First of all, I firmly believe that Hestia wants you to put your health and happiness first. If any of these don’t fit with your life/are things that will make you unhappy, simply don’t do them! For example, not all of us were born into loving families, or have time/money to donate. I just hope this will inspire you to find your own ways to feel more connected to Hestia if you so chose this holiday season <3

Friends/Family (the loved ones in your life):

Bake together. 

Have a potluck/feast where everyone brings what they have and you create a meal together.

Have a harvest feast filled with local goods and produce. Support local businesses and your loved ones at the same time!

Spend a day crafting together.

Gift homemade/handcrafted items instead of store bought. 

Do a gift exchange - add limitations/themes that feel good and genuine!

Give gifts to the people you love not because of social obligations but because you were thinking of them!

Day-to-day life when you’re out and about:

Pay for someone else’s coffee.

Find someplace cozy and sit there, enjoying the moment. 

Leave bigger tips than usual - especially during the holiday rush.

Hold the door open for somebody.

Buy some flowers and give them to people who look like they could use a smile (yourself included!)

Help people with their groceries/bags (but be safe about it and use common sense).

Practice kindness and patience while driving. 

Compliment others.

Day-to-day life at home + what to do on your own:

Go to bed earlier than usual.

Make yourself a cuppa and take the time to savor it.

Make a hearth fire or light a candle.

Bake yourself something yummy.

Take advantage of the seasonal decor and use it to decorate your altar.

Cuddle up under some blankets and enjoy some cheesy, heart-warming movies.

Take up knitting or crocheting. 

Tidy up your home/living space.

Turn of all the lights before bed and spend some time in candle light. 

Ways to help others (not already listed):

Donate toys or other gift-able items.

Participate in a food drive. 

Offer to sponsor a kid for their holiday (small gifts and maybe a bigger one).

Send cards/post cards to seniors or sick children.

Write thank you notes and leave baked goods/sweets for trash collectors, mail carriers, and other people who’s work you often take for granted.

Ask homeless people if they need any food or layers as the weather gets colder.

Volunteer at a soup kitchen or somewhere similar.

I’ve found that the spirit of this season (thankfulness and caring) makes me feel closer to Her and I enjoy devoting acts to Her, creating Her altar and praying to Her during the cold winter months.

But, most importantly, do whatever makes you feel content, kind, happy, and closer to Her <3 I’d love to hear your ideas!

Similar posts:

Small devotional acts to Hestia

Bedridden devotion to Hestia

so i’m a pretty quiet person irl, and i find a lot of spellbooks and posts on here include verbalization in the form of incantations, mantras, et cetera.

which is all well and good if that works for you, whatever floats your boat and casts your spell; but what if you’re like me and verbalizations make you uncomfortable?

or you’re practicing late at night while your housemates are asleep?

or you just. prefer to not speak?

well, here are some alternatives!

say your incantation internally

visualize your incantation

make your incantation physical (could you add movement/gestures to your spell?)

make it symbolic (breaking something, binding something, burying it?)

use a noisemaker! (eg. a bell, clap, a song, note, chord, etc)

simply do without! not every spell or ritual needs a verbal component, and maybe you’re just not that kind of practitioner. that’s okay!

i’m sure there are tons of things that i’ve left off or forgotten, and i definitely want to hear more ideas if you have them!

To celebrate Spring I decided to make a multi-part series on the Horae (specifically Dike, Eunomia, and Eirene) and offer some information on them! This post will serve as the masterpost. 

PART 1 - INTRODUCTION AND GENEAOLOGY

PART 2 - THE HORAE AS ATTENDANTS

PART 3 - OTHER COMPANIONS OF THE HORAE

PART 4 - EPITHETS

I'm sure for those of you who are active in various pagan and witchcraft spaces have heard the term, UPG. Today, I'd like to talk about what UPG is and why it matters.

To start us off...

What is UPG?

According to Wikipedia (not the best source, I know), unverified personal gnosis is "a spiritual belief gained through personal experience or intuition that cannot be attributed to or corroborated by received tradition, professional scholarship, or direct citation in an accepted religious text". In shorter words, UPG is any experience you have with entities that cannot be verified by professional means. It is something you have experienced for yourself, and yourself only.

One of the most common forms of UPG is when some worshippers talk about what offerings their deities enjoy. Or how their deities act towards them.

Why does it matter?

UPG is actually very important for our practices. It's important to understand that while the deities may be divine beings, they're also similarly human. They might act different towards different people. They might treat certain worshippers different depending on their situation.

However, everyone should understand that while your UPG is valid, it is not the end all, be all of worship. Everyone has interacted with the deities in different ways. The way that we interact with our deities is the exact same as how we interact with our friends and families: unique. Learning how the gods interact with others can help us to grow spiritually.

