songandspear

[songandspear]

Some Ares songs:

Best of You - Foo Fighters

Fuckin' Perfect - P!nk

Battlefield - Svrcina

Drag My Body - Hot Water Music

Champion - Barns Courtney

Champion - Bishop Briggs

Black Holes (Solid Ground) - the Blue Stones

Glory and Gore - Lorde

Waiting on a War - Foo Fighters

This Is Why We Fight - the Decemberists

Scars - Papa Roach

Soldier - Fleurie

#ares #devotional playlist

[songandspear]

Some Hermes songs:

The Road - Frank Turner

I Am Disappeared - Frank Turner

I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

Passenger Seat - Death Cab for Cutie

Desert Lily - Make Do and Mend

Long Lost - Lord Huron

#hermes #devotional playlist #apologies if i've posted this before #i'm condensing my playlists and i just didn't want to lose these

[songandspear]

Me: Maybe everything really will be okay...as you frequently tell me...

The gods: 👀

Me: *plays random devotional song where the phrase "everything's gonna be all right" is repeated over and over*

They've got jokes, people! 😅

#em rambles #don't mind me #just sharing a silly little moment that i thought was funny

[songandspear]

I don’t know if it’s cultural/latent Christianity or just standard media illiteracy, but people need to seriously read up on the nature of mythology in ancient cultures. Like seriously.

So many people treat myths as factual accounts of events. I have never seen any literary scholar, anthropologist or historian make the claim that this was the way the ancients viewed their myths. It’s metaphor. It’s allegory. It’s symbolism. It’s a narrativised ritual. It’s artistic social, political, cultural commentary, instruction or expression. The claim that a myth should be interpreted literally is never made by serious researchers, because it

1) is inherently unprovable and unarguable, which renders it scientifically irrelevant.

2) it blocks off many more salient interpretations that can co-exist with other contradictory non-literal interpretations.

3) it does not seem consistent with the way myth was treated by storytellers and scholars of the time.

Myth is an inherently flexible medium. It’s beautiful and elegant in its manifold meanings. Stop trying to make it a literal account. It isn’t. Never has been. Do your research about the culture, the medium and the traditions you discuss, before making wild statements, before writing ahistorical retellings, or trying to cancel gods or the people who follow them, based on texts that were written (and before that orally handed down) thousands of years ago in a cultural tradition entirely different than ours.

STOP PROJECTING YOUR OWN LITERALISM AND REJECTION OF COMPLEXITY ON OTHER CULTURES.

It’s ignorant, it’s incurious, it’s incorrect and frankly disrespectful, racist and colonialist to insert your misunderstood notion of mythology in a culture that you have barely researched.

Some people need to be a bit less concerned with being seen as perfect paragons of moral righteousness, and a bit more with not spreading misinformation, cultural ignorance and media illiteracy.

#this post is maybe a little aggressive but makes some great points #and frankly i get the frustration as well

[songandspear]

i sing to ares, lord of  war & the ever sharp blade.  oh, unweary helper of men,  guide me with your strength & lead my weary feet forward.  unwavering god, drive away the fear in my heart & give me  the next day to fight on —

#ares #art

[songandspear]

You can do something to honor a god and pray to them for something, even if you don't have a personal relationship with them and don't plan to either.

For thousands of years, people around the world have simply just, prayed and given offerings to various divine beings, regardless of personal devotions.

You can pray to Zeus for rain. You can pray to Hermes for a safe journey. You can pray to Apollo before a surgery. You can pray to Hestia when you move into a new place for a home blessing. You can pray to Athena before an important exam. You can pray to Artemis when your pet is at the vet's.

You can ask for a god's intercession at any time, for any reason, without worshipping them on a regular basis.

It's what people of all cultures and civilizations have done since religions came into the lives of humans.

#well said

[songandspear]

💕💖💕It's Double Aphrodite Day!!💕💖💕

I hope you all have a good one!

#aphrodite

[songandspear]

Hey there, hope you're doing well! This may be a little bit of a sensitive ask (tw pet death) so please feel free to ignore it, but I was wondering if there were any myths about what happens to our pets when they pass, and/or how to honor them. I was thinking of having a little mini altar for my dog, and to give dog treats as offerings, but I wasn't sure if that was proper. Thanks in advance!!

I'm so sorry for your loss…

The ancient Greeks and Romans loved their dogs a lot and although there aren't a lot of stories about dogs in ancient mythology, we've found a lot of graves and epithets written by grieving owners who had to bury their dogs. Here's an example of one:

"I am in tears, while carrying you to your last resting place as much as I rejoiced when bringing you home in my own hands fifteen years ago."

