#modern oracle of delphi

[eldritch-thrumming]

sometimes after 10pm I take a handful of Tylenol pm or Benadryl and I have prophetic visions and they leave my body in the form of incoherent tumblr posts

#modern day oracle of Delphi vibes

[lesbianlanval]

agree w this post in principle & also it's funny but also there were like laws regarding warfare prior to the geneva convention

#did a presentation once on how alexander the great would have been considered a war criminal by ancient as well as modern standards #e.g. attacked travellers during the olympics #pulled an oracle of delphi around by her hair #that sort of thing. violating treaties

[agirlinthegalaxy]

There should be a site like doesthedogdie that lets you know if watching this movie/show while you’re eating is a good idea or not.

#( dumbass decisions on the daily | personal ) #would i listen to it? still probably not based off of the fact that multiple times i start watching an episode of bones with dinner #i am. fully aware that the grossest part of each episode is at the beginning and yet i still sit there like #oh who could have forseen that i'm now no longer super hungry watching the funny or gross way they discover this corpse #truly i need an oracle of delphi in this modern day

[thatcrazypercyjacksonfan]

Now, I’m not sure if anyone in the TOA fandom has ever mentioned “Tongs A Lot, Dad”, a short story found in Camp Half-Blood confidential, but I strongly believe it adds (or perhaps reinforces) a lot when looked at with the additional context and characterisation the Trials of Apollo provides. 

An almost diary entry like addition in the short book, the story is told by Connor Stoll, following him and his brother as they poke around the old attic where the Oracle of Delphi remained for decades in the interest of scoring loot. At this they are semi successful, as they are made almost ridiculously vital to the canon plot of HoO with the find of celestial bronze tongs, which are inscribed with the instructions “for plucking the Tartarus Napkin from fire”. And if you are reading this post, you probably have a pretty good idea of why that’s important.

Now, what does this have to do with Apollo? Well, I find it highly probable that this was Apollo’s doing, for multiple reasons. 

1. The tongs were found in the oracle of Delphi's old abode, which is obviously Apollo’s domain, a place you would think he’d be very familiar with- the original place of the Oracle of Delphi was sacred ground, in fact, and even if that doesn’t quite translate to modern day... there is that theory about him being Camp Half Bloods Patron, pioneered by @tsarisfanfiction, I believe. Whatever hold the ancient laws have on the gods, I think we can somewhat assume that places such as these allow more wriggle room. 

 2. This notably happened basically simultaneously with Rachel becoming the Oracle, as seen here, “While everyone else was waiting to see if Rachel, the new Oracle, would survive....we made our move around to the back door of the Big House.” At this point, we’ve just wrapped up PJO. How would Apollo of known to set this up now? Well, we already know from Octavian in SoN that Apollo talked to him personally, and that their talk must of happened before Olympus closed, because he was stuck on Delos after. So if Apollo can put that into play, why not set up this? After all, Apollo is the god of prophecy - he could of understood it was needed. He obviously knew there was a threat. 

3. In the books (before ToA) we only see Apollo in Camp Half Blood twice- once to take Percy’s group and the hunters there in TTC, and once at the end of PJO to, as Conner so delightfully puts it, wait to see if Rachel would survive the Oracle. He was right there. And if that’s not enough for you, the reason Conner picks out the bag with the tongs? A “beam of golden light, shot upward from the floor” startles him. We find out later in another story that Apollo is directly confirmed to have been the one to do this- gifting Rachel the famous tripod stool of the Oracle. It fits almost to well.

“But!” You might say, protesting, “The title confirms who did it! I mean, it’s not like Apollo is Connor Stoll’s dad!” And to that I say- although the title does suggest that Hermes is responsible, it’s never confirmed, and more importantly- it’s in Connor’s POV. Why shouldn’t he assume it’s his dad? And why would he know otherwise? Perhaps you could make another connection with Hermes due to his shrine in Tartarus and point at that as his involvement, but wouldn’t it make more sense if Apollo knew it was a Child of Hermes who had to have the tongs, and acted accordingly? Afterall, last we saw Hermes he had a significant grudge against Annabeth, and more importantly has done nothing to suggest he’s capable of such foresight, especially at this point.

Now that I have (hopefully) convinced you of Apollo’s involvement, another titular question must be answered- why does it matter? What’s the ramifications of this? Well, considering that this napkin basically ends the civil war between the Greeks and the Romans... a lot, actually. Specifically, it allows Annabeth to communicate that reconciliation can be reached if Reyna, a Roman, returns the Athena Parthenos, an important Greek statue to the Greeks. (Also interesting to note she addresses this to Rachel, Apollo’s Oracle... another subtle connection). 

In ToA, Zeus punishes Apollo mainly for two stated reasons: Revealing the Prophecy to soon, which becomes pretty clear is not how prophecy works. And encouraging Octavian to declare war on the Greeks. But wait? If the Napkin succeeds due to Apollo, that means that he is trying to stop the war, which in my opinion follows more along with his characterisation in ToA. So what happened with Octavian? The fact of the matter is, people more clever then me have attempted to solve this question, such as @zazzander and @fearlessinger (Highly recommend this post if you are interested in the topic!) 

