How Do You Do, Fellow Creatives™

success story

right before high school, i found solar subs and read her guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OhShXBZ3rjw4dJGz5Y2XWw3G9vC5Wqyi9JYUsRxj61E/edit#heading=h.sftzdlwdkxu7

and this was pretty much the first eye-opener for me and i realized that i actually had control over my life.

so throughout high school, i've consciously manifested: my head to toe glow up, (people from middle school seriously don't recognize me anymore, i walked up to this girl i knew and had to reintroduce myself.) my sweet 16 party which was HUGE, (i had never had something done like that for me, i got so many expensive gifts that i've been wanting for YEARS) a Macbook, a purse, my boyfriend, (the way we fell in love was truly so adorable it really felt like a rom-com movie, he even said it himself as i was saying affirmations) my boyfriend's parents liking me, my mom to be lenient and nicer, an old friend to come back to me, to get prettier everyday (as i was looking back at some photos from like only a few months ago, i was pretty, but now i'm wayyy prettier and my features are so much more enhanced) tons of clothes, a thinner waist, popularity, good grades, more money, shopping sprees, THERES SO MUCH MORE BUT THIS IS ALL I COULD THINK OFFFFF im living my high school girl dream fantasy life rn

Dissecting the Anatomy of Prayer

Within Hellenic polytheism, prayers in supplication or thanksgiving typically contain elements of a recognisable formula, the purpose of which is to gain the attention of a god/s most appropriate to your request or words of thanks with justification or explanation for the prayer:

Greeting and call to god/s

Naming epithets/cult titles and favoured shrines or places

Invocation of kharis

Request or thanksgiving

Farewell

Constructing prayers within this framework can be as elaborate or simple as your need requires. The greater the need the longer and more flattering the prayer.

But how to recognise this formula in traditional prayers in order to construct one of your own? I’ve outlined a few examples and colour-coordinated the key points to match the formula above.

Ready for some colour vomit? Let’s go …

Hear me, you of the silver bow, you who stand in protection over Chryse and holy Killa, and who rule Tenedos with your might, Smintheus, if ever I placed a roof on your lovely temple, or if ever I burned for you the fat thighs of bulls or of goats, grant me this request: let the Danaans pay for my tears with your arrows. Iliad 1.37-42

Now, queen of the land of sweet Eleusis and sea-girt Paros and rocky Antron, lady, giver of good gifts, bringer of seasons, queen Deo, be gracious, you and your daughter all beauteous Persephone, and for my song grant me heart-cheering substance. And now I will remember you and another song also. Homeric Hymn to Demeter

Zeus, thou king, Dodonaean, Pelasgian, thou that dwellest afar, ruling over wintry Dodona,—and about thee dwell the Selli, thine interpreters, men with unwashen feet that couch on the ground. Aforetime verily thou didst hear my word, when I prayed: me thou didst honour, and didst mightily smite the host of the Achaeans; even so now also fulfill thou for me this my desire. Myself verily will I abide in the gathering of the ships, but my comrade am I sending forth amid the host of the Myrmidons to war: with him do thou send forth glory, O Zeus, whose voice is borne afar, and make bold the heart in his breast, to the end that Hector, too, may know whether even alone my squire hath skill to fight, or whether his hands then only rage invincible, whenso I enter the turmoil of Ares. But when away from the ships he hath driven war and the din of war, thea all-unscathed let him come back to the swift ships with all his arms, and his comrades that fight in close combat. Iliad 16.233-248

Deathless Aphrodite of the spangled mind, child of Zeus, who twists lures, I beg you do not break with hard pains, O lady, my heart, but come here if ever before you caught my voice far off and listening left your father’s golden house and came, yoking your car. Sappho Ode to Aphrodite

Kindly Zeus, Ombrios, bringer of rain, and you Maimaktes who clouded over, I thank you for the life-bringing rains and the warm moist air that my plants love. But I thank you most of all for protecting my home from your damaging winds and the strike of thunder. May you always grant me shelter and fertile soils. Prayer to Zeus after a summer storm

Things in the Miraculous movie that were way better than the show

Everything

Ok but actually, adjustments made in the movie that vastly improved the show’s canon:

Marinette’s awkwardness being equally applied to everyone she interacts with. Having her reputation be that she is a walking disaster makes Adrien’s (and Alya’s) kindness to her more impactful. Also makes Chloe’s bullying more believable. IN GENERAL makes Marinette’s character more believable.

In the same realm, the entire school and world not revolving around how perfect and cool Adrien is fixes SO. MANY. THINGS. The only person at school who seems to care about his status is Chloe, which not only makes his overall character less annoying, but also adds to Chloe’s characterization.

