#goddesshel

Rules: Think carefully about your character and their development through their journey (canon or oc) within their story. Fill out the chart and tag whoever you want! Multi-muses, feel free to pick any of your characters - just a few, or all of them. Please repost, so the dash isn’t clogged with reblogs.

Tagged by: @mckaytriarchy thank you so much! this is such a cool one! going to ref the one you did, for keep-sake as to where this came from

Tagging: Y O U!!!! seriously! you see it - you do it! it’s too cool not to do it. I’m not tagging everyone bc I wish I could tag all of my followers but there are too many!!!! (also a lot of chars are gods/goddesses... but even for you this can be cool??)

[Helena, Hel, En]

God/dess of: Creativity, practical knowledge, adventure and journey. Be it mental or physical, En oversees the journey of self-growth and challenge, literal and metaphorical. Also she is a goddess (or a god, depends on what teaching you follow) of confidence, independence and self-love. On few occasions she is referred to as the deity associated with bad puns.

Patron god/dess of (or Protector of): If you set on a trying path in order to reach a certain goal/gain knowledge, Hel is your patron saint. If you’re, say, a creative adventurous bard, you most certainly win here. Travellers, adventurers, scoundrels, runaway brides, wandering artists... Anyone who got lost in order to find inner self and learn to love themselves.

Associated with: Aesthetic of travelling, especially that of a safe, successful return; determination, self-growth, personal achievement; trials and challenges, overcoming them, endurance; clever beneficial bargains and trade; taverns and cooking; bad puns.

Sacred plants: All sorts of succulents, including cacti... yes, Hel is the god of cacti.

Sacred stones/gems:  Blue lace agate, bloodstone, alexandrite, diamond, jasper, certain amethysts.

Sacred animals: Butterflies, spiders, turtles, eagles, panthers.

Colours: Peach pink, fuchsia, gold; black, silver, Bermuda turquoise.

Food: Any homemade food prepared out of quality ingredients with care and love.

Scents: Various exotic fruit, coconuts, fire and food at the camp site, especially meat roasted on open fire, the way the air smells before and after the rain, grass, mountain air, smell of the forest.

Accepted offerings/ways to honour: Challenge yourself, don’t be satisfied with where you are now, grow, strive, set goals and achieve them - she will watch you and cheer on; she doesn’t require a specific offering. However if you want to communicate, set an altar with homemade food and some alcohol. Tell her stories of your adventures out loud, she’d love that. You can tell her all the new things you’ve learned that day too. You can bring her souvenirs from your travels. Also tell as many puns as possible. Be wary, though, the important idea behind Helena is that of independence. She’d rather you win unaided by anyone, so her help is that of a word of advice and confidence boost, but that’s all, nothing direct, she won’t solve your problems for you. If you ask for that, or for someone else to solve your problems, she will turn on you and triple your challenges. Also ask only for yourself, not for someone else, selfishness is rewarded.

Consort of: En is the spouse to the god/ess of knowledge, science, experiment, wisdom, wit and freedom.

Rival of: Of many many gods. En is known to challenge everyone from time to time, even her spouse, since she doesn’t tolerate stagnation and boredom. Her main mortal enemy/rival though is her brother, the god of black magic, the undead, and patron of the necromancers.

Epitaphs: The Moon and Stars, The Lonesome Wanderer, The Seeker, The Teller of Bad Puns, The Loner Goddess.

BONUS:

Depiction: Most of time she is depicted as a golden spider resting on the surface of the pink-shaded moon. Several portrayals include a black panther chasing a butterfly or a silver eagle flying over the sea. When in human form, she is depicted as a woman more often than a man, perhaps as a token to a woman’s inquisitive nature, while her husband is often shown as a man, but there are cases/teachings nonetheless where the gender roles are reversed and ‘Hel’ or ‘En’ is the god spouse to the goddess of knowledge. Some say they were both female. The thing is, it is more of her spouse being depicted in his temples with her. In most of Hel’s shrines and temples she is alone, save for the few cases of her shown with her sister-goddess Fiona, the red-haired patron of cunning, wit, thieves and assassins; rather, Fiona is drawn as a playful fox, who sneaks into her sister’s shrine through the open window.

People who typically invoke Hel/En: Anyone who’s going through trials; adventurers, travellers, those who need strength, confidence and creativity to succeed and endure. Those who seek to better themselves, learn and gain knowledge. Merchants who want a better bargain. Artists who desire to make something special and creative, including cooks who want to invent an unusual dish. Those who are simply bored out of their mind and need some challenge in their lives.