#personal deities

The Gleaming Grove is my own personal pantheon, created with a mix of historical, pop culture, and constructed or unrecorded deities. These are the deities in the Grove

the Ashkeeper – deity of the dead, graveyards, and memories. Gathers and keeps the memories we have of those who have passed. Keeps the ‘souls’ safe until they are ready to continue to wherever they choose their afterlife to be.

The Hearthlight – deity of home, hearth, and community. Protects the home and hearth, provides and guards warmth and love in the home. Connections and community. Sharing what you have and taking what you need.

The Iridescent One – deity of beauty, self love and -acceptance, freedom. She teaches us there is beauty in all of us, and helps us learn to love and accept ourselves as we are. Breaker of Chains, she guides us to break free of the chains society and our own perfectionism throw around us. She grants us second chances should we need them.

The Horned Hunter – deity of the forest, of animals and the hunt. He is the leader of the Wild Hunt and the King of the Fae. He is the god of the liminal, the in between. The cycles of nature – death, decay, and life again.

The Wayfarer – deity of roads and pathways, of journeys both physical and spiritual. She guides us with her lit lantern when we are lost. Labyrinths are dedicated to her, especially as a way to travel inward. She protects us when we travel and nudges us in the right direction of where we need to be. An antlered deity carrying a lantern and surrounded by green.

the Veiled Silence – deity of silence, of winter and of secrets. She used to be mortal, but has been lifted to Godhood by the Horned Hunter. She is the silence of snowfall. She urges us into contemplation and introspection, and what secrets mean and how to keep them.

the Wildmother – deity of nature, the sea, harvest. She guides travellers over sea, guiding them with her stars, or with profitable winds. She is the tempest and the storm, but also the cooling breeze on a hot day. She is the deity of agriculture, especially orchards. Her travel over the sea also includes being a psycho-pomp, guiding those who have passed to their afterlife.

Rootwoman – deity of the forest, magic, and war. They protect the sacred places and fight against any who wishes to take it away. Protects the oppressed and gives them the tools and power to fight against their oppressors, in both weapons and magic.

the Wordweaver – deity of words, stories, magic. Muse of writing. They spark the inspirational spark and guide the words on paper. They are the keepers of knowledge, both mundane and magical.

The Lotweaver – deity of fate, luck, and the tapestry of life. They weave the threads of life, guide and watch over them. Fate is not set in stone, choices and such will always have an influence on the tapestry.

the Weftweaver – deity of creativity, artistry, and artisans. Especially textile-, fiber-, bead-, and jewellery craft. Spark of inspiration.

Trickster – deity of mischief, change, laughter. God of the outcasts, challenges societal norms and brings necessary change.

Void - The emptiness from which anything can be created (chaos in Latin) The depth of space. The Divine Chaosyne. Void is the emptiness that was here before the big bang. The void from which creation springs forth. They are the darkness between the stars that birth the galaxies and starfields. Chaos is needed to keep things from getting stagnant, and is the catalyst for change.

Lady of Flowers – deity of spring, of flowers, love, joy, mirth, and art. Beauty, music, poetry and inspiration. Wife to Shining One and Iridescent One. She invites us to dance to the tune of the seasons, to stop and smell the roses, and see the small wonders around us.

Shining One – deity light, hope, and justice. Golden shining deity of the Sun. Wife to Lady of Flowers and Iridescent One.

Moonmother – deity of the Moon, magic, the night. Bringer of change and moving through cycles. Mother/sister to Starsister. Void created the stars, Arda (the Earth) and the moon. We gave them life in the form of divinity. Moon came first, and she inspired humans to give her a sister/daughter.

Starsister – deity of the stars and the night sky, of navigation and of hope. A light in the dark, a guide to lead us home. She dances across the sky, leaving a trail of stars behind.

Amber Forge – deity of smithing, artisans, clockwork, innovation, technical improvements, urban sprawls.

Sanctuary - deity of sacred spaces. Protector of boundaries. Both the sacred spaces we creating when practicing witchcraft, as the sacred spaces that are our home and our personal boundaries.

the Healer - deity of healing, herbalism. She is the Golden Healer, the one who heals both Gods and men. With her potions, brews, poultices, and herbal teas she brings rest to the weary and healing of body, heart, and mind. A teacher, she can also guide in the study of the healing arts. Clootie trees and healing springs or wells fall under her domain.

This is response to the 28 Days of Devotional Journaling post I reblogged earlier. I often lose focus and get scatterbrained and lose track of challenges (I mean, look at how often I’ve posted for the #2019grimoirechallenge in the past couple weeks...). So I wanted to just work on doing a little compilation of information on my personal deities. The first deals with the Horned God that I work with.

Some of the prompts from that post, which I’ll link here, are difficult as the deities I work with aren’t part of a specific pantheon. Therefore, there’s no established mythos or tradition of ancient worship of them, but here goes!

Names/Epithets: Lord of the Hunt, King of the Fae, The Hunter, God of the Forest, King of Vampires, The Masked King. Sometimes conflated with Herne the Hunter, Cernunnos, The Green Man. I am excluding in this post the name that I call him personally.

