Blankets, Tea and Dionysus' Season

Pine | 20 | He/Him | Genderqueer and AroAce | Disabled

[laurel-limestone]

I once had a therapist ask me how my spirituality impacted my mental health - I didn't have an answer at the time as not only had I just started but I was in communities that were against and toxic towards beginners and shamed new people.

But after years of my practice and finding my religion I finally have an answer to my her question:

The Gods have always supported me and my relationship to multiple deities has been consistently taking my meds and practicing self care as a devotional act

My spirituality is a form of self care, it's a tool I use to take care of myself and bring joy into my life, both with religion and witchcraft

The consistency of prayer is a comfort, a ritual in itself, and it's a time I can feel love from my ancestors or gods

It encourages me to get outside and be in nature to honour the potamoi or nature gods I follow

It's something that has a continous positive impact on who I am and what I do and I hope to continue on a path like that

[creature-wizard]

IMO, it’s helpful to think of offerings in terms of acts of hospitality. For example, when you have a guest over, it’s customary to offer them a drink such as ice water, tea, or perhaps something stronger if you have it and they like that sort of thing. Now of course you don’t want to be miserly with your offerings and you do want to give your deities something they actually like, but the idea that something like, say, a glass of ice water just can’t be good enough because your offerings must be this exact expensive/inaccessible thing is just spiritual gentrification. Water might seem awfully unremarkable, but it’s one of the most basic necessities of life and that is why we offer it to guests; because they might be thirsty after their trip to your home. And sure, it’s nice to offer guests something fancier if you have it. But I think we can agree that water should be acceptable to to your guests if it’s what you have. What constitutes hospitality could also be used to inform what else you might offer your deities. Perhaps you could offer them a chair to sit on. Perhaps you could offer them a homemade cookie or even just a mint candy. Of course there’s going to be no one-size-fits-all answer here, but thinking of offerings as a matter of hospitality can still give you some idea of what might be appropriate.

[elreki-deactivated20170817]

“Just” a pagan

I see a great many posts on here that say, “you don’t have to be pagan to be  a witch!!” However, the reverse is also very true. You do not have to be a witch to be a pagan! You don’t have to care about Astrology, herbal correspondences, astral projection, auras, chakras, tarot cards, magic rocks, spirit companions, or grimoires/Books of Shadows in order to be a good pagan, (and in fact most of that stuff is very New Age and/or Wicca influenced.)

(That’s not to say any one way of thinking is better than the other. A person’s Path is very individual and personal, there’s no wrong way to be yourself. Having or not having a belief in something does not make you a better person than someone else.)

It’s hard being “just” a pagan on Tumblr because so many other pagans and witches will drown you in all these cool aesthetics of beautiful tarot cards, neatly arranged crystal spreads, and masterposts of spells. It’s lovely to look at, but it sometimes makes me bad about myself or like an outsider because I don’t have or don’t believe in all these cool looking things.

So

Here’s some support for everybody like me who’s “just” a pagan and feels left out of the community sometimes because we don’t practice witchcraft. You’re important, too. You’re not “less” of a pagan, nor “less” of anything, for what you believe in or what you own. Your beliefs and practices matter. What you believe in is yours to have, and I’ll always fight for your right to keep it. Whatever you label yourself as: pagan, heathen, polytheist, kemetic, hellenist, spirit worker, etc is yours and its important to be yourself. Be proud of your Path.

[laurel-limestone]

It's that time of the month so let's talk about the Deipnon-Noumenia cycle

The end of the lunar month, or the dark moon, is Hekates Deipnon. A meal was left on the crossroads for the poor to eat in honour of Hekate. Therefore, a modern way of celebrating for some people is donation to a food bank/pantry or soup kitchen! It's also a good time to clean your space, especially sacred ones.

