Something Wicked This Way Comes

In keeping with my grumpiness, I have compiled a list of books that I do not recommend, and why. This list only contains books that I don’t consider to have sufficient redeeming qualities or pieces of good information hidden among the dreck. They are books that are so bad that I refuse to spend any amount of money to have them in my personal collection.

If people want me to review a book that they’re wondering about that isn’t listed here, I’d be more than happy to oblige. Just send me a note and I’ll list out the pros and cons of the work if I’m familiar with it.

I’ll probably toss together a list of recommended books for beginners when I get a chance, as well.

Without further ado, the list:

A very simple guide of sorts, for the different healers or healing related Deities from different pagan paths. This is as much for learning for me as everyone else, so feel free to point out anything I should add or fix, if there’s anything please let me know! Any suggestions for other deities/paths or types of deities are welcome!

Eir; Norse; is a physician goddess. She is said to only give her advice and wisdom to women, and this could be due to the fact medicine was typically a woman’s job in old norse society. She is also one of the Valkyries, female deities who decide who die in battle who who lives. Eir is also one of Frigga’s twelve handmaidens, each not only loyal to the Queen of Asgard, but a goddess in their own right. Curiously enough, Eir is not only the goddess of medicine and healing, she is also a forge goddess, largely known for being involved in the arts, detail and creativity that comes with forging rather than the actual act of making weapons, though thought to be skilled at both. Her main attributes involve, obviously, healing, but also patience, creative energy, perseverance, fire, metal smithing, and defending/aiding warriors.

Asclepius; Greek; God of medicine, he is known for the healing what has already been hurt or sick, while his wife, Epione, was the goddess of soothing pain. Their offspring: Hygieia (the Goddess of health, hygiene and cleanliness) is more about preventing ailments; Panacea (the Goddess of Universal health); Aceso (Goddess of the healing process); Iaso (the Goddess of recuperating from illness) and Aglaea (Goddess of beauty, adornment and splender) is best known for being one of the three Charities. The Rod of Asclepius is still a very well known and used symbol for medicine today, it shows a snake (modernly there are sometimes two) entangling a rod or staff.

Apollo(n); Greek; God of prophecies/oracles, healing, plague, disease, music, song, poetry, archery, and protector of the young. He is the father of Asclepius, who shares with him the title of Paean or “The Healer”. Apollo is able to give the plague or take it away, he is called upon to ward off evil and offer help for the sick. Apollo is also the first god mentioned in the Hippocratic oath, an oath or promise historically made by doctors and physicians to uphold specific ethical standards. And though the original oath is not commonly used today, versions of it are still taken by newly graduated medical personnel.

Sekhmet; Egyptian; Warrior and Hunter Goddess of fire, war, vengeance and healing/medicine. She is depicted as a lioness, or a woman with a lioness head. She is also a Solar Deity, which is a god or goddess who represents the sun, or an aspect of it, and is usually associated with strength and power. She’s often seen with the Goddess Hathor, the goddess of joy, music, dance, sexual love, pregnancy and birth. A lot of the times she’s thought of as the more harsh ‘side’ of the gentler Hathor. However, as merciless as she was often depicted, getting on her good side would grant someone aversion to plague and/or sickness, or cure ailments one would already have. She was the patron of doctors and physicians, so great even her priests could be turned into skilled healers.  Her father, Ra (God of the Sun), sent her to earth to punish humanity for its cruelty and for disobeying justice and order (Ma’at), however her blood lust got out of control and Ra ended up having to intoxicate her until her desire for human blood subsided. It is this lack of mercy and power that cause people to fear she will bring them plagues or other physical ailments or illnesses, but she could just as easily cure or heal them, which is why she is considered a deity of medicine and healing.

Heka; Egyptian; God of Magic. Heka was often called upon by those hoping for help in the form of protection, healing and/or support, which he could provide with his magic. He also would help Ra banish evil spirits and demons from the sky. Doctors and healers were sometimes called “Priests of Heka” and curiously enough, he, like Asclepius, is depicted with serpents, often on a rod or staff.

