#flora devotee

[faintheartless]

Hi, if it’s not too personal—what does it mean that Flora has moved on from you now? I’ve seen other witches say this about their deities and as someone who has a background in Christianity (not Christian anymore), it confuses me slightly if that makes sense? Thanks for your time!

Hey lovely anon! 🌟

I understand your confusion, I remember being baffled and frankly a bit upset when I felt Flora ‘waning’ from me. I thought I’d done something wrong to offend Her, or alike. But this wasn’t the case. You may have heard other pagans saying their deity moved on from them because they had learned the lesson that the deity wanted to teach. I think this is probably the most common explanation, although I don’t doubt that you could offend a deity to an extent that They leave.

When I first found Flora I identified as a secular witch, but I stumbled upon Her and instantly felt drawn and began my worship, I just felt that I needed to. At the time, I had been yearning for ‘proof,’ I didn’t believe in deities but I wanted to, and that’s when I found Flora. In hindsight, I believe I was called to worship Her as a way of bringing me into paganism in general, She was my gatekeeper, if you like. I needed a gentle, approachable goddess who I could relate to and that was Flora. There was nothing intimidating about Her, it was a very painless way to finding my faith. When I found Her, my abusive mother was still living with me so naturally I was way too intimidated by the more dominant goddesses, like Hecate, for example. Any aggression or power to Them and I couldn’t deal with it because it reminded me of my mother. They scared me too much. But Flora became my mother, my sister and my best friend all in one. I was only 14 or 15 years old. I really fell in love with Her. I would find Her everywhere in my life. I think She likes books quite a lot, I’d usually flick to random pages in books in shops and there She’d be, Her name smiling back at me.

So to finally answer your question, She drifted from me because She had taught me everything she needed, I had served Her and our relationship was complete. Now, She’s my eternal ‘lover,’ I’ll always be smitten with Her and celebrate Her festival, Floralia, for example, but our relationship is no longer so intense. I don’t call to Her in ritual, or regularly pray because that’s not our relationship anymore. It’s calmed, and I’m sure She is being served by others. I did nothing wrong, it’s just the aim of our relationship had been reached so She moved into the distance.

I know this is long-winded but I always gush when I start talking about Her. Feel free to message if you have any further questions.

Bright blessings!💫🌻

[faintheartless]

🦋drinking lemon&ginger tea, with gathered rowan prunings and the beautiful old storybook about Venus (originally only bought for the mentions of Flora but it’s such a treat! I spoke about its mysterious appearance on a previous post!🌸) does anyone know if you can dry small branches and buds, I really want to save the cuties!?🦋 and happy easter if you celebrate it!

[faintheartless]

(Hi, I’m a newbie—sorry for my ignorance!) I think I want to work with Flora; it’s recently dawned on me that she might be the cause of pink roses popping up everywhere in my life when I need comforting in distressing situations. She seems so compassionate. I haven’t worked with deity before, so I was wondering, if it’s not too personal, how do you work with Flora? How can I honor her/thank her? I’ve been researching, but do you know any books on her? What is she like? Thanks! 😊🌷

heya hun! I’m so sorry it’s taken so long to reply, I really should check my inbox a lil’ more often!☺️🍃

You have no idea how much of a smile you’ve put on my face to meet someone with an interest in Flora 🤗✨

Your assumptions are quite correct, from my experience Flora is very friendly, bubbly, optimistic etc and an overall sweetheart, I promise you. I’ll give you an unorganised response of little tidbits and advice!! I’m just going to be gushing about Her, I’m sure!! 🌼

For the goddess of flowers, her domain seems surprisingly large, I’ve felt Her connection with springtime, love & sex, youth etc quite strongly, so it’s definitely worth honouring all Her aspects! It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to be just a flower witch (if you do practise witchcraft!) it’s fine to still keep a broader craft. 

I’ve tried working with Her at both night and daytime, and as you might expect, daytime was much more successful due to the vital bond between plants and the sun– She’s definitely more of a solar goddess, and I often find her comfort in the sun!

Unfortunately for us, resources and practical ways of worshipping Her are quite limited but I’ve found it’s quite easy to intuitively work things out. Offerings such as flowers (of course), milk, honey, anything sweet smelling, fruits etc seem to be appropriate but I have created a big ol’ list of offerings which I can share with you, if you’d like! I also find another lovely way is to cultivate flower/herb beds, grow indoor plants, visit gardens etc. And wearing lots of floral clothing!!

Personally, I’ve found She’s quite a subtle goddess, She tends to communicate in warm feelings, butterflies in your stomach, smiles, little coincidences and pulls to things– once when eating mango sorbet during the floralia period all I could think about was offering Her some, so expect little tugs like that! One thing that usually shows me She’s present is her laugh as well!🍃

Talking of floralia, the Romans celebrated it pretty wildly— we’re talking chariots and prostitutes (who did, in fact, claim the day)— so I tend to take things a bit more relaxed, for obvious reasons!! Last year, I was focusing on floral art and just giving thanks to Her with prayer and offerings, I also found it quite beautiful to make a bracelet with Her blessing and give it to my s.o! 

For Her altar, I tend to have lots of indoor plants, seasonal flowers, illustrations of Her, poetry I’ve written about Her, and anything I find seasonal, useful or pretty really!! So I’d say if you do choose to keep an altar, it’s quite up to you! I definitely think She’d appreciate an outdoor altar as well, to be honest. 

Also, if you’re a non-Wiccan witch, I’ve found She doesn’t seem to be against cursing, in fact I’ve written a curse inspired by flowers which you can find here so I don’t think you’re at risk of offending Her if you do choose to curse.

Just a quick note that if you’re looking to find methods to communicate with Her, I’ve found that Tarot is pretty effective but eventually you’ll find yourself interacting more fluidly and naturally.

As for Flora being your first deity, I really wouldn’t be concerned! I was in the same place before I approached Her and honestly, it was fine!! Just approach Her as you would any other deity and all the information you’ll generally find on working with any pagan deity, will probably apply with Her, as well. I personally think this video is quite informative on how to work with deities.

Here are some resources I’ve found on her:

Floralia

Flora

flora’a flamen

obscure goddess guide to Flora

Flora

Flora video

Chloris

representations

ovid’s Flora

a cute book

‘origin of the graces’ mentions Her

more info

Her temple

more info

someone’s experience of Floralia

a modern temple (I visited when I was little and had no idea!!)

I’m sure there’s more out there that I’ve forgotten to include, but I’m still on the hunt myself as well! Just remember, it’s great working with outside sources and my experiences but you’ll need to cultivate your own methods (which could easily contradict my own and that’s fine!!). When I began looking into Flora, I was desperate to find someone who also worked with Her to tell me what to do, but I promise you’ll be absolutely fine when you start. Like any deity, She deserves respect but She’s ever so compassionate so don’t worry about making mistakes!

I think I may have found your tumblr, but I’d be delighted to talk if you want to message me! 🤗

Again, sorry for being so late!!