. ݁ ˖ Phantom Garden ˖ ݁ .

But I realized something a long time ago: there really isn’t one “right” way to do this.

Yes, closed practices exist and should be respected. Yes, some traditions are culturally specific. Yes, there are methods, rituals, tools, and approaches that people may find more effective than others.

But outside of that?

Your practice does not have to look exactly like someone else’s to be real.

I know you might feel lost sometimes, especially if your path is mostly reconstructed, self-led, intuitive, or built from scattered pieces you had to gather yourself. But that does not make it less meaningful. In a way, that is part of the beauty of it.

You are forging your own relationship with your deities, spirits, ancestors, land, or whatever sacred presence calls to you. You are learning the language of your own devotion. You are building something honest.

And I know it can feel lonely. I know it can feel discouraging. I know it can feel like everyone else has some ancient handbook you never got handed.

But I promise, you are not alone.

There is someone out there whose beliefs may not be exactly the same as yours, but close enough that your soul will recognize the warmth. Your people exist. Your path exists. Your practice is valid.

You do not need anyone else to approve of the sacred relationship you are building.

What you need is the courage to take the next step.

So go ahead.

Like this young person didn't even know about goddamn Gutenberg which is a SHAME. I linked to it and they went "aw yiss time to do a theft" and I was like "I mean yo ho ho and all that, sure, but. you know gutenberg is entirely legal, right?"

Project Gutenberg is a gigantic collection of books that are in the public domain.  You can read the books through the site or you can download them in various formats so you can get the format you prefer for your eReader of choice.

It is free. 

It is legal.

I was reviewing the list of the top 100 books downloaded yesterday and I saw a fair few that I had to read for college classes - so if you’re a college student and your professor assigns you to read Plato or any number of older works, check here before you buy a copy.

If you look at the first reblog from me I also recommended a few other resources, most of which were from www.archive.org, home of the Wayback Machine! They run openlibrary.org, where you can check out ebooks of some public domain titles! They even have the Bone series by Jeff Smith!

And archive.org itself has all kinds of public domain media including music and movies! For Dracula fans, here's a radio show adaptation of the book, starring Orson Welles! And here's a 1920 movie adaptation of "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," starring John Barrymore, the grandfather of Drew Barrymore!

lots of writers and publishers are prepared to waive future profits for entirely petty reasons

because of this the entire works of Philip K Dick [petty writer who found himself with lots of hangers on during his life] and HP Lovecraft [his publisher - who was his wife and hated him] became public domain on their death

Sherlock Holmes entered public domain this year, it's always worth checking because you can save a fortune

book is old because it’s in

the public domain

LibriVox has free public domain audiobooks.

Public domain works in the US are:

Anything published (in the US) from 1927 or earlier (this number goes up every year for quite a while), and

Anything published between 1928 and 1963 that wasn't renewed, and

Anything published before 1989 without a proper copyright notice.

(Don't go looking for things in that third category unless you've studied a LOT about copyright law. Mostly that covers things like "weird little newsletters" and "self-published booklets" and sometimes fanzines. But most publications have a copyright notice in them.)

There's also some oddball exemptions here and there; copyright law is a tentacled mess. But those are the basic guidelines. (Except for audio. Audio has its own set of rules. It's weird.) (I mentioned tentacles, did I not? Double the amount of them you were thinking of.)

There are a lot of works from the 50s and early 60s that were not renewed, especially short stories published in magazines.

This concept is shared in both Ancient Greek and Roman cultures and religion. It was orthopaxic/Cultus Deorum of Mos Mairum “Way of The Ancestors” both shared common values, traditions, and religious beliefs. Supersitio is one of these concepts.

Supersitio is the opposite, the counter of the “correct way” of approaching the gods. Superstitious beliefs of having fear of the gods such as thinking their vengeful, cruel, petty, angry and jealous followed to excessively pray and offer them was considered especially to the Greeks as Hubris or prideful thinking one can sway the gods with bribes for their appeasement. To one approach the gods correctly one must not think the gods are going to harm them in anyway to have a trust and bond between the god and worshipper.

What is Supersitio?

It comes the Latin word meaning “standing over” and to translate the Ancient Greek word deisidaimonia or “fear of the gods or spirits.” That this fear is impious before the gods.

