Zlaijerh/Malachiah - Apollonian/Dionisiac

Digital work and traditional work on the same piece. A few alternates over on patreon of course. I am cajoling myself to post here more frequently, but my energy is at a low, painful ebb. This year has been very good in some ways, and excruciatingly painful in others. Thank you for your patience, and your interest in my work, if that’s still something that applies.

SHOP/KO-FI/PATREON/INSTAGRAM

A guide to worship of Charites - cheat sheets

Hellenic cheat sheets

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A guide to worship of Amphitrite - cheat sheets

Hellenic cheat sheets

If you like my content consider supporting me on:https://ko-fi.com/screeching0wlet

astra-in-ashes:

Hello!

I am a student at Stockholm University conducting a small study to gather information for my bachelor thesis. The form is directed at worshpiiers of Persephone and Hades and mostly focuses on how you experience the deities and their relationship to one another. Concerning the study it mostly focuses on how neo-pagans here on tumblr approach their deities and what sources they consider valueble for their spirituality/religion. Filling the form could take anywhere between 10 minutes and an hour depending on how many of the qustions choose to answer and how much you write in the free form questions, it can also be completed anonomously.

If you are interested, please take the form! I would also appreciate it if you could reblog this post and spread it. Also, if you think this subject sounds interesting feel free to shoot me an ask/dm as I’m always down to talk about it :)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeaABS2H3RpxcljWovHBcFluxE9TJoMal0bHXb79djSrJrg8Q/viewform?usp=sf_link

A guide to worship of Priapus - cheat sheets

Hellenic cheat sheets

If you like my content consider supporting me on:https://ko-fi.com/screeching0wlet

Starting a new writing project regarding hellenism and my practice. once i get a decent way into it, im considering putting them out for people to see. got two options:

publish them on this blog just as a regularly scheduled post series

record them and post them on a hellenism YouTube channel (just in the vein of video essays or audio podcast stuff)

if you have an opinion on it, let me know. like, reblog, message, tag, whatever you want to let me know what you think i should do. or if you think i should keep it to myself, go ahead and say that

cheers

-D

when i die

burn my body to ash

so that my spirit is freed

a plain terra cotta amphora

to hold whats left if me

put two coins in the ash

the highest value you can find

and bury my on a hillside

with a birch planted, reaching for the sky

and when you think of me

find an asphodel flower

so when you pick one for you

you can think of where i will wander

at peace and knowing

you’re doing okay

and on the Fields of Hades

we might meet one day

Hermes 

Swift-Footed and Luck Maker

I offer these things, my time and my car

Let the tires that roll on the ground 

Be a set of spinning prayer wheels 

Gathering energy going round and round

Take the steering wheel concerts

And speakers blasting loud

Cleanse the space with joyous, raucous sound

Every tank of gas, ever oil change

Every swipe of the wiper bladesIs a libation to you, dedicated to your name

My signals and distraction free time

Is a gift to you of mine

To remind me of the safety you invite

Every mile I drive, every trip to and from home

Is dedicated time to the god of the road

Take this prayer and dedication earnest and true

For it is you Hermes, that I give it to

“good practice” isn’t just formal rituals and tons of offerings

“good practice” isn’t observing every holiday with a feast and celebration with a large party and hundreds of dollars in decor

“good practice” isn’t praying every day.

it can be laying on your bed or couch with your headphones in listening to a playlist or audiobook.

it can be cooking or baking something

it can be lighting a candle to clear up that weird smell in your room but also because the candle scent reminds you of something

it can be wearing a necklace or ring everyday without any second thought to it except when you need to shower

it can be picking up every piece of change off the ground because it feels like finding a little treasure

it can be vibing in a dark room lit only by some candles and doing nothing for five minutes

it can be working on that project you needed to get done anyway

it can be picking up that instrument you barely touch anymore because you feel like playing a couple songs before putting it back again

it can be watching that one channel on YouTube that gives you some good vibes

it can be hanging that pendant off your rear view mirror

it can be anything. The gods aren’t limited to your altar. The gods aren‘t neglected just because your offering plate gets dusty. The gods aren’t demanding.

the gods are everywhere and in everything in your life. It’s taking the time to recognize them and remind yourself of them every day.

