#polytheist

I am a tree.

My roots penetrate deep into the Earth, I grow strong and I gain knowledge from the nature that surrounds me. I am calm, I am collected, and I am strong.

My body grows up, it is hardened on the outside to protect me. It branches off into my many limbs. I stand tall, swaying in the breeze.

I thank you for everything. I thank you for your patience, your kindness, your understanding and caring, your guidance, your strength, and your love. You are welcomed in my life, my heart, and my family for as long as you like. Truly, it’s an honour to worship you and devot myself to you again and again every day and every night.

An idea for witches and hellenic/nonhellenic polytheists/monotheists, make a sigil that represents your god/goddess/deity’s name. For non witchy mono/polytheists, use all the letters in your deity’s name to create a symbol, and draw that symbol on things you wish to dedicate to your deity.

pomegranateandivy:

I don’t usually get upset when PJO fan blogs reblog my devotional writing, because they’re still allowed to like my writing, I don’t know if they’re also Hellenists, and I do still appreciate the exposure for my writing. But someone reblogged one of my devotionals to the Theoi, with added commentary about how it didn’t line up with the characterizations and events from the book series, and it was pretty disrespectful. I’m actually angry. Like, really angry.

My deities are not characters in your fantasy novel. You don’t get to look at my faith–myreligion–and complain that the figures of my worship are not the same figures as in your book series. My very real, very alive religion is not aprop for your fandom.

You’re allowed to like your books. You’re allowed to build a fandom around them. You’re allowed to create and share material for that fandom.

You are not allowed to critique a spiritual practice in the context of your fandom.

You are not allowed to disrespect an entire religion, it’s deities, and the people who follow that religion, because it doesn’t match up with your limited and incorrect perception of those deities.

You are not allowed to complain that actual religious practices don’t fit into your narrative.

My faith is not your fandom.

My gods are not perfect. They don’t need to be. My gods are not mortals, they are not humans, and therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE to compare them to humans, or to put them to human standards. My gods are not perfect, they have made mistakes in their lives, they’ve made mistakes in my life, too. But they are gods. They were there for me when I needed them. They supported me when I couldn’t support myself. My gods loved me, even when no one else did.

Don’t you dare ever misrepresent, disrespect, or demean them in any way. Just because you might not see them my way, does not mean that I don’t love them with all my capability, that they are not my protectors and guides, that they are not my family, or my loved one.

These are my gods, this is my religion. Do not mute me.

All encompassing, intoxicating,
Taken at his will,
Returned when he’s done.
He will say no,
You will beg.
He takes me when I’m ready,
He gives me back on time.
It will be time,
Before I know love ,
For now,
I know anger,
And hunger,
And I want more of him.
It is his game,
We will play.
He has his rules,
We play by them.
He bows to no one,
We bow to him.
He controls the mind palace.
He is darkness.
He is ethereal.
He is eternal.
He is sleep.
And He is coming…

Soft, swaying, lulling, grey
He takes you when he wants you
You can invoke his presence
But He’ll never be far
As draining as invigorating
He will open the world for you
He will be the last person
You will mistake him
When he comes
He waits patiently
But He is always there
There is no escape
He will take you
He is sleep
Preparing you for his twin
He will deliver you onto his brother,
Death

I just want to say…

Thank you, Lord Hypnos, for loving me, giving me strength, and encouraging me every step of the way. Like a proud papa, nudging his kin to get back up even after their 100th time falling down.

Thank you, Hypnos, for being one I can count on no matter what.

Eyes droop and heads nod away,

Slumber comes another day.

Hypnos doses opium dust,

The twin of death that we trust.

Lucid bodies and vivid dreams,

Reality bursts and melts at the seem.

Pleasure fueled bodies lay to crash,

Three sons split the messages to flash.

Thick, heavy, and consuming,

Sleep, sleep we are resuming.

Almond poppyseed muffin. My new favorite breakfast food.

Hypnos often communes to me through poppys, as is his association.

Hypnos, the God of Sleep who spends his days in his cave, is still just as strong as the big three. Hypnos commands the basic necessity all living beings require: Sleep, Rest, Dreams.

Hypnos is sleep, Hypnos is healing.

The idea that you can only go all or nothing, one and done, in or out, 100% 24/7 with deity work is entirely false.

If you personally would like to dedicate yourself wholly to a deity, by all means, more power to you! However, for folks to act like that must be the case is

1. Historically inaccurate. Many cultures worshipped or had relationships with deities in the ways that you may have a relationship with different professors in college: you go to the one you need for their area of expertise. Of course there were cults dedicated to a singular deity but they still believed in the other deities and would interact with them, even worship/honor them, as needed.
2. Based way too much on Abrahamic religions. Now I am not talking down on these religions, if you are a monotheist in one of these Abrahamic religions then that’s perfectly fine. That’s not even getting into those who are believers in the God of the respective religions but are also polytheists. I think a lot of it comes from those who were brought up in these religions and are taught that you must devote–even sacrifice if needed–your life to God in some cases.

