man-i-just-really-like-plants

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

White pagans of today really need to remember that the people of ancient non Christian and pagan religions across the globe have been colonizers and oppressors throughout history, too. Ancient Greeks, ancient Romans, ancient Egyptians, the Vikings, the list goes on.

Religions have been used for the wrong reasons for as long as human civilizations have been a thing. Any religion, in the wrong hands, can become a tool for conquest and destruction.

No religion is inherently "good" or "bad" for being a religion.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

Just about every "AKSHUALLY, this thing is SECRETLY PAGAN!" claim can be traced back to:

Protestants making shit up to try and "prove" whatever shit they decided to hate on was secretly Satanic.

German nationalists making shit up trying to "prove" that Christian holidays had no connection to anything Jewish.

People failing to understand that European converts to Christianity retained many of their old customs and traditions, because Jesus being Lord doesn't mean there's no dragons in that there lake or that the plant lore everybody knows is all bunk.

People making wild assumptions due to a failure to comprehend that similarities between traditions does not inherently imply connection between traditions.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

Annual reminder that:

Christmas trees were not "stolen" from pagans.

Christians didn't "steal" Sol Invictus.

They didn't "steal" Saturnalia, either.

Santa Claus was not based on Odin.

The trouble with claims that various elements of Christmas were "stolen" from pagans is that it vastly oversimplifies and overlooks huge amounts of history.

Furthermore, the whole thing is tied in with conspiracism, both from Christians and pagans. Christian conspiracy theorists cite it as evidence that Satan is lurking everywhere; pagan conspiracy theorists tend to incorporate it into the TERF-y belief that Christianity was part of a conspiracy to suppress the Divine Feminine. So yeah, always be a bit cautious anytime you hear somebody claiming something was "stolen" from pagans - try and find out what modern scholars have to say on the matter.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

ARES IS NOT THE PROTECTOR OF WOMEN IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY.

He is never presented as such in any source, there is no evidence such a role was ever assigned to him in any account, and as far as I'm aware this popular yet unattested assertion is born from the echo-chambers of tumblr. In fact quite the opposite could be argued. TW for sexual assault.

This baffling claim seems to originate from a sort of shallow examination of the way Ares "behaves in myth", and the following arguments are the most frequently presented:

1. Ares protects his daughter Alkippe from assault, and is therefore morally opposed to rape. (Apollodorus 3.180, Pausanias 1.21.4, Suidas "Areios pagos", attributed to Hellanikos)

Curiously this argument is never applied to, among other examples: Apollo for defending his mother Leto from Tytios, Herakles for defending Hera from Porphyrion (or his wife Deianeira from Nessos), or Zeus for defending his sister Demeter from Iasion (in the versions where he attacks her), etc. The multiple accounts of rape of the previously mentioned figures did not conflict with these stories in greek thought: they're defending family members or women otherwise close to them. This sort of mentality is not uncommon even in contemporary times, e.g. a warrior may have no ethical problem killing men, but would not want his own family or loved ones to be killed. The same goes here for sexual assault.

2. There are no surviving accounts of Ares sexually assaulting anybody.

The idea that the ancient greeks pictured that, among all the gods, Ares was the only one who shied away from committing rape borders on ridiculous. In this case absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

The majority of surviving records regarding Ares' unions are presented in a genealogical manner, and do not go into details on their nature. This is the case for most works of mythography, where specifics of sexual encounters are to be found elsewhere. However, common motifs present in other accounts of rape also appear in stories concerning Ares' relationships, e.g. tropes like shape-shifting/the use of disguises, the victim being a huntress, secrecy, and the disposal of the concieved child, are to be found in the stories of Phylonome and Astyoche respectively:

Φυλονόμη Νυκτίμου καὶ Ἀρκαδίας θυγάτηρ ἐκυνήγει σὺν τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι: Ἄρης δ᾽ ἐν σχήματι ποιμένος ἔγκυον ἐποίησεν. ἡ δὲ τεκοῦσα διδύμους παῖδας καὶ φοβουμένη τὸν πατέρα ἔρριψεν εἰς τὸν Ἐρύμανθο

