A Cosy Guide To A Cosy December ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

what do i do with food offerings? How long do i leave them out? Taking it away immediately feels wrong but i dont want mold

I have answered this before, but the answers are all in amongst a bunch of other questions, so I’m going to try to make this one more focused and detailed

It depends on the deity. There’s two categories when it comes to this — ouranic (heavenly, basically anyone not of the underworld) and chthonic (underworld). Additionally, food offerings to heroes would fall under the chthonic category in my opinion, since they’re dead.

When it comes to deities who have both ouranic and chthonic aspects (Hermes being the main one people think of for that, but also Persephone and Melinoë, and even Zeus) I’d say it depends on which epithet/aspect you’re offering to. If you’re offering to the deity’s chthonic side, do it the chthonic way. If not, do it ouranically. For Persephone, though, you could also do it depending on season/time of year as that dictates whether she is in the underworld or not at the time of your offering.

Now into why it actually matters.

You can eat offerings to ouranic deities. You can’t eat offerings to chthonic ones. The ‘why’ is not something I’m completely sure on, just that that’s the way it is. However my bestie did suggest this last time I mentioned not knowing why:

@under-their-light hi, I love you

With ouranic deities, I always eat it. I see it as sharing food with my deity. I pray before I do it, saying the following:

“With the first and last to Lady Hestia, and a portion to Father Zeus, <name + epithet of the deity I’m specially offering to>, this <name of food> is for you. Take your fill, and I’ll eat the rest.”

You don’t have to say it like that, but I think this nicely covers all the bases and it works for me. Let me break down the structure.

Hestia is historically first and last in (ouranic) food offerings from what I’ve heard, due to her being the first to be eaten by Cronos and the last to be set free. This would be especially important if the food you’re offering is homemade, id imagine. I’ve also heard that a portion of all food offerings goes to Zeus, which is why he is included also.

Then I say the name of the deity I’m specifically offering to, as they can hear us when we say their names, and if I’ve a specific reason for the food offering, there’s usually a specific epithet to go along with that, so that would be added here. If I’m just offering food for the sake of it, which is most of the time (if I want something in return I tend to gravitate towards non-food offerings) then I will still use an epithet purely to make it sound more refined, but I’ll use a poetic one instead of a cult one, so that I’m complimenting the deity, not calling on a specific domain.

Then I tell them what I’m offering.

The ‘take your fill and I’ll eat the rest’ also comes from my aforementioned bestie and it’s been really helpful in making me feel more confident about it as I’m informing the deity that I am sharing it with them, so it doesn’t feel like I’m just rudely eating the thing I just gave them.

All this to say, you don’t HAVE to eat the food from an ouranic deity, but I find it to be the easiest method as I don’t have to worry about how long to leave it on an altar, and I don’t have to worry about ‘wasting’ food, or feel bad when I do eventually dispose of it.

So, onto chthonic. We can’t eat food to chthonic deities. I also have a massive thing about throwing food away. I know if it’s offered to a deity it isn’t technically waste, but it still feels wasteful. So I offer food a LOT less to my heroes and chthonic deities, I must admit.

But I still do it. And that’s by offering food that I know won’t get eaten. Leftovers of a meal? Offer them to a chthonic deity or to a hero. Something will go out of date before I have the chance to eat it? They can have it. Someone didn’t finish eating something that they’d never tried before because they didn’t like it? Offer it to a deity. Ran out of time to eat a thing while on my break and I can’t take it with me? My gods can have it. There’s almost endless scenarios. It actually LESSENS any guilt about wasting food, because it’s not getting eaten anyway, so at least they can have it.

This is also the same for libations (liquid offerings) you can drink to ouranic but not to chthonic. Pour it on the floor for chthonic deities (you can do this for ouranic too, but again, I usually don’t waste it if I have the opportunity not to)

If you didn’t want to eat them for the ouranic deities, I’d say my only rule for how long to leave something on an altar is ‘don’t let it rot’. Leave it out as long as you want, as long as it remains hygienic. And when you do decide to throw it out, inform your deities that’s what you’re doing.

basically all you have to do is:

you want something? be in your 4D and imagine as if you already have it, if you want to you can also affirm and try to feel it, literally don't give a single fuck about what the 3D tells you since the only important reality is your 4D! keep peristing, eventually the 3D conforms to your 4D and boom you got your manifestations.

