explorersstudy

[explorersstudy]

I did a reading for the upcoming school term and I'm so confused. Obstacles can be conquered with the help of friendships, but at the end of the year I have learned that people are deceiving. Am I going to use people just to get through school? Or will they betray me after a while??

I must be missing something.

#I might need more practice because it felt a little all over the place #divination #tarot #withcraft

[explorersstudy]

Little kid me making a pact with Ares:

Me: But I don't have money to buy you things!

Ares: I am a god that has roamed this Earth for thousands of years, destroying enemies left and right, getting riches from legions upon legions of warriors, do not insult me.

Me: So you don't want anything?

Ares: These are my demands.

*Passes me a list*

Me *reading*: I, the mighty Ares demand hugs, forehead kisses and being told that I'm a good-

Ares: A very good boy.

Disclaimer: Ares is all about consent so he only requested these because he knows I like giving the gods hugs and showing affection. The word "demands" in this context is exaggerated and purely for joke purposes!

_____________________________

Ares in the myths or with those trying to hurt his followers or kids:

Ares with his followers or kids:

#I love this #Ares #hellenic polytheism

[explorersstudy]

#Surviving doesn't take away the bad experiences! They still hurt! #Praising only for being strong erases the emotions the other person is feeling #You are allowed to be vulnerable and others should support you #Important

[explorersstudy]

A concept: Hermes themed car accessories. Bumper stickers that say "Hermes Take The Wheel" and "Hermes Is My Co-Pilot." Little Hermes dashboard bobbleheads.

Another concept: Hermes as the patron god of truckers, bus drivers, cab drivers, railroad workers, drivers ed teachers, and crossing guards.

The long drive to and from the vet really gets me in a Hermes mood, can you tell?

#I have really neglected my driving skills not having to use a car like ever but I love this #hermes #hellenic polytheism

[explorersstudy]

I found this in a sewing book out of all places but this is genuinely a good breakdown for all of you who struggle with the timeline.

[explorersstudy]

Both science and mysticism are tools to uncover the secrets of the universe.

Both science and magick are methods to create change in the world.

I don’t see why they should be mutually exclusive.

[explorersstudy]

The point of supporting POC isn’t to piss off racists, it’s to support POC

The point of supporting Jewish communities isn’t to piss off antisemites, it’s to support Jewish communities

The point of supporting Muslim communities isn’t to piss off islamaphobes, it’s to support Muslim communities

The point of supporting mentally ill people isn’t to piss off ableists, it’s to support mentally ill people

The point of supporting disabled communities isn’t to piss off ableists, it’s to support disabled communities

The point of supporting trans women isn’t to piss off TERFs, it’s to support trans women

The point of supporting the LGBTQ community isn’t to piss off queerphobes, it’s to support the LGBTQ community

(Anyone who fucks around on this post needs to pick a god and pray)

[explorersstudy]

Artemis facts

• dispite being the goddess of the hunt she is very against hunting for sport

• she will work with men but men aren't allowed to devote themselves to her

• her birthday is may 6 ( along with apollo)

• best months to worship her are March - April

• she will count trans woman as woman :)

• her sacred animals are deer, boar's, and bears

#artemis #hellenic polytheism

[explorersstudy]

Sapphomanteia (or ‘Sapphomancy’) is a divination system performed by casting dice to identify one of sixty-four possible number combinations, each referencing a fragment of Sappho’s lyrical poetry. This line of poetry can then be interpreted to answer the posed question, or as a guide to think over.

I have carefully selected sixty-four fragments from various translations of Sappho’s work – Diane Rayor, Anne Carson, Aaron Poochigan, and Mary Barnard. The end of each fragment is marked with its relevant reference number as per E. W. Voigt’s numbering system.

To perform Sapphomanteia:

Roll 3 four-sided dice (or roll one dice three times) and use the three digits rolled to reference the corresponding fragment in bold below.

(Online dice rollers here or here).

As with many forms of divination, you could say a prayer to Sappho or another god for guidance in your reading before you start.