"Phylonome, the daughter of Nyktimos and Arkadia, was wont to hunt with Artemis; but Ares, in the guise of a shepherd, got her with child. She gave birth to twin children and, fearing her father, cast them into the [River] Erymanthos." (Pseudo-Plutarch, Greek and Roman Parallel Stories, 36)

οἳ δ᾽ Ἀσπληδόνα ναῖον ἰδ᾽ Ὀρχομενὸν Μινύειον, τῶν ἦρχ᾽ Ἀσκάλαφος καὶ Ἰάλμενος υἷες Ἄρηος οὓς τέκεν Ἀστυόχη δόμῳ Ἄκτορος Ἀζεΐδαο, παρθένος αἰδοίη ὑπερώϊον εἰσαναβᾶσα Ἄρηϊ κρατερῷ: ὃ δέ οἱ παρελέξατο λάθρῃ: τοῖς δὲ τριήκοντα γλαφυραὶ νέες ἐστιχόωντο.

"And they that dwelt in Aspledon and Orchomenus of the Minyae were led by Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of Ares, whom, in the palace of Actor, son of Azeus, Astyoche, the honoured maiden, conceived of mighty Ares, when she had entered into her upper chamber; for he lay with her in secret" (Homer, Iliad 2. 512 ff)

In neither of these cases is a verb explicitly denoting rape used, though it is heavily implied by the context. The focus of the action is on the conception of sons, the nature of the interaction is secondary.

Other examples are found among the daughters of the river Asopos, who where (and here there's no confusion) ravished and kidnapped by different gods to different parts of the greek world, where they found local lines through children borne to their abductors and serve as local eponyms. Surviving fragments from Corinna of Tanagra tell:

"Asopos went to his haunts . . from you halls . . into woe . . Of these [nine] daughters Zeus, giver of good things, took his [Asopos'] child Aigina . . from her father's [house] . . while Korkyra and Salamis and lovely Euboia were stolen by father Poseidon, and Leto's son is in possession of Sinope and Thespia . . [and Tanagra was seized by Hermes] . . But to Asopos no one was able to make the matter clear, until . . [the seer Akraiphen reveals to him] 'And of your daughters father Zeus, king of all, has three; and Poseidon, ruler of the sea, married three; and Phoibos [Apollon] is master of the beds of two of them, and of one Hermes, good son of Maia. For so did the pair Eros and the Kypris persuade them, that they should go in secret to your house and take your nine daughters." (heavily fragmented papyrus. Corinna fr. 654)

"For your [Tanagra's] sake Hermes boxed against Ares." (Corinna fr. 666)

It seems that, similar to the myths of Beroe or Marpessa, the abducted maiden is fought over by two competing "suitors", and though we can infer that the outcome of the story is that Hermes gets to keep Tanagra, apparently by beating Ares in a boxing match, we don't actually know what happened or how it happened. In any case, Ares does mate with another daughter of Asopos, Harpina, who bears him Oinomaos according to some versions (Paus. 5.22.6; Stephanus Byzantium. Ethnica. A125.3; Diodorus Siculus 4. 73. 1). There is little reason to suppose that this encounter wasn't pictured as an abduction like the rest of her sisters.

The blatant statement that each of his affairs was envisioned as consensual is simply not true.

3. He was worshipped under the epithet Gynaikothoinas "feasted by women"

This was a local cult that existed in Tegea, the following reason is given:

"There is also an image of Ares in the marketplace of Tegea. Carved in relief on a slab it is called Gynaecothoenas. At the time of the Laconian war, when Charillus king of Lacedaemon made the first invasion, the women armed themselves and lay in ambush under the hill they call today Phylactris. When the armies met and the men on either side were performing many remarkable exploits, the women, they say, came on the scene and put the Lacedaemonians to flight. Marpessa, surnamed Choera, surpassed, they say, the other women in daring, while Charillus himself was one of the Spartan prisoners. The story goes on to say that he was set free without ransom, swore to the Tegeans that the Lacedaemonians would never again attack Tegea, and then broke his oath; that the women offered to Ares a sacrifice of victory on their own account without the men, and gave to the men no share in the meat of the victim. For this reason Ares got his surname." (Paus. 8.48.4-5)

