Source

Polytheist & Pagan Asks

🙏 - Which pantheon(s) do you actively worship?

🌞 - Which deity(ies) are you closest to/do you worship the most often?

✨ - Do you believe in patron deities? If so, do you have any that you know of?

🌍 - Which pantheons do you believe exist?

📜 - Have you ever made an oath, vow, or contract with a deity? If yes, how did it go (you don't have to share)?

📿 - What are three things you're grateful to your deity(ies) for?

🖋️ - If you could say anything to your deity(ies) right now, what would you most want to say?

💌 - What is your favorite form of deity communication?

🎭 - What is an emotionally impactful or a silly worship-related experience you've had?

❤️ - What's one memory of your practice that you reflect the most fondly on?

🥂 - What is your favorite devotional act or offering to give?

🎉 - Do you celebrate any festivals? If so, which ones?

🫂 - Do you syncretize any pantheons with one another? If so, which ones?

🔮 - Do you delve into topics like the occult or the mysteries? Do you do anything esoteric?

⭐ - What is something you wish people outside your practice knew more about?

📖 - Do you like the way your pantheon is most often portrayed in media? Why or why not?

🏛️ - Do you have a favorite statue or temple to your deity(ies)? If yes, what is it?

🔥 - Do you have a favorite myth or tale from your pantheon or others?

🧭 - What led you to your practice?

🧿 - Did you have any other spiritual beliefs before discovering your current practice?

🪽 - Do you believe in angels and/or demons? If yes, do you worship or work with any?

🪄 - Do you practice witchcraft? If yes, do you keep it separate from your deity worship?

🪦 - Do ancestors or human spirits play a big role in your practice?

🐾 - Do animal spirits play a big role in your practice?

🌱 - Does nature - plants, nature spirits, etc. - play a big role in your practice?

💀 - Do you believe in ghosts? If yes, have you ever had an experience with one?

☄️ - Do you believe in astral travel/the astral realm? If so, have you been there before?

🧿 to keep you safe from people who want to do you harm.<3 🧿

Hellenic Gods Fact Sheets and Hymns: Hecate

Other Names: Trivia, Brimo

Epithets: Anassa eneroi  (queen of those below), Aidonaia (lady of the Underworld), Amibousa (she who changes), Atalus (tender, delicate), Borborophorba (she who feeds on filth), Brimo (angry, terrifying), Despoina (mistress), Eileithyia (of childbirth), Enodia (of the roads), Epaine (dread), Euplokamos (bright-tressed), Khthonia (of the Underworld), Kleidouchos (keeper of the keys), Kourotrophos (protector of children), Krokopelos (saffron-robed), Liparokredemnos (bright-coiffed), Nycteria (nocturnal; of the night), Nyctipolos (night-wandering), Perseis (destroyer/ daughter of Perses), Phosphoros (light bearer), Propolos (guide), Propylaia (the one before the gate), Scylacagetis (leader of dogs), Soteira (savior), Trikephalos (three-headed/of the crossroads), Trimorphos (three-formed), Trioditis (of the three ways), Trivia (of the three ways).

Domains: Witchcraft, magic, necromancy, ghosts, nightmares, death, initiation, the crossroads, gateways, passage between worlds, and the night.

Appearance: [My UPG] A tall (over 6’) woman, neither young nor old, with waist-length black hair, pale skin, prominent cheekbones, a heavy jaw, and intense green eyes. She is usually dressed in black folds molded into a simple dress or robes. She has a severe expression and an intimidating presence. She speaks with a low voice.

Sacred Days and Festivals: Eleusinia (22 Metageitnion). Nemoralia (August 13th-15th). Deipnon, last day of each (lunar) month.

Symbols/Attributes: Torches, keys, daggers, strophalos (iynx wheel)

Sacred Animals: Dog, polecat, serpent, horse, frog.

Sacred Plants: Yew, cypress, garlic, willow, hazel, black poplar, aconite, belladonna, dittany, mandrake, hemlock, asphodel

Elemental Affinity: Darkness, light, fire

Planet: Moon

Colors: Black, saffron, silver.

Crystals: Black onyx, hematite, obsidian, black tourmaline, moonstone, smoky quartz, agate, amethyst.

Incense: Myrrh, almond, cypress, camphor, saffron, mugwort, pomegranate.

