#asteria deity

[starry-eyed-crossroad]

Lady Asteria collage / lockscreen 🌟

just something I made for Her that I wanted to share!

[bodhi-devotee]

Leto: Goddess of Modesty or of Mystery?

“you can sit with gentle Leto, and simply be. the light always finds it’s way through the clouds.”

i am not a religious authority. i encourage you to double check all points before they are accepted as fact! this details my experience meditating on and researching the titan goddess Leto. anything that is speculative and not verifiable as fact will be italicized!!!

Leto is a beloved titan goddess, but of what? ancient texts regarding her lack the plentiful stories that other deities are afforded, so we must look at genealogy for deeper insight. as laid out in hesiod’s ‘theogony’, Leto’s mother is Phoibe, the embodiment of bright intellect. her grandfather on both sides is Heaven embodied, Ouranos. her sister is Asteria, goddess of stars, who went on to bare the mysterious Hekate. Leto herself gave birth to two of the most important gods in hellenic polytheistic belief, two gods whose domains serve as stark contrast against one another; Artemis and Apollon. though the imagery was not present when they first entered the greek scene, Leto’s children have grown to represent the moon and the sun respectively. i think the first thing we can put together about Leto is this: unless she’s a wild outlier in the family tree, we can confidently place her as a titan of light and radiance (and mystery as well— more on that in a moment).

the type of light is never specified in historical texts or art. is Leto’s radiance that of daytime or of the night? some argue that if both Leto and Asteria represent prophetic light, Asteria must be the light of night given that she is of the stars, and Leto must embody the light of day. this is not the theory i buy into. in my worship Leto’s presence feels stronger at night, and i associate her with the stars, moon, and nighttime. but, she is present during the day as well. i sense a strong connection between her and the specific light of a cloudy day, the illumination of the land through a soft grey haze. maybe this could be reminiscent of light (or sight) piercing through a veil, which Leto is consistently shown wearing. so, she is a titan of light be it night or day. what else is there to this fascinating goddess?

we can look at her name’s roots, possibly diriving from the word ‘lethô’: to move unseen. as mentioned above, Leto is almost always depicted veiled and dressed modestly. she is labeled as gentle and demure, but she is not meek. the most commonly accepted interpretation of her domain is that of modesty, motherhood, and soft femininity. while i think that must have been a large factor of her worship given the culture of ancient greece, we do sweet Leto a major disservice by stopping the interpretation there.

i think her veiling, her name possibly meaning “to move unseen”, and the cherry on top: her family ties to divination and other oracular magic (Apollon, Zeus, Phoibe, Asteria) all point to her also having domain over foresight, prophecy, intellect and insight, specifically through the lenses of mystery, and of what is quiet and unseen. i view her veiling and hidden nature as less of a statement on womanhood, and moreso indicative of an elusive magical property to the titan. i believe she can be called on for help in magic and mysteries, and looked to for prophetic knowledge. i am not denying Leto’s role as a goddess of mothers, marriage, and of children. i worship those aspects of her as well, but i believe packaging her up and selling her as an exclusively mother/fertility goddess is false advertising.

so, who is Leto? Leto the unseen, gentle and motherly, modest and beautiful, is also Leto of mystery, of radiance, of light piercing through veils, of insight and prophecy.

as a buddhist, i find her energy to be extremely helpful in honing stillness and non-reaction. there is kinetic energy in the quiet, there are answers and magic in softness. sometimes you don’t need to leave a huge mark on the world to prove you matter. you don’t have to scream from the mountain tops to prove you were here. you can sit with gentle Leto, and simply be. the light always finds its way through the clouds.

coming up next is the SECOND half of this dive into Leto, which will be titled: ‘Leto: of Refuge, Duality, and Transformation.’ it will take more time and research and write but i am very excited! thank you to the person who asked about my thoughts on Leto as this has spurred such a deepening of our connection. i’m enjoying spending time with Leto as i write about her grace and presence. please let me know if you have any questions or additions of your own!!!

EDIT: still working on the second half, life got crazy. thanks for the patience and for reading this far :)

[ravenandmoon]

Worshiping the Titans and Titanesses

After my recent post, I figured I will do some post about some deities I worship. I will follow the division I have made in this post, so now it's time for Titans and Titanesses I worship (even in a slightly/casual way).