The tongs (and thus the potential for the Napkin) was put into place months before any true threat would be realised by most characters. So it wasn’t a frantic backpedal of trying to fix his mistakes to avoid punishment by Apollo. It was deliberate. Premeditated. Now, it could be that Apollo just knew the tongs would be needed, but not what for. Unfortunately, we don’t know how his powers work. But that’s boring. However, if you take the view that Apollo’s communication with Octavian was part of a larger strategy to reunite the camps... (again, see the linked post). Well. Funny thing, because that’s exactly what the Napkin facilitates. The two camps stop fighting because of this one, simple message, and the effect it had. They focus on the true enemy. Gaia.

What does this tell us then about Apollo, then?

Well...not much new, surprisingly. ToA does it’s job well. We know Apollo cares, deeply, about his kids and demigods as a whole. We know he often acts subtly, through quiet actions that he’ll never admit to. It’s maybe the final piece of evidence you could point to and say definitively that Zeus’s punishment was unjust, but we already knew that (although funnily enough, Zeus doesn’t- and even if he did, he’d probably just point to the violation of the interference laws and punish Apollo anyway.) What it does is add on to a very firm characterisation that ToA finalises, and showcases how once again Apollo is so much more then he first appears. 

#Did I focus way to much on a story of dubious canon? #Yes #Do I regret it? #No #Apollo meta #Apollo #ToA Apollo #Pjo Apollo #PJO #TOA #Trials of Apollo #lester papadopoulos #I have been meaning to do this for ages #I just think it's a really neat detail... but it just kept getting longer #Oh well #this meta is just me being insane for #roughly 1k words erbherf

[samwisethewitch]

Pagan Wedding Flowers (and other plants) Cheat Sheet

Flowers have been associated with weddings for almost as long as humans have been getting married. In fact, the use of flowers in ritual may actually be older than humans! Neanderthal graves in Iraq suggest that Neanderthals buried their dead with flowers. There are mentions of flowers in our earliest recorded accounts of weddings, such as in Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

Historically, couples would have used whatever flowers were available to them. While some cultures had flowers they preferred for weddings because of their symbolism, couples would have been limited by what grew in their area and by what was in bloom at the time of their ceremony. To be truly as historically accurate as possible, consider using flowers you grew or foraged yourself. Bonus points for native blooms!

For those who aren't into growing or gathering your own wedding flowers, modern florists and greenhouses allow us to choose from a wide range of flowers, many of which aren't native to our homes. This makes it much easier to choose flowers based on their symbolism, history, or cultural meaning.

Historic Wedding Flowers + Plants

Roses have been the flower of choice for Western weddings pretty much forever, and with good reason. The rose is associated with several ancient goddesses of sex, fertility, and/or romance, such as Inanna, Ishtar, Aphrodite, and Venus. (Later, medieval Christians would also associate this flower with the Virgin Mary.) Including the goddess's flowers in a wedding may have been a way of invoking her blessing on the union. Sappho called rose "Queen of the Flowers."

Roses are held in a high regard in pretty much every culture with access to them. They're strongly associated not only with love, but also with beauty, wholeness, blessings, and even spirituality.

Rose was included in wedding celebrations in Ancient Hellos (Greece) and Rome. It is associated with the planet Venus and the water element.

Wheat was also a popular inclusion in weddings in ancient Greece and Rome. Hellenic brides would carry sheaths of wheat or another grain to invoke fertility and good fortune. Wheat was strongly associated with agrarian goddesses like Demeter, Persephone, Ceres, and Proserpina. Carrying wheat may also have been a way of expressing a wish for the marriage to produce many children. Pliny the Elder explicitly says in his Natural History that wheat was included in weddings to honor Ceres.

In modern occult systems, wheat is associated with fertility, the conception of children, and wealth. It is associated with the planet Venus and the element of earth.

Olive branches also featured in Hellenic weddings. Olive was an important crop in the ancient Mediterranean, and olive branches were a symbol of peace and friendship. Olive was also used in the victors' crowns in the Olympic Games. In Athens, the olive tree was a symbol of Athena. It was also carried by worshipers of Apollo when they visited the Oracle at Delphi. Olive was also important to the Romans, who associated it with Mars in his aspect as a protector of peace.

In modern magic traditions, olive is associated with beauty, healing, stamina, wealth, fertility, protection and of course, peace. It is associated with the sun and the fire element.

Orange blossoms were included in Hellenic weddings as a sign of happiness. These strongly scented white flowers also sometimes appeared in Roman weddings. Thousands of years later, Queen Victoria wore a crown of orange blossoms at her wedding, but for her they were a symbol of chastity.

In modern systems, orange is associated with joy, partnership, sweetness, and good luck. It is associated with the sun and the fire element.

Hawthorn appeared in weddings in ancient Rome. Pliny the Elder said that Roman bridal processions included a hawthorn torch dedicated to the goddess Ceres. In Rome, hawthorn was more generally associated with love and good luck.

In Celtic cultures, especially Ireland, hawthorn was believed to be a fairy tree. For this reason, cutting a hawthorn tree or bringing hawthorn branches inside was considered bad luck.

The blooming of hawthorn trees was used to determine the date of Bealtaine, and hawthorn boughs were often decorated with flowers, ribbons, and egg shells to make a May bush, which was placed by the front door for good luck. In Britain, hawthorn wood was used to carve maypoles. Hawthorn flowers may be especially appropriate for a May wedding or handfasting.