Speaking of Chloe, making her an actual character and not a bitch who torments her classmates relentlessly for no reason? Like yeah she’s still a bitch and a bully but she has sense of decorum and won’t take it too far if her reputation is on the line.

Sabrina having agency? Hello??

The subtilization of Marinette’s crush on Adrien. Like, hello, she has a lot of shit going on! She doesn’t have time to be swooning over her classmate all day! Yet another thing that makes her more believable.

TIKKI AND PLAGG CHOOSING THEIR OWN HOLDERS. Fuck Fu. Kwamis are literal eldritch gods, why wouldn’t they have a bit of agency?

The entire sequence of Marinette saving Fu. A clever way to have Fu meet the holder while still having Tikki be the one who chooses. Also way better storytelling for him to not intentionally put himself in danger to find a holder, makes the whole thing more organic.

The addition of the rule that the Tikki and Plagg only awaken when there’s a miraculous-level threat. Gives actual purpose to the role of the Guardian, imo.

Unpopular opinion but Tikki’s personality change was great. Once again, literal eldritch God!

Not to harp on this, but once again, the kwamis still having some level of control and AGENCY even when their holders are transformed. Tikki being in Ladybug’s yo-yo and actually guiding her was cool af and WHY WOULDN’T SHE BE ABLE TO DO THAT???

Ladybug and Chat having more general abilities BUT not having their special abilities right away. The sequence where Chat caught the invisible bullet? Cool af. And Ladybug NOT having the reset button right away really raised the stakes and honestly just felt right. It was really rewarding and triumphant when she used it towards the end.

The earrings/ring glowing as a way to communicate when one of them is not transformed. Such a good and cool idea.

Adrien and Marinette frequently hanging out together in a group with Alya and Nino without it being weird!!! Jesus!! Let the kids be kids!!!!!

Gabriel Agreste being less of a piece of shit.

Chat Noir’s “You’re my sidekick!” To, “I’m your sidekick!” progression. Followed by Ladybug’s, “we’re partners!” Immaculate.

Marinette gaining confidence as Marinette from being Ladybug AND ALSO SPECIFICALLY from her partnership with Chat Noir. LET THE SUPERHERO CHILDREN HAVE A MEANINGFUL AND UPLIFTING PARTNERSHIP FFS

Speaking of, LADYNOIR HANGING OUT

LADYNOIR PLAYFIGHTING

Ladybug liking Chat romantically maybe before the 5th fucking season? Making Chat’s first confession less cringey bc she actually really likes him back and totally wants to kiss him? Being internally conflicted ab it?

Marinette confessing right after she gently lets Chat down for the first time, literally perfect angst set up

Adrien BEING ABLE TO STAND UP TO HIS FATHER. Fuck Sentiadrien.

Gabriel being capable of feeling human emotions

Identity reveal

୨୧ 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝘩𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 ୨୧

♡ waking up early ♡ don't force yourself to make your bed right when you get up (but still try and do it eventually) ♡ set daily goals ♡ read motivational quotes ♡ yoga ♡ reading ♡ morning affirmations ♡ eat a healthy breakfast ♡ do skincare/hair ♡ drink matcha ♡ meditating ♡ taking a good shower ♡ journaling ♡ make a to-do list ♡ clean your space ♡ complete a task you've been meaning to do

i love my body

i am committed to my dream

i am getting better daily

I have been looking for this post for agesss. it's so good!!

Why Chat Noir didn’t show up in Style Queen, According to Master Fu and Plagg

Chat Noir’s Mysterious Civilian Identity: *drops the ring* oh no

The ring: *rolls under a sofa*

Chat Noir’s Mysterious Civilian Identity: oh no. whatever will I do?

Plagg: How could you do this, Chat Noir? How could you be so irresponsible?

Chat Noir’s Mysterious Civilian Identity: I cannot find the ring. It is gone. I don’t know how to find it

Plagg, crying: I am running away 

I wish all of these men a slow, violently tortuous death.

people who don't experience hyperfixation don't know what it feels like to hyperfixate so much on something that it becomes not only your subject of obsession but also your source of happiness and literally the main reason why you still keep going; literal source of strength and life.

shoutout to my favorite fictional characters, favorite people, favorite ships, favorite movies, favorite tv shows, fanfics and archive of our own

How to Offer to the Theoi- a guide

The Kylix of Apollo, where the god is depicted pouring libations from a phiale onto the ground. (A kylix is a type of phiale, so this is a particularly meta piece) Delphi, Greece, 460BC

The most historical offering to any of the Theoi are  θυμιάειν thymiaein (smoke), σπονδή sponde (libations of alcohol) and νηφάλια nefalia “calm” libations meaning non-alcoholic (such as milk, honey, water, etc).