Noumenia is the first of the lunar month, the new moon when you see the first sliver in the sky. Everyone celebrates this day a bit differently, but I fill a jar with food and a mix of olive oil and water as an offering to Zeus Ktesios. This is my way of doing a Kadiskos. On top of this I recite Orphic hymn 0 and give a libation of wine.

The Second day is dedicated to Agathos Daimon, The Good Spirit that appears as a snake. The Agathos Daimon is an epithet of multiple Gods and is thought to possibly be Zeus or its own spirit entirely (my belief). He protects the family, home and pantry. I do a libation of olive oil/milk/water or wine depending on what I have with a prayer.

Every day going forward I do a libation and prayer to Gods/Heroes.

Day 3 - Athena

Day 4 - Aphrodite, Herakles, Hermes and Eros

Day 5 - Generally considered unlikely so no deities are honoured

Day 6 - Artemis

Day 7 - Apollon

Day 8 - Poseidon and Theseus

Hellenismos: Practicing Greek Polytheism Today by Tony Mierzwicki

Hellenion.com

The Noumenia and Epimenia in Athens by Jon D. Mikalson. Cambridge University Press

And more I've lost over the years, sorry!

[laurel-limestone]

Sometimes I feel like my religion is reading with extra steps. 😅

[liminalblessings-lkdghlklkha-de]

““Speak to the Gods. Ancient prayers are good. So are contemporary prayers written by priests and devotees. So are your own words that express the yearnings of your heart. Calling Them by names, titles, and epithets [… But] remember the principle of reciprocity: if you expect to receive, you should expect to give. Be careful what you offer. If you say “I’ll do whatever you want me to do” They may take you up on it in ways you never considered.”

— John Beckett’ “Beginning a Devotional Practice“

[ombrokharis]

PRAYER IN HELLENIC POLYTHEISM

There are three main parts to prayer in ancient Greek religion: the invocation, the argument, and the petition.

THE INVOCATION —

This is where you address the god by name, including any honorifics, references, functions, or qualities you wish to entreat. Several stacking elements of identification are used here—including epithets.

THE ARGUMENT —

Why should the god listen to you? Remind the god of your prior relationship. If you haven’t yet built one, you should ask a friend or devotee to pray on your behalf. Better yet, use this as an opportunity to introduce yourself to the god and sing their praises.

THE PETITION —

State your purpose. This can include what you want the god to do, regardless of whether your request is specific or relatively intangible.

Of note is the fact that the petition is not a mandatory part of the prayer structure. “You might as easily invoke a god and remind them of your relationship, but not want anything specific, just to keep in touch as it were, and that would be totally fine” (Dr. Ellie Mackin Roberts).

PRAYER GESTURES

According to Aristotle “we humans all stretch our hands towards the heavens when we make our prayers” (On the Cosmos). Pollux too suggests this, using the phrases “to pray to the gods” and “to stretch one’s hands upward” interchangeably.

That said, not every prayer was accompanied by a grand gesture. Simon Pulleyn relates how artistic depictions more commonly show the worshipper with one hand raised—not above the head, but “held out in front of [oneself] in a gesture like that used by a policeman to halt traffic” (Prayer in Greek Religion, 1997, pg. 189).

Don’t overthink hand gestures. More than anything, know that prayers were typically done when the individual was standing, their face tilted up towards the heavens (where the gods reside). When consulting the Underworld gods, though, it would make sense to direct your prayers downward. An example of this is seen in the ninth scroll of the Iliad when Althaea prays to Haides and dread Persephone by kneeling and beating her hands on the ground.

MORE ON PRAYER GESTURES

The following illustrations were made by @seedsandsprouts / @jellynymphh and show the many gestures that can accompany your prayers to the gods.

Spoken prayers are typically paired with more dynamic gesticulations, while those that are silent (or muttered) are done more discreetly.

Ancient peoples believed that the gods could hear silent prayers, but such a practice was regarded as anomalous and looked upon with great suspicion. Such suspicions are better left in antiquity, seeing as we live in an age where spoken prayer is no longer standard.