In modern occultism, hawthorn is associated with protection, healing (especially healing the heart), romantic love, fertility, granting wishes, and happiness. It is still strongly associated with weddings and marriage. It is associated with the planet Mars and the fire element.

Lotus may have featured in ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) weddings. The lotus was an important symbol in Kemetic religion, and was associated with the sun, rebirth, and the creation of the world. Lotus flowers featured in festivals to honor Hapi, the androgynous god of the Nile. The lotus is used in art to represent Upper Egypt. An Egyptian poem from 1100 BCE connects the lotus to marriage.

Lotus flowers were also popular in ancient Chinese weddings, and they're still used by some Chinese couples today. In Chinese culture, lotus represents purity, honor, and long life.

In modern traditions, lotus is associated with protection, spirituality, and blessings. It is associated with the moon and the water element.

Yellow flowers were used in pre-Christian Ireland for blessings and protection. The exact flower used for these rituals is not specified, so it seems like the color was what mattered. Modern pagans looking to carry on this tradition have lots of yellow flowers to choose from. Some popular choices include yellow roses (see above), yellow amaryllis (associated with creativity, playfulness, and joy), chrysanthemum (associated with long life, optimism, and protection), marigold (associated with happiness, rebirth, and vitality), and/or daffodils (associated with love, fertility, and luck).

Modern Wedding Flowers

We've gone over some of the flowers that were popular in historic pagan weddings, but it's also easy to pagan-ify the flowers that are most popular in modern weddings. Here's a quick rundown of some popular wedding blooms and their neopagan and occult symbolism:

Peony is associated with purification, healing, prosperity, and success. In ancient Rome, peony was believed to be sacred to Mars. It is associated with the sun and the fire element.

Dahlia is associated with mystery, occult wisdom, and transformation. It is associated with the moon and the water element.

Lilac is associated with balance, peace, romance, protection from evil, and attracting friendly spirits. It is associated with Venus and the water element.

Sweet Pea is associated with comfort, charm, and sweetness. It is associated with Venus and the water element.

Hydrangea is associated with healthy boundaries, breaking negative patterns, hex breaking, and protection. It is associated with water and with both the moon and Neptune.

Tulip is associated with beauty, desire, gratitude, love, prosperity, and simplicity. It is associated with Venus and the earth element.

Orchid is associated with beauty, elegance, sexuality, fertility, and romance. It is associated with Venus and the water element.

Lily is associated with spirituality, beauty, harmony, and protection from the evil eye. It is associated with Venus and the water element.

Carnation is associated with beauty, love, rebirth, strength, and healing. Carnations are associated with same-gender love and especially love between men because of Oscar Wilde's fondness for them. They are associated with the sun and the fire element.

Gardenia is associated with love, peace, healing, and spirituality. It is associated with the moon and the water element.

Resources:

"New Neanderthal remains associated with the ‘flower burial’ at Shanidar Cave," Cambridge University Press

"History of Wedding Flowers" by Benna Crawford

The Roman Wedding by Karen K. Hersch

"The Olive in the Ancient Mediterranean" by Mark Cartwright

"The History, Mythology, and Offerings of Hawthorn" by Meghan Pivarnik

Where the Hawthorn Grows by Morgan Daimler

Temple of the Cosmos by Jeremy Naydler

The Magic of Flowers by Tess Whitehurst

The Magic of Trees by Tess Whitehurst (see my disclaimer about Whitehurst's books, but these are some of her better ones)

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham

#the great handfasting project #handfasting #pagan wedding #wedding magic #queer wedding #pagan #paganism #pagan witch #hellenic polytheism #hellenism #religio romana #cultus deorum #roman polytheism #kemetic paganism #kemetic polytheism #irish paganism #irish pagan #irish folklore #wicca #wiccan #flowers #flower magic #correspondences #love magic #love spell #green witchcraft #green witch #witch #witchblr #witchcraft

[flying-ham]

@disappointmentthemusical is literally my modern oracle of delphi this is so funny out of context

#they diagnosed Jensen with f@g face the other day #jensen ackles #dean winchester #supernatural #spn #tom hardy #gay

[fantasyfantasygames]

Amazons

Amazons, Warrior Women Games, 2006

As one would expect, you play Amazons in this game - women from out of Greek myth.* You're warriors, hunters, scouts, sailors, and sages. There's only one supernatural power involved (which I'll get into later), so no witches or demigods or anything.

Your characters are defined by a fairly standard set of attributes and skills - Strength, Agility, Wisdom, Spear, Archery, Stealth, etc. All of them are done with a pyramidal cost scheme. As a result, it's easy to build a group where your characters overlap too much. It costs the same number of points to buy a 10-point skill (rolling 1d10x10) as it does to buy two skills at 8 and 6 (1d10x8 and 1d10x6), and the 8 and 6 are generally high enough to hit the typical target numbers. I think what I'm trying to say is that the game could really use a better approach to handling character archetypes, both for flavor purposes and for niche protection.

