Artemis Devotional Activities
𝐀𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬 ! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 !
She is called the Mistress of Animals, they are under her protection which mean that learning from her and try to do the same is a great devotional activity. There are many ways to go about it: you can spend time bonding with your pet(s); you can take care of the wildlife outside your home, for example by making sure animals have space to seek shelter in your garden, or to leave water to birds in summer; volunteering at an animal shelter or alternatively; donating to said animal shelter or to any organization that takes care of animals.
This isn’t going to be doable for 99% of people reading this but I thought I should mention it anyway.
Seems in total contradiction with the idea of taking care of the animals, right? Well, there are different ways to hunt and they aren’t all equal. It is important to know that in some areas of the world, such as Europe were I live, the big predators have pretty much been exterminated so deer and boars have no threat and are free to multiply, which is a problem for the forests and the fields they damage.
Which is why controlled hunting is a good way to regulate the populations, but also to provide local meat that seems less cruel than breeding animal in cages for all their life…
However, not all methods of hunting are equal! Like hunting with hounds (chasse à courre in french) or putting glue on trees so that birds can’t fly away like they do in France is horrible and in my opinion shouldn’t be practiced!
This will highly depend on where you live and the level of nature that is available to you, so it might be a challenge to try to feel in touch with the wilderness if all that’s around you is concrete… if you have the opportunity to though, taking a walk or hiking in nature, hear the birds, touch the soil, feel the trees, try to reach for that pockets of wild free energy that’s buried within.
I think trying to understand what ties you to nature, how you are a part of it, is really beautiful and important and a way to connect to the goddess.
𝚂𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝
Obviously an important topic to all the theoi due to the humans endangering other species and their own with their actions, but Artemis as a deity of nature cares especially about that. Act, vote, work, or donate would be really great depending on what you can do. I was also thinking that topics such as making sure there are pockets of nature even within cities, such as parks where areas are left ‘‘untamed’‘ to allow insect and birds to thrive would be a really cool project. Go wild.
She famously helped her mother Leto to birth her brother Apollo, so if that’s your job too, cool ! If not, you can always spend some time with children and care for them and their mother. Alternatively, volunteering time or donating money to an organization (ex: UNICEF) that focuses on the protection children is great too.
Artemis would be with the children/teens up until they married, she is thus connected to education and crossing important boundaries and life cycles. I got the idea that writing a book for children, teaching them about the environment or sex education or whatever, would be a great way to care for them and become balanced, functioning adults. You can expand on this idea and try to think of how to educate the children/teens around you. Doesn’t need to be something big, can be as simple as showing them how the nature around them works.
𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏
Artemis is a free spirited goddess who lives a very different life from what’s expected of a woman of her time, so to me she is a role model of standing up for yourself. Doesn’t mean that you need to swear off relationships and go live in the woods with your gal pals ! To me it means learning who you are, deeply, knowing what are your boundaries, what you truly want, and make people respect that.
She is a never ending source of inspiration to me when I think of how fierce and strong she is and I see working on myself to reach that as a devotional act.
𝚂𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑
Following the same idea, honoring other people’s truth and identity, respecting other people difference even, and especially, if they are different from yours of if you don’t really get them, is a way to respect their own power over themselves. In doing so, you not only honor them but you also honor yourself.
All the deities enjoy the arts that is being made in their honor and Artemis is no exception. So use whatever skills you have and get creative !
It’s a side of her that isn’t talked about very much but Artemis is indeed connected to dancing and it is thus a perfect devotional activity ! take some time out of your day to really get in touch with your body, loosen up, get lost in the music, let your body express itself, in group or alone!
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