Tarot Cards: The High Priestess, The Moon, Death

Retinue: Empousai, ghosts of the dead, dogs, Lampades (torch-bearing underworld nymphs)

Associated People: Witches (and other magic-users), the dead

Offerings: Bread, eggs, honey, garlic, menstrual blood, graveyard dirt.

Syncretized With: Artemis, Diana, Persephone, Eileithyia, Selene, Nephthys, Ereshkigal, Nicnevin, Heqet

Hymns to Hecate

Orphic Hymn to Hecate

Hekate Enodia, Trivia, lovely dame, Of earthly, watery, and celestial frame, Sepulchral, in a saffron veil arrayed, Pleased with dark ghosts that wander through the shade; Daughter of Perses, solitary goddess, hail! The world’s key-bearer, never doomed to fail; In stags rejoicing, huntress, nightly seen, And drawn by bulls, unconquerable, monstrous queen; Leader, Nymphe, nurse, on mountains wandering, Hear the suppliants who with holy rites thy power revere, And to the herdsman with a favoring mind draw near.

Hecate’s Hymn to Herself

I come, a virgin of varied forms, wandering through the heavens, bull-faced, three-headed, ruthless, with golden arrows; chaste Phoebe bringing light to mortals, Eileithyia; bearing the three synthemata [sacred signs] of a triple nature.  In the Aether I appear in fiery forms and in the air I sit in a silver chariot, Earth reins in my black brood of puppies.

(From Porphyry’s lost commentary on the Chaldean Oracles, preserved by Eusebius of Caesaria in Praeparatio Evangelica. According to Porphyry, this hymn was composed by Hecate herself.)

Magical Invocation to Hecate

Approach, you of the netherworld, of earth, of heaven, Bombo! You by the wayside, at the crossroads, light-bearer, night-wanderer, Enemy of light, friend and companion of night, Rejoicing in the howl of dogs and in crimson gore, Lurking among the corpses and the tombs of lifeless dust, Lusting for blood, bringing terror to mortals, Grim one, Ogress [Mormo], Moon – you of many forms, May you come gracious to our sacrificial rites!

(Preserved in Refutation to All Heresies by Hippolytus)

Invocation to Hecate from PGM IV 2708-84

Come, giant Hecate, Dione’s guard, O Persia [daughter of Perses], Baubo Phroune, dart-shooter, Unconquered Lydian, the one untamed, Sired nobly, torch-bearing, guide, who bends down Proud necks, Kore, hear, you who’ve parted / gates Of steel unbreakable. O Artemis, Who, too, were once protectress, mighty one, Mistress, who burst forth from the earth, dog-leader, All-tamer, crossroad goddess, triple-headed, Bringer of light, august / virgin, I call you Fawn-slayer, crafty, O infernal one, And many-formed. Come, Hekate, goddess Of three ways, who with your fire-breathing phantoms Have been allotted dreaded roads and harsh / Enchantments, Hekate I call you

[…]

O Hekate of many names, O Virgin, Kore, Goddess, come, I ask, O guard and shelter of the threshing floor Persephone, O triple-headed goddess, Who walk on fire, cow-eyed BOUORPHORBE PANPHORBA PHORBARA AKITOPHI ERESHKIGAL / NEBOUTOSOUALETH Beside the doors, PYPYLEDEDEZO And gate-breaker; Come Hekate, of firey Counsel, I call you to my sacred chants.

Low energy Devotional Acts for when you don’t have a lot of energy (or time, or money, etc.) pt. 8

💀Hades/Plouton💀

- listen to a devotional playlist for Him

- learn how to budget if able

- if you have a dog- spend some time with them

- if able volunteer at an animal shelter or volunteer to walk dogs

- if able learn about your ancestors

- learn about death magic and spirit work

- learn about death doulas

- learn about the Underworld or afterlives in general

- listen to ‘dark ambient’ soundscapes

- if able visit a cemetery

- learn about cemetery and graveyard etiquette

- learn about funerary practices throughout time and around the world

- wear black (can be as simple as a hair tie or socks to your whole outfit and even makeup!)

- listen to goth music

- carry some coins on you if able

- do Halloween or gothic themed coloring pages

- learn about the roles of hospice workers, funeral directors, morticians, etc.