As mentioned, the game uses multiplication, which you'll either be fine with or will really bother you. Since it's dice-times-stat instead of dice-times-dice, the probability distribution is fairly flat, and you don't have weird statistics stuff going on. You do get margin-of-success effects from rolling higher, but you don't actually have to do two-digit subtraction. Instead, you get one "rank" of success for every point by which the tens place in your result is higher than the tens in your opponent's result. You roll a 25 and they have a 48? They have a rank-2 success. Same if you roll a 28 and they have a 40. Ranks get you damage, but also duration and effectiveness for other types of roll. It's a little weird at low values - a 12 and an 18 get you a tie even though one is 50% higher than the other - but it works well for higher values.

The particularly cool part of the game is that you play in two time periods simultaneously: ancient Greece and modern-day Athens. Your characters went "through" the Oracle at Delphi (is that how that works??) and are experiencing parallel events. When they run into a businessman in the modern day, they meet a merchant in ancient Greece. A Spartan warrior might become a rich but violent criminal. They see both things happening at once, and the GM is encouraged to mix the two in their descriptions. Philosophers arguing in the shadow of concrete and steel. Ocean liners passing by sailing vessels. It's an interesting conceit, and it gives you some cool ways to solve problems in one time by approaching them i the other.

Typical antagonists are "cruel people in positions of power" - slavers, price-gouging traders, sadistic princes, petty senators, etc. Several examples are statted up, along with their entourages. There isn't much discussion of what the backlash is going to be from your characters going after those people and their well-trained bodyguards. Like a lot of this game, the surface level is presented and any implications are left to the GM and their table.

As we leave this review, it may be interesting to know that Warrior Women Games was two cis men in their twenties. The game is written with respect, but without personal experience. There's no major misogyny here, no particular fetishization or anti-feminist rhetoric involved. There's also no real punch to the fact that you're actually playing women. On the one hand - awesome! The game treats your women characters just like it would treat men characters. Straight-up equality. On the other hand, there's a missed opportunity to dig into how your ancient women experience the modern world. There's no discussion of what has changed and what has not since the (admittedly fictional*) time of the Amazons. I think a game written by someone able to delve into that experience more might be more compelling. But I'll at least give it credit for not having fallen into a number of traps that plague other men-written-women-centric games. You're not going to cringe reading this.

*Edit to add, March 2024: Maybe the Amazons are not as fictional as I thought! https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/mar/24/truth-behind-the-myths-amazon-warrior-women-of-greek-legend-may-really-have-existed

#ttrpg #imaginary #indie ttrpg #rpg #review #no glamazon archetype in this one maybe next time #no discussion of trans amazons either but this was 2006 #fun fact there's a trans amazon supporting character in Wonder Woman these days

[thegrapeandthefig]

Hey! This ask may have already been answered before, but can you talk about posidieia in you calendar? It’s a new word for me.

Thank you for your attention and for making the calendar!

Hi! I did briefly write about the festival, but I never gave a full breakdown of it. For the sake of clarity, I'm going to split this answer in two parts, starting with the historical evidence and then moving on to the festival reconstruction itself.

The evidence

The Thasian Posideia, like many of the festivals in my calendar, takes source from this inscription:

So it is one of those festivals that I factually know had a presence on the island, on top of the archaeological evidence for a sanctuary of Poseidon.

Unfortunately, this legal document doesn't give us any details about the festivals listed, so we have to look elsewhere to get an idea of what the festival is really about.

In a commentary of this inscription, François Salviat makes these observations:

The month of Poseidon is widespread in the Ionian calendar and aligns with the celebration of Posideia, primarily observed in the Aegean tradition during winter, which is normally an unfavourable season.

The antiquity of the cult of Poseidon is established through the widespread and fixed nature of Poseidon, with celebrations confirmed along the coast of Asia and in the Cyclades.

The Thasian sanctuary of Poseidon, discovered in 1927, was likely the focal point of these celebrations, marked by its vast area, though specifics remain unclear.

Continuous favour for the cult of Poseidon is evidenced through external sources such as various dedications, inscriptions, votive reliefs, and the prevalence of symbols like the trident and dolphin on amphora seals, silver coins, and even in personal names.

Since this was the most information I could get about the festival in Thasos specifically, I started looking for what was known about the Posideias in other cities, specifically Delos.

Thasos is, despite its northern location, heavily influenced by the Cyclades. This is because it was colonized by Paros and as such inherited a lot of its religious and administrative customs.

The proximity between Paros and Delos (and Delos being a major religious center) makes any evidence from this area possibly relevant.

The Posideia was also celebrated on Delos, and we thankfully have more information on the way it was celebrated there thanks to an inscription known as CGRN 199 "Example of the accounts of the Posideia and Ilithyaia on Delos", dating from 178 BC. The date being significantly more recent is also a good sign. Salvia has already established that the cult was ancient, and we can clearly see that, at least on a Cycladic level, the Posideia kept being celebrated throughout the centuries.

The inscription gives us very useful information, especially the epithets chosen for the festival: Asphaleios and Orthosios. The rest is a list of offerings and purchases for the festival, most of them being foodstuff, cooking supplies, dishes and the money allocated for wages. We are also told that the festival included a contest of some form.

Reconstruction

For reconstruction purposes, I had to go for a Delian-Thasian mix. But before that, we need to take a closer look at the epithets, since they indicate the purpose of the festival.

On the cult of Poseidon Aphaleios, Fritz Graf tells us this in "Myths, martyrs, and modernity: studies in the history of religions in honour of Jan N. Bremmer."

