A Maenads Musings

So many older - more experienced - witches tell beginner - baby - witches to start with researching things like protection spells, grounding, cleansing and warding but what do you research afterward? These are just a few things that I would recommend every individual to research, regardless of how experienced you may think you are.

Carl Jung's Map of the Soul This is where the archetypes stem from, a what a lot of witches dread doing - Shadow Work. Shadow Work is uncovering not just traumatic ventures of our pasts but also revealing what made and makes us who we are today. Studying where it all started makes working through your own shadow a lot less stressful and a lot hammering on the soul, it also leads to a lot less martyrdom in the spiritual community.

Honing in on your psychic abilities and Intuition Gaining the ability is easy, everyone has these abilities, you just have to work to get them to where you want them to be. Remember a spiritual practice is still a practice, you have to put in the effort to get better, just as you would a physical sport or an instrument.

Egregores and Amalgamations vs. Deitys vs. Pop Culture Deitys Egregores and amalgamations exist solely in the astral plane and can (and will) mimic, imitate, and parody deities. Being able to decern these, especially with your intuition will always provide useful. Learning that Lucifer from Dantes' Inferno is reaching out to you versus aspected, epithetic source Lucifer will give you a much better relationship and outcome in your practice.

Deity Work vs. Deity Worship Offering play a key role when learning to decern these from each other. You can in fact, do both, but be warned deities get jealous of each other.

Find what you love and surround yourself with it Incorporating things that you love into your practice and not actually doing what you love about your practice is one of the key differences I saw in my practice when I learned how to differentiate them. I found incoporating pop culture media into my practice made me get burnout from both that piece of pop culture and my spiritual practices.

Διονυσος [Liber, Bacchus] Greek god of wine and insanity

Epithets: ✧ bakkhos [Of bacchic frenzy] ✧ Bromios [boisterous] ✧ Staphylites [of the grape] ✧ Oinops [wine-dark] ✧ Eleuthereus [of liberation] ✧ Androgynos [androgynous] ✧ Kistophoros [ivy bearer] ✧ Taurophagon [bull eating] ✧ Euaster [He who cries Euoi]

Domains: ✧ Wine making ✧ Orchards ✧ Fruit ✧ Vegetation ✧ Festivity ✧ Insanity / Ritual Madness ✧ Theatre Devotional acts: ✧ Host/attend parties (be responsible!) ✧ grow a plant ✧ make or drink fruity drinks ✧ Taking care of yourself mentally and physically

Associations

Symbol: ✧ Thyrsos ; Ivy Crown ; Grape-vine

Element: ✧ Earth (upg)

Color: ✧ purple ✧ green ✧ gold ✧ red ✧ black ✧ white ✧ burgundy

Metal: ✧ None known

Crystals and stones: ✧ Garnet ✧ Ruby ✧ Amethyst ✧ Grape agate

Animal: ✧ Leopard ✧ Goat ✧ Donkey ✧ Lion ✧ Serpent ✧ Wild bull ✧ Panther Plants: ✧ Grape-vine ✧ Ivy ✧ Cinnamon ✧ Silver fir ✧ Bindweed ✧ Figs

Food & Drinks: ✧ Red Wine ✧ Olive oil ✧ Water ✧ Fruit ✧ Honey ✧ Honeyed milk ✧ Meats ✧ Wheat ✧ Barley

Day, Season, Time of Day: ✧ None known

Sea water: good for curse/hex breaking, cleansing, healing, banishing and protection spells.

Dew water: beauty, love and fertility spells, as well as delicate magick. Also Good for Fae work.

Storm water: is great for spells and rituals that has to do with emotional strength, confidence, charge, motivation and force. It’s known for strengthening spells. Also good for curses.

Snow water: Spells and rituals that focus on purity, endings and change, as well as slow working spells.

River water: Good for creating changes, moving on and letting go of negativity, warding and focusing energy.

Rain water: Very multi-purpose, but specifically great for growth and rebirth spells. Great for spells that you want to keep gaining power over time.

Spring water: Growth, holy water, cleansing, protection, prosperity

Moon water: Depending on the moon phase it was created in, it can have different properties.