Airmed; Celtic; Goddess of Healing and Resurrection. She is the daughter of Diancecht, God of Medicine, and chief Physician and Magician of the Tuatha De  Danaan. Airmed herself was one of the original and oldest deities from Irish mythology, powerful with magic, and a member of Tuatha De Danann like her father.  The Tuatha De Danann (Clan of Danu, or People of the Goddess Danu) were thought to be a supernatural race out of ancient legends, evolved into Gods and Goddesses, who fought Fir Bolgs to protect the people of Ireland. Airmed healed those hurt in the battles of these wars and eventually it became clear at Airmed and her brother Miach’s skills greatly surpassed their father’s in the healing arts. Miach was especially talented, and his jealous father tried to kill him multiple times (each time Miach would heal himself) before finally succeeding. Airmed weeped for her dead brother, whom she was very close, once when visiting his grave, she saw 365 healing herbs which spoke to her and told her all of Miach’s healing secrets. Her still angry father stole these herbs from her and scattered them around the earth, leaving Airmed as the only one who knew all the secrets of the healing arts and herbs. The Well of the Slain (or less popularly The Well of Health) was made by Airmed, Diancecht, and Miach and when they casted spells over it, the soldiers who died in the war would be resurrected and those injured would be healed. However, the Fir Bolgs filled it with stones and it would no longer work.

Æsir Baldr Bragi Eir Frigg Heimdallr  Lofn Máni Nanna Njörun Oðin Rán Sigyn Sól Thor Tyr Üllr Víðarr 

Vanir Freyja Freyr Njörðr

Jötnar Ægir Jörð Skaði Rökkr Hati and Sköll Hel Fenrir Loki

Ironically, I’m writing this to avoid doing my Work Job. Let’s get into it.

Set an alarm so you remember. Pick a specific time you’re going to worship, because “later” never comes and “sometime this evening” rarely does either. Instead, set an alarm so that you already have that time set aside in your mind, and so that you don’t mentally blow past it when that time arrives.

Keep everything in one place. Keep the offerings near where you would offer them, as well as anything you might need to do it, like matches or lighters. Make it so there’s as little travel time as possible between you and what you want to do. 

Think through the ritual setup beforehand. Sometimes the offering part is easy but getting to that point is overwhelming, especially if your tradition involves ritual purification or invocation rituals. Boil it down to the bare essentials and capture the essence in a way that doesn’t have so many steps, if you can. (Ex: Is that personal purification rite just an ancient way of washing away germs, and if so can we just mindfully wash our hands and fulfull the rite’s function?)

Start with something little. Getting started can be the hardest part. If you don’t have the energy for an entire offering ritual, break it into pieces. Just do the setup and approach the rest later if you need. Or just put on a playlist to get into the mood for now. Or take a couple deep breaths to refocus your brain. Ease into it as slowly as you need. 

Think ahead with your offerings. Will you have the spoons to clean up after? If you’re like me and run the risk of not removing an offering for days (or weeks…) then think ahead to what can stay there a long time, just in case. Nobody likes cleaning up the altar and finding mold in the offering dish. Incense, water, and dried plants tend to work well, as do nonphysical things like music and poetry.

“While I’m at it…” If you catch yourself in a spot with good momentum, try to get a rite done while you have the energy instead of putting it off. It can be something simple, but use the energy and the drive while you’re on top of it since we can’t always guarantee it will be there in even an hour. 

Keep things similar so that you don’t have to rethink every step, every time. A rock solid routine with what a ritual looks like helps it become a lot more automatic, and therefore a lot easier to actually do. Routine becomes habit.

𝓒𝓮𝓻𝓷𝓾𝓷𝓷𝓸𝓼 (𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓗𝓸𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓞𝓷𝓮) 𝓜𝓸𝓸𝓭𝓫𝓸𝓪𝓻𝓭 🐏

moodboard: thor