"the protection against earthquakes being most often attributed to Poseidon. As such, he usually has the epiklêsis Asphaleios, ‘Steadfast One’ (literally ‘He Who Does Not Stumble’); his cult is attested in many places, especially in western Asia Minor with its high incidence of earthquakes. [...] Oracles from Delphi and Didyma recommended to build altars and bring sacrifices to Poseidon Asphaleios to prevent further earthquakes;"

And Mikalson, in "Religion in Hellenistic Athens" tells us more about the inscription:

"Delos was famed for not having earthquakes (Hdt. 6.98), and credit for that no doubt should be given to Poseidon, because at his festival, the Posideia, he was honored as Asphaleios (“Securer”) and Orthosios (“Uprighter”). The festival featured contests and a banquet, and from the records of expenditures (520 drachmas in ca. 180 B.C.) for the banquet, Bruneau has calculated, at 1 1/2 obols per banqueter, about 2,000 participants, consuming about 1,600 quarts of wine. The banquet quite likely served most of the male, adult citizenry of Delos, and those few who missed it received their 1 1/2 obols in cash (257–67)."

In the case of Delos, we're looking at a festival which aims to reduce the likeliness of natural catastrophes, particularly earthquakes. While this doesn't give me any proof of it being the same for Thasos, there is evidence for the epithet Asphaleios for Paros (which is the mother-city of Thasos) through inscription SEG 15: 517 (mid-3rd c. BC), which indicates that the oracle of Delphi prescribes offering a sacrifice to Zeus Hyperdexios, Athena Hyperdexia, Poseidon Asphaleios, and Artemis Eukleia on the first altar of the Archilocheion dedicated to the Muses, Apollo Mousagetes, and Mnemosyne.

While indirect, the fact that a cult to Poseidon Asphaleios existed in Paros gives us a good reason to believe the cult was known in Thasos as well.

Now that we have our epithet, we can move on to the rest. I've been quite liberal with the offering I make for the festival, depending on how much time I have on my hands when the festival falls on the calendar, but as a rule of thumb, I try to stick with using ingredients found in CGRN 199.

Wine is always a given, and then I pick and choose from the ingredients. We know that beef and sheep are good meats to choose from, and then there are chickpeas, figs and nuts also listed. So my offering will be either all of those things or some of those things. If I have time, I'll go and find a meal that incorporates those ingredients, or I can also offer these things on their own.

At this point of the reconstruction, we have our epithet and possible offerings, and so we can move on to the tricky question of timing.

The month was easy to pin down, since there is a month of Poseidon in the Thasian calendar, but we have no other indication of time in any of the direct sources. For simplicity's sake, I chose the 26th of Poseidon. This is a direct loan from Athens, since Poseidon was honoured during the Athenian Haloa on their 26th of Poseidon (the two calendars don't always line up)

With all this pinned down, I just wrote a custom hymn for the occasion. There is obviously still room for adaptation. I don't live in a particularly seismic area of the world (unlike Greece), so if I were to make the festival more aligned with my local risks of natural catastrophes, I could use an angle of approach that focuses on floods, especially coastal floods. Thankfully, the epithet "Asphaleios", with its meaning of "securer" can easily be extended to other types of dangers.

Anyway, this got long. I hope this helps give a good idea of what the festival is about, both historically and in my personal calendar. And I hope this also helped give a good idea of how I reconstructed the festival from a mention to a more fully fledged religious event.

#posideia #posideon #poseidon #poseidondeity #poseidon deity #hellenic polytheism #hellenic paganism #hellenic pagan #thasian recon #delian recon

[sabakos]

Ancient historical figures will sometimes be described as living to some preposterous age that modern humans rarely live to, which is usually assumed to be a legend that's supposed to be proof of their magnificent transcendence. Most historians and classicists today obviously tend to be skeptical of such claims.

But this is why the longevity claims about the Ancient Greek philosopher Gorgias of Leontini are so baffling. Nobody could stand that guy. He wasn't even some mystical natural philosopher like Empedocles or Pythagoras, he was a goddamned traveling sophist, somebody who went around Ancient Greece charging absurd amounts of money to teach other people how to speak well in court.

In his surviving work, Gorgias brags about how his program would help his students deceive others. He also wrote a philosophical treatise arguing that nothing exists, nothing could be understood even if it did exist, and nothing could be communicated to others even if you understood it. His student, Isocrates, claimed he never paid taxes. And he may have also have had a solid gold statue of himself made to donate to the Oracle at Delphi, assuming that wasn't just a legend made up by someone trying to illustrate how vain he was. But nobody who wrote biographies of famous philosophers extolling their great virtues was likely to consider any of this behavior worth emulating, so they weren't about to invent any supernatural powers for him.

But despite all this, people still seem to agree that he lived to be one hundred and eight years old, which was remarkable enough at the time that many people seem to have written about it. Admittedly, he did have the advantage of living in one of the relatively more peaceful times in ancient history, but he was still born 15 years before Socrates and only died 20 years before Plato. Historians say it was probably because he mixed his drinking water with wine, which prevented him from getting sick from waterborne illnesses. So this traveling nihilistic lawyer who got rich teaching other people how to lie possibly got two lifetimes worth of professional philosophy in the middle of the Classical period because he was drunk all of the time. The good die young.

#tagamemnon

[abwatt]

Diviners: what are you reading

Fortune tellers, diviners, tarotists, astrologers, geomancers, bones-throwers, rune-readers... what are you reading??

I’ve heard tell, recently, of someone who got a reading from a Tarot card reader. The client came in with questions about their business.... and the Tarot card reader answered with advice about the gods and spirits, and connecting with the ancestors.  They talked in numbers of disks and singular swords, and emperors and Devils.

Umm.

My friend was bewildered. And angry to be out $45.  And lacked advice — actionable advice — about how to manage a deteriorating relationship with a business partner.

OK, I get it — I myself have shelves that are bending and sloping under the weight of tarot card decks and books about astrology.  I have piles of workbooks and guides to being a better astrologer. And I’m certainly interested in gods and myths and legends of spirits, and how to do magic to make them help you get what you want.  If you’re anything like me, THAT’s on your bookshelves, too.

BUT.

I read eight to ten books about business — about sales, about administration, about marketing and advertising, about business design — every year.  I read two or three biographies of historical persons (partly to pick them apart for astrological purposes, partly because real people are interesting).  I read five to six books about magic, because you have to keep your skills and techniques up-to-date, and know whether or not you’re doing stuff right.  I read three or four books about history (ancient and modern) to have examples to draw on in consultations with clients.  I read four or five how-to books (and devour YouTube educational content) on sewing, embroidery, woodworking, and more, every year.  As my parents (and I) age, I’m reading more books about health and medicine, too.

And because I’m cis-, and white, and straight, and male, I read books by and about and for women, queer people, women of color, men of color.  I read books by non-Americans, too, and try to get a sense of the world beyond my state and nation: geopolitics, the economics of South America, the logistics routes that make T-shirts and jeans in the US possible.  

In ancient times, the laws of the city of Delphi, home of the most famous oracle in the Mediterranean, simply required that only a woman could sit on the tripod in the adyton and prophesy.  By the Classical era, it was required that she be a married woman with children, in her fourth decade — someone who knew something of the world, and knew its pitfalls and challenges, as well as its opportunities. 

Please don’t get me wrong — if you’re nineteen, or fifteen, and starting to learn a form of fortune-telling or divination, that’s fine.  You don’t have to be married and in your forties to start.  You don’t even have to wait for someone to give you a tarot deck or a pack of runes.  

But PLEASE —widen the horizon of what’s valuable knowledge for a diviner. It’s not just the official meanings of the cards in the little white book.  It’s ALL the other reading and information you’re carrying around in your brain: the things you learned in summer camp about making Friendship Bracelets and the class about computer programming; the obsessive binge-watching of every documentary about China you could find; the map you drew in your journal in math class of who was kissing whom; the lemonade stand you ran with your cousin during the family reunion; the book you borrowed from the library about how to write a novel.   Fortune-telling, divination, is a weird method for deciding what information you carry around in your head is relevant to a given conversation with a client or a friend.  But feed that head.  Locked up inside that head is a treasure-house of experiences, and the more you put in there, the more that you will be able to unfold to a client in the course of a consultation.

#feed your head #training the fortune teller #divination #fortune telling #astrology #tarot #magic

[whispersinthedawn]

The Last of a Dying Breed (1)

“This is the Oracle of Delphi?” Bianca asked tremulously, staring at the girl whose face rang the sole bell of recognition in an otherwise unfamiliar world.

“Yes,” Annabeth said flatly, the twelve-year-old supremely unconcerned about sneaking into someone’s room while they were asleep.

“Should we come back when she's awake?” Bianca suggested hesitantly.

Annabeth snorted. “If you wish to wait forever. She's only been asleep for nearly fifty years. A modern-day Sleeping Beauty.”

***

The door slammed open with a thunderous boom disproportionate to the force applied.

Bianca should have taken it as the death knell for their plans it was. Unfortunately, being afflicted by a criminal case of amnesia left one particularly unequipped to interpreting the vagaries of abrupt gusts of wind. All she knew was that Annabeth Chase didn’t bother knocking before she threw open the door and marched inside confidently.

Bianca scurried in after her, wondering if the daughter of Athena had an invitation to visit the Oracle whenever she wished. Either way, she hoped the Oracle would choose to disregard their discourtesy long enough to give them a prophecy.

On first glance, the attic appeared to be a pretty enough room, wallpapered in blue and yellow and boasting mementos from past demigod victories. Nothing frightening about it to send dark looks on the faces of every camper Bianca had broached the matter of approaching the Oracle to.

Probably why despite the knick-knacks, the room had an air of disuse to it.

Bianca had almost dismissed the chamber as an office when she caught her first sight of the Oracle.

A slender, pretty, dark-haired girl lay asleep on the bed near the window, undisturbed in spite of the loud noise that had heralded the entrance of the two demigods.

“This is the Oracle of Delphi?” Bianca asked tremulously, staring at the girl whose face rang the sole bell of recognition in an otherwise unfamiliar world.

“Yes,” Annabeth said flatly, the twelve-year-old supremely unconcerned about sneaking into someone’s room while they were asleep.

“Should we come back when she's awake?” Bianca suggested hesitantly.

Annabeth snorted. “If you wish to wait forever. She's only been asleep for nearly fifty years. A modern-day Sleeping Beauty.”