Sun Water: protection, healing, clairvoyance, courage, strength, prosperity, luck, self-love, cleansing and creativity.

Swamp Water: Used for banishing and binding.

Before you go protect yourself you don't want a spirit attached to you.

Bring coins as offerings to the gatekeepers.

Bring with you offering for the spirits (food, water, flowers ect...) and leave it by a tree or away from the headstones for the spirits.

Make sure you don't step on anyone and apologiz if you do by accident.

Clean up neglected tombstones.

Ask before you take dirt. Use your intuition or divination to get a response.

Don’t take anything that is left for the dead.

Don't leave trash behind and if you find trash clean it.

Leave the way you came.

Fool - Dionysus, Hermes, Pan, Ate, Gelos, Momus, Horme

Magician - Hephaestus, Hermes, Hecate, Aristeaus, Circe, the Muses, Apollo

High Priestess - Hecate, Persephone, Hera, Circe

Empress - Hera, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hestia, Gaia, Rhea

Emperor - Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Ares

Hierophant - Demeter, Persephone, Hecate, Hestia, Hera, Gaia, Rhea

Lovers - Aphrodite, Eros, Dionysus, Adonis, Hera, Philotes

Chariot - Hermes, Charon, Iris, Morpheus

Strength - Athena, Ares, Heracles, Nike, Bia, Kratos, 

Hermit - Hades, Hestia

Wheel of Fortune - Hermes, Tyche, the Fates, Zeus

Justice - Athena, Themis, Nemesis, Astraea, Apollo

Hanged Man - Hermes, Harpocrates, Prometheus, Psyche 

Death - Hades, Thanatos, Dionysus, Charon, Persephone, Ares

Temperance - Athena, Demeter, Artemis, Harmonia

Devil - Dionysus, Pan, Comus, Ate, Priapus

Tower - Ares, Poseidon, Deimos, Phobos, Eris, Moros, Enyo, Hybris

Star - Aphrodite, Artemis, Astraea, Urania, Hermes, Eos, Hesperus

Moon - Selene, Artemis, Hecate, Nyx, Hypnos, Erebus

Sun - Apollo, Helios, Hemera, Hyperion 

Judgment - Zeus, hades, Athena

I have a spirit friend, who, whenever he comes over to my pod he is amused but exasperated that he is constantly treated like a child by the scouts. It doesn't matter how many expeditions he's helped out on, bro is like family to this pod and thus they treat him like one would a little brother/nephew

Freaking out if I'm in the water and see a seal just knocked out and then realizing 'oh, they are just asleep' once I remember that seals can sleep underwater for a good chunk of water and selkies can too

I've gone to talk to a banshee friend only to find her in the middle of heralding and our exchange was essentially 'oops sorry, girl, I'll come back later?' 'Yeah okay, see you'

Me: *meeting my first dullahan* Oooh can I see your horse? Dullahan knowing damn well I don't know the horse will also be headless: Sure thing >:3c

I was confident enough in my Japanese to try speaking to a kitsune in it. The ancient ass Japanese I heard being said back to me in return made me rethink my life choices

My first successful astral experience was me falling into the sand after taking one step in it

Whipping out some sort of currency from my astral fanny pack of sorts only to be told 'oh we do trade here' (I like to be covered on all fronts, alright)

Building a kharis with gods using a religious journal is really helpful. It helped me keep my information and my thoughts related to the Gods organized. It can also help beginners if they are uncomfortable reciting hymns out loud.

What could be put inside it:

Every day write one delphic maxim and write how you interpret it or what you think about it

Make a shopping list for your altar and offerings

Compose prayers

Hymns/ prayers to your patrons and Hestia, Nyx, Helios, Hypnos

Write something as if you are conversating with the Gods.

Important information on deities

Favorite offerings, incenses, and libations of the Gods

Important Callendar events, festivals, and key info on celebration

Quotes from the most famous books of Gods that you relate to or want to remember

Instructions on composing prayers

What afterlife means in Hellenismos

What defines hubris, agos and miasma

7 pillars of Hellenismos and their meaning

Do some drawings for the Gods as a devotional act

Include your personal experiences with the divine and how it affected you

Write down the signs you saw during the week

You can also decorate it with the images of Gods

Delphic Maxims: