I feel very protective over the Sky Father today, so here’s a fair reminder that Zeus was never seen in a disrespectful light by the Ancients, and all of those stories of Him that involve kidnapping of individuals or taking of women never changed the fact He was always seen as Hospitable, Protective, and All-Giving. The trick to start seeing Him as such is to understand that Zeus’ aspects are representations of the idea of masculinity of the time, and His cult needs to be looked at diachronically.
Some of you have to start realizing that there’s a two thousand year gap between the time these stories were written and today’s reignited religion. Zeus never received negative titles, never was written off as cruel or dangerous, was never avoided. Sexual intercourse with a God (yes, even forced) in the Antiquity was not seen a bad because the God would be granting one the kharis of their presence. You can’t speak of the Old Times in modern terms. This alone should hint for you that these stories of forceful takings and kidnapping were seen as a norm for someone of His caliber: and of course they were, Ancient Greece is not comparable in terms of civil rights to our modern countries. He is the King of Gods, He can do what He desires.
Gods evolve, and perspectives change. The renewed Zeus wouldn’t be associated with such matters any longer, though He would still remain as demanding and as controlling as the Ruler of Gods can get. Zeus is not an assaulter or aggressor. These concepts were not seen as a crime or a punishable act two thousand years ago; but they are now. Let the God evolve with the society He is forever connected to and remember that Zeus represents the ideal of man, husband, and ruler.
He is not a dangerous God. You can’t possibly apply societal standards of Antiquity to the modern world, or vice versa, and believe you’ve done good analysis.
'' I whose rays make the lines of thunder, And whose altars the universe worships; I whose greatest gods would fear war, Can I take mortals without dishonour?
I attack in spite of myself their proud envy, Their audacity overcame my nature and fate; For my virtue which is only to give life, Is now forced to kill them.
I free my altars from these troublesome obstacles, And trampling on these brigands whom my darts will punish, From now on everyone will come to my oracles, And prevent the harm that may befall him.
It is I who penetrate the hardness of the trees, Tear from their hearts a learned voice, Who silences the winds, who makes the marbles speak, And who traces to fate the conduct of kings.
It is I whose warmth gives life to roses, And raise up the buried fruits, I give duration and color to things, And bring to life the radiance of the whiteness of the lilies.
So little that I am absent, a cloak of darkness Holds with cold horror heaven and earth covered, The most beautiful orchards are funereal objects, And when my eye is closed everything dies in the universe.''
''Apollon Champion'', Théophile de Viau, (french poet, 1590-1626)
Bust of Apollo, marble. Late XVII/ XVIII°
Tide Pool (1980) by Jeremy Miranda
Creating a love spell can be a powerful way to manifest your desires and attract your ideal partner.
Here are some steps to help you create your own love spell:
Ingredients:
🌹Rose petals
🌹Cinnamon
🌹Rose quartz crystal
🌹Red candle
🌹 Incense (jasmine, rose, or sandalwood)
Steps:
❤️ Begin by cleansing your space and yourself. You can use smudging herbs or burn the incense for this.
❤️ Set your intention: Before you begin any spell, it’s important to know exactly what you want to manifest. Take some time to think about the kind of relationship you want to have and what qualities you’d like your ideal partner to possess.
❤️ Light the red candle and the incense.
❤️ Hold the rose quartz crystal in your hand and focus on your intention for love and passion.
❤️ Sprinkle the rose petals and cinnamon around the candle, forming a circle.
❤️ Visualize the energy of love and passion flowing into the circle and charging the ingredients.
❤️ Let the candle burn down completely, and let the incense continue to burn for as long as you like.
❤️ Thank the universe, your tools, and any deities or spirits you called upon for their assistance.
❤️ Close your circle or protective space.
Remember, love spells should always be created with pure intentions and respect for free will. It’s important to never try to manipulate or control someone else’s feelings. Focus on manifesting love and happiness for yourself, and trust that the universe will guide you to the right partner.
With these steps, you can create a powerful and effective love spell that aligns with your personal intentions and desires. Best of luck in your magical endeavors!
____
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With love, from a Sappy Witch 🔮💕
Blessed be. 🕊✨
"I don't have a religion therefore you can't either" isn't any less colonialist than "my religion is valid and yours is not", by the way, people.
This is worse, in its way, than the pornbots.
Here's something that turned up in my ask box just now.
...So. You've all seen these. Some of them are genuine. Lots aren't.
Here's where their message leads:
...Okay. The first warning sign: this account is about 3 days old.
But the second: searching on the details of the plea for help via Google, what do we find but...
...Poor Macaroni has repeatedly been hit by cars, and has repeatedly suffered busted femurs, since 2015.
"This," as the saying goes, "starts to look like carelessness." :/
Taking advantage of the kindness of strangers this way is vile... and plainly there's no shortage of people willing to indulge.
So: yeah, I'll be delighted to help the OP get some more traction on this! You betcha. By:
Blocking. Reporting. Reporting to PayPal as well. And dropping @staff a note, when I have a moment. Because allowing this stuff to prosper here just invites more people to try it on. :/
...Pass the news around, friends. ("And call it Macaroni.")
Early in January, when I was in the deepest throes of my hyperfixation on researching everything about Dionysos, I found this post by @bacchant-of-dionysus with a nice, neat list of epithets of Dionysos, with their Greek spelling (much appreciated), meanings (even more appreciated), and small prayers you could say with the epithets (I was about to weep tears of joy). As I was reading through it, I saw the epithet of "Dionysos Kolotes", Kolotes meaning "spotted gecko", which gave me serious pause. It almost seemed comedical - where in Dionysos' mythology were geckoes of any kind even mentioned, especially spotted ones? And why the specification?