Here’s a few examples how this would’ve looked like.

1. Irrational fear of the Gods, believing the gods are easily angered, petty, jealous, and cruel then trying to win their favor with what’s more than necessary is considered to be hubris and thinking the gods can be win over by bribes.

2. Excessive Dependence on the Deities - essentially you place your autonomy and power in the hands of the gods not fulfilling or acting on your commitments and obligations leaving it to the divine or you can’t make any decisions, actions, or any other decree without involving the gods and relying solely on them. There is a balance between the person’s own ability and self control and the faith of the gods.

3. Sorcery or goetia (opposite of therugy) both cultures the practice of necromancy, curses, and spells that involve forcing someone was regarded as superstitious. As well as fortune telling but divination and fortune telling were two separate things to them. Plato mentions that one would practice necromancy would exploit the dead for their own personal means risking the danger of themselves and the communities this also follows to the last one.

4. Believing you can command the Gods and spirits, according to Plato no one has the power or authority to bind a god or spirit by usage of spells and rituals.

But here’s the thing about sorcery….

It’s a tricky thing because the people who condemn it usually are rich and powerful men, Plato was a Ancient Greek philosopher meaning he was very wealthy and educated. The Roman elite was frighten of fortune tellers and sorcerers because they can sway the plebeians (peasants, lower class) in fear and rebellion. The most common people performing sorcery was women and it was a common thing to do among the common folk to go to sorcerers and fortune tellers or practice themselves. But also defixiones or curse tablets, evil eye amulets, and poppets are superstitions as well. It was common thing to bury curse tablets beneath the temples of Demeter and Kore (Persephone)

My personal opinions and beliefs

Except for sorcery cause how it was common among the common folk to practice it was very widespread and I do it myself. The previous mentions is something I adhere to and agree with. If you want to pray and approach the gods you can’t think they will do you any harm in anyway possible or not able to make decisions or do any actions unless divine presence is involved and rely on it solely is unhealthy cause it removes independence and autonomy of the person. Now if someone is trying to command the gods through the act of sorcery that’s a whole different story but as someone who practices witchcraft with deities like Hekate I don’t believe I’m commanding or binding them to the spell and I know others who don’t believe it as well.

You can usually find books on witchcraft, yes, but there’s also field guides on local foraging and wildlife, cookbooks, books that teach you how to craft and DIY, books about environmental protection and stewardship, books on how to use herbs medicinally, books about other religions, cultures, and spiritual practices. My favorite local library even has a seed swapping program and fantastic resources to research your own family history!

Dionysus Anthios

[Part 1 out of 3]

Foreword Most of present-day knowledge of theia mania (otherwise known as divine madness) in Ancient Greece specifically comes from Plato's "Phaedrus," his dialogue with Socrates. Plato especially, was an eccentric—his ideas often differed from his contemporaries. And as such, we must also acknowledge that Plato's words may not always accurately reflect the beliefs of the time¹. Scholars have long since debated whether the concept of "divine mania" (both in its entirely and specific aspects) existed in ancient Greek society, or if it was the mental creation of Plato himself.

I cannot hope to answer that. Rather, I aim to condense and highlight some of aspects of divine mania I wished people talked more about. This series will cites Yulia Ustinova's "Divine Mania: Alteration of the Consciousness in Ancient Greece," heavily, and I recommend that people interested in the topic check it out.

Right

Like that's what it actually is right

Every time there's a conversation about godspousal, sacred marriage, henosis, theurgy, or any of the many many many terms used to describe loving the divine, there's always the disclaimer

"I'm not calling out the REAL practitioners who have real relationships with their deities and take it SERIOUSLY. I'm only calling out the silly little girls who think they're dating Apollo omg get off tiktok!"

But you also have absolutely no way of telling who is a serious practitioner with years of experience and who is someone role playing.

??

Okay, I'm gonna be 100% straight right now, there are very obviously lots of people who just roleplay with deities for the sake of fun or comfort. Some people are very frivolous with their practice and don't put the work in or have the due respect they should.