ASTROLOGY is divination using celestial bodies: the sun, moon, planets, and stars.

CARTOMANCY is fortune telling using cards such as the Tarot.

CLAIRAUDIENCE is “clear hearing” of divinatory information. Parapsychologist generally regard as a form of extrasensory perception.

CLAIRVOYANCE is “clear seeing” of divinatory information. Parapsychologist generally regard as a form of extrasensory perception.

CRYSTALLOMANCY is divination through crystal gazing.

DOWSING or DIVINING RODS are methods of divination where a forked stick is used to locate water or precious minerals.

NUMEROLOGY is the numerical interpretation of numbers, dates, and the number value of letters.

OCULOMANCY is divination from a person’s eye.

PALMISTRY is the broad field of divination and interpretation of the lines and structure of the hand.

PRECOGNITION in an inner knowledge or sense of future events.

PSYCHOMETRY is the faculty of gaining impressions from a physical object and its history.

RADIESTHESIA is the general term for divination using a device such as a divining rod or pendulum. Other forms include “table tipping” which was practiced at the White House in the 19th century, the Ouija board, automatic writing (or superconscious writing), and scrying.

SCIOMANCY is divination using a spirit guide, a method generally employed by chanelers.

SCRYING is a general term for divination using a crystal, mirrors, bowls of water, ink, or flames to induce visions.

TASSEOGRAPHY is the reading of tea leaves that remain in a tea cup once the beverage has been drunk.

Uncommon Types of Divination

AEROMANCY divination from the air and sky, particularly concentrating on cloud shapes, comets, and other phenomena not normally visible in the heavens.

ALECTRYOMANCY is divination whereby a bird is allowed to pick corn grains from a circle of letters. A variation is to recite letters of the alphabet noting those at which a cock crows.

ALEUROMANCY is divination using “fortune cookies”; answers to questions are rolled into balls of dough and once baked are chosen at random.

ALOMANCY is divination by table salt.

ALPHITOMANCY uses special cakes that are digestible by persons with a clear conscience but are unpleasant to others.

ANTHROPOMANCY is the long-outlawed means of divination by human sacrifice.

APANTOMANCY is divination through chance meetings with animals (e.g., a black cat), birds, and other creatures. Mexico City is said to have been founded where Aztec soothsayers saw an eagle flying from a cactus carrying a live snake.

ARITHMANCY or ARITHMOMANCY is an earlier form of NUMEROLOGY where divination is made through numbers and the number value of letters.

ASTRAGLOMANCY or ASTRAGYROMANCY is a form of divination by dice where the faces of the dice bear numbers and letters.

AUGURY is the general term for the art of divination and is chiefly applied to interpretations of signs and omens.

AUSTROMANCY is divination by the study of the winds.

AXIOMANCY is divination through the observation of how an ax or hatchet quivers or points when driven into post.

BELOMANCY is an ancient form of divination performed by tossing or balancing arrows.

BIBLIOMANCY involves divination by books.

BOTANOMANCY is divination from burning tree branches and leaves.

BUMPOLOGY strictly a modern term, a popular nickname for PHRENOLOGY

CAPNOMANCY is the study of smoke rising from a fire.

CATOPTROMANCY is an early form of crystal gazing that utilizes a mirror turned to the moon to catch moonbeams.

CAUSIMOMANCY is divination from behavior of objects placed in a fire.

CEPHALOMANCY refers to divination with the skull or head of a donkey or goat.

CERAUNOSCOPY seeks to draw omens from the study of thunder and lightning.

CEROSCOPY, CEROMANCY is a form of fortune telling in which melted was is poured into cold water.

CHIROMANCY is divination from the lines on people’s hands.

CHIROGNOMY is the study of the general hand formation.

CLEROMANCY is divination by “casting lots”, similar to dice but with objects such as pebbles or sea shells.

CLIDOMANCY or CLEIDOMANCY is divination using a dangling key. see RADIESTHESIA.

COSCINOMANCY is divination using a hanging sieve. see RADIESTHESIA.

CRITOMANCY is the study of barley cakes.

CROMNIOMANCY is divination using onion sprouts.

CYCLOMANCY is the practice of divination from a turning wheel.

DACTYLOMANCY is an early form of RADIESTHESIA using a dangling ring.

DAPHNOMANCY requires one to listen to laurel branches crackling in an open fire.

DEMONOMANCY is divination with the aid of demons.

DENDROMANCY is divination with either oak or mistletoe.

GASTROMANCY is an ancient form of ventriloquism whereby the voice is lowered to a sepulchral tone and prophetic utterances are delivered in a trance state.

GELOSCOPY is the divination from the tone of someone’s laughter.

