𝐈𝐫𝐢𝐬

These are called Witches Stairs. Allegedly, witches can't climb up them.

many people speak on specifically married deities (ex: hades & persephone, zeus & hera, odin & frigg). a lot of people refer to them as a “package deal” since they are heavily entwined. but it’s important for those just starting out, this does not mean you have to work with both.

as someone who works with hades, some of my offerings to him are related to persephone but i don’t worship her. in fact, when i had the opportunity to meet her and ask, she smiled and said, “you’re not mine”. we both mutually understood that we didn’t have a connection to one another but we have mutual respect and kindness for one another.

the “package deal” part is where i offer my coffee that is too sweet for hades so he said he’ll hand it to persephone instead. which is the cutest fucking thing btw omg

Kharis:

Kharis means 'grace' or 'favour' and it is in reference to the reciprocal nature of our relationships with the gods.

Liddell and Scott describe it as, "A grace or favour felt on the part of the doer but more frequently on the part of the receiver in the form or thankfulness and gratitude."

It essentially means a favour done in delight. This can be both the offering we give to the gods, and the favours and blessings the gods bestow upon us.

Kharis is both the action of offering and worshipping and also what is built between a worshipper and a god through the actions of offering and reverence. It can be used like this:

'Giving an offering to the gods is an example of kharis.'

Or:

'I have built up kharis with Apollo over the years.'

Khaire/khairete:

Khaire or khairete are words that mean 'hail', 'farewell', or 'blessings'.

It can be used to greet someone, either as hello or farewell (I use it at the end of some of my posts). It can also be used at the end of a prayer.

Khaire is used to address one person or god, and khairete is used to address a group.

Miasma:

Miasma means 'stain', 'pollution', 'defilement', or 'stain of guilt'.

It is a type of spiritual pollution that a person or a place can collect through either happenstance or deliberate action. It makes us spiritually unclean but there is no damnation involved in miasma and thus is not similar to sin. Sin is more comparable to agos, which is mentioned later.

We tend to collect miasma while going about day-to-day life, almost like getting our hands dirty while working. The stain it refers to is always one of a spiritual nature; miasma is a strictly spiritual concept.

It makes a person or place ritually impure, hence it is inappropriate to interact with the divine while in a miasmic state. The gods are said to reject the offerings of a miasmic person or to vacate a miasmic place until it is cleansed.

Human blood is also considered to be miasmic when spilled outside of battle, though this is not the case for menstrual blood (although I tend to avoid praying and doing rituals during that week anyway as I consider it to not be my cleanest state possible. I use this time to tend to my altar physically instead, cleaning it and reorganizing it).

Miasma is very common, everyone gets it, mostly due to plain daily life, though sometimes due to deliberate actions. Miasma can always be cleansed.

Sources of miasma include:

Death in the home - Pollutes the grieving and the home. People and home need to be cleansed before interacting with the gods or going to temple.

Birth - Because of the blood involved. Mother and baby are considered by traditional standards to be miasmic for three days postpartum and both are generally cleansed at five days postpartum.

Intercourse - Both parties are polluted by the act and must be cleansed before interacting with the gods or going to temple.

M*rder/m*nsl*ughter - This collects both miasma and agos. The m*rderer becomes miasmic, and a place can become miasmic if a m*rderer is free and unpunished there. This does not apply to blood spilled in battle.

There is a line in Hesiod's Works and Days that refers to the action of cleansing oneself of miasma before interacting with the gods. It reads, "Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to Zeus after dawn with unwashen hands, nor to others of the deathless gods."

Khernips:

Khernips means 'handwash', or 'lustral water'.

It is basically Hellenic holy water. It is used to purify ourselves of miasma before interacting with the gods.

It can be made by dropping burnt herbs or laurel leaves (bay leaves) in clean water, or by dropping a lit match in clean water. Simply washing our hands in plain water can work symbolically as well if done with the specific intention of purifying oneself.

Agos:

Agos means 'curse', 'pollution', or 'abomination'.

It can be considered as a step up to miasma and, while not quite the same, it could also be considered comparable to sin. It is brought about through deliberate actions and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to cleanse. Agos can also invoke the divine wrath of the gods, so it does involve a form of damnation

Some things that cause/invoke agos include:

Having intercourse inside a temple

Temple robbing

M*rder

Bloodshed inside a temple or on sacred grounds

Broken xenia

The refusal to properly bury a family member or a soldier (even an enemy soldier)

K*lling someone who is under the gods' protection

Offering human blood to the gods (due to its miasmic nature)

Agos is hardly as common as miasma, so it is not something the general practitioner should worry about.

So I'm currently away from home for 10 days (pet/house sitting) and I don't have an altar space with me. I have my tarot deck and that's it. I decided to write this list incase it might help someone else who is away from home or is just in the pagan closet. Enjoy!

Read your Deity's myths or listen to people read myths on youtube

Sit outside and just think about them

Set your phone background to something that reminds you of them

Wear their colours or symbols

Make or listen to a playlist dedicated to your Deity/Deities

Do a digital offering on tumblr or another site

Just talk to them about your day

Write some poetry for them. Anything can be poetry, it doesn't have to be good

Scroll through their tags on social media

If you have coloured shoelaces wear their corresponding colours on your shoes!! (I can't believe i didn't think about this earlier)

Do your make up to honour them

Talk about them in a (dedicated witchy/pagan) discord server

Do something nice for someone. I know it's cheesy but it's cliche for a reason. For me it definitely makes me feel closer to my Gods

Draw/make art of them or one of their symbols

Youtube ambiance videos are great! If your Deity has an association with fire, water, birds, communal spaces or music there are heaps of videos on Youtube that you can play. Think coffee shop ambiance (communal space), waterfall/rain/water ambiance, nature/bird chirping ambiance, fire place ambiance, studying at the library ambiance, etc. endless possibilities

Draw their sigils/symbols on your face with skin care