#31 Days of Witchcraft

[fabledfoxglove]

31 days of helpol

DAY EIGHTEEN: How can you best describe your relationship with each of your deities?

I work with a lot of dieties tbh so i'm gonna do the ones im closest too hahaha

Lady Hestia is somewhat of a cross between a mother and a mentor figure. Almost Grandmotherly? But even that feels too simplistic. She's a stablizing and comforting presence in my life. When things go wrong, I always run to her first to complain, or to celebrate. She's the comfort of the blankets as they envleope me in bed, she's the laughter in meals i share with my friends, she is love and she is home.

Lady Hecate is very much like a guide and mentor, but also something more than that, her energy isn't really familial in nature, but she is still a comforting presence. She feels distant but also close? It's very hard to describe. Mentor feels like the closest applicable word but that feels too simplistic.

Lord Dionysus is like the cool caring older brother you see in the movies. He riffs you a little bit, but lightly and with love. He's fun and boisterous and very friendly. Whenever I invoke him he reminds me to stop spiraling and take a breather. Comforting, but less in a "hug and cry it out" way and more of a "make silly noises in your general vicinity until you're laughing so hard you forget what you were sad about" way

Lady Persephone is very much like an older sister. Calm, collected, elegant but in an effortless, casual way. She listens to me cry about my problems and gives me real, no-nonsense advice delivered in the kindest and most loving way possible.

Lady Artemis is similar, but she's more of an older sister energy in the "helps you sneak out of the house & lie to your parents" way. Also listens to me cry but will also tell me that a problem isn't worth crying over and to get over it (and she's right.)

[enterprise420patriots]

Halloween at Hogwarts

[the-trans-folk-witch]

The Red Devil Stirs The Boiling Pot: A Red Apple Turns Man Wicked

Autumn is in full swing as I write this. The fresh apples of September have become the yellow and red leaves of October. Soon they will become the woolen blanket of leaves on the cold earth in November.

My devil has shifted as the seasons have. From the Boogey man came the Foul One. The red devil of the west.

The devil wasnt always red. He was traditionally green, black, or blue in Europe. It wasn't until the protestant reformation that he became popularly known as red in the United States and soon the world over. The red devil was commonly depicted as a silly little thing who was quite imp like. He was said to stir the pot metaphorically and physically. As if the souls of the damned were boiling in his cauldron of torture. It was his job to take his staff (wand?) and stir, whip, beat, and prod condemned souls. Just as one stirs, whips, beats, and prods in the kitchen.

His imagery is toted in the west during the fall and he remains somewhat a god of Halloween, the dead, hell on earth, and wicked celebrations of the veil thinning. He is the apple bobber, the bonfire, the hard cider, and the fornication of lovers in this romantic and chilly time. He is the suffering we endure when white girls tout their pumpkin spice lattes. He is the cause of the season. The Great Pumpkin if you will. He is the flame of hell made man and stored within the jack-o-lantern. He is the commander of demons and unruly spirits. He is the butchered face of a gutted pumpkin. His seed is toasted and eaten warm with spices of cinnamon and nutmeg. He beckons the witch to bake poisoned apple cobbler or pumpkin pie filled with urine. He is the altering of foods for blessing or bane. The great chef, the burning man, the roasted imp. The season is fully his as are all who celebrate it. Halloween is truly a demonic holiday.

[thepenultimateword]

Spooktober Prompt #19

“Only 5 brass pieces,” the witch bargained, the four such discount she’d shouted out to the prince poking at the charms and curses spread throughout her booth.

The prince stared at her dryly. “No matter how low you make the price, I’m not going to buy the potion that obviously turns me into a frog.”

[chthoniclakewitch]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

The original post is here if you want to participate

DAY SEVEN: Are you openly a Hellenic Polytheist offline? How does being open/not being open effect your worship?

Yes! Anyone who knows me knows I have been a pagan for a few years now. The Hellenism is new, but not a huge shock. I have my altars out in my home, and I am always talking about the Gods in a nerdy sort of way.

Honestly it really helps strengthen my relationship with the Gods that I am able to be so open about worshiping them. My parents don't like it, of course, but they haven't disowned me for it yet.

I really love and appreciate my husband, who was very skeptical about me being a Christian, but absolutely encourages me to be a pagan. He made me see that I was unhappy pretending to be a Christian to make my family like me. I love him so much.