~

111 - Yes, we did many things, then - all beautiful (24a)

112 - Golden-crowned Aphrodite, may I draw this lot (33)

113 - I hunger and I struggle (36)

114 - In the dripping of my pain may winds and anguish take him who condemns (37)

121 - You scorch us (38)

122 - To you I sacrifice on the altar a white goat and I will leave for you (40)

123 - My lovely friends, how could I change towards you who are so beautiful? (41)

124 - Their hearts grow cold and their wings fell slack (42)

131 - As long as you want (45)

132 - On a soft cushion I will lay my body down (46)

133 - Without warning as a whirlwind swoops on an oak, Love shakes my heart (47)

134 - You came and I was crazy for you, and you cooled my mind that burned with longing (48)

141 - The gorgeous man presents a gorgeous view; the good man will in time be gorgeous, too (50)

142 - I don’t know what to do - I am of two minds (51)

143 - I don’t expect to touch heaven (52)

144 - Having come from heaven wrapped in a purple cloak (54)

211 - Dead you will lie and never memory of you will there be (55 partial)

212 - I think no woman of such skill will ever again see the light of day (56)

213 - What country girl seduces your wits wearing a country dress not knowing how to pull the cloth to her ankles? (57)

214 - Yet I love the finer things … this and passion for the light of life have granted me brilliance and beauty (58)

221 - Because the blessed Graces grant gifts to the garlanded and snub the worshipper with no flowers on her head (81)

222 - I will love you … as long as breath is in me … will care (88a)

223 - Clothed her well in delicate linen (100)

224 - The evening star is the most beautiful of all stars (104b)

231 - The sweet apple reddens on a high branch, high upon highest, missed by the applepickers: No, they didn’t miss, so much as couldn’t touch (105a)

232 - Like a hyacinth in the mountains, trampled by shepherds until only a purple stain remains on the ground (105b)

233 - Superior as a singer from Lesbos to those of other lands (106)

234 - We shall give, says father (109)

241 - I can best compare you to a slender sapling (115)

242 - Come, divine lyre, speak to me and sing! (118)

243 - I have no spiteful temper but am calm in mind (120)

244 - A delicate young girl plucking flowers (122)

311 - I myself once wove garlands (125)

312 - May you sleep on the breast of a tender companion (126)

313 - Come close, you precious Graces and Muses with beautiful tresses (128)

314 - But you have forgotten me (129a)

321 - Once again Love, that loosener of limbs, bittersweet and inescapable, crawling thing, seizes me (130)

322 - I conversed with you in a dream Kyprogeneia (134)

323 - Messenger of spring, nightingale with enticing song (136)

324 - I want to tell you something but good taste restrains me (137)

331 - Stand before me as a friend and flaunt the charm in your eyes (138)

332 - Ambrosia mixed in a bowl that Hermes, flask in hand, poured for the gods (141)

333 - Golden chickpeas grew on the shores (143)

334 - Don’t move piles of pebbles (145)

341 - Neither the honey nor the bee for me (146)

342 - Someone will remember us, I say, even in another time (147)

343 - Wealth without virtue makes a dangerous neighbour, while their blend holds the pinnacle of happiness (148)

344 - When nightlong celebration closes their eyes (149)

411 - For it is not right in a house of the Muses that there be lament, this would not become us (150)

412 - As the full moon rose, women stood round the altar (154)

413 - Far sweeter in song than a lyre, more golden than gold (156)

414 - When anger spreads in the breast, guard against an idly barking tongue (158)

421 - Now I will sing this beautifully to delight my companions (160)

422 - With what eyes? (162)

423 - The Moon and Pleiades have set - half the night is gone. Time passes. I sleep alone (164b)

424 - Gaia, richly crowned, adorns herself in many hues (168c)

431 - I would lead (169)

432 - A vine that grows up trees (173)

433 - Easy passage (181)

434 - I might go (182)

441 – Danger (184)

442 – Honeyvoiced (185)

443 – Mythweaver (188)

444 – Manyskilled (190)

~

This has been a project of love and devotion, and I am very excited to share it with you all. Many, many, many thanks to @ofhoneyandflame​ and @thegrapeandthefig​ for all their help, guidance and input through this process <3

#divination #hellenic polytheism #witchcraft #sappho

[explorersstudy]

Parents be like that’s my emotional support eldest daughter

[explorersstudy]

Just a reminder that the people you look to for information and advice on religious practices, witchcraft, and other aspects of the spiritual are primarily sharing from a place of personal experience as well as their own values and ethics. This means that not everything one person shares or emphasizes will be relevant to you or vibe with you. That doesn’t automatically make them or you wrong. It just means that aspects of their teachings isn’t for you and you’re welcome to ignore it. Take what works for you and leave behind what doesn’t. Also learn from and engage with multiple people so you are exposed to different perspectives and possibilities. 

#paganism #withcraft

[explorersstudy]

Okay so I might be reviving this blog a little. Summer solstice worked as a wake up call to check what is up with this one.

#115 drafts have been waiting for me to read/edit/post them

[explorersstudy]

chthonic worship tip

In my experience, chthonic (underworld) gods really appreciate hearing “thank you.” (This includes Hades and Persephone as well as Hecate, Hermes in his psychopomp aspect, Hypnos, Thanatos, Morpheus, and others.) They all do incredibly dirty, difficult, and vitally important jobs and rarely get recognition for it.

