s certainly a procedure to not go wrong in, so all I can truly advise is to just read the material and gather your tools.

Here for any other questions 😊

metamorphesque

— Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower, Rainer Maria Rilke (translation by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows)

[text ID: And if the world has ceased to hear you, / say to the silent earth: I flow. / To the rushing water, speak: I am.]

noquietrevolution-deactivated20

divinity will stain your fingers and mouth like a pomegranate. it will swallow you whole and spit you out, wine-dark and wanting. you will reach for it again and again, greedy human fingers clutching at everything you can reach. the divine will curl its way through your veins and take you over, and it will not leave you quietly. i feel divinity in my bones like aching; like fire.

theotreptos

“I used to be a hopeless romantic. I am still a hopeless romantic. I used to believe that love was the highest value. I still believe that love is the highest value. I don’t expect to be happy. I don’t imagine that I will find love, whatever that means, or that if I do find it, it will make me happy. I don’t think of love as the answer or the solution. I think of love as a force of nature – as strong as the sun, as necessary, as impersonal, as gigantic, as impossible, as scorching as it is warming, as drought-making as it is life-giving. And when it burns out, the planet dies.”

— Jeanette Winterson, from Lighthousekeeping (via wishbzne)

wishbzne-deactivated20210526

the divine comedy, volume I: inferno — canto 2, dante alighieri

normal-horoscopes

REST NOW LITTLE SHRIKE-FLAYED THING MOTHER IS HERE AND SHE LOVES YOU AS SHE LOVES THE BRANCH THAT PIERCED YOUR RIBS AND THE HUNTER THAT CAST YOU UPON IT

enchantedbook

'The Goose Girl at the Well' from Grimm's Fairytales by Rie Cramer, 1922

merytu-mrytw

The Red Goddess was scorched into being, a writhing, angry mark on the land. Her father commanded her slaughter, and she did, til she and all the land was drenched in the evidence of love for her father. She was stopped, eventually, we all know the story.

But when she arose again, she looked upon creation, and declared 'I am not a weapon'.

---

The Red Goddess holds me by the neck. Her claws, just grazing my fragile skin, raising red marks upon my Ka.

"You are not a weapon," she says, and it is a command.

"How can what is made to fight learn to love?" I ask her, and her nails dig in deeper.

"How can what is made to love learn to fight?"

---

The enemies of Ra fall beneath her claws. She is unmatched in slaughter, her arrows stalk with her with blades brandished. Her children fight and rejoice in triumph, and in every victory, the Red Goddess feels pride, feels again the taste of their Ka on her tongue as she speaks them into existence, holding the newly-formed soul in her wicked claws. She knows they will fight, but more than this, she knows they will have something to fight for, and with this, she speaks their name into being once again.

---

I am young and I am in love and there is a very drunk woman next to me. My body is frozen cold but my Ka remembers burning in the mouth of my mother, knows the shape of her fangs as well as my own blunt teeth, and in this moment, I know that, even if I cannot defend myself, I will defend this love at all costs.

---

Purpose, she says, reason, meaning.

She speaks through Tolkien- "I love not the sword for its sharpness nor the arrow for its swiftness,". She holds the back of my neck as a lioness holds her cubs, and I understand it now.

Love, she says, is what drives humans to be brave, daring, reckless. Love fuels our wrath and cools it, deepens our melancholy, turns these crooked grasping hands into weapons under our command, that we might protect those we love.

---

"Then why am I learning first to protect myself?"

"Do you not love yourself?" And I know at once that I cannot answer, I shrink away from her touch.

"We did not teach you shame. I did not breathe you into this world to shrink and cower. My spit dwells in your soul still, feel the burn of it, and know that you honour me with every action."

Through sweat, and pain, and nausea, I find dignity. I look my opponent in the eyes, and in each step and strike and slip and parry-

I learn to love myself.

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of fire and faith