[rodrigoincolors]

#31DaysOfHalloween Day 22: Morgana

Just a context to my non-Brazilian folks. This Morgana, the witch. She was one among many iconic characters from Castelo Ra-Tim-Bum - a very popular children's TV show from the 90s. Many kids grew up watching the show and I guess till this day, it still adored by the new generation of children. She was always with Adelaide, her faithful and very smart owl. Although Morgana's costume was dark, colorful and mostly purple, I was feeling red a lot more better, so the dress she's wearing in my piece, is my adaptation.

[gh0st-f4iry]

♡ 31 days of hellenic polytheism: day 10 ♡

What’s something you’ve learned about Hellenic Polytheism that you wish you knew sooner?

i wish i learned sooner that you could just do things and that it doesn't matter if you're perfect or know everything. i was so nervous to start because i didn't want to mess up (yay perfectionism), but that really doesn't matter. as long as you're putting in as much effort as you can and are genuinely respectful, the gods won't be pissed at you.

and this fear came less from pinterest and ig witches with their aesthetic altars and notes and more from a lot of people (at least in the communities i started in) building deity work up as something scary and almost dangerous for beginners. i agree that it's probably not something total noobs should dabble in, but it's also really not that scary

[wardenred]

Angstober 31: Won't Forget

And to round another month of flash fiction off, a tiny Halloween-appropriate drabble. Whew!

“Memory spells are tricky and fickle  things,” the witch explains. “I can erase this man from your mind, for sure. The time you spent together, and how he loved you, and how he hurt you. Your heart, though... The heart won’t forget. It will be as broken as ever, full of feelings you can’t explain. All the dreams with their razor-sharp edges. Are you sure you want this?”

She hopes her customer hesitates.

They say, “Do it.”

I will see them here again, the witch thinks, and wonders fleetingly why the notion squeezes around her own heart like a manacle.

[seospicybin]

SEOSPICY TIMETABLE.

DEC 6

TOO CROWDED. (A new chapter of The Crowd series) Lee Know x reader. (s,f)

Synopsis: Years of marriage haven’t fully prepared Minho for the arrival of a new family member or the changes that come with his growing family. As he navigates these new challenges, he realizes that love and family are constantly evolving in ways he never expected.

DEC 13

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU TOO. (The second part of I Put A Spell On You) Hyunjin x reader. (s,a)

Synopsis: Having a common enemy, you and Hyunjin work together to secure your futures. With your witchcraft, the plan sets in motion, the boundaries between right and wrong blur, and secrets begin to unravel, leaving you and Hyunjin bound by more than just circumstance.

DEC 20

THE FUCKBOY NEXT DOOR: Final Part. Bangchan x reader. (s,f)

Synopsis: When a new fuckboy, Minho, moves into the building, Chan’s sense of security is shaken. Minho’s flirtatious confidence and bold claim to win you over rattles Chan, igniting a rivalry. As Chan struggles to defend his relationship, he’s forced to confront his insecurities while proving his worth to you.

DEC 27

THE BABYSITTER: Final Part. Hyunjin x reader x Felix. (s,f,a)

Synopsis: You find a home away from home while caring for Aster, the lively son of Felix and Hyunjin and what begins as a temporary job blossoms into an unforgettable bond with a family that changes your life. But after graduation comes a difficult choice: pursue your dreams or stay with the people who’ve come to mean the world to you.

DEC 30

SEOSPICY WRAPPED '24

Recap and statistics of Seospicy fics in the year of 2024.

DEC 31

NEPTUNE. Hyunjin x reader. (s,a)

Synopsis: In a distant future where an app can predict your death, a retired dancer and an ambitious swimmer cross path by chance. With their final day looming, they choose to share it together, finding unexpected connection in the fleeting hours they have left.

[perfectwitchcrown]

Make the Exorcist Fall in Love – Witches Part One

Ok, I finally finished this meta! I've broken it into two posts because it was getting a little too long. I’m covering some of the literary and historical references that Ekuoto plays with in regards to its witches hehe.. Regardless of whether Arima Aruma and Fukuyama Masuku are engaging with the actual history of witchcraft beliefs or the way it’s been filtered down into the contemporary cultural consciousness, I think it’ll be fun to present the real-life inspirations behind these ideas. Scholarly sources are cited so you can feel free to check out the information I discuss, and links are provided occasionally when I got lazy. All citations are in MLA form at the end of the second part because I didn’t feel Chicago footnote format would function well on Tumblr, so I apologize for any issues with the citations as I’m rusty with MLA. Take this all with a grain of salt, as I’m not an expert and also had to cover a lot of regions/periods of time. Hope you enjoy!

