#Diana deity

[artemis-potnia-theron]

Credits:

Trees may have a ‘heartbeat’ that is so slow we never noticed it by Andy Coghlan / The Spirit of the Medieval Hunter, Anna & the Willow, Willow Sculpture (2018) / Mary Oliver, Sleeping in the Forest / Lady In The Water at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens (2008) / Quote fragment from Knut Hamsun / 'Thrive' by Daniel Popper (2020) / Quote fragment from Tales From Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin / Nesting in the crown of Mary at St. Ottilien Archabbey, Oberbayern, Germany / Quote fragment from 'The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On' by Franny Choi / Abandoned Stone Hands Sculpture, Japan

[mint-in-the-moonlight]

revivalist approach to Artemis

disclaimer: this is intended to be a revivalist take on Artemis and some of her domains. i am only suggesting some ideas that you can freely discard if you do not find value in them. yes, these further interpretations may not be based on historical sources - that, in my opinion, is the point of revivalism. a lot of this is UPG.

while doing some research into Artemis, i started thinking about how certain deities' domains could be brought into our current world and modernised. our understandings of many things have changed over the millennia and as pagans in the 21st century, it may be a good idea to rethink some ideas to make them more relevant to today. that is not to say there isn't wisdom or value in the ancient interpretations, but i find it more difficult to connect to a deity that traditionally presides over something that is completely unfamiliar to me. so, this post is just me thinking aloud (in writing?) about some of these things specifically in relation to Artemis.

*note: this research was originally done as i was looking into the Roman goddess Diana. since the sources were focused on Artemis, i will refer to her in this post, however, some of these could also be applicable to Diana, depending on your personal interpretation and/or level of syncretism.

virginity

as i personally believe that virginity is a patriarchal invention meant to oppress us all, i do not want to necessarily associate the goddess with it nowadays and want to offer an alternate interpretation. in greek myth, Artemis can also/instead be interpreted as presiding over those who had not had and/or do not want to have sex. she is sometimes described as being "immune" from love and lust, leading to my further interpretation of her as a patron of asexual and aromantic people. furthermore, Artemis is depicted as protecting people from sexual assault and punishing those who commit those acts. this is another role that we could assign to her, as shielding from that kind of unwanted attention and harm and punishing those who carry them out.

the hunt

there is much less need for hunt in modern society. in europe, where i live and am from, hunt is more associated with the rich and the elites using it as a means of entertainment, which can also threaten the local wildlife. for this reason the hunt may not be a domain that is as important to us now and could even have negative connotations. in a more modern spin, i would like to propose then Artemis as presiding over wildlife conservation, which is also supported in ancient sources (where she would make sure that the wildlife could reproduce and continue to exist). you may still find value in associating Artemis with the hunt if it is relatable to your life or if another relevant situation arises, for example, if you are eating meat that comes from a wild animal.

archery

archery has become an obsolete means of hunting nowadays. however, it still exists as a sport alongside other methods of shooting. so while it may be less relevant now, i think this aspect, while transformed, could still be applicable.

giving birth and motherhood

this one could still be applicable to many today, so i only wish to expand it with my interpretation. this domain should not be exclusive to cisgender women and i think it could include trans people as well (if they are comfortable with that). that, of course, depends on personal comfort and interpretation but i suggest you think about it if you are interested.

young women/girls

as with the previous domain, i want to expand on this one. here as "young women/girls" we could think about any kind of person, beyond cisgender women/girls that is comfortable with that label. for example, as a transmasculine person, i see myself having been perceived as a girl once and thus this label could have applied to my younger self and their experiences. this may also be more important in relation to transfeminine people who may not have had the opportunity to present feminine when they were young/a child.

i was reading Artemis: Virgin Goddess of the Sun & Moon by Sorita D'Este while writing this post so credit to it for most of the research and inspiration

[seleniangnosis]

Aesthetic Moodboard: Lady of the Moon 🌕

[morphic-mythos]

TO ARTEMIS

Chaste goddess, bathing in silver light These ancient, sacred trees, Turn your beautiful face toward us Without your veil of clouds. Calm, O goddess, calm, All burning hearts, and Over-zealous emotion, Spread on earth the sweet peace Which you make reign in heaven.

—A Year of Pagan Prayer, compiled by Barbara Nolan

[dian-and-the-gods]

Diana keeps popping up everywhere, like yesterday i went to a store and realized it was called Diana and today i had a dream where i saw a statue of her... is this a sign?

[dreamconsumer]

Apollo and Artemis.

[religio-iapygiorum]

THANA

.: iapygian deity associated with deer :.

[IMG TRANSCRIPTION (mirrored): Ψana. IMG SOURCE: F.G. D’Andria, Archeologia dei Messapi (Bari: Edipuglia, 1990), 232.]

.: :.

Inscriptions dedicated to Thana are found in several locations across Messapia. One inscription is on a pottery sherd found at the sanctuary of Scala di Furno, where deer bones were also found, and surrounding sherds can be reconstructed to form part of the image of a fawn.

A few scholars suggest that since she is clearly associated with deer, Thana was thus syncretized with Artemis. However, plenty of inscriptions devoted to Artemis (spelled Artamis in Messapic) are also found across Iapygia, so they seem to have been two separate deities in this time and place.