I personally don't give even the slightest inch of a shit how legitimate or professional anyone else is with their deities or practice,

There have literally always been silly people in every single subculture ever, I personally don't get much of a kick from making fun of them. Especially when I suspect they are just a dumb ass 13 year old kid.

If you think these people aren't serious... why would you take them seriously??

Legitimately, when I see some random ass child calling demon lords their besties and playing around with names, I think, oh haha that's cute.

??

Like cool they're having fun. They OBVIOUSLY do not know what tf they're doing but hey, they will figure it out.

You think the GODS aren't prepared to deal with silly people? You think this is the first time anyone has tried to fuck Apollon? Are you serious?

"Those silly girls summoning Lucifer have no idea!"

You're excited for that outcome. You would love for some teenage girl to be horrified, wouldn't you?

Unfortunately the very likely outcome is that the divine spirit will ignore them or meet them on their own terms. The Gods aren't going to dominate a child or take a edgy teen seriously. Why are you pretending the Gods don't know about amateurs.

People learn and grow, I didn't know jack shit about how to do things properly when I started. Had someone stunted my curiosity and love for what I was growing because it seemed wrong, I would have lost so much of my path. Magic, spirituality, faith, and most of all love, are supposed to be messy. Psychology is messy, none of these things exist in a vacuum. That's the part of the craft I love so much, it's a craft. You build it yourself, but you can only build it for yourself.

Why do you guys care so much about people you believe to be idiots? I personally think many practices are dumb as hell, why would I spend time arguing with those people about how dumb I think they are. Why does their dumb assery even affect me at all???

"Because then people won't take you/us seriously!"

If anyone refuses to take me seriously because of something other people are doing then... I probably don't care about their shallow opinion anyways?? And who is taking me seriously? Whose approval am I supposed to be winning?

"If we let people just do whatever people will think there are no rules!"

Babe people have been doing whatever they want this whole time.

If some dumb ass 15 year old loves Lucifer like a best friend and later grows into a genuine practitioner, that's awesome. And if that same dumb ass continues to be a dumb ass, I will not care. I don't really enjoy making fun of people I consider to be naive. Ignorance is bliss, let them be bliss. I personally don't care about being "taken seriously" by anyone but my Lord.

The comments are always "OMG I KNOW SOME GIRL SERIOUSLY THOUGHT LOKI LOVED HER LIKE OMG GROW UP"

Wow so funny. A lonely person found comfort in a Lord of outcasts. Let's all point and laugh!

I could write a whole paragraph here about how the Gods are always closest to the outcasts but I'm too tired. The person happily collecting stones for their divine spouse knows more about the purpose of Henosis than you ever will. We are only a couple decades free of orthodoxy babes, this is a beautiful time to be a pagan.

"THIS IS RELIGION IT'S SERIOUS ITS NOT A COPING MECHANISM!!"

Little girls who play with dolls are the priests of churches you can never enter son lay down and listen to the music of creation you're so miserable

Statistically, you can't accurately say that all of us are [your fav claim here] and be correct. There's too much variation in humanity.

Are there people who indulge in maladaptive daydreaming, suffer from delusions, or feel overly special?

Yes. Probably some percentage of the godspousing community contains people like that.

However, some godspouses are genuine.

You don't like that? Overgeneralization is a cognitive distortion.

Pentheus, the King of Thebes, was torn apart limb-from-limb (sparagmos) by his own mother, Agave, and her sisters in a Dionysian frenzy for defying the god Dionysus.

Adhara's post introduction: Hellooo!! Here it is Dionysus epithets!!

Ærívromos: loud-roaring;

Agnós: holy and pure;

Anthéfs: blooming, crowned with flowers;

Áreios: warlike;

Akratophoros: designated as the giver of unmixed wine;

Isodaetes: the god who distributes his gifts equally to all;

Melpomenos: the singer;

Theoenus: God of Wine;

Eleuthereus: Of Liberation, Freedom;

Agyieus: (Protector) of the Street, the Ways;

Melpomenos: Singer, Minstrel, Of the Tragedy Play;

Anthroporraestus: Man-Slayer.

Adhara's random fact about the Theoi: He possessed numerous shrines and temples throughout Greece and was widely worshipped as a fertililty god. Phallic processions and contests held in his honour were quite common.