Content warnings for discussion of sexual violence, execution, images of cartoon nudity and violence (all Ekuoto panels), also major spoilers for Ekuoto and minor spoilers for Berserk, the movie Perfect Blue, and the movie The Craft

Link to Part Two of the meta (including works cited)

Witches – what did it mean to be a witch? Demonic Pacts, witch marks, and more

First off—what is a witch? This question is actually deceptively difficult to answer. For example, you can’t simply say that a witch is someone who practices magic: that’s too broad. “In September 1398 the theology faculty at the University of Paris approved a set of twenty-eight articles condemning the practice of ritual magic”—the targets of this were largely clerics (Levack 49), and there seems to have been a decent number of them (Apps and Gow 126). Those accused of witchcraft were considered distinct from these magic using priests for whom “this magic was practiced with grimoires or books of learned enchantments” (not that this was approved of by the church either) (Mackay 30-31).

What a “witch” was, is also something that could be wildly different depending on time and place. There was, however, a coalescence of ideas during the 15th century in Europe, followed by the “witch craze” of the Early Modern period (16th-18th centuries), in which there were an uptick in witch trials, provides an answer to what a witch is that has had a lasting impact in our present cultural consciousness (Witch Trials in Early Modern Europe and New England). This definition of witchcraft, then, I think, is the most relevant one to consider in this meta, although it will require a bit of generalization.

Essential to understanding this coalescence of ideas about witches is a book known as the Malleus Maleficarum, or “The Hammer of Witches,” a text on witchcraft published in 1486 by two Dominican friars, an order that focused on heresy (Mackay 1-2). Please note that mention of heresy, as it will be relevant later. How, then, did it imagine witches?

Christopher S. Mackay, in the introduction to his translation of the Malleus Maleficarum, calls this construction of witchcraft “the elaborated concept of witchcraft,” and defines it as follows (this is a direct quotation I just can't format it right on Tumblr LMFAO):

A pact entered into with the Devil (and concomitant apostasy from Christianity)

Sexual relations with the Devil

Aerial flight for the purpose of attending:

An assembly presided by Satan himself (at which initiates entered into the pact, and incest and promiscuous sex were engaged in by the attendees),

The practice of maleficent magic

The slaughter of babies. (Mackay 19)

The Malleus’s construction of witchcraft “represented a special form of heresy that played an important part in Satan’s plans for the Final Days” (Mackay 33) and borrowed elements from accusations made against earlier heretical groups (Saunders 85-86). It focused on women from the lower classes as opposed to priests who were practicing magic (Mackay 30-31). Heresy is key then to understanding witchcraft in this period. The Malleus’s construction of witchcraft also had a sexual focus, repeatedly bringing up the impact of demons on the genitals (Garrett 38). For example, there’s a whole section that details whether or not witches can take your penis away. The Malleus’s findings? No, but they can cast an illusion that makes it appear as though your penis is gone (Mackay 323-329). Breathtaking.

In Ekuoto, we see that the what makes someone a witch is a demonic convent, which involves erasing their names from the book of life and writing it in the demon lord’s book of death (which I will go further into depth on in the section on Sabbaths!), receiving a seal on their body, and merging bodily fluids through kissing or sex.

This process actually is pretty faithful to early modern beliefs about how one became a witch. The Malleus describes the process as involving a “sacrilegious avowal,” in which witches either make this vow to serve the demon ceremonially “when the sorceresses come to a certain assembly on a fixed day and see the demon in the assumed guise of a human as he urges them to keep their faith to him, which would be accompanied by prosperity in temporal matters and longevity of life.” While there, a new witch-to-be would be presented, and if determined to be “ready to renounce the Most Christian Faith and Worship,” signs themselves over (as in with a literal signature) (Mackay 281, 283). Non-ceremonially, a demon might just pop up when someone is in trouble and promise to help them if they help him (Mackay 286-287). So, here we see the idea of witchcraft granting long life and a physical signing over of the self to a demon.

But, witchcraft beliefs weren’t only constructed by books like the Malleus Maleficarum—those accused of witchcraft also contributed to these beliefs in their confessions (Roper Witch Craze 117).  As historian Lyndal Roper in her book Witch Craze describes of Early Modern witch confessions from Germany, “Intercourse with the Devil was the physical counterpart of the pact with him—and it was sex with the Devil which many accused witches talked about at length, rather than the pact which, according to demonological theory, actually made them Satan’s own” (Roper Witch Craze 85). Roper speculates that a large reason for this that many accused during this time period were illiterate, and so in their confessions, sex as the form of pact appears far in confessions than physical signatures (Roper Witch Craze 85). Regardless, we can see this as where Ekuoto borrows the idea of sex or kissing as a part of the demonic convent.