- honor deceased loved ones (can be pets, friends, family members, etc. doesn’t matter)

- be kind to spirits and respect* them and the dead (*I know there are some folks who don’t deserve respect in death so obviously you don’t have to respect them this is just a more…in general kind of thing)

🌺Persephone🌺

- if able go on a walk (can be as simple as down the driveway and back up if that’s all you can manage)

- if unable to do that try to sit outside or open a window/door to let some fresh air in and open the blinds/curtains to let some sunlight in

- listen to nature soundscapes

- pick some flowers or get a bouquet for yourself or others

- learn about herbalism

- enjoy some pomegranates, pomegranate juice, or something with pomegranate in it

- listen to a devotional playlist for Her

- if able visit a cemetery

- learn, read, watch stuff about ghosts (yes even those weird ghost hunting shows that come on at like 2 am and make you feel like you’re experiencing a fever dream)

- learn about reincarnation

- be kind to Demeter

- if able donate to or volunteer at a battered women’s shelter and learn about their history and importance

- if able do some baking (especially bread)

- learn about the underworld or afterlives in general

As a disabled person, I'm telling you right now:

Act disabled.

Stop telling yourself you're acting more disabled than you are.

Crawl to clean your room, use a wheelchair when you're "only" at level 3 pain, wear all the wraps and ice packs

Allow yourself to act disabled and you'll see that it helps you a whole lot when you allow yourself to use any and all tools

I made a post about Hekate on here saying how much I love her and now my TikTok fyp is full of videos of her including one about ignoring signs she is calling. She literally said you love me so much than worship me. Which I'm fine with. I set up her alter and I'm still getting lots of videos from her . I don't know what more she wants.

Hekate tell me what you want from me please.

Backwoods Witchcraft Book Review

I have always had a curiosity of how other live. I am not personally Appalachian, though I have ancestors who lived in those mountains for over a century before moving west. This book caught my interest in both ways. Maybe to learn something about the way my ancestors may have lived and also just some good old folk magic from another region. I originally read this book when it came out and I am expanding on a book review I did for Pagan and Witches Amino at that time. That book review is no longer on that app though you can find it on Good Reads under a different name.

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Contents:

Synopsis

What I Liked

What I Didn't Like

Overall Thoughts

Conclusion

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Published 2019

"In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could 'rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound.' The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soil, roots, and plant life.

The materials and tools used in Appalachian witchcraft are readily available from the land. This 'grounded approach' will be of keen interest to witches and conjure folk regardless of where they live. Readers will be guided in how to build relationships with the spirits and other beings that dwell around them and how to use the materials and tools that are readily available on the land where one lives."

-from the back of the book

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What I Liked

This book starts broad and then narrows down to the work. Richards starts with the land, which if you've been around my blog you'll know that speaks to my heart. He talks about how the seasons and terrain effect the weather and how people live, including the why of people practicing this folk magic. He talks about the way the oil companies have changed the land, gives advice on how to connect to the land that are helpful for those who aren't in Appalachia as well, and actually encourages you to GO OUT experience and learn from the land. Not just learn from books and other people. One of the ways he says you can connect to the land is learning about your ancestry, if they've lived there for a long time. I love this idea and, looking back, when I was doing genealogical research myself and learned that my grandmother's family was from the area I had been living in I felt SO much more connected, even finding my great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents' graves. Knowing that they had walked the same trails I had been walking unbeknownst to me was wild.

An important factor he talks about is that in Appalachia there is a difference between a witch and your average folk practitioner (which he calls a healer or doctor). I think a lot of us forget that just because you practice magic wouldn't have made people automatically believe you were a witch, and still today. Context, connection to community, and the type of works you do is a big factor.

There is so much spirit work in this book. A lot of working with the dead in particular, especially in graveyards. I enjoyed learning about the cultural things they do in the graveyard for the dead, and was able to see some similarities in how I grew up. Not just the dead but also working with animal spirits and how to respect them, a very insightful section. And there's talk about the little people of Appalachia, called Yunwi Tsunsdi by the Cherokee, and different stories of encounters and the best way to handle meeting them, or keeping them away.

Richards acknowledges the Cherokee influence on the practice of this folk magic, from superstitions and beliefs to plants used in specific ways. It's important to recognize when a marginalized community has had influence on our culture. Doing otherwise is just erasing their presence, and for Native Americans that's even shittier since this is their ancestral land.