IT'S THAT EASY, STOP OVERCOMPLICATING IT!!

I've done exactly this. very funny

i wanna force my parents to take the radds—r autism quiz thing and study the results under a microscope

Absolutely be political in your worship.

Aphrodite isn't called Pandemos (of All People) so you can sit around and let the big names capitalise love and serve it only to those who can afford to pay past the persecution. Hermes isn't called Oeopolus (Shepherd) so you can sit around and let a bunch of power-hungry wolves lead a flock of influencable sheep. Apollo isn't called Paean (Healer) so you can sit around while wealthy corporations serve healthcare only to those who can afford not to die. Athena isn't called Ambulia (Counsellor) so you can sit around while the people are being fed propaganda against each other to divert them from the real enemy at the top. Dionysus isn't called Eleuthereus (the Liberator) so you can sit around while freedom is only granted to those whose skins have the acceptable colour while the others die in chains. Zeus isn't called Xenios (of the Foreigners) so you can sit around while the borders are closed to those who need it and only open to those who can give back the money.

The Gods stand with the oppressed, and so should you.

Shout out to autistics who:

Don't know much about their special interests

Likes food commonly disliked by other autistics

Dislikes food commonly liked by other autistics

Enjoy social settings

Use sign language as their primary form of communication

Use diapers or have troubles with toileting

Like childish things or age regress

Are unable to work

Are unable to figure out their gender

Classics students are the most fucking insufferable people. You make one reference to mythology, and they jump on you like a pack of wolves, looking for one mistake that they can correct. If you tell them you like a myth retelling, they automatically tell you how horrible the research/characterization was. And God help you if you mention an Ovidism or some other Roman interpretation of myth and say it's actually how the Greeks thought.

-me about myself, a classics student

On the topic of not wearing makeup, look, I know it’s hard to give it up. It’s hard when you’ve grown used to how your face looks with it on and you find your natural face to look…..off. Washed out. Not right. Icky. I get it.

But look. I am 42 years old, I have not exactly taken the best care of myself (WAY too much drinking/drugs/partying in my 20’s and 30’s) I don’t exercise nearly as much as I should and I’m just…..man, I’m just making it through each day. I don’t do facials or microdermabrasion or any of that shit. I have a vitamin c facial cleanser, rose water toner, and a vitamin c moisturizer. That’s it. I don’t wear makeup, I don’t do masks and treatments and peels on my face. I wear a sunhat with built in SPF when I’m outdoors and that is literally the full extent of what I do for my face.

And you gyns…..the number of times I have been mistaken for being AT LEAST ten years younger than I am is ASTOUNDING. I gave up makeup and let my skin heal and suddenly I went from “Oh you say you’re in your 40’s? That tracks” to “Bull fucking SHIT you’re 42!!! You’re maybe 30, TOPS, what the hell??” When I was still wearing makeup I once got mistaken for my husband’s MOTHER, okay?? And that man has silver all throughout his fucking hair.

Look, nobody really knows what any particular age looks like on any individual. I’ve known women in their 60’s that passed as peers of mine in my 20’s because they had gorgeous high cheekbones and skin like porcelain. I’ve known teenage boys that looked like fucking narcs. Nobody knows what any age is “supposed” to look like. But I CAN tell you that if you give up makeup and let your skin heal, you will look healthier and more vibrant than you ever have at any point with a layer of chemicals on your face. Maybe you’ll look younger maybe not, who cares? But your skin WILL be healthier, and it will show.

It’s hard to take the first step, and if you aren’t able to do it over a holiday break, you’ll probably have to accept that you’ll get some looks and comments from your peers. But I cannot stress enough how, once you make the adjustment, you’ll grow so used to and in love with your natural face that the idea of putting makeup on will disgust you; it will look weird and clownish and as “not right” as your natural face once did to you.

And the more of us that eschew makeup, the easier it will get for other women to follow in our footsteps. We lead by example and the more of us not wearing makeup there are, the more normal it will seem for other women.

If you can’t give it all up at once, try to scale it back. Ditch the eyeshadow and just do mascara. Ditch the concealer and just do a light foundation. Scale it back at your own pace, but with the end goal always being to completely eliminate it.

You will feel so much better for it. Eventually. Just push through to the other side.

Manifesting my dream life with affirmations and subs🤭