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Decided to hang out with Eros today, and was inspired to go through some old poetry manuscripts looking for love poems. This one seemed interesting considering I've decided to dive back into music and I've been practicing Rachmaninoff. It's from my collection: "Inspirations and Reflections" by Jane Gray, and should be available on Amazon.

Symphony in Jealous E

The lilt of the piano's song sets my heart aflame,

swelling it with such joy and pleasure as no lover

can dare to accomplish. My fingers stroke the air

before me as if it were those coveted ivories,

and for one brief moment, I am transported back in time.

To a world where dancing and beauty were as essential

as drawing a breath; where writing a letter

was an art form, and love making

was just as powerful for a man

as it was for a woman.

Oh to smell the verdant fields of England, where

Brandon and Dashwood fell in love and

Darcy and Bennet were married.

To feel the caress of Rochester's lips on mine,

the flames of Thornfield igniting our passion

and lighting our way down the altar as one.

Curse this life for depriving me of my fantasy;

how dare it put me here

in this world of email and eHarmony?

The player stands, and the cover is closed.

With a crash, I am brought back to reality,

as the piano is pushed off the stage.

#hellenic polytheism #pagan wicca #wicca #eros

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Roman marble statue of Dionysus (Bacchus), God of wine, patron of wine making.

Roman copy of a Greek original of late 4th century BC.

from The Collection of The Hermitage, St Petersburg

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Prayer to Demeter

Fair-haired Demeter, daughter of nimble-footed Rhea, grandchild of deep-hearted Gaia, mother of bright-eyed Persephone: in you, as in them all, is the soul of the earth.

The golden grain is yours, O Demeter, and the heavy fruited trees, the dark rich soil and the seeds that hide within.

Friend of the farmer, friend of all who rely on your goodness and kindness, your gift of growth, your gift of bread, your gift of all our lives.

Demeter, bountiful lady, with each spring’s greening of the land you give us hope; with each rich harvest that hope is answered.

Demeter, good mother, I praise you.

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Once upon a time, in what seems like another lifetime now, I was a student of music. It's likely I inherited my interest from my great grandfather, who played violin in the orchestra as a student at my high school decades before I was born.

I studied: History, Theory, Composition, Vocal Performance, Piano, and even wrote a comparative essay in high school on Chinese and Japanese stringed instruments. I've successfully played: beginner guitar, clarinet, and violin, and can even tune water goblets. I have sung at numerous competitions in: French, Italian, Spanish and English, with one disastrous attempt at German (which is hysterical since I am strongly of German descent.) There is a special place in my heart reserved for the appreciation of pipe organ and glass [h]armonica music, as well as Gregorian chant.

I was accepted into both a private and public music school for Music Therapy at the private university and Music Education at the public university, and performed as a first Soprano in the public school and would've been a second Soprano in the private school if I'd lasted longer than a week.

In my studies, I learned that music has the power to heal, and although I would not have been emotionally prepared to work with the patients at St. Jude using music to assist with their treatment the way I had dreamed of doing, nearly 2 decades later I still believe in the healing power of music. I've even started using sound therapy to work through some of my own healing.

One of the other things I learned as a music school student was that it is rumored (and still under debate today) that many of the most popular religious hymns and even the religious music now lost to time was originally performed by patrons of the local taverns after work in the evenings. The local churches, seeking to increase attendance, changed up the lyrics, added some seriously powerful backing music, and suddenly their seats were full. This in addition to overwriting Pagan holidays and practices, among other things.

Since I was privileged to have had family members who broke away from the traditional Catholicism and attended Unitarian services instead, I became comfortable with the concept of then taking existing religious hymns and reworking them to be secular and aligned with the intention of bettering the world for the good of humanity.

One of my grandmothers once told me my voice was a gift, and I would feel uncomfortable choosing to keep my feminine singing voice and then not doing anything with it.

One of my struggles since starting to practice Wicca is that I feel like singing ALL THE TIME. If I'm singing, you'll be able to tell what I'm thinking or feeling by what I'm singing, and aside from my cooking or baking, it's the strongest tool I have at my disposal for affecting positive emotional changes. However: the last thing I ever want to do is trigger someone's religious trauma without warning.

So what I figured out is:

1. Most religious hymns are public domain, so finding accompaniment and backing vocals shouldn't be difficult. I also have a Twitch account for recording videos and several YouTube accounts I can choose from to post them on and then share links in posts here. In a pinch, there's SingSnap, or I own a piano I should probably be playing more often anyway.

2. I can rewrite the lyrics to the songs and post them here, listing the source for the original songwriter/composer, with a link to listen to me performing each song as I've written it. If I find a version that already exists, I'll post with credit to whoever wrote it.