That resonated alarmingly.

Bianca looked at the older girl on the bed with horrified sympathy. Wrangling with the fact that Bianca’s memories were comprised solely of facts from a history book was terrible enough.

What would it be like to literally sleep away decades and wake up to find the world had left her behind?

What would it be like to never wake up at all?

“Is that what the Oracle does? Sleep and give prophecies?” Bianca whispered, dreading the answer.

Annabeth scoffed, something bitter in her eyes. “I doubt Percy Jackson knew what she was signing up for when she decided to become the Oracle.”

***

Finally working on my Oracle Percy fic. Where Percy becomes the Oracle of Delphi in the middle of World War II. And Bianca wakes up with the grand ambition to recover her memories. And prevent World War III. Annabeth is pretty insistent on that.

Next

#pjo #fanfiction #percy jackson #perpollo #bianca di angelo #annabeth chase #Oracle Percy #fem percy #percy x apollo #the last of a dying breed

[bramble-scramble]

I crash into your inbox and fall onto my hands in knees. That last part you mentioned in the Divine AU about Phantom possessing Woodrow. Can you elaborate bc I am very weak for that concept--

MMMM yes, ok!

So... there was some discussion at some point last year about Phantom maybe being able to possess Woodrow (or any other lovers), if they were ok with it of course. He is a ghost after all. It's something I've always wanted to explore more deeply, but it's never really fit in with what I was trying to accomplish in fics to this point, but this seems like the perfect time where it would make sense.

Most gods wouldn't want to appear to mortals very often, unless they were in disguise. Phantom especially. He doesn't think just any common mortal out there deserves to see him in his full glory. So he needs a prophet, someone whose form he can share. While possessing Woodrow, he can do theatre and poetry and oration in the mortal world (because he has gotten bored with his fellow gods, and after finding out the way they've been running Woodrow's life in particular, increasingly angry with them as well).

They would essentially both be in the same body, with one of them in control at a given time, but as mentioned before, the combo of Woodrow's particular unlucky essence and Phantom's divine glory would lead to some unexpected results, some extra-powerful chaos, also leading them to lose their minds at times. For this I'm inspired by legends of the Oracle at Delphi, which by some accounts were possessed by divine forces and went into a frenzy or trance to deliver their prophecies, speaking in nonsense that had to be interpreted by other priests. (Modern scientific explanations for this include natural gaseous fumes that were present in the chamber, to chewing on or inhaling the smoke of the oleander plant.)

The combo of the two of them in there, Phantom in a body he adores, and Woodrow being possessed by one he adores, would also lead them to frenzies of religious ecstasy on its own, just by the sheer force of that much densely concentrated love in one body!

And of course I'd love for anyone to add onto this. I'm not sure if I want to do any serious writing for this AU yet. The ideas are still forming :D

#mario plus rabbids #mario + rabbids #alter answers #phandrow

[coinandcandle]

Apollo Deity Guide

The Romans knew him as either Apollo or Phoebus, he is the god of the sun, art, and music.

Who is Apollo?

Apollo was also worshipped as god of healing and medicine as well as prophecy and divination.

Unlike his more introverted twin sister, Apollo kept the company of many beings from deities to mortals.

Parents and Siblings

Zeus is his father, his mother is Leto

Artemis is his only full sibling.

Ares

Dionysus

Hermes

Hephaestus

Heracles

Minos

Perseus

Rhadamanthus

Athena

Persephone

Eileithyia

Hebe

Eris

Helen of Troy

The Graces

The Muses

Moirae

Lovers or Partners

Apollo had lovers of both the male and female variety!

Female Lovers include: Hecuba, Ourea, Arsinoe, Coronis, Creusa, Cyrene, Rhoeo, Evadne, Thero, Dryope and The Muses.

Male Lovers include: Cyparissus, Branchus, Admetus, Adonis, Atymnius, Boreas, Helenus, Hippolytus, Hymenaios, Hyacinth, Lapis, Phorbas

Apollo also had many one-sided loves such as Daphne, Hyrie/Thyrie, and Melia.

Children

He had many children including, Asclepius, Orpheus, Ion, Aristaeus, Amphiaraus, Troilus and Scylla. Look here for a bigger list of Apollo's children and their mothers.

Epithets

Paean

Apollon

Phoebus Apollo, or just Pheobus

Loxias” (referring to the god’s ambiguous oracles, called loxia)

“Lyceus” (a word that simultaneously evokes light, wolves, and the region of Lycia) (Mythopedia)

Apollo Daphnephoros

He is often conflated with Helios, the personification of the sun.

Holy Days/Festivals

The Pythian Games

The Delia

Celebrated in Athens, The Boedromia, Metageitnia, and Pyanepsia

Thargelia.) - Apollo’s Birthday, the day after Artemis’, would be the 7th day of Thargelion, which is roughly May 25th in the Gregorian calendar.

The Carneia and Hyacinthia were celebrated in Sparta

The Daphnephoria was celebrated every nine years in Thebes

Notes

From literature we know that the twins didn’t immediately start out as deities of the moon and sun respectively.

The most important temple dedicated to Apollo is the temple and Oracle at Delphi. The priestess Pythia would listen to and deliver Apollo’s prohocies and words. The story says that Pythia had breathed in vapors that rose from a spring underneath the temple.