Sometimes, in these confessions, we also saw that the Devil would “give the witch a special diabolical name” as a sort of reversion of the baptismal process where a Christian name would be gained (Roper Witch Craze 116). Vergilius taking a new name as a part of his demonic pact then is completely in line with historical views of witchcraft, which I think is very fun of Arima Aruma.

Another idea of that shows up regarding people becoming witches is the idea of witch’s marks and devil’s marks, which were pretty significant in English witch trials. A Devil’s mark was a mark that was believed to have been left by the Devil when the witch becomes his, while the witch’s mark was believed to be a teat that the witch would use to nurse familiars their blood, although the terms were often conflated (Garrett 49-50). In England, searching for these marks was a major part of trials, and the experience was violating, the marks often being found near women’s genitals after they had been stripped of all their clothes, and pricked repeatedly on any mark that might be a witch’s or devil’s mark (Garrett 37).

Devil’s marks have been mentioned in Ekuoto, as seen in the earlier image, although we have not had any specifically pointed out. Vergilius’s heart under his right eye is likely a devil’s mark in my opinion, as he did not have it as a child when he was not a witch. I’ll be interested in seeing if it comes up and if there’s any significance to its shape. I could totally be wrong and it could just be like make up or a tattoo or something. This under the eye heart mark isn’t original to Ekuoto—heart patches for facial application have existed at least since the 17th century (not citing out of laziness but look up beauty patches), and under the eye heart make up was like a trend back in 2019 on Tiktok—but hilariously, 2012, when Marina and the Diamonds released Electra Heart, featuring MARINA with a heart mark under her eye, is also is presumably the year Vergilius became a witch (based on Daniel’s statement in one of the chapters that he’s been active for a decade). Maybe he’s just a really big Electra Heart fan lol.

The Witch’s Sabbath

A witches Sabbath was “where witches gathered to worship the Devil, dance, feast, indulge in sexual orgies, and practice cannibalism and infanticide” (Apps and Gow 120). As previously mentioned, the book Malleus Maleficarum set the stage for a lot of early modern witch beliefs within Western Europe. This text was written within a school known as demonology, “Commonly viewed as a branch of theology, philosophy and metaphysics” (Roper “Witchcraft and the Western Imagination” 119). Demonological descriptions of the witches Sabbath are an example of elite construction of witchcraft beliefs, and they focused on Christianity inverted: “The witches were bent double, candles in their anus, and in the place of the kiss of peace in the Mass, they had to kiss the Devil’s anus (Roper Witch Craze 113).

Of course, as also has been mentioned before, Early Modern witchcraft beliefs were also shaped by those accused of witchcraft drawing from their own experience in confessions. The dance, an element of the witch’s Sabbath, appeared in Witch’s confessions as an inversion of their village dances (Roper Witch Craze 107-108, 111, 116). At these dances it was said that music might be played on the fiddle and the bagpipes (Roper “Witchcraft and the Western Imagination” 128).

Make the Exorcist Fall in Love both presents the witches Sabbaths using ideas of inversion of Christian doctrine and of social gatherings with dance and music. For one, the witches set up shop in an abandoned church in France, where they place a statue representing Beelzebub in the sanctuary. Symbolically, then, they’ve inverted the worship of God to the worship of a demon.

Additionally, you can see the Witches lined up to kiss the statue on what seems to be a phallic protrusion. They’re inverting, then, the kiss of peace the same way historically witches were thought to kiss the Devil’s anus. Roper has a description of a woodcut that bears similarity to this image, describing it like so: “At the centre of the image, witches perform the anal kiss on a giant goat, while long lines of assorted pairs of Devils and witches wind their way in a snake like spiral around the picture, playing phallic-looking bagpipes and horns” (Roper “Witchcraft and the Western Imagination” 137-138). Now, traditionally this kiss is delivered on the anus rather than the phallus, but I’m not an expert so I can’t speak to whether there were regional descriptions of Witch’s Sabbaths that varied that Make the Exorcist Fall in Love is drawing from. I can say, though, that Berserk’s portrayal of a witch’s Sabbath, which imagery-wise definitely seems to draw from woodblock representations, does feature the diabolic kiss being received on the phallus rather than the anus. It is possible that this scene was visual inspiration for Ekuoto’s witch’s Sabbath. For those who are interested in independently checking what I’m talking about, it’s in chapter 139 of Berserk.