Things you can thank them for:

Sheltering, protecting, and taking care of the dead

Treating everyone fairly, meting out divine justice to people who escaped it in life

Allowing us to extract precious metals and material resources from the earth (I usually pair this with a commitment to do what I can to be a responsible steward of the earth, and follow the principle of xenia rather than hoarding wealth)

Maintaining the boundaries between this world and the next, and allowing people to pass through when appropriate

Making new growth possible by clearing away that which is no longer useful (this can be both literal and metaphorical)

Guiding and looking after people who are going through grief, depression, or “dark nights of the soul,” enabling personal rebirth and transformation

Protecting and nourishing the roots of plants, making all plant life and agriculture possible

Things that come from or are sheltered in their world include: sleep, dreams, precious metals, plant life, reincarnated or newly incarnated souls, magic, purpose and destiny — and according to interpretation, vaccination, EMDR, anesthesia, X-rays and MRIs, mass social movements, psychology, shadow work**

Also, please do something nice for Charon. I’ve long thought of him as the patron of customer service workers who are frequently yelled at.

*sources: Greek Religion by Walter Burkert, Ancient Greek Cults by Jennifer Larson, The Greek Way of Death by Robert Garland – these three books are my go-to’s for info about the roles the chthonic gods and the underworld played in ancient Greek religion and culture. Add to this the underworld as metaphor in Jungian psychology and archetypes (I’m less well read in this area, but see also The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell)

**I once read a great series of essays on the rivers of the Underworld (which I can not find right now) that posited the principle of vaccination comes from the Styx. According to myth, Achilles was dipped in the river as a baby and this protected his body from injury — just as exposure to a dead pathogen grants our bodies protection from a live version of that same pathogen. Along these lines, things like anesthesia and EMDR would come from the Lethe and/or the Acheron, psychology and self-reflection from the Mnemosyne, and so on. And modern astrology understands Pluto (Hades) as a god of invisible forms of power, which makes him also the ruler of things like X-rays and MRIs, nuclear energy, mass movements, and lots of other things…

#hellenic polytheism

[explorersstudy]

Hades/Pluto

Small devotional acts.

Donate to organizations that support suicidal individuals

Wear more metal

Eat/drink fermented things

Stay up late – enjoy the night

Help clean up cemeteries – weeding, picking up garbage, leaving fresh flowers, etc.

Get jewelry/crystals like obsidian, smoky quartz, garnet, etc.

Burn a candle, remember those who died unjustly

Use more vinegar – get red wine vinaigrette the next time you have a salad

Go searching for animal bones or fossils

Drink some mint tea

Offer coins/a few dollars to those who need it

Sit on the edge and observe

Bring flowers or a nice card for the people who work in hospice care

Start saving your spare change

Do your assigned tasks to the fullest of your ability (even if they suck)

Wear deep reds and blacks

Learn to keep your emotions in check and stay collected, when needed

Drink black coffee

Spend more time in the shade

Make responsible choices, even if they seem boring

Pay for someone’s meal

Volunteer at a nursing home

Learn CPR and the Heimlich maneuver

Plant a poplar tree

Support someone who needs to put a pet down, in whatever form that takes

Eat more chocolate

Practice your poker face

Host a dinner/visit with friends

Grow some roses

Go for a nighttime drive

PRACTICE LOVING YOURSELF

Many, many, many other things not said here

#hades #hellenic polytheism

[explorersstudy]

👏Devotional Activities 👏 are 👏 valid 👏 forms of worship and 👏 historically 👏 attested 👏

#hellenic polytheism #polytheism

[explorersstudy]

Where do you see the gods?

Aphrodite: The love songs that run through your head, pretty people smiling at you, all the I love you’s, learning to care for yourself, dismissing the people who put you down.

Apollo: Laying in the sun shining through your windows, happy and loud music, fast conversations, caring for others, seeing yourself recover, the feeling of your heart glowing when someone compliments you.

Ares: Protests, angry youth marching through the streets fighting for what’s right, the feeling of pure fire in your soul when you see something unjust.

Artemis: Misty days, deep dialogues with strangers, lying on the ground staring at the stars, girls protecting girls, being enough for yourself.

Athena: Peacemaking, calming arguments with a firm tone, teaching young children how to be better people than the last generation.

Demeter: Laying in the grass, the feeling of wanting to run off and start a farm so you can live off the land, watching the bees bumble around the flowers.