Here are the rest: (LINK)

Here's a bit more on how the ancient Greeks cherished and loved their dogs. Plato even called them the greatest philosophers because they knew the difference between good and bad people: (LINK)

"The dog was a companion, protector, and hunter for the Greeks and the spiked collar…was invented by the Greeks to protect the necks of their canine friends from wolves." Source: (LINK)

So as you can see, dogs were very important to the ancient Greeks and they memorialized their dogs too so it's okay to put him on your altar. It won't be disrespectful and the gods will understand.

Here are examples of what they'd often look like:

To talk a bit more about my own grieving experience as a Hellenic polytheist and grieving my dog I hope it's okay if I tell you a bit about my own little dog who I lost this past March:

Mourning a dog is so hard because their love for us is so sincere and pure. They love fiercely and protect us as much as they can even when they're so much smaller than whoever they are challenging (my dog was a tiny Maltese Poodle but boy did that dog loved to bark and try to protect me.)

His death came a lot earlier than we expected, he got early onset doggy dementia also known as canine cognitive decline, which is very similar to human dementia.

He began to forget who we were and his health took a nosedive a few months before he passed. We chose to put him down before he got to the final stage (seizures) because as someone who grew up taking care of someone with seizures, I knew he was going to be in excruciating pain. But because he also had dementia he didn't know who we were so I knew he'd be very scared and in excruciating pain with less than a year to live.

Two weeks before his final appointment he lived like a king. He ate all his favorite foods and treats, watched Hamilton everyday (his favorite character was George Washington) and we had the vet come to our apartment so he would be very comfortable since he hated going to the vet.

The Aftermath:

Mourning the loss of a loved one is hard and although we're all familiar with feeling sadness when we grieve, no one ever talks about the guilt and rage that might come over you during your grieving process.

I was angry at my gods

I didn't even know why, I just was. I was mad at them, myself, my spouse, my school, my neighbors, I just wanted to be left alone. But because I was angry at my gods, my Catholic guilt kicked in and I felt guilty for being angry with my gods. I was spiraling because I was trying not to be angry and trying so hard to be sad instead.

But that's when Apollo showed up and I had an honest conversation with him about the guilt behind how I was grieving:

He told me that anger is a natural part of the mourning period. Not everyone will grieve the same but being angry with your gods is normal because when we lose someone who we loved so much there will be a flood of emotions that we didn't know we would feel and forcing them to express in only a sad way keeps you from truly processing your grief. My anger was a part of my grieving process, and so was my confusion and denial of having lost my dog. This was all normal.

I was so overwhelmed with my feelings of rage, guilt, and shame that we left home for a week so I could be away from my altar, my gods and from finding the many dog bones my dog hid before passing.

I desperately needed a break from my gods and they understood.

They weren't upset with me. They knew how much my dog meant to me and how much I loved him, so we left and I was able to process my emotions outside of my home. Prior to this I never understood why people in shows and movies needed to go on a trip when they suffered a loss but after my dog passed I was overwhelmed with the desire to be in nature. To be with Gaia, to be with Demeter. (Two gods I don't normally work with but I desperately needed)

It's okay to go through your own grieving process as it comes. To accept your feelings as they are.

It's okay to feel angry when you're grieving. It's also okay to be angry at your gods because they understand you're grieving. And finally, it's okay to memorialize your dog in whatever way brings you the most comfort.

My dog's little box sits on my altar. He gets his treats and has an electric candle we make sure never turns off. I often mentally see him sitting on Ares' lap or playing fetch with Hermes. He hangs out with my gods and I know my gods don't hold my grieving process against me. They know losing a dog was hard for the ancient Greeks and it's still hard for their modern followers because losing someone who loves you so unconditionally and accepts you for who you truly are without judgment is the hardest thing to do. I wanted to share this with you so you can grieve freely and honor your dog in whatever form brings you the most comfort. The gods understand and they will grieve with you & be there for you.

I personally believe all dogs go straight to the Elysian Fields because dogs are our greatest heroes.

#tw pet death #tw animal death #tw death #long post #this is very sweet and informative

[songandspear]

I keep seeing posts about people "needing" to cleanse before approaching the Greek gods and while those posts mean well I just want to remind everyone that:

Hygiene is VERY hard to keep up with when you're very depressed or having a very hard mental health day but that's when you need your gods the most!