Of course, I have to talk about the gardening and wildcrafting! He talks in depth about gardening by the signs and also using them for knowing the best time to get a haircut, for example. This is something my great-grandparents did. My grandpa told me they would hang an Old Farmer's Almanac calendar in the kitchen that told them when the signs where in the best place for different things. The harvesting also reminded me of things I've learned from my grandpa. Different signs and omens when harvesting can foretell misfortune or even weather conditions. And when you're life depends on what you can grow, that's a big deal.

I'm a sucker for old folk practices, they tend to be things people not from the area or with more "modern" sensibilities would pause at. Like the time my grandpa gave me a turkey beard to put under the truck seat of "the guy you like" (grandpa didn't know I didn't have a crush on anyone). This book is, of course, chock full of folk practices along a similar vein (though not that one in particular), like buying warts. Though this book focuses more on the formulas that are followed than specific workings themselves, though you will find those as well.

There's a specific section as well that focuses on different forms of divination common to the Appalachian mountains. One of them being reading playing cards, and it reminded me of learning to read them when I was a kid. This book is basically nostalgia for me, I'm realizing.

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What I Didn't Like

Richards makes the claim that the Cherokee are the only tribe in America that don't live on a reservation. This isn't accurate. I know this for a fact because there is a Native American settlement near me that is NOT a reservation, and they are quick to correct you. Maybe he meant that they never had a reservation or are the most well know? I'm not sure, it could be a wording issue.

He also seems to have a misunderstanding of how Catholics view saints. At least when I was growing up in a Catholic household, we viewed them as intermediaries or advisors not spiritual beings with more power than the average human. You choose a saint upon confirmation as someone to look up to and aspire to live like (I had chosen Joan of Arc). Though this is a common misunderstanding among protestants, I have noticed. The way he works with saints in the book is the way my mom views them, anyway.

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Overall Thoughts

I love this book. It really made me think about what I saw growing up and how we do things differently or similar. Whether or not you are in Appalachia, this book can give you some advice and maybe jog some thinking on the folk practices around you that maybe you never noticed. It is Christian. The folk practices in Appalachia use Psalms and call on saints and prophets, among other Christian iconography. There's a lot you can get out of it still if you aren't Christian (such as myself).

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Conclusion

There is magic all around us if we know where to look. Reading about where others have found it in their own lives can help us to see it around us too. Just make sure you go out and interact with it. You can find this book on amazon, Thriftbooks, Google Books, Woodshed, Coyote Supply Co., and more!

lunar phases - chaotic edition

new moon - clean shit up

waxing moon - attract that shit

full moon - manifest that shit

waning moon - let that shit go

dark moon - fuck shit up

© 2024 ad-caelestia

🪄 Subtle Hekate Worship🕯️

Donate clothes, food, hygiene products, and the like to homeless shelters

Support food banks and homeless or animal shelters

Visit cemeteries; if allowed (please ask permission first), leave flowers on graves

Have a candle that reminds you of her (no altar needed)

Wear jewelry that reminds you of her

Keep a picture of her in your wallet

Have a stuffed animal polecat, dog, or toad

Have imagery of torches, crossroads, or magic around

Honor your ancestors; honor any spirits in your life

Volunteer at an animal or homeless shelter

Cook a warm meal for someone in need

Take care of yourself physically

Take a self-care bath/shower, especially those with herbs or candles

Visit a crossroads; walk/hike on paths that have a crossroads and pick the direction that calls to you

Take a walk during the new, half, or full moon (only if it is safe to do so in your area)

Take time to notice the phases of the moon; meditate under each one, and learn their meanings

Start a garden; tend to plants, especially herbs

Study herbalism; study the history of witchcraft

Ground yourself regularly

Include her within spell work, if you do any; practice discreet methods of spell-casting

Learn non-obvious divination methods; cartomancy, pyromancy, carromancy, etc.

Burn incense, if able; frankincense is great

Drink herbal teas; cook with herbs

Practice mindfulness and emotional regulation

Honor your home/space; keep it clean, and make it feel like your own

At the end of each month, cook a good meal and make drinks with added honey

Baking raisin and currant cakes

Practice patience and understanding

Work on your decision-making skills; what do YOU want? What do YOU need? What are YOUR goals/passions?

Making a bonfire; gathering around it, alone or with loved ones

Learning to have more confidence in your decisions and actions; you know what's best for you more than anyone else

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I hope this helps someone! I may add to it later on. For now, this is my list of discreet ways to worship Hekate. Take care, y'all, and have a good day/night. 💜

Link to Subtle Worship Master list