When I came back around to this epithet while working on my series of prayers, I decided to take to the internet to see if I could dig up any more information on why Kolotes was an epithet of Dionysos. After a few searches, I came across this page on Theoi.com about Asklabos, who had been turned into a spotted gecko. I'll copy it down below, it's not very long:
"Askalabos was the son of a peasant-woman named Mimse who the goddess Demeter visited upon first arriving in Attika during her long search for Persephone. The woman offered her a drink of barley-groats, and the goddess hurriedly quaffed it down to relieve her thirst. The boy rudely mocked her as a glutton and in her anger she cast the drink at him, transforming him into a spotted gecko."
This is interesting, because, while Dionysos was mentioned nowhere here, the story of Demeter looking for Persephone was in fact a part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which He does have some connections to. But that still begs the question - why is it Dionysos who is given the epithet of Kolotes, rather than Demeter, who it would seemingly be more fitting to?
In my own opinion, this epithet is one that seems to connect to Dionysos' habit of being, in some ways, a God of hospitality. Frequently, when He appears in myths, He is seen judging people on their hospitality (usually lack of). For example, in the Bacchae, one of Pentheus' greatest evils was his lack of hospitality towards the maenads, and he was ripped apart. Lykurgous, too, attacked Dionysos and His maenads, and was punished with madness. And the Tyrrhenian pirates, who kidnapped Dionysos to sell him to slavery, found themselves turned into dolphins. In all of these examples, Dionysos is the one who carries out the punishment of those who have violated Xenia. The spotted gecko, meanwhile, was once a boy who mocked a Goddess as she quenched her thirst after frantically searched for Her missing daughter.
So in my opinion, Dionysos holds the epithet of Kolotes not because He is someone who would also mock Demeter on Her worst days, but because He reminds others not to do the same, as a God who seems to oversee Xenia. Just as we see dolphins not as an inspiration to go out and kidnap someone, but rather as a reminder to not take advantage of others, the spotted gecko is a reminder to always be courteous to other people, even when their actions seem strange or desperate to us. We do not know what they have undergone.
“Thou hast no power against me," said Cúchulainn. "I have power indeed," said the woman; "it is at the guarding of thy death that I am; and I shall be," said she. The Cattle-Raid of Regamna, from the Yellow Book of Lecan
The Morrígan is depicted in the Irish cycles as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the wife* of the Dagda, and a goddess ruling over the spheres of fate, death, war, and land. She is often associated with ravens, crows, and heifers, whose forms she takes.
Name & Epithets: Morrígan, Morrígu, Mórrígan (Middle Irish— “Great Queen”), Mór-Ríoghain (Modern Irish)
Role as a Goddess of War
The Morrígan is seen in the Cycles as bringing victory in war, or foretelling death in battle. In the Cath Mage Tuired, which describes how the Tuatha Dé Danann overthrew the tyrannical Fomorians, she proclaims the victory of the gods over their enemy and foretells the end of the world. In the Ulster Cycle, she is the sometimes-patron, sometimes-enemy of the hero Cúchulainn, whose death she prophesies after he offends her, and then reminded of his fate by taking the form of an old woman washing his bloodied clothes in a creek.
Role as a Sovereignty Goddess
Sovereignty goddesses in Irish tradition represent the land itself, and thus marriage to one creates a legitimate rule or guardianship over that land. In Early Medieval Ireland (and perhaps before), a king’s coronation would include a symbolic marriage to the land, thereby granting himself power and legitimacy. The Morrígan is one such sovereignty goddess, or at least perceived as one by the 12th Century, as the Book of Invasions names her the sister of Ériu, Banba, and Fódla, personifications of Ireland married to each of her three kings.
Role as a Triplicate Goddess
The Morrígan is inconsistently referred to as one of three or a combination of three figures. In the Mythological cycle, she is named as the sister of Badb (’crow’), a war goddess, and Macha, a land goddess. Together, they are called the three Morrígna. Macha is also the name of several other figures, and Badb appears barely distinguishable from the Morrígan. Whatever the case, the names appear less like the archetypal ‘Maiden, Mother, Crone’, and more like simply different aspects of the goddess given different titles, as is common in Irish religion.
*Marriage with the Dagda
The fact of her “marriage” with the Dagda is contentious but well-supported by the texts we have access to. One of her best-known stories from the Cath Mage Tuired is the Dagda’s pact with her before the battle against the Formorians. This part of the text is often mistranslated as the Dagda meeting her [for the first time] at a certain point in the year, when really a perhaps more accurate translation would be “On this day [near Samhain] the Dagda met her yearly.” Additionally, the “union” described between her and the Dagda does not appear to be purely sexual. The word used, ‘oentaith’ is difficult to translate but probably also refers to a general agreement/pact [dil.ie/33541], not unlike a modern marriage. Additionally, as a king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a ceremonial marriage to a sovereignty and agricultural goddess such as the Morrígan would be appropriate for the Dagda and make sense to an early Irish audience.
My UPG with the Morrígan
Recommended reading + Sources
Cath Mage Tuired [Translation] [Original]
Book of Invasions
The Cattle-Raid of Regamna
She who is modest, dark-veiled Leto, She who is ever gentle and full of care; Great Mother of all and twin-bearing goddess.
Queen of Great Kindness, i declare my praise to you; for you have gifted me with the ability to love those around me so strongly. you allow me to feel a love that comes from you, ever-flowing.
O She-wolf Leto, i thank you for your care. i thank you for your divine love and protection. hail, Mother of Truth, whom i promise to worship and adore. Lovely-haired Leto, i shall light candles and write letters to you; i shall love and care for those around me in honor of you.
my appreciation to you overflows from my soul, dear Goddess.