#crystalizedforest

Before I get into this, I want to share my experiences with these deity identification spreads and this search for The Perfect Gods. 

In my opinion, this is a pitfall for new pagans. You find out that Christianity isn’t the only religion around and suddenly you’re on high alert for everything. You are waiting to see something, waiting to get some sign that something bigger than yourself is knocking on your metaphorical door. Suddenly, everything becomes a sign. You start doing these identification spreads to try and figure out who’s knocking. 

It’s a big, giant, unhelpful mess. 

I went through it too. I swore to myself that an Irish sea god was calling me, then a Welsh horse goddess, then a Roman god I couldn’t even identify. It was a giant mess. And I tried to connect and worship these gods! I did research on all of them (except the Roman one, because what came back was inconclusive so I couldn’t settle on who I thought it was) and I tried so hard to worship them. 

It didn’t work. Nothing stuck. I always fell out of practice. Without fail, every single time I swore I was seeing sign after sign and it was Totally This One God, it never came through. 

What finally did work for me, though? Deciding, wholly, on a religion for myself. While I do have theories that the Theoi sort of “claimed me” at birth, it was my conscious decision to be Hellenic. I decided to start worshiping, I decided to approach which gods I wanted to. I worship all of the Theoi, but I made this decision for myself because I a) liked how Hellenic polytheism worked as a religion and b) loved the Theoi my whole life, even if I didn’t know I was loving them as real beings. 

Now, I’ve gotten on a tangent. My point is, that these deity identification spreads, more often than not, don’t work. If you’re looking for a religion, and you’re using this spread because you want something concrete to look to, look into religions themselves instead. Look into what Heathenism entails. Look at what Hellenic Polytheism entails. Look at Kemeticism and any other (open) religions that may interest you. See which ones share YOUR values. See which gods you feel a genuine care and love for. Go find your gods and worship them. Don’t wait for them to come to you. Omens, tarot spreads, signs, and the like are so subjective that it’s hard to know what is truly a sign and what isn’t. 

Not to mention, when you’re trying to identify a god, it’s such an intensely personal experience (because they know what you will understand) that trying to get anyone else to identify them for you only adds to the mess. Different things are significant to different people and it’s so easy for things to be overlooked when you look to others to answer it for you. Ultimately, what looks like a sign to you will not look like a sign to anyone else. And everyone else’s signs won’t look like anything to you. 

If you are dead-set on using your results from this spread, look into pantheons and see which deities share values of hope and surrounding concepts. The spread may even be referring to your own feelings of hope surrounding the deity in question (as in, the connection to this deity is what gives you hope, whether in religion only or in general, etc). 

This will be my last answered question here on the PSG. I am still available on my personal blog, @crystalizedforest. It’s been a pleasure being part of this blog, and I hope I’ve been able to help someone during my time here.

Oh man, I have to put caveats on this: I haven’t read all of Shakespeare’s plays yet, I have some I enjoy for personal reasons, and I have some I enjoy specifically for teaching. The list of plays I don’t like is far shorter than the other, so since you asked, here are things I particularly like about various plays!

The Tempest is magic and has a lot of potential to be mined in discussions of colonialism. I love Ariel, and Miranda and Ferdinand have some great speeches. Also, A Wrinkle in Time seared quotes from this play into my mind at a very young age. 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is also magic, and it’s mandatory fairy reading, and it’s just plain silly. This one is fun to teach to older students because the varying relationships offer so much material to discuss social mores and expectations. The language is so good (which is true in, like, every play), and I love fairies, okay, I have a weakness.

Much Ado About Nothing is amazing! Beatrice and Benedick are adorable, and Beatrice herself is just plain incredible, and also there’s a film adaptation in which you can watch Keanu Reeves attempt to be a villain.

The Merchant of Venice 1) contains Portia and the casket test, two of my favorite things a play can contain, and 2) contains hella gay Antonio, and 3) is useful for examining historical antisemitism, e.g. Shylock’s portrayal. 

Twelfth Night is one of the most enjoyable and beautiful plays to read. The characters are cool, the relationships are fun, there’s cross-dressing and gender confusion -- it’s a great comedy. And Feste is probably my favorite of Shakespeare’s clowns. (Fun note: this play also contains a hella gay Antonio, making me wonder if Shakespeare Knew A Guy.)

King Lear is so Extra and so, idk, baroque. It has these intriguing fairy tale elements, and Edmund is such an unabashed villain -- “Now, God, stand up for bastards!” -- the first time I read this for class, my teacher warned us to, like, emotionally prepare ourselves. It’s an enormous downer of a play, and the disaster-ness is basically unrelenting. It’s beautiful, but it’s like standing in the middle of a full orchestra while they play Bach. It’s loud and overwhelming.