Now, in the same above panel in Ekuoto, we also see that the witches are singing a song. This song is an inversion of the Anglican hymn “Holy Holy Holy”—the original lyrics, that the witch’s invert, are “Holy, Holy, Holy! Though the darkness hide Thee, Though the eye of sinful man, thy glory may not see: Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee, Perfect in power in love, and purity.” The hymn is originally about the trinitarian god, so this inverted version becomes a worship of Beelzebub.

If you want to give the original song a listen, here’s a link to a recording:

This song later also appears in the flashback to the 2011 Beelzebub fight (where, interestingly enough, an eclipse is featured very prominently. Eclipses are pretty common “ooh spooky eek” imagery but it also made me wonder if there’s potential visual influence from Berserk). This also further establishes it as a song associated with Beelzebub.

Inversion also shows up outside of the Sabbaths in Ekuoto. Dante in the below images is invoking the Trinitarian formula: “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” which is from Matthew 28:19 in the Bible. Verge, and other witches in Ekuoto, invert the Trinitarian formula: “in the name of the mother, the daughter, and the evil spirit.” Not only is this an example of inversion, but it also aligns with a neopagan concept, the Triple Goddess (although usually the triple Goddess is expressed as the Mother, the Daughter, and the Crone). I’m not going to cite this because I’m lazy, but if you want you can check this one out on Wikipedia. The Triple Goddess in neopagan beliefs harkens back to older religious forms where goddesses appeared in groups of three—one of these, from Hellenistic religious beliefs, is associated with witchcraft: Hecate was associated with magic, and often depicted in a triple form (Also too lazy to cite this but you can check this out also on Wikipedia in both the Triple Goddess (Neopaganism) page and the Hecate page. You can also check it out on Encyclopedia Brittanica). Interestingly, and as I’ll touch on later, Baba Yaga also sometimes appears in three forms in folklore (Forrester xxxiv).

Walpurgisnacht

Now, the description of the woodblock of a witch’s Sabbath mentioned in the previous section wasn’t of just any Sabbath—it was a Sabbath on the Brocken, where according to legend witches would have a Sabbath every year on Walpurgisnacht (Roper “Witchcraft and the Western Imagination” 137-138).

Walpurgisnacht is on April 30 into May 1st, and is an actual real life religious holiday, celebrating the canonization of Saint Walpurga. It’s celebrated through festivals, some of which involve dancing around bonfires. In the 17th century, a book written by Johannes Praetorius cited the peak of the Harz mountains in Germany, the Brocken, as a site in which witches would meet for a Sabbath on the eve of May 1st (Weishaupt). It was this book, the Blockesberges Verrichtung, that features the woodblock mentioned in the Sabbath section, and would inspire some of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s drama of the mind, Faust (Roper “Witchcraft and the Western Imagination” 135-138). Faust also has a famous presentation of Walpurgisnacht on the Brocken (Weishaupt).

So yeah, Ekuoto’s mention of Walpurgisnacht is in reference to this! Moving on to what they’ve also mentioned in conjunction to Walpurgisnacht:

Baba Yaga

First and foremost, Baba Yaga has nothing to do with Walpurgisnacht in folklore, this is an invention of Ekuoto. The Harz mountains are in Germany, whereas Baba Yaga is a figure in Slavic folklore.  

Stories in which Baba Yaga appears often have several themes: “she lives in the forest, which is her domain” (Zipes VIII); that her house has chicken legs (Forrester XXVII); that her “house may be surrounded with a fence of bones, perhaps topped with skulls (Forrester XXVIII). She sometimes also has a black cat (Forrester XXVIII). Jack Zipes, in the foreword to Baba Yaga: The Wild Witch of the East in Russian Fairy Tales, describes her as “not just a dangerous witch but also a maternal benefactress, probably related to a pagan goddess” and “inscrutable and so powerful that she does not owe an allegiance to the Devil or God or even to her storytellers” (Zipes VIII). Sibelan Forrester, in that same book, describes her as “both a cannibal and a kind of innkeeper, a woman who threatens but also often rewards” (Forrester XXXV). Skulls with light coming out of their eye sockets shows up in the fairy tale Vasilia the Beautiful—“the eyes of all the skulls on the fence lit up, and the whole clearing became light as midday” (Forrester XXXVIII, XLIV, 175).

Now, so far in Make the Exorcist Fall in Love, we’ve been presented with Baba Yaga as a witch who Satan calls different from the other witches, who tried purifying the angry souls of those killed by the church until she became corrupted by their rage and desired the power to kill god, and has at least three contracts with Satan, Asmodeus, and Beelzebub (but not Leviathan). She also appears as a black cat.