How do I do smoke offerings?

There’s three ways, generally speaking. The gods take the smoke of any offering, so this could be:

A actual burnt offering, such as a piece of paper you wrote a poem on, burnt herbs (which this is where we get the English word THYME from because this was a popular herb to burn for incense), or food as it was cooking, because the smell of the cooking fire rises. It’s not mandatory today that you do burnt offerings because our houses are not built like the ancient’s were; fully ventilated. 

The smoke of incense Historically this would have been done in a special incense burner called a thymiateria which are still used today in the Greek Orthodox church, but today any incense burner will do!

The steam from your food. The gods allow us to eat the physical food, and they take the non-physical aromas and steams, which is why aromatic spices are so important in ritual. 

It’s important to wash your hands before offering; this is the god’s food, don’t make it germy please. 

How do I do sponde and nefalia?

As before, you should have clean hands before you come to worship. 

Pour your liquid out of its original container into a bowl. The container was historically called an oenokheo  οἰνοχόη “I pour wine”, and what you would pour it into was called a fiale or phiale φιάλη which we still have today in the archaic word for a vial, a phial. 

Either before or after you pour, say a prayer, poem, hymn, or just greet your deity. Here’s a short example I’ll do now for Artemis Tykhe: Khaire oh great Tykhe! I pour this water for you, oh goddess of luck and fortune. Watch over us at this rite. 

If you like, you can pour a cup of drink for yourself, but pour the one for the god(s) first. If you are worshipping multiple gods at the same time for the ritual, you only need one phiale. 

When your ritual is done, you can say something to conclude; I use γένοιτό Genoito (pronounced Yen-ee-tu) meaning “may it be” or “it is so”, but conclude however you like. If I’m leading a rite in English I will say something like, “and this rite is ended.”

You may now drink from your cup if you poured yourself one, and dispose of the offerings in the phiale as you see fit. Its up to you and your god(s) whether you drink their share or not; some worshippers do, some don’t. A lot of people, including me, do sponde at the dinner table before they eat.

What’s the difference between sponde and nefalia? What’s the purpose? 

Sponde is alcoholic usually, while nefalia never is! Nefalia is conducted the exact same way, but certain festivals and gods strictly forbid wine at their ceremony; Demeter’s mysteries is probably the best known example, but there’s many others. 

Some historical options for Nefalia are water, honey, and milk, but if you can pour it, you can offer it!

What do I do for a Khthonic god? 

Because Kthnonic (literally “of/below the earth”) gods are below ground, incense is useless to them. Smoke rises, and doesn’t reach them below the earth. Physical Kthonic offerings should be buried in a hole called a bothros  βόθρος (literally “pit”), or they should be burnt to cinders and the ash spread on the soil. I’ve seen some worshippers compost Kthonic offerings, which I think is a really cool idea. 

If you offer food or drinks to the Khthonic gods, they don’t share! They get the entire sum of whatever you offer. Zeus will share a glass of wine with you, Pluton wants the entire glass. 

Kthonic gods and heroes get a special type of libation called χεῦμα Khoe, “that which is poured.” Unlike sponde and nefalia, you absolutely do NOT drink this. It’s poured on the ground. Khoe is usually milk, honey, water, or sometimes very dark red wine. 

a bothros to Demeter  at the Temple to Demeter in the Valle dei Templi near Agrigento, off the coast of Italy

How do I know which gods are Ouranic or Kthonic?

Generally speaking if they’re not agricultural, related to death and disease, sleep, blood, or the soil itself, they’re seen as Ouranic or “heavenly”. 

This distinction isn’t always black and white; because there are many among the Theoi that straddle the line and have aspects of both; Apollo for example is related to every criterion for a Khthonic god, but the majority of his worship is Ouranic. In cases like this, it comes down to the epithet (aspect or title) of the god that you’re worshipping. Apollo Soranus, a Roman underworld god, is Khthonic, but Paean Apollo the healer is Ouranic. You’ll have to do research on your own for what to do because there are thousands of epithets. Also note that Pluton (H@des) is often referred to with epithets like Zeus Below, Zeus Euboleus etc because it’s unlucky to speak his name outloud, so special care should be taken for research for either Zeus or Pluton.  With time you’ll have a pretty good sense of what to do, but to avoid overwhelming yourself, pick one or two gods and do research on one or two epithets and how they were worshipped. 

it got a bit long but I think this about covers it, holler at me if you have questions, happy worshipping!