When praying with one hand raised to your lips or the heavens, the hand at your side can be balled into a fist with the thumb tucked into the fingers.

Happy praying! :)

[wolfprayers]

[image description: artwork depicting a person standing on a grey background, in six different poses, always with their face angled up. 1: both hands raised above their head. 2: both hands at about shoulder level, outstretched with palms facing up. 3: one hand closed into a fist, held at waist level, with the other reaching forward, near their face. 4: similar to the third, but with the raised hand high above their hand. 5: both hands raised, pressed against their mouth. 6: one hand raised, touching their lower nose and mouth. end id.]

[lovecorekiss]

Achilles and Patroclus devotional acts

My list of devotional acts for the great heroes of old.

Studying the great epic poem, the Iliad.

Learning the ways of herbs, especially with yarrow. 

healing — such as first aid, cleaning wounds, and bandaging them.

Learning the dangers of anger and rage — and the sheer power of it. Learn to control and utilise the emotion well. 

Studying ancient warfare, such as valiant chariots and spears. 

Learning to play the lyre, especially the Phormix type.

Taking up learning how to use weaponry, in particular the Spear, Shield, Sword and chariot. 

Caring for others, especially those in your close community.

Riding horses and learning how to do so.

Playing games such as chess, dice, etc. 

Achilles Specific 

Running — he was the swift-footed Achilles, after all.

Cleaning up the seas, waters, and streams. His mother was the great nereid Thetis — that further shows his connection to the sea.

Collecting seashells. (Upg) He seems to adore them so. 

Standing up for yourself, against cruel men. 

Honouring Patroclus.

Patroclus Specific 

Fighting — he never gave up, even until the end. 

Learning to control your anger — he killed a boy on accident because of a pair of dice. That is what caused his exile.

Cooking meals — that is what he did for Achilles and when he was gone, was one of the many reasons Achilles mourned his passing.

Standing up for yourself, against cruel men. 

Honouring Achilles. 

Aesthetic image from here.

[gaydiation-poisoning]

I hate that as Indigenous people, we have to slowly explain the concept of LandBack to basically every colonizer.

Like no we're not going to just throw you out, or put you in camps, or any of that shit. We just want to be able to take care of our ancestral land and be the ones in charge of protecting it.

Like I know these people were raised with a colonial mindset but after a while I just start to lose sympathy.

Like oh you're worried about having your home violently ripped out from under you?? What a fucking tragedy.

[femmefurina-deactivated20240814]

I wasn't gonna add to this, but like, no, I wanna add to this.

What will change for you, Whitey McWhiterson, if LandBack takes place?

Not a whole fucking lot.

You might be incentivized to switch to less-polluting modes of transportation, such as biking. Gas might be discouraged.

The environment might be prioritized.

You might become a citizen of, say, Mi'kma'ki instead of the USA.

Your kids might be taught an Indigenous language in schools.

History class would be a lot more up front.

But your day to day life? Very little will change. You're not gonna be kicked out if your house. You're not gonna be rounded up and put into a camp. You might be required to have the minimum basic decency towards the environment. It will be the Sovreign Peoples running the show.

But you, Joe Shmoe, will be left alone to live your life.

Which is more than we can say your people did for us.

[laurel-limestone]

Ancient Greeks had a form of poppets called Kolossoi (kolossos singular). They were made out of lead, bronze, clay, wax, wool, and dough. They were used for cursing and binding spells, alike to curse tablets, and typically represented the target of the curse.

These were NOT voodoo dolls that is an exclusive Haitian/African practice.

[classicsmatters]

what she says: i'm fine

what she means: the library of alexandria contained thousands of volumes of ancient works, including things which are now most likely eternally lost to us- the rest of sappho's nine volumes of poetry, ancient encyclopedias that could tell us so much that we don't know about the ancient world, religious texts necessary to understand cults we know nothing of besides their names. thanks to the destruction of one library, we can no longer access a great sum of human knowledge and experience. history truly is one of the cruelest fields, teasing us with hints of things we will never get to know, obliterating texts in full but leaving behind their names to make us wonder at what could have been.