Hekate

Hekate is a goddess of so many things, but I mainly worship Her as a goddess of Crossroads and keeper of the gates, goddess of the dead and the Underworld. I worship Her since the beginning of my practice. She helped me transition from a practice heavily impacted by Wicca to my hellenic polytheist practice. Now, i'm devoted to Her which doesn't really mean anything big, it's just that She is one of the main deities I worship daily. She guides me through multiple aspect of my life, I give Her my regret and grief so they can go to Erebos and I feel free to walk from them. I also have a UPG about Her being silence and I see Her as a mentor and a strict parental figure.

If you want to include Her into your worship, you can :

Do a meal in Her honor during the New Moon

Visit a cemetery (be respectful)

Learn about ancestors veneration

Pray to crossroads

Asteria

Goddess of falling stars and nighttime divination, I mainly worship Her as Hekate's mother, which makes me consider Her as a "grandmother", my worship of Her is mainly to show respect to Her. For Her, I just do star gazing.

Helios

God of the Sun, He feels like a "grandfather" for me. I try to do a ritual for Him (with Apollon Phoibos) each sunday, because I had to learn to love the Sun. For me, saturday is the last day of my week during which I do the rituals to cleanse my life of dead-end projects and all, and sunday is the first day of the week during which I spend time with Him and make my plan and wishes for the week.

If you want to include HIm into your worship, you can :

Take a sunbath (make sure to wear sunscreen though)

Contemplate nature

Make wishes and intentions for the day ahead

Drink water

Selene

Goddess of the Moon. I've started worship Her along with Nyx before I knew I was a worshiper. She was my inspiration for creativity, especially for writing. This is a UPG born with the fact that I've started worship Her because of my insomnia. Writing was something I did for the Moon. I dedicate my monday to Her and Artemis.

If you want to include Her into your worship, you can :

Celebrate Full Moon

Journaling about your feelings

Do divination

Learn how to regulate your emotions

Styx

She is an Okeanide and the goddess (daimon) of hatred. She is also a path and a gate between the living and the dead. The first time I worship Her was for inaugurate my notebook/grimoire for deities and worship.

If you want to include Her into your worship, you can :

Walk by rivers

Make (small) promises and keep them

Learn how to manage your anger

Learn how to fight injustice and hateful speech/discourse/idea

[number1-hera-defender]

Asteria's sacred animal btw

(I know it's not the exact breed of quail)

[setting-up-altar-guides]

Can I get one for Asteria?

@apollos-song (pinging my helpol blog)

Setting up an Asteria Altar Guide .. 🌌

Includes: Colors, gems, minerals, candles, scents, symbols, items, offerings, and easy practices !

COLORS... ☄

Starlit Amethyst ( 9966CC ) Cosmic Midnight ( 0B0033 ) Nebula ( A18CD1 ) Oracle Silver ( C0C0C0 ) Falling flame (OR coral peach) ( FF6F61 ) Indigo ( 2C2E7F ) Eclipse gold ( FFD700 ) Meteor ( A9A9A9 ) Baby pink / Soft Rose ( F4C2C2 ) Eclipsic Shadow ( 43464B ) Amethyst Sky ( 9929EA ) Violet Rose ( CC66DA ) Pale goldstone sparkle ( FAEB92 ) Dark Dusky purple ( 210F37 ) Bloodmoon ( C62300 ) Hippie pink ( AE445A ) Dark Slate blue ( 433D8B )

GEMSTONES ... ☄

Goldstone (Blue) | Kashmir Sapphire | Star Sapphire | London Blue Topaz | Swiss Blue Topaz | Tanzanite | Iolite | star Iolite | Lapis Lazuli | Azure (Malachite or cuprite hybrid) | Blue Agate | Indicolite | blue tiger's eye | Royal Blue Moonstone | Blue Sugilite | Tanzine Aura Quartz | Angel Aura Quartz | Blue Onyx | Citrine | Golden Jade | Rutile | Golden Aura Quartz | Pyrite | Pyrite in quartz | Trapiche Emerald | Green Phantom Quartz | Green Goldstone | Maw Sit Sit | Ametrine | Midnight Lace Obsidian | Cuprite | Merlinite | Siberite | Khooni Neelam | Charoite | Elestial Amethyst | Scorolite | Purple Tiger Eye | Alexandrite | Andalusite | Opal | Kaolin