”good practice“ is whatever you’re able to do

Happy Samhain to everyone!

As Persephone departs to the Underworld below, the veil between worlds is pulled back ever so much. I hope everyone has a fantastic couple days. The seasons are changing, winter is on its way, and the world of magic, power, and the Gods is strong around us. Here’s to celebrating what brings us together and closer to the world around us!

Have a great rest of the season! See you in a few months, Lady Persephone

Cheers!

-D

Hey! New video about the Delphic Maxims.

It’s a loaded one and hopefully I did it justice.

Cheers!

-D

Hi! I’m making a podcast series rehashing the Delphic maxims.

Cheers!

-D

Hey! I started making videos.

I’m starting to adopt the now traditional Wiccan calendar into my hellenic practice. So I thought I’d share my ideas for how I’ll celebrate each holiday:

Moon Cycle Holidays :33

Samhain - Winter/Autumn Cross

Prayer to Persephone/Hades/aesir/ancestors

Halloween! (Eating out for dinner in costume)

Watching Halloween movies

(maybe party?)

First hot cocoa of the season

Apple cider

Oatmeal

Decorating for thanksgiving (Nov 1)

Themed candles/scents

Getting next years calendar

Colors: orange, black, purple, green, yellow, brown, red

Pie making

Birch wood

Oatmeal

Candy

Yule - Winter Solstice

Prayer to Hestia/aesir/ancestors

Decorating for Christmas (d.a. thanksgiving)

Crimmas

Spend evening with family (if applicable)

Christmas movies

Home cooked meal

Presents

Yule goat

Baking cookies

Themed candles/scents

Colors: white, red, green, gold, dark blue

Birch wood/pine/holly

Candy

Imbolc - Winter/Spring Cross

Prayer to Aphrodite/Demeter

/Poseidon/Zeus/Apollo

Birds

Valentine’s Day decorating

Roses

Candles(!!!)/fresh scents

Love themed shit

Colors: white, red, pink

Cake baking

Ostara - Spring Equinox

Prayer to Persephone/Demeter/Artemis/Hera

Easter themed shit

Easter brunch**

Spring flowers

Easter baskets

Egg decorating (before)

Candles/themed scents

Lemonade/mimosas

Colors: white, pink/pastels, purple, gold/yellow, blue, green

Cookie baking

Seasonal fruits

Beltane - Spring/Summer Cross

Prayer to Demeter/Persephone/Poseidon/Zeus/Dionysus

Spring cleaning

Summer themed decorating

Candles/themed scents

Lemonade/sangria/soda

Colors: white, pastels, blue, yellow/gold, green

Seasonal fruits

GAY SHIT BEECH

Litha - Summer Solstice

Prayer to Apollo/Titans

Summer themed shit

Going swimming/water park

Going camping***

Lemonade/sangria/soda

Picnics

Candles/themed scents

Colors: gold/yellow, blue, green, white

Seasonal fruits/melons

Lughnasso - Summer/Autumn Cross

Prayer to Apollo/Demeter/Zeus/Poseidon

Summer flowers (kinda mixed with fall stuff)

Last lemonade of year/cider

Picnics

Candles/themed scents

Colors: blue, white, yellow, brown, orange, green

Bread making

Mabon - Autumn Equinox

Prayer to Demeter/Persephone/Apollo

Starting to plan Halloween costume

Fall themed flowers/flora

Halloween decorating

Apple cider/pumpkin spice shit

Oatmeal

Jack-o-lanterns/fake pumpkin decorating

Candles/themed scents

Donations/charity stuff

Autumn cleaning

Colors: orange, red, yellow, black, brown

Bread making

Apples/berries/seasonal fruits

French toast

Potluck with friends**

Cheers!

-D

*when you haven’t touched your altar physically in over a year*

I set this up the day I got all my things unpacked. Been inactive with my worship until this month, but I finally got the energy to clean it and make it organized again.

Anyway

Cheers!

-D

After my grandfather died, I’ve been thinking a lot about the afterlife.

We’ve all heard of several afterlives, I’m sure. Some say it’s a dichotomy of burning and eternal torment opposite peace and harp playing with loved ones. Some have said it’s like a giant party with fighting and singing and laughing forever. And some have said that the soul just wanders around, memory-less and unknowing of suffering or happiness.