GENETHLIALOGY is divination by the influence of the stars at birth.

GEOMANCY is the study of figures on the ground and the influence of the Earth’s “currents”.

GRAPHOLOGY is the analysis of character through handwriting.

GYROMANCY is a divination procedure where a person walks in a circle marked with letters until they become dizzy and stumble at different points, thus spelling out a prophesy.

HALOLMANCY see ALOMANCY

HARUSPICATION is fortune-telling by means of inspecting the entrails of animals, as practiced by priests in ancient Rome.

HIEROMANCY or HIERSCOPY is divination by observing object of ancient sacrifice.

HIPPOMANCY is a form of divination from the stamping and neighing of horses.

HOROSCOPY is the practice of casting of astrological horoscopes.

HYDROMANCY is divination by water including the color, ebb and flow, or ripples produced by pebbles dropped in a pool.

ICHTHYOMANCY is divination using fish.

LAMPADOMANCY is divination using lights or torches.

LECANOMANCY uses a basin of water for divination.

LIBANOMANCY is the study of incense and its smoke.

LITHOMANCY is divination using precious stones of various colors.

MARGARITOMANCY is the procedure of using bouncing pearls.

METAGNOMY is the divination using “visions” received in a trance state.

METEOROMANCY is divination from meteors.

METOPOSCOPY is the reading of character using the lines if the forehead.

MOLEOSOPHY is the study of moles and indicators of a person’s character and future indications.

MOLYBDOMANCY draws mystic inferences from the hissing of molten lead.

MYOMANCY is the study of the prophetic meaning of behavior of rats and mice.

OINOMANCY is divination using wine.

OMPHALOMANCY is counting the number of knots in the umbilical cord to predict how many more children the mother will have.

ONEIROMANCY is the interpretation of dreams and their prophetic nature.

ONOMANCY is the study of the meaning of names.

ONOMANTICS is the application of ONOMANCY applied to personal names, particularly in the sense of occult interpretation.

ONYCHOMANCY is the study of fingernails.

OOMANTIA and OOSCOPY is the method of divination by eggs.

OPHIOMANCY is divination from serpents.

ORNISCOPY and ORINITHOMANCY is the study of omens associated with birds, particularly birds in flight. see APANTOMANCY

OVOMANCY is another type of egg divination.

PEGOMANCY concerns itself with spring water and bubbling fountains and the omens contained therein.

PHRENOLOGY is the long practiced study of head formations.

PHYLLORHODOMANCY is a means of divination whereby one slaps a rose petal against the hand and judges the favorability of the omen by the loudness of the sound.

PHYSIOGNOMY is the study of character analysis through physical features.

PSYCHOGRAPHY is a form of mysterious writing having a divinatory nature.

PYROMANCY and PYROSCOPY are forms of divination by fire or flame, often assisted by substances thrown onto the flames.

RHABDOMANCY is divination using a stick or wand. These methods were forerunners of the divining rod.

RHAPSODOMANCY is a means of divination using a book of poetry whereby the book is opened at random and a passage read.

SIDEROMANCY is the burning of straws with a hot iron, the resulting figures having divinatory properties.

SORTILEGE is the casting of lots and the assessment of omens indicated.

SPODOMANCY is divination using cinders or soot.

STICHOMANCY is another form of throwing open a book and selecting a random passage for the purpose of divination.

STOLISOMANCY draws omens from the way people dress.

SYCOMANCY is performed by writing messages on tree leaves; the slower they dry, the more favorable the omen. A modern variation is to write on slips of paper (always including one blank) and rolling them up. They are then held in a strainer over a boiling pot; the first to unroll will be answered.

TEPHRAMANCY is divination by ashes obtained from the burning of tree bark.

TIROMANCY is a type of divination using cheese.

Wording a spell correctly is extremely important! We’ve all heard the stories of someone who cast a spell and technically had it come true, but in a way that wasn’t what they actually wanted at all! Here’s a list of common “loopholes” spells will take to get the job done, and how to make sure you get what you want!

🕯Taking its time- “I want money,” you tell the Universe, hoping to get some help with rent. Well, rent comes and there’s no extra cash in sight! Then, two weeks later, a surprise wad of cash all but lands in your lap. The spell came true, but not in time for when it mattered. This is easily fixed by adding “…by the end of the month,” or specifying what the money is for, which in this case was this month’s rent.

🕯No help needed- “I want money,” you say again. Magic will often take the path of least resistance, so if you’ve already got a paycheck on the way, the spell might not do much besides make sure it doesn’t get lost. There. Money. It can be good to specify that you want your spell to work in addition to everything you’re already doing!