Antony and Cleopatra has some of the most beautiful language in any of Shakespeare’s plays -- we used a quote from it on our wedding programs. And Enobarbus is one of my favorite characters, and Cleopatra’s last lines onstage are simply transcendent. Having said that, if you are a fan of historical Mark Antony, you probably won’t appreciate this portrayal of him  ^^;;

Richard III is a whole play from the POV of the villain, and it’s unapologetically evil and I love love love it.

Henry V is a good counterpoint, of lovely Prince Hal from Henry IV (both parts) grown and trying to be a good king. This is the source of the St. Crispin’s Day speech that everyone loves, and also I think his wooing of Katherine at the end is just plain cute. 

And I saved Othello and Hamlet for last. If I had to make a list of my top five plays with no commentary or caveats, these would both make the cut. I love them individually and I love them even more as a pair, because Othello is the most technically perfect (imo, but I have scholarly support) of Shakespeare’s plays and Hamlet is the messiest. Every scene in Othello follows logically from the one before; it flows seamlessly and takes almost no effort to follow. You can pretty much skip the scene cues and still understand this play. Hamlet, on the other hand, practically never has two consecutive scenes in the same place. People come in and out and back in; there’s time-skips and all kinda stuff. And these choices are deliberate! Othello is a military man, and Iago exploits his very straightforward mind and sincere (as in, utterly without deceit) spirit. Hamlet opens with “Who’s there?” and closes Act I with “The time is out of joint” -- Hamlet is a curious, reflective scholar (though I have Serious Issues with popular descriptions of him as some kind of wooby nerd paralyzed by indecision and melancholy), and Denmark itself is confused. It’s a mess that he has to untangle and correct, and the structure of the play itself reflects that. 

Byzantine: Do you prefer gold or silver accessories?

Silver, most definitely. I have yellow and olive undertones in my skin, so yellow gold looks weird and washed-out on me, whereas silver looks nice and vibrant. Plus, silver and steel jewelry has always felt more comfortable and usually doesn’t turn my skin green like cheap gold or gold-plated copper.

That and lunar affinity, but that’s largely second. :)

Baroque: Do you enjoy the finer things in life?

It really depends on your definition of “finer.” My idea of enjoying the finer things is going to a nice restaurant that requires dressing up, or splurging on a stack of books or some specialty cheese or a few bottles of wine.

Other than that, my pleasures are very simple. Comfy durable clothes that are machine washable. Good books that I can read over and over. Music and movies that make me happy. Incense and candles that make my home smell nice. Good food, whether it’s healthy or delightfully bad for me. Cozy blankets on cold nights, open windows on warm days. Cuddles with cats and the husband. Hobby time with my online pals. I’m easy to please.

Nyx, being the goddess of the Night, is generally associated with everything regarding the night. Some ideas for a discreet altar could be: 

~ a bag with a night-sky or galaxy pattern 

~ navy-blue candles

~ a candle holder for an offering dish

~ learn to make paper stars, put them into a jar as offerings

~ a statue depicting Her if you can play this off as just decoration

Offer her traditional Hellenic offerings, like water, olive oil, honey, milk, or (if you’re old enough) alcohol. 

Yes, there is a traditional Hellenic prayer formula, it is different than Christian prayers. Here is the basic formula: 

~ Call the deity and list their epithets. Add a line about “by any other name you wish to be called by”, in case you forgot some. 

~ List the stuff you’ve done for them in the past. This can be as general or specific as you like.

~ Your request. 

~ Thanks. Always be sure to offer when requesting things, and again if you are granted what you asked for. 

Here is the source post that goes into a little more depth on the prayer formula on @soloontherocks‘ old blog. This formula is specifically for asking for things, but you can remove the request section if you just want to pray to her to talk to her. I use the formula when requesting things but usually just talk to the Theoi like they’re there with me (even though they’re not lmao), whether out loud or in my head. 

In general, uphold Hellenic values and offer to Nyx often. If you have any other questions on traditional Hellenic worship to incorporate into your worship of Nyx, feel free to hit me up on my personal blog @crystalizedforest. 

When I was eleven, I took up the violin via school orchestra. I was never interested in classical music, but instead Celtic. I’d never really heard the style, but when my private teacher introduced me to it I was in love. My grandfather was a skilled fiddler, born and raised in Scotland (hence, Celtic influence). He even had a Stradivarius violin (I found out about all of this after starting music). We seem so alike, and I feel very drawn to him. Do you think there is a connection there? (2/2)

Stuff like this happens all the time. I had a friend who’s dead uncle was literally almost exactly like him. All sorts of strange connections just like you describe. But truthfully, that’s more than likely all there is to it. Connections.

Genes get passed through families (explaining the physical similarities) and considering people often have similar tastes in music it’s not that strange that you’d like Celtic music as well. I think that you might feel so drawn to him because you’ve assigned this supernatural potential to what is, in reality, not that strange. 

That being said, ancestor veneration is a thing, and might be something you could be interested in. Maybe try looking into that.