And I know it's because a lot of ancient priests insisted people needed to cleanse themselves before visiting the temples and communing with the gods (they even banned people on their periods, or those who were about to have a baby or those who just had a baby or were just dealing with a dead body, or had blood on them, etc.) but, as the keepers of the temples, that's because the priests themselves would have to clean up after temple visitors so it makes sense they'd want to ban the ones they thought could potentially make a mess and make extra work for them.

The Iliad shows us the gods were in the battlefield! They fought right next to soldiers being slaughtered and killed. They were next to bodies that have involuntarily released feces and urine! They've been around soldiers who hadn't properly bathed in months, possibly even years!

You're allowed to seek the gods when you're not clean.

You're allowed to seek the gods when you haven't gotten out of bed in weeks.

You're allowed to see the gods when you don't remember the last time you showered or brushed your teeth.

You're allowed to see the gods when you really need help.

You're allowed to see the gods when you need them.

Athena and Ares are in the battlefield surrounded by dying soldiers.

Artemis hunts

Aphrodite also has a war aspect.

Hermes picks up souls from literal dead bodies.

Apollo has an aspect that prepares dead bodies for funerary rights.

The gods are surrounded by the unclean all the time!

Please don't let the rules of disgruntled priests stop you from seeking help when you need it the most!

The gods won't be offended if you haven't bathed in weeks because of your terrible mental state! That's ableism! They just want to help you through it!

Please reach out to them regardless of your condition!

#for those who need it #psa #some people really do too much trying to interfere in others' private spiritual lives

[songandspear]

One of the easiest cards I've made so far. Originally I was going to do a foggy forest but once I saw this snowy field I knew this was the way to go. Like @lightningwildflower said "sometimes the images just choose themselves"

#tarot #the hermit #tarot cards

[songandspear]

Worshipping the gods doesn't have to be super serious devotion level worship all the time. I see some people worry about having "too many deities", but you don't have to have a close relationship with a deity to work with them or pray to them. In fact, it was more common in ancient times to NOT be devoted to any specific deity at all if you weren't some kind of religious figure, like a priest or priestess. Most of the time, there were certain deities that a person would favor, but their worship was not the in-depth type of devotion we see on witchblr a lot. In fact, ancient people sometimes went to a temple for a specific god once in their whole life to pray for something very specific and give offerings and then never needed that specific deity ever again. That's the very nature of these large pantheons. You will have favorites, but even then, you don't NEED to be devoted to them to ask for their help or pray to them.

I say this as mostly a Greco-Roman polytheist, but I'm sure it applies to other large pantheons as well. And, as always, certain gods may be an exception to the rule and require more, both historically and UPG-wise. But it is still a good general rule of thumb. There is no pressure to find a patron or become a devotee of any deity, unless you truly desire to do so.

#well said

[songandspear]

It’s our common responsibility to make religious and magical spaces and praxis accessible to disabled people by the way; it’s for everyone or for no one.

[songandspear]

Hello everyone 🌞! It's the first of the month so it's time for another Pick A Card Reading 🃏. Today we're using the Pulp Tarot to see what the month of July has in store for you. Thanks again to my lovely spouse @heartwarminghockey for being the perfect hand model for these videos.

#tarot reading #pick a card #pick a card reading #free tarot reading

[songandspear]

Zeus: I’ve left you all instructions for when I am gone.

Hermes: Mine just says “Hermes, no”?

Zeus: I want you to apply that to every possible situation.

#pfft #hermes

[songandspear]

Sending abundance your way!!!

[songandspear]

Happy Father's Day, War Dad ⚔️🛡

#ares #❤️❤️❤️

[songandspear]

hello everyone!!

in honor of this account reaching ((and passing)) 300 followers i wanted to host another game!!

this game will be free release + retain readings!

these readings will be 2 cards, the first card being what is ready to leave your life/has been taking up too much energy and the second card will be what is necessary for you to continue growing :)

rules:

follow me! like and reblog this post as well so others can join if they want!

you can either message me directly or send in an ask! you can send in asks on anon but please leave an emoji as an identifier

in your message or ask please include “release + retain game” along with whether you want me to use tarot cards or oracle cards to answer — if you don’t add this or don’t have a preference i’ll choose!

be sure to include the password in your ask/message ((to prove you’ve read my account rules))

if you have anything else you want me to think about while pulling cards, feel free to add that as well :)

finally, please be patient! i appreciate the amount of people who come to be for free readings but it does take energy from me so don’t rush me or i’ll simply delete your ask

game status: open as of 6/12

#tarot #free tarot reading #free oracle reading #this sounds fun