Paganism isn’t like that. Deity work isn’t like that. Don’t stress people out over your personal beliefs.

Also, if you see a post online or even read a passage in a book saying that you should definitely, 100% dedicate your life to a deity please take it with a grain of salt. It doesn’t make the author or poster’s personal path incorrect, they just need to be more careful with their wording.

Anyway, this is the second time I’ve posted something like this and it’s honestly a call out to myself. Growing up as a Christian really messed me up and there’s that inner voice that tries to tell me that my practice needs to be this way or that based on the Christian practices I grew up with. Live your life, follow your path, do what feels right for you.

with love,

Coin

Devotional Acts For Goddess Lilith

hey! so, as a devotee of the demoness, Lilith, i’ve decided to make this post and dedicate it to her. here are some stuff you can do for the sacred demoness.

1. stand up for yourself, know your rights.

2. be confident.

3. write/read poetry dedicated to night.

4. do research about the dark goddess.

5. make a playlist for Her, vibe to the songs that reminds you of Lilith.

6. chant Her enn, talk to Her, feel Her presence if she’s near.

7. light incense for Her.

8. meditate with the crystals she admires.

9. give Her some nice tea. hibiscus? hell yeah.

10. dress up in the colours she admires.

11. be aware of your femininity, try connecting with the divine feminine.

12. stand up for other women’s rights.

13. give charity in Her name.

14. self-care.

The gods did wait on us for ages
Their tales on half forgotten pages
Yet they speak now to call us anew
And set the world right, it is askew

Why did we turn on them? Turn away?
Why? Well none alive can rightly say
On this, only one thing is now clear
They long waited on ears that would hear

Gods of the cold North call to their kin
Gods of the warm sands do rise again
Gods of the Greeks do speak from warm seas
Gods of the groves whisper through the leaves

All the old gods do now awaken
Their people fallen and far scattered
Their children forgotten what mattered
Yet stand we here again unshaken

We, forerunners of a coming age
Undo what religious war did wage
Magic we rekindle and revive
For through man’s doubt our gods did survive

The gods did wait on us for ages
Their tales on half forgotten pages
Yet they speak now to call us anew
And set the world right, it is askew

Deity of the day is Anitun Tabu/Tawo/Tauo!

This deity is one of the Sambal deities that is the deity of the wind. They were in particular one of the deities associated with the process of rice according to the Relation of the Zambals by Domingo Perez (1680).

According to the text, people would offer pinipig to Anitun Tawo for favorable winds. They would also set up an altar and hang some of the rice as an offering, which this practice was called “mamiarag”.

Pinipig is the green, immature grains of rice which is flattened and toasted. It is commonly used in dishes such as making halo-halo and pinipig polvoron.

The other deities associated with rice was Dumangan, Kalasakas, Kalasokos, and Damolag.

Currently, Anitun Tawo has been associated as a Tagalog deity, but like many other deities, there is no record of the Tagalog having this as a deity. It’s important to acknowledge that many deities claimed as Tagalog are not Tagalog. This gives a Tagalog centric way of thinking and like other instances, erases the identity and culture of other ethnic groups.

While I don’t rule out that Anitun Tawo may have been also known to the Tagalog, along with Dumangan, Apo Laki, Ana Golay, etc (though Si Dapa which apparently is also now being spread that he was a Tagalog god when he’s Bisaya irks me to no end), and others, this erasure and claiming of everything being Tagalog is an ongoing issue.

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It’s another full moon tonight and the last one of 2021. Our ancestors celebrated the full moon, seeing it as a time of rest and admiring it’s beauty and the connection with the spirits and diwata. ✨

Here are some beliefs and practices on the full moon.

i. Dionysos

beloved, lascivious God. He whose breath is like kindling and skin is of silk, veneral Dionysos

“Khthonion Dionysos, hear my prayer, rise vigilant with Nymphai of lovely hair : great Bakkhos Amphietos, annual God, who laid asleep in Persephone’s abode, her sacred seat, didst lull to drowsy rest the rites triennial and the sacred feast; which roused again by thee, in graceful ring, thy nurses round thee mystic anthems sing; when briskly dancing with rejoicing powers, thou movest in concert with the circling hours. Come blessed, fruitful, horned, and divine, and on this sacred consecration propitious shine; accept the pious incense and the prayer, and make prolific the holy fruits thy care.”

— Orphic Hymn 53 to Amphietus