Thana is also the name of a goddess found in Illyria (nearby in the modern-day Western Balkans), where she is a goddess of forestry and hunting. Thana is often portrayed with different iconography from Roman Diana or Greek Artemis; in Illyria, she’s nearly always paired with the deity Vidasus, another woodlands god.

.: :.

Sources:

J.-L. Lamboley, Recherches sur les messapiens (Roma: École Française de Rome, 1996), 431-432.

Maria Teresa Laporta, “Divinità femminili e titoli sacerdotali nel Pantheon messapico,” in Studia di antichità linguistiche in memoria di Ciro Santoro (Bari: Cacucci, 2006), 217-242.

Ciro Santoro, “Il lessico del ‘divino’ e della religione messapica,” in Atti del IX Convegno dei Comuni Messapici, Peuceti e Dauni, Oria 24-25 novembre 1984 (Bari: Societa di Storia per la Puglia, 1989), 139-80.

[lovewardeath]

The Stag 🦌

I've never mentioned this before on my page, but since returning to my practice two years ago after being away from it since I was 13, I've had this feeling. Sometimes, I get visions, dreams and memories of a Stag in the forest just carefully observing me.

He stands tall and his antlers are very large, he is not aggressive or any other negative emotion. He simply just watches from afar.

I'm not sure if this is Lord Satan, as anything with horns is usually seen as a symbol of Satan (goats, etc). Or if this is someone else, perhaps Cernunnos? Ever since, I just have this connection towards deer, and I adore whenever I see them walk through my neighborhood or if I'm out in nature. I get this feeling like he has been with me since I was little, and he's like my Guardian.

Any ideas of what this means or who it could be?

[sofiathewitch]

E offering to lady Diana made using my own pictures :3

[goldenhornss]

Diana moodboard for @sofiathewitch

(3 more request spaces still open c:)

[artemis-potnia-theron]

Praise Artemis 🏹

"All nature is the temple; earth the altar."

~ Alphonse de Lamartine

[mint-in-the-moonlight]

the amount of anger i feel when i look for something about Diana and all the results are about Artemis. like i'm looking for a statue but everytime i see one that i like i look closer and the base has "Artemis" written on it... it's clearly not what I'm looking for then, is it?

i am begging people to stop tagging stuff with Diana if it's just Artemis. syncretism is fine but if it's just purely Hellenic or HAS THE NAME ARTEMIS WRITTEN ON IT please refrain from tagging a separate deity. thanks.

[travelingthief]

Artemis Offerings/Devotional Acts

Offerings

Moon

Moon imagery

Moonwater

Water

Moonstone/selenite

Silver

Hunting

Bows and arrows

Animal hide

Taxidermy

Meats

Quivers

Animal bones

Hunting gear

Knives

Guns & ammo

Wilderness and animals

Deer imagery

Bear imagery

Boar imagery

Dog imagery

Literally any animal imagery

Dirt/soil

Cool rocks

Tree bark

Wildflowers

Pine needles

Herbs

Leaves

Tree imagery

Feathers

Deer antlers

Childbirth/Protectress of children

Ultra sound photos

Baby shower mementos

Childhood toys

Family scrapbooks

Childhood stuffed animals

Childhood photos

Family heirlooms

Baby shoes

Baby mementos

Misc.

Gold

Lesbian flags/pride flags

Wood carvings

Devotional Acts

Watch animals out in nature

Take mindful walks

Meditate outdoors

Take a hike

Be mindful about where you are walking 

Foraging

Hunting/tracking

Learn wilderness first aid

Clean up litter

Learn to identify plants/trees/animals

Wear hunter’s orange when in the woods

Explore new areas

Identify animal tracks

Dance/sing in the woods

Pay attention to how your area changes during different seasons

Get (responsibly) lost in the woods

Be prepared when out in the woods

Take a nighttime walk

Go stargazing

Walk dogs

Volunteer/donate to animal shelters

Take good care of your pets

Play with your pets

Make scrapbooks

Support new parents/ask for support if you’re a parent

Spend time with kids in your life

Babysit

Listen to children; their stories, when they say something is wrong, when they want to show you a toy for the tenth time, etc.

Be watchful over children; be a safe person

Wave at babies and toddlers

Learn about childhood development

Learn different parenting techniques

Celebrate birthdays

Support women’s rights 

Don’t be a TERF

Archery

Self-defense classes

Go to a shooting range

Practice celibacy 

[arrow-of-orion]

Apollo and Diana, an 1848 marble statue by American artist and sculptor Thomas Crawford.

This captures their essence quite well imo!

[eirene]

Diana, ca 1905 Franz Xaver Kosler

[theoi-of-olympus]

Never take a Hellenic polytheist to a museum, they’ll spend all their time staring at the Greek statues…

So here are some pictures I took at the V&A today!

Temple of Bacchus, I was staring at this for a good 5 minutes

The 3 graces, they didn’t have the large one but I still loved seeing these (I actually got a pin and postcard of the usual statue that I love)

The sitting Venus, love love love it I wanted to just sit in front of it for hours

Eros and Psyche

Psyche by herself

Diana, missing her bow sadly

Zephyr and Flora, for the few Zephyr worshippers I see here

Apollo flaying Marsyas

Thetis dipping Achilles in the river Styx

The best photo I took today, it had depictions of Apollon, Zeus and some other gods around the room and was lovely