... with flowers, with gold, with bones

devotional, folklore, witchcraft, aesthetic, art, nature, inspiration. my hellenic polytheist stuff is moving elsewhere going forward.

[hierophantique]

These parallels invite the question, why do Athena and Hermes sometimes share or 'double' each others' functions? My answer, I hope, will expand our understanding of these gods' complexity, and especially that of Athena. The first implication of these parallels is that some of the powers of Athena and Hermes are alternate and related versions of the same quality. For example each god embodies the kind of clever intelligence or μῆτις (metis) that manifests itself in the clever ruse and the winning strategy. For Hermes this quality leans toward the 'night-time' realm of stealth and theft, cunning deception, and successful guidance to the underworld; while for Athena it leans toward the 'day time' realm of good judgement, quick thinking, and successful guidance on the battlefield. While pulling in opposite directions, the two gods' interests share a common center.

-- Joseph A. Russo, Athena and Hermes in Early Greek Poetry

[lailoken]

“The luna moth is a fascinating creature of the Appalachian hills. Growing up, we were taught to never disturb them or catch them or it would bring bad luck, because they carry souls of the dead and messages from the other side. During their life span they go through a handful of stages before reaching adulthood. When they become adults and emerge from their wraps a changed creature, they no longer have mouths! You read that right. In the last days of their life, they no longer partake of the food of the living. The mountaineers would have had no knowledge of this, nor of the occult symbolism offered in this biological fact. Their last sole purpose during this stage is to reproduce. The mountaineers simply held to old tradition that they were associated with the ghosts of the dead. That fact, in itself, is amazing to me.”

—

Backwoods Witchcraft:

Conjure & Folk Magic from Appalachia

by Jake Richards

[coldalbion]

In your personal experience, does Odin value compassion?

Compassion is one of those words with a lot of nuance that people often miss.

compassion (n.) mid-14c., from Old French compassion “sympathy, pity” (12c.), from Late Latin compassionem (nominative compassio) “sympathy,” noun of state from past participle stem of compati “to feel pity,” from com- “together” (see com-) + pati “to suffer” (see passion). Latin compassio is an ecclesiastical loan-translation of Greek sympatheia (see sympathy). An Old English loan-translation of compassion was efenðrowung.

sympathy (n.) 1570s, “affinity between certain things,” from Middle French sympathie (16c.) and directly from Late Latin sympathia “community of feeling, sympathy,” from Greek sympatheia “fellow-feeling, community of feeling,” from sympathes “having a fellow feeling, affected by like feelings,” from assimilated form of syn- “together” (see syn-) + pathos “feeling” (see pathos). In English, almost a magical notion at first; used in reference to medicines that heal wounds when applied to a cloth stained with blood from the wound. Meaning “conformity of feelings” is from 1590s; sense of “fellow feeling, compassion” is first attested c. 1600. An Old English loan-translation of sympathy was efensargung

Odin.is, above all, a god of activity, of active participation and dynamism. Whether it be war, poetry, song, sex & death, magic, wind/breath/storm, there is always a fury to him - even in his calmness, there is an intensity. He’s more than a god of knowledge, of accumulated intellectual facts - he’s a god of knowing  - or gnosis.

This is the god who suffered for nine nights on the tree, alone. This is the wandering god, the Man of The Road, the Waytamer, who depends on the hospitality of others, and then messes up those who aren’t hospitable.

It is best for man to be middle-wise, Not over cunning and clever: The learned man whose lore is deep Is seldom happy at heart. - Havamal

If there’s a god who knows of what he speaks above, it’s Odin. He understands suffering intimately - he knows pain, thirst, hunger and privation. He’s the one who stands as an exemplar to be kind to everyone you meet because you never know who they are, or what their story might be. Wyrd delights in flowing where it will. A king might be a day or a year away from being a cripple or a beggar.

And compassion and sympathy are both about ‘fellow feeling’. About the things that tie us together as people, as living wights. If, as the Buddhists are wont to say, all life is suffering, then Odin is right there with us. As the originator of the vital principle, breath itself, then he is the ultimate participant in Life & Death in all its many forms.He is the speargod, the dancer, the singer, the-swinger-by-his-neck, the over-come & and the over-comer. The caller-up & the-one-who-lays-low, the doom-dealer and the Unknown Stranger, the Dearest Friend & The Oldest Enemy.

In my experience, does Odin value compassion?Oh yes. He values it so much that it’ll steal your very breath from your lungs, that he’ll crack your bones to read the marrow, that he’ll trace the runes in the tracks of your tears with gnarled fingers, gentle against your skin.                     This is not sarcasm folks. He’s greedy for you to understand, for you to participate in the living, breathing kosmos. Why do you think he swallowed the mead of poetry, and all swollen-bellied against the sun, let some go to fall into the mouths of those human poets?