Dionysus: Partying with friends, the feeling that thrums through your veins when you’re at a concert, being yourself even when others detest you.

Hephaistos: He Creating something with your own hands, campfires, strength, and warmth of true family.

Hera: Stonefaced, the feeling of power when you see your plan go perfectly, silver hair, confidence filling your body, debating on something you are right about.

Hermes: Traveling with friends and family, the urge to run away and explore the world, collecting mementos from everywhere you go, meeting new people, laughing so hard you can’t breathe.

Hestia: Fighting for the ones you love, baking fresh bread, the feeling of dried dirt on your skin, overgrown gardens, hugging your mother.

Hades: Seeing crows in the trees and understanding that they comprehend so much more than you know, meeting a new child, waving at babies everywhere you go, the feeling of clarity when someone passes away after a long and content life.

#hellenic polytheism

[explorersstudy]

In your personal experience, does Odin value compassion?

Compassion is one of those words with a lot of nuance that people often miss.

compassion (n.) mid-14c., from Old French compassion “sympathy, pity” (12c.), from Late Latin compassionem (nominative compassio) “sympathy,” noun of state from past participle stem of compati “to feel pity,” from com- “together” (see com-) + pati “to suffer” (see passion). Latin compassio is an ecclesiastical loan-translation of Greek sympatheia (see sympathy). An Old English loan-translation of compassion was efenðrowung.

sympathy (n.) 1570s, “affinity between certain things,” from Middle French sympathie (16c.) and directly from Late Latin sympathia “community of feeling, sympathy,” from Greek sympatheia “fellow-feeling, community of feeling,” from sympathes “having a fellow feeling, affected by like feelings,” from assimilated form of syn- “together” (see syn-) + pathos “feeling” (see pathos). In English, almost a magical notion at first; used in reference to medicines that heal wounds when applied to a cloth stained with blood from the wound. Meaning “conformity of feelings” is from 1590s; sense of “fellow feeling, compassion” is first attested c. 1600. An Old English loan-translation of sympathy was efensargung

Odin.is, above all, a god of activity, of active participation and dynamism. Whether it be war, poetry, song, sex & death, magic, wind/breath/storm, there is always a fury to him - even in his calmness, there is an intensity. He’s more than a god of knowledge, of accumulated intellectual facts - he’s a god of knowing  - or gnosis.

This is the god who suffered for nine nights on the tree, alone. This is the wandering god, the Man of The Road, the Waytamer, who depends on the hospitality of others, and then messes up those who aren’t hospitable.

It is best for man to be middle-wise, Not over cunning and clever: The learned man whose lore is deep Is seldom happy at heart. - Havamal

If there’s a god who knows of what he speaks above, it’s Odin. He understands suffering intimately - he knows pain, thirst, hunger and privation. He’s the one who stands as an exemplar to be kind to everyone you meet because you never know who they are, or what their story might be. Wyrd delights in flowing where it will. A king might be a day or a year away from being a cripple or a beggar.

And compassion and sympathy are both about ‘fellow feeling’. About the things that tie us together as people, as living wights. If, as the Buddhists are wont to say, all life is suffering, then Odin is right there with us. As the originator of the vital principle, breath itself, then he is the ultimate participant in Life & Death in all its many forms.He is the speargod, the dancer, the singer, the-swinger-by-his-neck, the over-come & and the over-comer. The caller-up & the-one-who-lays-low, the doom-dealer and the Unknown Stranger, the Dearest Friend & The Oldest Enemy.

In my experience, does Odin value compassion?Oh yes. He values it so much that it’ll steal your very breath from your lungs, that he’ll crack your bones to read the marrow, that he’ll trace the runes in the tracks of your tears with gnarled fingers, gentle against your skin.                     This is not sarcasm folks. He’s greedy for you to understand, for you to participate in the living, breathing kosmos. Why do you think he swallowed the mead of poetry, and all swollen-bellied against the sun, let some go to fall into the mouths of those human poets?

He’s the Awe-inspirer. The finder of secrets, the seeker and spinner of stories. He and Loki are the Blood-brothers, the Two Thieves-Of-Forever, and twice as thick as any thieves that ever were.Some say his gaze is pitiless. Some say he’s a harsh figure.

And maybe he is, to them.Others that he is the gentle figure with a wicked agenda and winning smile.He’s many things to many people. But this is the god of cargo, the fulfiller of wishes. This is the one who knows the value of of everything, and perhaps, rare in the universe, knows the price you have to pay for each and every piece.

So the next time your heart is stirred to compassion, or another’s is stirred towards you? Thank One Eye, who’s never going to stop stirring things up.Be well, anon

#odin #norse polytheism