MATERIALS AND MINERALS ... ☄

Planty/mossy materials | Lace | Meteorite | Stardust | Herkimer Diamond | Velvet | Silk | Satin | Cracked glass / Mosaic glass | Mirrors | Fluffy fog-like textures (Fake spiderwebs made of soft cotton) | Iridescent materials | Bronze | marble | Terracotta | gold leaf | obsidian | Nightshade (only for decor.) | Chalcanthite | Ash

CANDLES .. ☄

ozone | Chilled air | amber | Scorched Sandalwood | Smoke | Orchid | moonflower | metallic smells | vetiver | galbanum (Resin-like smell) | jasmine | Iris | Violet | Lavender | Incense | myrrh | Scroll (Old paper) | sweet resin | sage | palo santo ( Bursera graveolens ) | white musk | cold rain | Vanilla | Anise | Black Tea | Sandalwood | Cinnamon | Purple Lotus | Tuberose (agave) | Moss | Black Currant | Mist | Mint | White Tea | neroli (Bitter orange essential oil) | bergamot orange | heliotrope | suede leather | petrichor | sugar | plum | cashmere | Vanilla Bean | Espresso | Silver Musk

SYMBOLS ... ☄

Falling stars | Shooting star | star | Constellation | Night sky | Moon | Oracle | divination tools (Mirror, Crystal Ball, Incense smoke) | Delos | Owls | Moonflower | Pentacle | Eye Symbol | Wings | Feathers | Veil | Mist | Water Surface | Constellation maps | Swirling galaxy shape | Crystals | Silver ring | Tiara | Bat | Nightjar | Moth | Snake | Raven | Phoenix | Hippocamp | White Stag | Luna Moth | Silver Fox

ITEMS & OFFERINGS ☄

Obsidian Mirror | Scrying tools | Tarot Cards | Crystals | Herb Satchets | Star-shaped candle holders | Moon-shaped candles or sand jars | crescent moon bowls | celestial maps | Constellation maps | Incense | Black or Blue Candles | Mirror | Water bowl | Silver bell | Chime | Wind chime | Meteorite Fragments | Seashells | Smooth stones or light stones | Jasmine | Moonflower | primrose | Dried Mugwort | Star Anise | Dried Bay Leaves | Lavender | Feathers | Black Feathers | Honey wine / Mead / Liquor | Star-shaped cookies, bread, etc. | Figs | Pomegranates | Black Grapes | herbal teas | poems | Dreams written down | Paintings | Origami stars / Garlands | Drawings | Handmade items-- candles, teas, etc | Music

EASY PRACTICES ☄

Dream Journaling Praying to the moon Dream satchet making (Make a satchet that holds herbs that help you sleep!) Study reoccurring symbols Stargaze or Cloudview (Cloudviewing is an act of watching the clouds and dreaming, with music and feeling the clouds) Journal about your day Write about your night, and your dreams-- offer them to her in the form of little papers. Making star origami (Those little paper stars-- write messages in them or keep them plain.) Making crafts out of clay-- little clay offerings! Cleanse yourself in a warm bath with lavender scents. Take a good rest/nap Practice your magic!

EXTRA NOTES... ☄

asteria was a hard goddess/titaness to work on, as there aren't a lot of sources out there about her-- mainly used the Wikipedia page, some gemstones associated with sleep, and my mind (as well as a little help from my knowledge on space, stars, and the night- also animals. I love animals.) 𖥔

[asterias-fallen-star]

A quick picture of Lady Asteria’s section on my altar. It’s not massive but I love it and I think she does too <3

[chemicalforgery]

Lady Asteria

"And they made their homes in the scattered islands rich in flocks, and held far-famed Delos since Apollon of the golden locks gave them the body of Asteria to inhabit."

[30fury]

asteria using a drop-spindle to make yarn out of dreams 🌟