The parts that most clearly draw upon traditional Baba Yaga folklore are the skulls, the chicken legged house in the middle of the woods, and the idea of her being a total wildcard. As far as I can tell, the backstory they’ve given her about purifying souls killed by the church is completely original to Ekuoto, although it could be in reference to either some piece of folklore or literature that I’m not familiar with. Traditionally, the bones and skulls in Baba Yaga’s home are presumably a threat that the hero might next be a victim of hers (Forrester XXIX). Here, they are victims of the church.

The closest thing I have been able to find is the invented backstory is from Dubravka Ugrešić’s book, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, published as part of the Canongate Myth Series (themed around reinterpreting international mythology): “That they would finally stop bowing down to men with bloodshot eyes, men who are guilty of killing millions of people, and who still have not had enough. For they are the ones who leave a trail of human skills behind them, yet people’s torpid imaginations stick those skulls on the fence of a solitary old woman who lives on the edge of the forest” (Ugrešić’ 243). Here also the skulls are affiliated not with her cannibalism but the killings of patriarchal power. The book was originally published in Croatian and has several different languages it is available in translation, although, as far as I can tell, Japanese is not one of them, so I don’t know how familiar Arima Aruma would be with it.

I’m also fascinated by the beheaded, veiled skeletal figure with the large stomach wound we see who points towards Baba Yaga’s house. Baba Yaga is sometimes presented as a mother (Forrester XXXVIII) and the large stomach opening to me almost looks like the surgical removal of a child from the womb, although that may be a stretch.

Contemporary c-sections are also often horizontal, although historically in Europe and the Americas, up until developments in surgery and gynecology in the nineteenth century, they were only performed when the mother was dead or had no hope for survival. The images I’ve seen depicting c-sections in the 15th and 16th centuries seem to depict vertical incisions though, which lines up more with this figure’s wound. (I’m not citing these but will provide links: https://www.webmd.com/baby/what-happens-during-c-section; https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/cesarean/part1.html ). I think it would also line up with some of the other imagery that’s been established in series, such as the wound/vagina/pregnancy image combo we got in the first chapter with Asmodeus.

It's also been implied that she had something to do with binding Beelzebub from entering Germany:

That file really closely follows the contours of a Baba Yaga fairy tale—getting lost in the forest, the flaming bone torch like in Vasilia the Beautiful. I’m extremely fascinated by the way in which Baba Yaga is being presented in Ekuoto and can’t wait to see more about her motivations.

Continued in Part Two

[fabledfoxglove]

31 days of helpol

ORIGINAL

DAY 2: Which deity did you most recently start worshipping? Were you called to them or did you reach out first? Do you think there were specific reasons behind why you were drawn to them?

I just recently started working with Lady Persephone! I formally reached out first but I do think she's been giving me subtle little nudges in her direction. I was really drawn to her duality and also her myth of her marriage with Hades.

I could make an entirely separate discussion post on the nitty gritty details but overall I veiw her story as one of growing up and making your way in the world - everyone else's opinions be damned. This really resonated with me, as I'm currently going through a transitional period of my life (I would argue that the entirety of your 20's is a transitional period but i digress) and I was really called to her as both a bringer of life and a "bringer" of death. She reminds me that life is an everchanging cycle of death & rebirth, and that that isn't something to fear of resist, but something to embrace and learn from.

[imimprisoned]

Hecate/Hekate: Goddess of Magic, Crossroads, Witchcraft, Sorcery, Ghosts, and Necromancy,

Offerings include:

1. almonds

2. foxglove

3. mint

4. sage

5. yew

6. rose petals

7. lavendar

8. cypress and willow leaves

9. frankensince

10. obsidian

11. quartz

12. seashells

13. black dog fur

14. dog nail clippings

15. images of dogs (pictures, personal drawings, dog plushies, etc.)

16. keys

17. personal offerings (nail clippings, hair)

18. anything relating to the moon (pictures, keychains, personal drawings, etc.)