Modern Deity Work

Correspondences

Disclaimer - Not all of these are traditional or historic correspondences nor do they need to be. However, any correspondence that can be considered traditional will be marked with a (T).

Rocks/Stone/Crystals

Sunstone

Gold

Tiger’s eye jasper

Citrine

Herbs/Plants

Laurel (T)

Hyacinth (T)

Palm tree (T)

Larkspur (T)

Sunflowers

Marigolds (Calendula)

Animals

Swans (T)

Cicadas

Ravens and crows (T)

Wolves/Dogs

Dolphins

Deer (T)

Hawks (T)

Snakes

Mice

Lions

Symbols

Lyre/Harp (T)

Curved Bow (T)

The Sun (T)

Plectrum (pick)

Sword

Laurel Crown (T)

Offerings

Any of the items listed above, or iconography of the items

Art of or that reminds you of Apollo (T)

Signs of the Sun

Honey (T)

Baked goods

Fruits and nuts (T)

Sun water

Wine (T)

Olives, olive oil, olive branch (T)

Oranges

Acts of Devotion

Celebrate the Olympics

Take up a sport

Dance

Read hymns of Apollo (T)

Watch and appreciate the sunrise and sunset

Bask in the sunlight (use sunscreen if you plan on doing this for longer than a few minutes!)

Practice divination (T)

Study philosophy, medicine, and pursue knowledge!

Write or read poetry and songs written for Apollo (T)

Keep in mind that these are only some ideas for offerings and correspondences! Items and activities that connect you to her in a more personal way are just as good, and often better, than those you find on the internet. As with any relationship, feel it out, ask questions, and be attentive and receptive!

References and Further Reading

Apollo - Mythopedia

Mythopedia has huge lists on either page for further reading on both Artemis and Apollo.

Apollo - Wikipedia

Apollo - Theoi Project

More Epithets here

Apollo - Greekmythology.com

Myths of Greece and Rome; Apollo (Phoebus) By Jane Harrison (Via Sacred-Texts)

Fun fact about Coin: I have a tattoo inspired by Apollo, with an arrow going through the roman numeral XIII and a minimalist sun overlaying the middle of the number in honor of my own twin who has the same tattoo but with a moon instead of a sun.

#apollo #deity deep dive #deity work #deity guide #apollo deity guide #apollon #witchcraft #pagan #paganism #hellenic paganism #hellenism

[to2llynottoby]

girlbloggers are the modern Oracle at Delphi and carbon monoxide is their Kerna spring

#without the prostitution and naked dancing of course #but that goes without saying #to2lly not text post

[official-oracle-of-delphi]

Welcome to Tumblr's Official Oracle of Delphi

just another gimmick blog but hey! i do keep track of prophecies on [tumblr]. the oracle is modern and tech savvy now. bet you didn't think of me when you read the last rule of this post did ya?

anyway. feed me tumblr prophecies. Growl

[tylermileslockett]

Theseus series #11 (Murdered in Exile)

Regretting the loss of his friend Pirithous, Theseus makes his way back to Athens to find the city in rebellion. Helens brothers, Castor and Pollux, have rescued their sister and Athens is on the brink of war with the Spartans. A new Athenian king, Menestheus, has turned the citizens against Theseus, forcing him to send his children away and flee to the island of Scyros under the protection of King Lycomedes. But King lycomedes betrays Theseus, leading him up to a view point on a high cliff, and pushing him off to his death. Thus, Theseus life ends in murder and exile.

A few hundred years later, the Greeks fight the Persians in the battle of Marathon (490 B.C.) During this battle many warriors claim to see the ghost of Theseus leading a charge into battle. General Cimon receives a prophecy from the Oracle at Delphi, instructing him to retrieve Theseus body from Scyros. Cimon overtakes the island, and seeing an eagle digging, locates the giant bones of Theseus. Cimon relocates them back to Athens and seals them within a grand Tomb. In addition, in his honor, the temple known as the Theseion is built, as well as the creation of the festival Theseia.The Theseion temple was established as hero-cult sanctuary for the poor and oppressed. The remains of a Doric temple North West of the Agora was thought to be the Theseion, but many modern scholars believe this to be the Temple of Hephaestus.

The actual tomb of Theseus was rumored to be near the Lyceum (gymnasium), and the design of the tomb is rumored to look like the Tomb of Mausolus in Halicarnassus (ancient greek city in western Turkey) There is much debate as to whether Theseus was a real, historical king, as his grave or body has never been found.

The Theseia Festival consisted of athletic competitions for Athenian males to compete and show their military skills (torch races, equestrian races) as well as processions and sacrifices. Plutarch tells us the festival took place on the 8th day of the month, as it was the day Theseus returned from Crete with the resecued tributes, and in honor of his father Poseidon.

Thanks for looking! to see more of my greek illustrations, click my linktree: https://linktr.ee/tylermileslockett

#tagamemnon #mythology tag #pjo #percyjackson #classical literature #classicscommunity #greek #tagatha #dark academia #greekmyths #percy jackon and the olympians #greekmyth #greek mythology #pagan #hellenism #poseidon #aphrodite #greekgods #mythologyart #ancient greece #greece #rome #sparta #iliad #helen of sparta #artemis