Hello, magical beings! It's me - The Orphan Witch.
Today's post is gonna be a little different than what I usually write on here. I want to do a storytime so you can better understand who's behind this blog, why, etc.
I'm 31, from a small country, and tragedy struck me first in 2022 when I lost my mother. She died of brain cancer after a 10-year battle with it.
When she first got sick in 2012, we visited a lot of churches, holy sights, and holy places (she was a devout Christian). Christianity teaches the power of prayer, but sadly, neither of our prayers was enough to save her. If there was ever a person that LOVED life and living, that was my mom.
Her last wish was to be cremated and for her ashes to be scattered at sea, since she loved it so much. I, of course, obliged. I picked up her urn, and on July morning, I scattered her ashes as she requested.
Not long after her death, my dad died from a brain aneurysm in 2023. His death was a shock to everyone, as he was relatively healthy.
I tried my best to hold myself together as this was all very new and heavy for me. In 2024, a day after my birthday, my lovely cat Axel also died. He was my first pet. Again in 2024, on my mom's death anniversary, I visited the place where her ashes were scattered. While I was preparing to leave, I stumbled upon a random souvenir shop. I've researched the Greek gods prior and was already sure that I wanted to change my religious beliefs. Imagine my shock when I walked in and found a single statue of Lord Apollon, waiting for me. I took it as a sign, and ever since then, I have not looked back.
When I got home, I started doing research on offerings and how to set up my altar. It started super small, but gradually grew. While dealing with grief, his light energy made everything a little more bearable.
In 2025, I lost my grandma and had to relocate and do renovations. During this period, most of my stuff was in boxes, and I had no way to restart my practice, as fine dust and all sorts of trash were all around; it just felt wrong. Around September of last year, my renovations were all done, and I assembled my altar back to its former glory.
The time when I couldn't practice or pray was among the most miserable times of my life, as I felt like I was missing direction.
I'm still processing everything that happened, as there's so much grief, I can't really put it into words. My worship of Apollon, however, is still keeping me afloat, and I'm really feeling closer and closer to him with each prayer, offering, and ritual. This is a story of how too much darkness can push you to the light. I'm forever grateful to him for saving me and keeping his kind, divine light on me, so I never lose direction again. I started posting on Reddit, just pics of my altar, but at some point, I felt like I needed to share more, and this is how the blog was born. That's the story behind the name. This is how I began my worship of him. I feel like I needed to share that, so I'm not just a random person on the Internet telling you how to do your craft. I want to feel connected to everything and everyone I come across, so such a post needed to exist, just so you can get to know me better and understand why I post what I post and how I came upon it in the first place.
As I've recently passed the 30 followers mark, I would also like to express my gratitude to each and every one of you who followed me, reblogged, or liked any of my stuff. It means the world to me as I put my heart and soul into this blog!
I'm gonna end this post with a pic of me in front of my altar, so you could also know the face behind it all.
Blessed be, everyone!
I will return soon with more spellwork. Stay golden in the meantime! <3