3. In addition, I can also provide information about each song and composer/writer, as well as which deity(ies) came to mind during the process, or even a random snippet relating to music history.

3.1. I'm already getting vibes from Ares that the theme songs for each of the Armed Forces may be a good place to start.

4. The Unitarian Church has already taken great strides in undertaking a project of this nature, and I wouldn't be opposed to working with my local UC on some of these recordings.

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_music#:~:text=During%20the%20first%20two%20or,it%20absorbed%20other%20musical%20influences.

The Enjoyment of Music, Ninth Edition Chronological Version by Machlis and Forney, 1997

#music #music appreciation #hellenic polytheism #pagan wicca #wicca #music therapy

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Wiccan Pilgrimage

Even after reading The Da Vinci Code and Holy Blood, Holy Grail and nearly getting expelled from high school for it; even after enrolling in my university's Religious Studies program and studying Eastern Religions and meeting a Freemason; even after watching National Treasure, Charmed, Gandhi, Kundun and who knows what other movies and shows throughout my life: the majority of my life, if I’d said I had found religion and was going on a spiritual pilgrimage, even I would’ve been convinced I was certifiable. (For all I know, the jury may still be out for some folks who’ve known me for a while…)

On New Year’s Eve 2022, I enrolled in Wiccan seminary school, intent on ending my nearly 20-year-long hiatus from the pursuit of the knowledge of witchcraft and Wicca, with the goal of eventually being able to perform handfasting ceremonies.

I spent a lot of time watching Sister Act 1 and 2 with my grandma as a child, but had never understood what the nuns meant when they referred to “the call.” Ironically, I had even started writing a sci-fi novel in the year or so leading up to my enrollment, which was aptly titled “The Call.” (COMPLETELY different subject matter, but a definite “here’s your sign” moment, nonetheless.) I had never understood what my friends and family meant when they all said they could hear The Voice of God, while all I heard in services, Communion, and youth group meetings was silence. Now, I know what they were all talking about.

A few months after receiving a strange letter in the mail addressed to my mother – who I had cut ties with roughly a dozen years prior – and finding out shortly thereafter that she had passed away, my teenager and I both began to feel as though there was a new presence in our home that had arrived at or around the same time as the letter. Since both of my parents’ houses had been home to spirits we were later able to assist in crossing over, I could tell there was no need to be afraid. It’s a testament to the family members with whom I still have contact that the subsequent events were received as “normal, for me.” In short, that presence had come in answer to my pleas over the past year or so prior to the Universe as a whole to please help guide me in a direction that would relieve some of my emotional burdens. I’d already pulled several Tarot cards for guidance throughout that time, as I had done when first discovering my draw toward Divination as a teenager. Those cards had told me time and time again that I needed to make a change, and I needed to spend some time alone afterward, getting to know myself again. I kept avoiding it out of fear. Then, the presence in the house came to me when I was at my lowest and reminded me of who I was.

A short time later, she introduced herself as the Greek goddess Demeter; and she wasn’t alone. For a brief time, my mother was with her, intent on seeking forgiveness and helping me heal through some of the traumas I’d always attributed to her. I was even able to pass along a message to my aunt, who also had not seen or heard from my mother in several years. Again, pretty normal stuff for having recognized I was a witch in my early teens.

Since receiving my call from Demeter to resume my studies and uphold the personal oath I’d made in 2004, I have felt like for the first time in a long time, I am living my life my way with nothing to hide: no performative mask from Autism I didn’t know I had, no more shame for believing in Paganism, and no more fear of societal reproach.

Last March, as a result of answering my call, I was able to make the first spiritual pilgrimage of my life, to an event called Spring Mysteries, hosted by the Aquarian Tabernacle Church. I attended the event with legitimately little clue what I was heading into, thinking it was going to be something along the lines of a sci-fi convention for witches; there did end up being several amazing vendors, and I found myself wishing I'd budgeted money and suitcase space for more merchandise. I had met several folks in my classes over the previous couple of months, and found myself enthusiastic to be heading to Seattle, even though I couldn't remember having flown on a plane to spend any length of time away from home by myself since my early teens, and that trip had been to visit family. (I'm now in my 30s)

Everyone around me comprised the most authentic, compassionate, energetic individuals I could ever remember being around. Large crowds are generally a HELL no from me. I did find myself something of a wallflower, but having a few classmates I was able to sidecar with for a while made the social anxiety dissipate quickly.