He’s the Awe-inspirer. The finder of secrets, the seeker and spinner of stories. He and Loki are the Blood-brothers, the Two Thieves-Of-Forever, and twice as thick as any thieves that ever were.Some say his gaze is pitiless. Some say he’s a harsh figure.

And maybe he is, to them.Others that he is the gentle figure with a wicked agenda and winning smile.He’s many things to many people. But this is the god of cargo, the fulfiller of wishes. This is the one who knows the value of of everything, and perhaps, rare in the universe, knows the price you have to pay for each and every piece.

So the next time your heart is stirred to compassion, or another’s is stirred towards you? Thank One Eye, who’s never going to stop stirring things up.Be well, anon

[madcat-world]

Contagious - SmolderBone

[skaldish]

I feel like we don’t talk enough about how “Norse mythology” is actually a sampling of regional folkloric tales that regular people made up as allegories for their cultural beliefs, and how there’s no such thing as a “canon” interpretation of the Norse myths because of this.

The mythology has always been a product of people’s beliefs, not the other way around.

[ivy-kissobryos]

The Devil was represented as black, with goat’s horns, ass’s ears, cloven hoofs, and an immense phallus. He is, in fact, the Satyr of the old Dionysiac processions, a nature-spirit, the essence of joyous freedom and unrestrained delight, shameless if you will, for the old Greeks knew not shame. He is the figure who danced light-heartedly across the Aristophanic stage, stark nude in broad midday, animally physical, exuberant, ecstatic, crying aloud the primitive refrain, ‘Phales, boon mate of Bacchus, joyous comrade in the dance, wanton wanderer o’ nights’ … in a word, he was Paganism incarnate, and Paganism was the Christian’s deadliest foe; so they took him, the Bacchic reveller, they smutted him from horn to hoof, and he remained the Christian’s deadliest foe, the Devil.

The History of Witchcraft and Demonology by Montague Summers (via ivycrownedwitch)

[queerpyracy]

“To be eaten and to be married to the god might not be so different.”

— Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis (via titians)

[torque-witch]

🖤Made-to-Order Hel Mary🖤

I’ve listed 13 statues in the shop that are available to be painted in this style! Prices vary from $40-$120.

Hel Mary’s are an ongoing devotional project of mine, where each Mother Mary statue is thrifted or bought as an antique and repainted to depict Hel, Norse goddess of Death and decorated with bones & crystals. These are not meant to be offensive, but rather to give new life to discarded objects to support the Pagan and witchcraft communities.

Please allow 2-3 weeks for production to space out other orders and to make sure your order is perfect!

**Please note that all bones used are sustainably collected, but cannot be shipped outside of the US. International orders will be created without bones. You can request slight artistic changes to your order or request that bones and/or crystals are not used. Please leave any requests in the “Comment to Seller” box at checkout, or message me beforehand. International shipping is available, but is request only outside of US & Canada. Visit the shop link in the description to browse available statues!

IG: dhdivination

Visit the Shop ➡️

[best-of-inspirobot]

[No eroticism? No divinity for you!]

[satsuti]

Deities reputed to be tricksters are Odin, Loki, Prometheus, Esu, Hermes, Set, Anansi, Aphrodite, Cupid, and animals such as the fox, raven, coyote and other that share a nature of thievery and deception.

The word trickery is derived from old french, trique, meaning 'cheat' or 'deception' . . . The word was used in medieval France as well as Latin to designate conditions related to games of chance, but the latter interpretation is also significant - it denotes the condition people find themselves in when they go to the crossroad.

It is possible to combine the idea of life as a game and the tangled conditions with which we are at times confronted. The player who hold the dice in his hand is taking a chance. He is at the crossroad.

- Craft of The Untamed

[empyrealhesper]

[IMG TEXT: “Flip the Senate Like a Card: Donation for Divination”

Biden & Harris’ win is extraordinary, but with McConnell still around, we’re not out of the fascist woods.

Let’s finish this. Let’s win the GA runoff election for the Senate.

How It Works:

Send the email address below:

your donation receipt to Fair Fight with personal info obscured; your question; your chosen method (tarot or geomancy).

I’ll do a 5-card spread OR a geomancy house chart on it.

Please do not send legal/medical questions.

Email address: [email protected].”]

Heya, y’all, I know we’re psyched over Trump losing, but it’s not over yet. The Senate is the house of killing bills, and its remaining in greasy Repub hands would butcher anything Biden tried to do that we actually like.

But we can change that. AP says: “Nationally, the Senate stands at 48-48 after Election Day. But incumbent Republicans lead uncalled races in Alaska and North Carolina, and if the GOP holds those two seats it would be up 50-48. Wins by the Georgia Democrats would create a 50-50 tie.In that case, whichever party wins the White House would control the Senate, since the vice president serves as president of the Senate and would break any ties.”