19. crow, raven, and/or owl feathers

20. crossroads dirt

21. owl feathers

22. raven/crow/black feathers

23. snakeskin

24. horse hair (UPG, because horse is sacred to Her)

25. Lapis Lazuli

26. iron and bronze

27. lodestone

28. black stones/gems

29. candles, lanterns

30. statuettes of Her sacred animals

31. artwork of Her and Her sacred objects and symbols

32. poetry, music and writing in Her honour

Prayers to Hekate:

1. Glory to you, O Hekate Goddess who guards our opportunities

Queen of magic and circumstance

Keyholder, beloved mother of witches Hekate, guide me through blessed doors

Shut those that might lead to my destruction

Hekate, she who holds the keys to the realms of time

Hekate, the goddess of wisdom and fate

Who hears the whisper of prophecy

Goddess of mysteries

Take my hand, O Goddess

Put all your knowledge into my palm And let your magic flow through me

2. "Hekate, Mother of the Night so dark, Guiding spirit, with wisdom to embark.

In the moon's gentle glow, and shadows deep,

Your presence and power, our souls do

keep.

Goddess of crossroads, guardian of the way,

Hear our prayer on this sacred day.

With torches aglow, and keys in hand, Lead us through life's mysteries, we understand.

Hekate, your guidance, we humbly seek, In your wisdom and strength, we find what we need.

Protect and guide us, in darkness and light,

Mother of the Night, bless our path tonight.

3. Hecate when I doubt, Show me my strength;

When I am wrong,

Show me the right path;

Light the crossroads before me,

That I might see my way,

Queen of transitions,

Guardian of Doorways, Hecate, bless my journeys,

Through dark and dawn, day and dusk.

Help me bring into balance the forces within myself.

Light and dark, above and below,

As a coin can not have only one side, I am not whole, one without the other.

[hyakinthou-naos]

My Day to Day Life as a Hellenic Polytheist: Altars, altars, altars! [post 4/4]

Hello Temple patrons and visitors, in lieu of doing days 6, 7, & 8 of @wisdom-devotee 's 31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism I decided to instead answer the questions through a narrative blog post (since the questions for these three days flow together).

I have kept a standing altar (an altar that I leave out and erect all the time) of one kind or another, pretty consistently for the past 7 years.

I just recently moved into a new home, which means crafting a whole new setup for my altars and worship space. In this new home I've actually been able to create, not just 2 standing altars, but 7 shrines dedicated to my 5 Household Gods - as well as 2 Hindu deities (Shiva and Shakti-Durga-Kali). All of these altars have been an immense labor of love and I am so happy with how they have turned out.

Standing Altar 1 - Honoring the Okios and Household Gods:

Standing Altar 2 - Honoring Lady Aphroditê and Oceanic Witchcraft:

Shrine to Lord Apollo:

Shrine to Lady Hekatê:

Shrine to Lord Hermes:

Shrine to Lady Hestia:

Shrine to Lady Aphroditê:

Shrine to Lord Shiva / Shiva-Dionysus:

Shrine to Shakti / Shakti-Durga-Kali:

- Aön

[thepenultimateword]

Spooktober Prompt #15

The monster turned his clawed hands back and forth. As the realization hit, all his fur stood on end, and he pawed desperately at his face.

“What did you do to me?” His voice squeaked in sharp contrast to the violence of his eruption.

The witch blew out her spell candle with a flourish. “Taught you a little respect. At least I hope so. I did get the impression it may be some time before it takes.”

[chthoniclakewitch]

31 Days of Hellenic Polytheism

The original post is here if you want to participate

DAY SIX: What’s one way you incorporate Hellenic Polytheism into your routine (daily, weekly, monthly, etc?)

Pray, pray, pray. I pray all through the day to Aphrodite and at night to Hypnos. I make sure to stop at each of the altars I have. I dedicate showers to Aphrodite and naps to Hypnos. Every night I try to learn more about the Gods, and currently I am learning Greek which is an everyday task.

[mask131]

I have seen someone say, to accentuate the fact a certain book needed a basic knowledge of Greek mythology to fully understand all the references and jokes in there, "You better have read the Percy Jackson novels, else you will be lost".

You guessed it: it bothers me (every time I begin a post like that, you can expect me ranting about something)

I don't know if this was said as a jest or not. If it was said as a sort of joke or as a light-hearted comment, I fully get it and I have nothing to say, because of course that's a funny nod. However I fear this was said in all seriousness. And even if this person was not serious, I have seen a LOT of people treat mythology... out of fictional works. Especially the Riordan novels (a similar thing is happening with Norse mythology where people start using God of War as a reliable source but that's a discourse for another day).