As emphasised by Georgoudi in To Act, Not Submit: Women’s Attitudes in Situations of War in Ancient Greece (part of the highly recommendable collection of essays Women and War in Antiquity), "it is not necessary to see the operation of an invitation in the bestowal of the epithet Γυναικοθοίνας on Ares". The epithet is ambiguous, and can be translated both as "Host of the banquet of women" or "[He who is] invited to the banquet of women". In any case no act of divine intervention occurs, and the main reason for the women's act of devotion lies principally in recognising their decisive role in the routing of the Lakedaimonians. It's they who preside/participate in the feast of war, the men are excluded.

Also this a local epithet that isn't found anywhere else in Greece. As such it would be worth reminding that not every Ares is Gynaikothoinas, in the same way not every Zeus is Aithiopian, not every Demeter Erinys, and not every Artemis of Ephesos.

4. He was the patron god of the Amazons

He was considered progenitor of the Amazons because of their proverbial warlike nature and love of battle, the same reason he was associated with other "barbaric" tribes, like the Thracians or the Scythians. In this capacity he was also appointed as a suitable father/ancestor for other violent and savage characters who generally function as antagonists (e.g. Kyknos, Diomedes of Thrace, Tereos of Thrace, Oinomaos, Agrios and Oreios, Phlegyas, Lykos etc.). Also he was by no means the only god connected with the Amazons (they were in fact especially linked to Artemis, see Religious Cults Associated With the Amazons by Florence Mary Bennett, if only for the bibliography).

Similarly, Poseidon was considered patron and ancestor of the Phaiakians mainly because of their mastery over the art of seafaring (and was curiously also credited in genealogies as father to monsters and other disreputable figures).

On another note I have found no sources that claim he taught his amazon daughters how to fight, as I've seen often mentioned (though I admit I'd love to be proven wrong on that point).

5. Finally, the last reason Ares could never be portrayed as a protector of women is because of his divine assignation itself

The uncountable references to his love of bloodshed and man-slaying don't just stop short of the battlefield, but continue on to the conclusion and intended purpose of most waged wars in antiquity: the sacking of the city. The title Sacker of Cities as an epithet of Ares (though it is by no means exclusive to him) is encountered numerous times and in different variations (eg. τειχεσιπλήτης or πτολίπορθος), and the meaning behind the epithet is plain. Though it is hard to summarise without being reductionist, the sacking of a city entails the plundering of all its goods, the slaughtering of its men, and the sistematic raping and enslavement of the surviving women (to name only a small few of the literary references see The Iliad, The Trojan Women or The Women of Trachis). There is little need to emphasise that war as concieved of in ancient greece, especifically the brutal aspects of war Ares is most often associated with, directly entailed sexual violence against women as one of it's main concerns. The multiple references to Ares being an unloved or disliked deity are because of this, because war is horrifying (not because his daddy is a big old meany who hates him for no reason, Zeus makes very clear the motive for his contempt in the Iliad (5. 889-891): "Do not sit beside me and whine, you double-faced liar. To me you are most hateful of all gods who hold Olympos. Forever quarreling is dear to your heart, wars and battles.")

Ares was only the protector of women inasmuch as he could be averted or repelled (e.g. surviving apotropaic chants):

"There is no clash of brazen shields but our fight is with the war god, a war god ringed with the cries of men, a savage god who burns us; grant that he turn in racing course backward out of our country’s bounds, to the great palace of Amphitrite or where the waves of the thracian sea deny the stranger safe anchorage. Whatsoever escapes the night at last the light of day revisits; so smite him, Father Zeus, beneath your thunderbolt, for you are the lord of the lightning, the lightning that carries fire." (Shophocles, Oedipus Tyrannos, 190-202)

"And let no murderous havoc come upon the realm to ravage it, by arming Ares—foe to the dance and lute, parent of tears—and the shout of civil strife." (Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 678)

~~~~~

All that being said, this is a post about Ares as conceptualized and attested in ancient sources, made specifically in response to condescending statements about how "uhmmm, actually, in greek mythology Ares was a super-feminist himbo who was worshipped as the protector of women and was hated by his family for no reason, you idiot". It is factually incorrect. HOWEVER, far be it from me to tell anyone how they have to interact with this deity. Be it your retellings, your headcannons or your own personal religious attachments and beliefs towards Ares, those are your own provinces and prerogatives, and not what was being discussed here at all (I personally love art where Ares and Aphrodite goof around, or retellings where he plays with his daughters, or headcannons that showcase his more noble sides, etc.)

~~~~~

I've seen that other people on tumblr have made similar posts, the ones I've seen were by @deathlessathanasia and @en-theos . I have no idea how to link their posts, but they're really good so go check them out on their pages!

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

Romanized Anubis

Marble statue of the jackal-headed god Anubis (Hermanubis), associated with mummification and the afterlife, holding the Caduceus of Hermes in his left hand, dating from the 2nd century. 

In classical mythology, Hermanubis was a god who combined Hermes (Greek mythology) with Anubis (Egyptian mythology). He is the son of Set and Nephthys. Now in the Vatican Museums and Galleries.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

You aren't.

No one is. That's not how this shit works. Depending on your culture you might have a few generations back but that's not your blood that's you choosing to participate in a family tradition. It doesn't make you more powerful or more knowledgeable. Most of this has been cobbled together from other religions, especially if you practice Wicca.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

If you consider yourself a non-Christian witch and go around telling Christian witches that they can't be Christians and practice witchcraft because something something insert Bible verse here...

Why?

Are you part of the Spanish Inquisition? Are you getting paid to root out heretics and protect the orthodoxy? Do you want us go to tattle to the Pope?

Every type of Christian is a heretic to some other type of Christian. If you're truly non-Christian, this should really be none of your concern.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

I just fucking realised one of the reasons Hera reached out to me.

Basically I’ve done some past life work and have a vague idea of them. In almost all my past lives I’ve been married with one where I was engaged but died before I got married. In all of the lives where I’ve been married I’ve been screwed over and in most of them it’s lead to my death.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

Not every goddess is a mother goddess.

Read that again.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

Once again, the best time to start looking into a new religion or spirituality is when you are not in a life crisis.

When you are in a life crisis, you are at your most psychologically vulnerable and you are far more likely to end up in something harmful.

And always, always thoroughly read the literature before committing yourself.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

So this guy who left New Age for Christianity was raised in kinda New Age/witchy stuff, but he got burned on it when a medium told his girlfriend that he'd been cheating on her. (He hadn't.)

Which is absolutely fair. (And another example of why you don't read for people who aren't present and consenting.)

Then he eventually went to his girlfriend's mom's church and the pastor (I guess? He doesn't specify) was nice to him. And after the meeting the pastor comes and says that God told him that he'd become a preacher and teacher in the name of Jesus. And this guy's mind was blown because he's always telling people about stuff and how could this guy possibly know?

Personally I kinda wonder how often this guy says stuff like this to potential converts. And how much he talked to his girlfriend's mother.

Then he started watching testimony videos on YouTube and eventually came across this former New Ager who talked about how New Age was like a "hamster wheel" of having to do more meditation and more yoga and constantly having to do more work.

Which, yeah. That's a fair assessment. New Age is shit like that.

So then this guy decides he's going to convert to Christianity and says the sinner's prayer. And you might think that this would be the logical time to start reading the Bible, but. Apparently not?

Two weeks later he had a dream where God said, "I want to use you like you use your car."

Honestly I think if God said something like this to me, I'd ask him if he wrecked his heavenly chariot, because I know he has (or had) one.

And then worship music was sending him to tears and he had a dream where God told him that he was the source of all of these feelings.

Meanwhile, the spiritual feelings I get from certain musical pieces from the Final Fantasy games make whatever spiritual feelings I get from Christian worship music look like a wet fart. So yeah.

My personal shit aside, the thing here that concerns me the most is that so many of these people aren't deciding whether they want to get into Christianity based on what's actually in the Bible. They're just converting based on what they feel after Christianity/Jesus swoops in to rescue them after a bad time in their life.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

To all my American friends, the time is now.

Please, execute a BOMBARDMENT. Call your representatives!

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

Hello Tumblr. Especially my little corner of Tumblr. I do unfortunately come with bad news. On this and every other platform I actively use I have been singing the praises of one H. Byron Ballard, thanks to a friend doing a very big deep dive a certain...aspect of her character has come to light which is in my opinion:

Unacceptable.

She holds TERF views and as an Appalachian, and a queer one at that? I cannot and will not support anyone like that. My copies of her work are being tossed, and all of my support of her on this blog will be edited with clarification that I no longer support said work.

And per usual for proof I do have screenshots from her Facebook, of which no apology or acknowledgement has been made that I can find. I imagine since this is roughly when she began working with a major publisher she might have been advised to dropping the topic online? There is apparently some mentions of this in her 'irl' interactions as well but I am digging for internet proof of such. If anyone finds anything further please let me know.

Proof from her own Facebook is below. And if asked I will provide direct links to ensure that they are not doctored in any way.

Appalachia is a welcoming place, TERF beliefs are not welcoming and therefore not Appalachian by extent.

My heart was already hurting for my home, now it also rages.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

While I would not water down witchcraft or magic and say it is a means to an end, sometimes it is important to ask what you want out of it.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

"The Law of Assumption isn't a cult!" Mmm, are you sure about that?

Let's take a look at some red flags it checks off...

☑ The founder's ideas are considered infallible, despite the founder's incredibly dubious behavior.

☑ Claims that its beliefs can be traced back through the ages and cites known holy texts, but examination of these texts reveals that they really have nothing to do with the ideas promoted by the founder.

☑ Claims that modern science supports its claims, but examination of actual current scientific knowledge shows that it does not actually back them up.

☑ The beliefs and practices can supposedly never fail the followers; followers can only fail the beliefs and practices.

☑ Followers are told to suppress their doubt and their critical thinking skills. People who ask critical questions are shamed and invalidated.

☑ Fabulous results are promised, such as curing serious illness or becoming wealthy in a short time. But there is no reliable evidence of these fabulous results, and people who ask for it are shamed.

☑ Alleged "evidence" that this is all absolutely true in exactly the way its founder/follows claim includes unverifiable anecdotes and events easily explained through psychology or random chance, and the kind of photos that are very easy to stage, fake, or steal.

☑ Dehumanization. Everyone Is You Pushed Out effectively claims that other people lack true agency and interiority, and are essentially mere puppets you can control however you please.

☑ Followers are "free to leave," but there is still a powerful sense of shame, failure, and general wrongness attached to actually leaving.

☑ Ex-followers report being disrespected, abused, and suffering lasting harm from the way they were treated and from the beliefs they internalized.

☑ Ex-followers who talk about their negative experiences get invalidated and demonized, and are accused of harboring bitterness, anger, or jealousy.

☑ Questioning followers are told to completely ignore critics and ex-members.

It's not accurate to say that the Law of Assumption and its community isn't a cult because it doesn't line up 1:1 with something like Jonestown or NXIVM. Cults come in all forms, and the Law of Assumption and its community have more than enough to qualify. Don't believe me? Then don't take my word for it; start researching modern cults for yourself. The information's out there.

For anyone reading this: If you are leaving or questioning the Law of Assumption and need help, please see this post.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

Your ex is not your soulmate or twin flame or whatever, and you don't need to know what they're up to via tarot reading. You're just a weird creep.

[man-i-just-really-like-plants]

Hey folks - if you find yourself struggling with your faith, belief in gods, etc., that might mean that it's time to sit down and reassess what you believe and why you believe in it. Sometimes the reason you're struggling is because you've grown, and what you believed before no longer fits. Instead of trying to force yourself back into these beliefs, it might be time to leave them aside and find something that fits you better.