That means action. That means finally, we’d be able to get shit done–I cannot overstate how much has simply been smothered in its cradle. So I’m asking you: if you’ve ever wanted divination from me, something I so rarely post up these days, if this is something you already care about and you want a bonus, or even if you just wanna be the socialist practicing witchcraft the Repubs are terrified of with some sick card-reading…

Let’s flip the Senate like a card. Let’s make McConnell cry like tiny bab. Let’s stand up for actually getting the shit we want through.

The email is [email protected].

Donate to Fair Fight here.

AP source: https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-senate-elections-georgia-5fbe1eb389b8ff80ba7b7ee25d8d0d8b

[serpentandstang-deactivated2021]

“However, the figure of the Devil that featured in much of the documentary material associated with Scottish witchcraft is a much more complex being and indeed was rarely red-skinned or horned. Demonic figures may well have been most frequently male and they often wore black, but they could also wear other colours, some of which were symbolic of spiritual beliefs, notably that of fairies or ‘good neighbours’. The figures could be old or young, handsome or ugly, or grim or gentlemanly in appearance. The demon might wear a hat or bonnet, a shawl or hood, or carry a staff. He could offer food, drink or some other relatively small-scale rewards. The demonic figure could appear in female form, albeit quite rarely, or take the form of an animal. Finally, he could take a more ethereal guise and appear as a spirit – sometimes as a ghost or angel.”

Joyce Miller, “Men in Black: Appearances of the Devil in Early Modern Scottish Witchcraft Discourse,” Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland. (Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 144-145.

[mendedpixie]

No one knows grief like Loki, Sigyn, and Angrboda. The grief from loss and the grief from trauma. They are comforting and empathetic figures of change, rage, sorrow, and comfort.

[trans-rite]

The Transgender Rite of Ancestor Elevation: FAQ

What is it?

a nine-day, non-denominational ritual honoring transgender individuals who have passed on

an act of solidarity with the lineage of transgender ancestors who have come before us and paved the way, as well as with the descendents who will come after us when we are gone

a chance to share tenderness and kindness with the restless spirits of transgender people who lost their lives to violence

an opportunity for living transgender folks, including those who have lost trans loved ones, to grieve, mourn, and pray

a labor of love from a multiracial group of trans spirit workers, each at various stages of study in ancestor veneration practices, who have been putting on this ritual since 2014

Keep reading

[trans-rite]

If you’re considering joining us this year, here are the explanation and instructions. It’s simple and doesn’t need to take long to have a big impact. Please reblog and forward far and wide!

- Alder

[muirin007]

“I have often found it difficult to explain myself to myself, and I do not often try.” - Ida Tarbell

(It’s myth Loki season, y’all.)

[headspace-hotel]

Dandelions symbolize everything I want to be in life

[main-river]

Fluffy and dead with a gust of wind?

[headspace-hotel]

Unapologetic. Hard to kill. Feral, filled with sunlight, bright, beautiful in a way that the conventional and controlling hate but cannot ever fully destroy. Stubborn. Happy. Bastardous. Friends with bees. Highly disapproving of lawns. Full of wishes that will be carried far after I die.

[zhewhoisfate]

Hey norse pagans i have a question. How do you reconcile the idea of honoring ancestors with the fact that our ancestors were really racist and might-is-right?

I kinda wanna fuck around with norse paganism and runes, learn more about my germanic heritage, but i don't fuck with racism and ive heard norse pagans that arent right wing weirdos don't either but i don't really understand it

[zhewhoisfate]

Thanks to the people who answered! I couldn't find anything online like the stuff you guys said, honoring the dead by being better than them, making up for what they left you with, etc, so that was really helpful.

[thorraborinn]

It seems you’ve come to a more comfortable position here already, but to add to some of the responses you’ve gotten so far:

What evidence do you have, other than online recons running their mouths, that heathens have to honor their ancestors?

The pre-Christian Norse believed that people who died continued to exert agency in the world after their death, but this is not the same as something like Roman-style compulsory filial piety. Sometimes Norse recognition of the dead included digging their ancestors up and desecrating their corpses so they couldn’t haunt them anymore.

The idea that heathens were “ancestor worshipers” is a meme that has more to do with modern history of religion and anthropology than it does with the actual sources for heathenry. It’s embedded in a colonial system of categorization of religious culture that assumes a linear progression from primitive animists to scientific rationalist monotheism or atheism. Because pre-Christian Norse people recognized the dead as still being persons, they get filed into the “ancestor worshiper” box. But this linear progression isn’t real.

This isn’t to say that they didn’t worship their ancestors in some way or another, my point is that modern reconstructionist heathenry tends to see flawed modern explanatory models as more real than both the actual sources for heathenry themselves, and our actual lived experiences.

I made a post about ancestor recognition among pre-Christian heathens here with some links that might be useful: https://thorraborinn.tumblr.com/post/170193064238/does-nordic-heathenism-have-any-concept-analogous