I get how popular and beloved the Percy Jackson novels are. I myself am a big fan of them. It was my butter and jam in middle-school. I never was a Harry Potter fan, but I WAS a Percy Jackson fan. So I get it, I get how it can be... But it doesn't mean these novels should be treated as a source of reliable and certain info on Greek mythology. People seem to forget that these novels are rewriting, reinventions and adaptations of Greek mythology. Back in the days, nobody would have went around claiming Saint Seiya or Ulysses 31 were reliable sources about Greek mythology, and yet today people treat stuff like Blood of Zeus or Wonder Woman Historia as almost primary sources when it comes to handling the Greek gods...

I guess it is due to a change of generations, and a change of point of view as time goes on. Today Greek mythology is treated, handled and accepted more as a source of narrative material, as a host of characters, as a compilation of folktales, rather than an actual culture, or a literary corpus, or a set of beliefs and rites linked to a religion. Probably because people are getting more and more used to Greek mythology being used for entertainment and narrative purpose - Disney's Hercules, God of War, Class of Titans... People don't have their primary contact with the Greek myths through classrooms and school lessons, they have it through movies and animated series and novels. And so for them, Greek mythology becomes "fiction" before "study".

Before, to make the point that you needed to know the basics of Greek mythology, someone would have said "You need to have read at least a Greek mythology encyclopedia". There's a SHIT TON of these around. Today it's just "You need to at least have read a Percy Jackson novel". I mean, again, if it is for humoristic purpose or for a light-hearted comment, okay, it's funny - but if it is serious, than it is as stupid as to say "You need to know about witches and witchcraft... so you need to at least have read the Harry Potter novels".

Again, I don't want to spit on the Percy Jackson novels. I adored them, I still love them, and I think it is great and amazing how it boosted and popularized Greek mythology and made it such a casual topic. But I always thought the series was much more enjoyable when you knew already a bit about Greek mythology BEFORE reading the books, instead of learning things from it. The reason I fell in love with these novels was because I was a HUGE Greek mythology fan as a child and unfortunately as a result the range of media exploring my interests was limited (Mission Odyssey, the classic italian Odyssey movie, The God Beneath the Sea). Until the Percy Jackson came along and I had a blast seeing how they reinterpreted, reinvented and reused things I was already familiar with. That was the fun of it, see their interpretation of mythology.

Because I am sorry, but if you try to learn Greek mythology with the Percy Jackson novels, you will learn a LOT of misinformation. You will learn that Athena can have kids, that Poseidon is one of the coolest Olympians, that Demeter basically has no role whatsoever in anything, that Venus and Aphrodite are one and the same, that the demigods all inherit the powers of their parents like super-heroes... In fact we do see today a lot of the effects the popularity of the Riordan books had (like the overblown and excessive villainization of Zeus). But that's something endless and eternal: as I pointed out, after the OvertlySarcasticProductions video about Dionysos with them having horns as part of his design, EVERYBODY on Tumblr and the friggin' Internet started putting horns on Dionysos. It wasn't just something that spread slowly, it was a real boom and fashion.

I was NOT expecting this rant to go that far, as usual I got carried away X) But here's kind-of my point: people originally brought forward the idea that "There is no "real" canon to Greek mythology because there's tons of conflicting versions and alternate tales" to defend the idea that fictional takes and adaptations could deviate from the dominating versions. It was nice and a needed reminder. Except... people of course used it wrongly and started use it to A) just allow themselves to do anything and everything while B) not bothering to do any research by pointing out how since there's no "canon" and not a set of defined clear-cut legends, they don't have to justify their adaptation choices.

Yes, there is a lot of variations, alternate continuities, rivalizing characterizations and conflicting elements in Greek mythology, as in all and every mythologies, from Norse to Indian. It doesn't mean however that the modern fictional works about Greek mythology have as much importance as the actual original texts of ancient civilizations... I get that you love your Song of Achilles and your Epic the Musical, but it doesn't mean that I won't judge you if you never bothered doing any research about what Greek mythology was about outside of seeing other people adapt it. (And don't even get me started on the so-called "devotees" of the Greek gods who aren't even true neo-pagans and are just fad-following pseudo-poets who bring forward random ideas as facts and literaly have "headcanons" about gods as if they were OCs... Random personal take but I have never seen any dog-loving "devotee" of Hekate ever question or mention how THOUSANDS of dogs were killed in the name of their "patron")

I guess it is because how people have a hard time getting what a "mythology" is about... I mean a lot of people really don't know the difference between a "mythology" and a "religion", and yeah, in mythology the gods are as much figures of worship/centers of cult as they are literary characters and narrative archetypes, so it's this weird in-between... I don't know, this rant literaly leads to nowhere so I'll just stop here and leave you to your own thoughts :p