🕯 Bare minimum- This time from your money spell, it arrives on time from an unexpected source! But it’s a quarter you found on the ground. Maybe three quarters. Not much help! If your intent would require the money to be close to a certain amount or any other specific like that, let it be known! The universe isn’t there to make assumptions.

🕯 For the worst- Let’s say you have two friends that have been flirting, so you cast a nice little spell to let any mutual interest between them blossom into a relationship and save them some trouble. It happens, but it turns out they do NOT work well with each other. They are interested in each other, but argue constantly and bring out the worst in each other. The relationship is hurting them both. You had the absolute best of intentions, but there was no way of knowing that would happen! This is why a lot of witches include the phrase, “for the highest good” in their spells, as a failsafe for any unexpected pitfalls like this that may be lurking. The universe will see them but doesn’t know to care unless you specify.

🕯Another layer- Once I made a dream bear to bring me more dreams. Well, I had lots more dreams, but couldn’t remember any of them! I didn’t think that was something I needed to specify. Make sure you hit every point you need to be satisfied with a result.

As a general rule, if my spell includes a prayer or petition of any sort, I take a few minutes and comb through it for stuff like this beforehand. What am I specifying? What am I leaving up to interpretation? Could any of that manifest in a way I would be unhappy with? Take a little time before you start casting to smooth out all those wrinkles! Best of wishes!

I just want to share some of my tips, as someone who has been practicing witchcraft for almost 20 years, for working with fire (as it relates to safety):

🔥 Buy a cauldron : I use mine for burning herbs, incense, candles, paper, fabric etc. I have one with just salt in it that I use to burn my small tapered candles and incense. It’s one of the most useful tools in my practice.

“Can Salt Burn? No, salt does not burn. It can melt at an extremely high temperature (800°C/1472°F), but this is unlikely to happen in everyday surroundings. Salt is made up of sodium and chloride, which come together to form a highly reactive bond.”

🔥 Don’t burn candles for more than 4 hours : Even if you’re in the room the entire time, it’s recommended that you don’t burn a candle for longer than 4 hours.

“If you burn your candle for more than 4 hours at a time, carbon will collect on the wick, and your wick will begin to "mushroom." This can cause the wick to become unstable, the flame to get too large, your candle to smoke, and soot to be released into the air and around your candle container.”

🔥 When burning things like paper, in your cauldron, fill the bottom with sand first : I’ve found that it helps avoid any flames from getting too high or out of control.

“Because its primary constituent is silica (SiO2), which is already oxidized, sand cannot burn. This is why it works as an effective firefighting method, which can extinguish fires by cutting off the oxygen supply and absorbing flammable liquids.”

🔥 Make sure that you triple check that nothing in the immediate area of any open flame is combustible or flammable : This means don’t burn something on a plate that’s sitting on an alter cloth lol. Or don’t spray anything into the air (like perfume or air freshener) around an open flame.

The Evermore Grimoire: Mythology

Apollo (Ἀπόλλων) is the god of the sun, healing, medicine, prophecy, knowledge, oracles, purity, art, music (he directed the choir of the Muses), poetry, archery (but not for war or hunting) and plagues in Greek mythology. He was born on the floating island of Delos, along with his twin sister Artemis (goddess of the hunt). Immediately after his birth he demanded a musical instrument and hence became the god of music. Apollo’s mother, the Titan Leto (goddess of motherhood), was brutally assaulted by the giant Tityus while she was traveling to Delphi. In response to this insult and violation of his mother, Apollo went to the giant and with his golden sword and silver arrows he slayed him.

I just saw your answer to an ask about grounding and I felt it was a fabulous answer. The roots-into-the-earth method helps me to relax but I need a way to draw energy into myself. I have bipolar and I'm waiting on some stuff that's supposed to help (new meds, new doc, the like) plus I actively do a lot of wellness work for myself, but I know magic can aid in those things and is a great comfort for me personally. So, I was wondering if working with water, air, or fire could help me to find some motivation and energy? I guess I'm looking for methods to really increase my energy right now. Thanks for reading, I seriously love your blog 💙

Good morning! I'm glad to hear your wellness plan seems to be going well.

This post may be of help to you: An essay on why we all get so fatigued trying to do witchcraft, and some ideas on what to do about it.

I have heard excellent things about Qigong, and have been told by its adherents that Youtube videos are a fine way to get started.

I personally don't find elemental energy channeling to be very useful to gain motivation or personal energy.

If you'd like a spell, try this instead.

Take a small candle (such as a tea light). The candle loves you unconditionally and is ready to do anything for you. Ask the candle to donate its light and heat to you, to help you complete any specific task.

Contemplate that all the energy from the candle will go towards the completion of your task, so you have to spend less of your own energy.

Light the candle with the complete knowledge that all the energy released from it neither provides real heat or light for your environment, but is totally being channeled towards your own goal.