[englishmajorhumor]

Beware the Ides of marshmallow!

[pickeringtonlibrary]

Always reblog. ALWAYS. 

[darienlibrary]

When peeps are instantly reblogged you know the Teen Librarian took over. 

[classicsmatters]

Latin: We don't need a definite article!

English: We'll just use the. Simple.

French: Le, la, les. For a bit of variety.

Ancient Greek: :)

Latin: Oh no.

Ancient Greek: :) :)

English: Don't do it.

Ancient Greek: :) :) :)

French: Why are you like this?

Ancient Greek: ο, του, τω, τον, οι, των, τοις, τους, η, της, τη, την, αι, ταις, τας, το, τα, τω, τοιν

Ancient Greek: :)

[nathanielthecurious]

sometimes it really gets to me that so many of our roman sources for the lives of pathici, cinaedi, gallae, and feminine men consist of conservative mockery and stereotypes. there's great tragedy in having to read through that perspective. and at the same time it's so powerful to read in spite of the author, in spite of the text, and know that the subjects of mockery must have been somewhat representative of real people living their best lives in an often stigmatizing society

like in juvenal 1.2, we basically read that a conservative roman's description of the most disgusting degeneracy is when men have hairy arms, a shaved ass, dark angled brows, a gold hairnet, and a blue and green dress with a diamond pattern on it

and you know what? werk! anyone who was really dressing like that deserved the world, they must have been beautiful!!

[caecilius-est-pater]

There's the sadness that we're getting it through the worst possible perspective, but on the whole it makes me happy because here's incontrovertible proof that these people like us existed back then. They were there, and they lived, openly and proudly.

[crazycatsiren]

I don't believe one bit that you're really "trans inclusive" if you call yourself a radfem. Go fall into a ditch somewhere, far away from my blog.

[laurel-limestone]

Zeus is a wonderful God! (Aka he and his worshippers don't deserve hate, ever) I mostly worship him as Ktesios and Astrapaios but he's many things:

Zeus is a god of fate, of law and justice.

Zeus is a protecter, he is a king, he is a god of hospitality who protects fugitives, strangers and all who need it.

He is a just and fair God (even if we can't see it), he is the lightning, the thunder and the rain.

He is, many things but he is: The Good God

[space-feminist]

it's always so fucking funny to me when terfs are like "how can you say trans women and women are the same thing! being born as a man makes you different!" because like. yes. trans women and cis women are different. so are black women and white women. and straight women and queer woman. and women from different countries and different socioeconomic statuses. there's diversity in the experience of womanhood? what a wild concept

[space-feminist]

incidentally, this why terfs tend to be white women. from the combahee river collective statement, 1977:

...we reject the stance of Lesbian separatism because it is not a viable political analysis or strategy for us. It leaves out far too much and far too many people, particularly Black men, women, and children. We have a great deal of criticism and loathing for what men have been socialized to be in this society: what they support, how they act, and how they oppress. But we do not have the misguided notion that it is their maleness, per se—i.e., their biological maleness—that makes them what they are. As BIack women we find any type of biological determinism a particularly dangerous and reactionary basis upon which to build a politic. 

(emphasis mine)

[dentes-mentis]

"To argue that transsexual women should not enter [women-exclusive spaces] because their experiences are different would have to assume that all other women's experiences are the same, and this is a racist assumption. The argument that transsexual women have experienced some degree of male privilege should not bar them from our communities once we realize that not all women are equally privileged or oppressed."

(from "Whose feminism is it, anyway?" by Emi Koyama)

[stele3]

This. This is the core of it. This is why trans-exclusionary radical feminism is rooted in racism, colonialism, and imperialism. It excludes the idea that there can be any other type of “woman” except one very (white, colonialist, imperialist) definition.