But now, I’ve been leaning towards the notion of the lingering soul. A soul of a loved one that stays just a little with the ones they left behind.

It could be in the way my mom smells her grandfather’s cologne when she is in a troubling situation. Or how my family believes that children can sense their passed relatives as they’re closer to “the veil” than anyone else - like how my newborn niece looks like she’s having intense and loving conversations in her sleep. And in the way my grandma briefly saw her husband in the kitchen when we were all sitting around talking about him.

Call it guardian angels, purgatory, or just a gut feeling or pattern recognition. But I truly do believe we’ve got souls around us. The true Elysian for me, if being able to watch your loved ones live on, grow, and laugh.

Cheers

-D

The Cult of Eleusis had a bi-annual rituals; in the spring “the lesser mysteries” in the fall. “the greater mysteries”, for over 2000 years, where all citizens (royalty and slaves alike) would make a pilgrimage to Eleusis to partake in a festival and initiation ritual tied to the myth of Demeter and her daughter’s kidnap by Hades into the underworld. This festival and ceremony would essentially initiate you, provide some spiritual insight, thereby guaranteeing a better position in the afterlife. (similar to a baptism guaranteeing a position in heaven, perhaps.) Only those who had committed murder or who could not speak greek were refused to participate. 

Citizens would make the 15 mile walk from Athens, all the while being shouted profanities upon by onlookers, to break down their egos. Unfortunately, as the crime of revealing the inner ceremony of the mysteries would be punishable by death, we can’t know for sure what took place in the inner sanctum during the main ceremony. What we do know is that something was drunk and something was “seen”. Many believe that the drink offered to initiates, the KYKEON, would produce a psychotropic, hallucinatory effect.  (perhaps tainted with ergot (rotten barley fungis), or maybe mushrooms.) Apparently the ritual had 3 stages (mirroring Persphones underworld journey) the descent, the search, and the ascent. Some believe the final act shown to the initiate was the cutting of an ear of grain, to symbolize the cyclical death and rebirth of nature. 

I drew Demeter holding her torch she uses to search for her missing daughter, and an ear of wheat grain to symbolize her role in agriculture. to the left we have the main players of the lost daughter myth. Hades behind, and Persephone in front, with Hecate beside, who helped Demeter find her daughter, and became Persephone’s attendant in Tartarus. On the right we have a woman pouring libations to help the wheat grow, then Demeter holding the cut grain.

OK, no 4, Mr. underworld..HADES! super fun piece to do. I didn't want him to feel evil, but TARTARUS is described as murky and deep, so it wasn’t going to be full of sunshine and rainbows. I love the idea of a silver and gold mine, as he is the god of wealth and precious minerals/metals. (hence the jewels in the bottom foreground) 

Its apt that this piece is done now, as Persephone, his wife, has joined him (forcing Demeter to bring forth winter). Hades holds his bird tipped scepter, and his helmet (or cap) of invisibility (the same one he gave to Perseus as one of his magical items to go and slay Medusa) .

Sitting Beside the throne is the three headed guard hound; CERBERUS, and in the deep, cavernous background we can the furies, those older, primordial creatures sent forth to punish bloodshed and murder with a family. (and who i cant wait to design and illustrate when i get back to the Oresteia's second play “Eumenides" (i.e. "furies”) 

Next will be DEMETER, and I’m super excited about her piece, because i will bring in the Eleusinian mysteries/cult of Demeter into the portrayal somehow.

Poseidon Cometh!  heheh. this one was super fun to do. I wanted to make it feel like the storm was coming with his arrival. As always, we’ve got some visual symbols in here. Ill list them for your guessing pleasure. 

1.) maiden beside Poseidon

2.) creatures pulling chariot

3.) child on dolphin

3.) half-fish/ half man creatures

4.) woman astride dolphin

All right, moving on to big momma! i dont want to give her backstory this time, as i like posing the questions to you all as a guessing game. so I’m going to list the visual symbols i have incorporated into the image, and hopefully some informed tumblrs can come by and describe the deeper meanings. 

1.) night sky

2.) Constellation

3.) CARYATIDS columns

4.) staff

5.) fruit in hand

6.) Bull

7.) Peacock

8.) Golden lion

9.) snakes