For a brief moment, when the main event began, I did experience a momentary: "Oh crap, what have I gotten myself into this time?" followed by an immediate: "Holy crap, that is a LOT of energy that just filled this room!" before realizing that the Demeter I was seeing telling her story to me and everyone else was unquestionably the same one who had called me to service thousands of miles and half a country away. Her energy was the same. Her personality was the same. The card she'd used to identify herself to me had referred to a 'mother figure,' and I could see so much of not only the her I'd met at home, but also the better well-meaning aspects of my mother in the vessel before me. I could also see several aspects of myself in her daughter, and I began to understand the ways in which Demeter really had, in fact "been there from the beginning" for me.

During the 4-day event, I was able to meet with Demeter and Persephone personally, and bring them gifts from home. Since we had known in advance that part of the event would involve the marriage of Persephone and Hades, I had brought with me the wedding rings I was no longer able to wear due to ending my relationship being the change I'd needed to make in my life. I placed those rings in Persephone's palm and told her that even though I knew she was the one who was supposed to be blessing us, I hoped those rings would bring her a happier and longer-lasting marriage than mine had been. When Demeter spoke to me, her message was identical to what she'd been saying to me at home, and has been saying ever since. I found myself giggling like a fangirl whenever I saw her vessel at the remainder of the event, and kept saying: “That’s my goddess over there!”

Before attending the event, I had also sat in quiet meditation to determine who may be on the projective end of deities in my life, as I'd prayed to Isis, Osiris, Horus, and Ra in high school and knew there needed to be a balance somewhere. It really shouldn't have been surprising to discover the theme of obsession with water and the images of grapes, wine, alcohol, or pleasure-seeking throughout my life, and to then be greeted by both Poseidon and Dionysus – who is still trying to decide if he prefers me to call him Bacchus, and definitely reminds me of a combination of Jack Black and Jim Carrey.

In four days, I was able to slough off more religious trauma than I had in years of therapy – and I’ve even noticed several similarities between therapy and practicing Wicca. I cried SO MUCH, but it wasn’t from fear or shame: it was from healing. I felt lighter every day I was there. I even visited with Poseidon and apologized for not knowing a better gift to bring him than a handful of pocket change and having visited Puget Sound for some sightseeing and a bowl of clam chowder that turned into leftovers that lasted the entire event.

I’ve had many people in my life tell me that they were there for me, and very few people follow through on it. EVERY SINGLE PERSON at that event who had indicated that they would be there for me when we met, followed through on their word. Even total strangers made me feel like some part of us had been friends all our lives. Over and over again I felt the living example of the message: "EVERYONE is in the in-crowd."

Finally owning that I am and always have been Wiccan, no matter what anyone else has to say to the contrary, has been the single greatest relief of my life. I understand now what people mean when they say they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ: I have shared glasses of wine and done landscaping projects while discussing my shadow work with Dionysus, walked through a drizzly rainy Seattle day and shared a cup of coffee and a bowl of chowder with Poseidon, broken bread with Demeter, chatted comfortably with Ares about my trauma, laughed together and talked about my crushes with Baubo and Aphrodite like they’re my best friends from high school, spoken with Hekate about my future, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that the next time I return to Spring Mysteries, I will be able to talk with each of those deities about those experiences from outside that event and know with absolute certainty that they are right there with me, and I’m not speaking to an actor or cosplayer. Someday, when I’m ready, I hope to have the opportunity and availability to carry one of them to help provide this type of experience to other witches like myself.  

#hellenic polytheism #pagan wicca #greek mythology #ancient greek mythology #hellenic #ares #bacchus #aphrodite #wicca #baubo #aquarian tabernacle church #spring mysteries #demeter #poseidon

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I got this stuck in my head just now, as I've been trying to think of how to describe someone I met recently who absolutely charmed me. I'm a poet myself and probably could've written something, but this sums it up quite nicely. It also occurs to me it may be a great way to honor or make an offering to various deities.

#hellenic polytheism #pagan wicca #wicca #hellenic #aphrodite #ancient greek mythology #greek mythology #lord byron #poetry

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I have no idea where I originally found this, but I pulled it out of my original BoS from high school the other day, just in time for Ostara. For the record, my egg morphed a bit and then settled on looking like Spongebob.

#hellenic polytheism #pagan wicca #wicca #ostara

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Statue of Dionysus

(British Museum)

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Altar when working with Baubo, Aphrodite, and other gods and goddesses of love and sexuality

#baubo #aphrodite #hellenic polytheism #self love #pagan wicca #wicca

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Altar when working with Ares and Nike

#ares #nike goddess #pagan wicca #wicca #hellenic polytheism

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demeter protecting persephone sketch

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Altar when working with Hekate

#hekate #hecate #pagan wicca #wicca #dark mother #hellenic polytheism

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Sleeping Venus by Jean-Baptiste Regnault (Late 18th - Early 19th Century)

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Aterios made these and had mentioned in their post that they're free for public use with a tag.