Symbols: Bow and arrow, Antlers, Black Dragons, Hunting Horn, Black Dog, Deer, Animal Skulls- particularly deer, Wine glasses, Silver; Crows; Birds of Prey such as Falcons, Hawks, etc; White hounds.

Realm of Influence: The wild and untamed forest; The forces of decay, change, and transformation; trickery; disguises; The Hunt; Goblins, vampires, and other dark fae; Rites of change; Liminality; The middle or in-between places and people.

Offerings: Meat, breads, and cheeses; Red wine; Whiskey; Mead; Arrow heads; Music; Poetry; Anything made from the forest; Found animal bones.

Sacred Days: The Hunter's Moon (the October Full Moon), Samhain, and Yule are the days I typically take as days to honor him specifically.

Sacred Sites: Anywhere wild and deep within the woods.

Signs: Crows, Deer, Birds of Prey, Hounds; The sound of a horn, or the baying of hounds on the wind; Strong gusts from the North West or in the direction of the nearest large forest.

The Hunter appears to me in two ways: The first is wild- he wears a dark feathered cloak and a deep green tartan. His hair has braids, but still seems more a mane than anything. He’s scarred and tattooed. His chest is sculpted muscle and ridges of scar tissue. His presence a weight. Simply by entering the grove, the gravity of his being there is felt- like the air becomes dense. His eyes shift- sometimes dark, sometimes a verdant green. He is all seriousness- except for that smirk that plays on the edge of his lips. You’ll swear it is there, but as soon as you’ve spotted it, it seems to have vanished. He is the sound of hoofbeats and hounds and horns crashing through the trees on the chase, or the subtle silence of a skilled hunter. His voice gruff, but his words are eloquent. Who gave the beastmaster a poet’s tongue? Warmth of a cloak against blistering cold winds, the smell of earth and pine, crackling of campfire while a wolf howls in the distance, the taste of whiskey on your tongue... In his other guise, he is all glamour and grandness. A sad king sitting alone in his windswept castle. His touch and his gaze are like ice, a cold blade against the skin. He enters and you swear you might hear a pipe organ playing somewhere. He is slick- velvet wine-dark coats and gilt buttons, eyes a stony grey or black as night. His voice is melodic. The heart races- red is supposed to warn you of danger, after all, is it not- but at the same time, he’s like a sweet red wine, the taste of dark chocolate: you want to sink into it and indulge for just a while. There is no patience or subtly here. He is quick to anger, bitter, calculating. Which is his true nature?

He is the one I tend to visit when doing astral/journeying work. I worship him with poetry and art; he features heavily in my writing. I dedicate my archery practice and drumming to him. I reach out to him as I walk among the forest. I leave offerings to him in oak trees and upon my altar.

I have learned many of the “don’t do x while working with fae” lessons by working with him. I’ve learned to trust my instincts, to get in touch with the wild forces of the forest, to ride with the Hunt in my journey work.

 Hey darling!~

Oh gosh my Pantheon is something i’ve been working with off and on for several years. I had the inspiration come to me when I was a teenager and I went to like a muesum/collection thing and got inspired to associate certain Gemstones with certain royal titles. they were originally going to be for a murder mystery story i was working on but that never got off the ground unfortunately haha.

From there they kind of laid dormant for a while until i began starting to get back into witchcraft and such. I knew i wanted to work with a pantheon but none of them really called out to me much like how my court does. When i decided I wanted to work with them I already had their Stones/Court Titles picked out from my earlier story (a few minor title adjustments were made -a few court members got elevated to higher statuses which they seemed content with so i knew i was on the right track-) From there i began looking into it more and found several links that were really super useful for me when coming up with correspondences and associations for my court because at the time I wasn’t sure if i even wanted to use Pop culture icons or not (or even which ones i’d want to include)

Pop Culture Paganism: An introductionCreating a Pop Culture PantheonThis last one by @thiscrookedcrown really REALLY helped me a lot with breaking down my god/desses into spheres of influences:

Creating your own Pop Culture Pantheon: an Ask

(This is getting long so i’m gunna put the rest under the cut so i don’t kill your dash :’D)

Week 2′s Thursday prompt (I’m moving ahead because I have free time) is “Start a page for the deity or deities you worship, if you do...”

Since beginning my pagan path about thirteen years ago, I’ve worked with a number of deities: the Wiccan God and Goddess, Brighid, Cerridwen, The Morrigan, Gofannon the Smith, Manannan MacLir, etc. Usually, my working with them is brief. They seem to come into my life to offer a lesson and then disappear again into the mists.

Though I’ve worked with a number of gods and goddesses since beginning my path, two of them have remained with me throughout that time, taking up various masks before identifying themselves. It is a personal choice not to name them here, as my names for them are personal to my path.

The first is my Hunter God. He was known by me as Green Man when I first began my journey. For a time I thought him to be Herne the Hunter. He has been many things to me: forest guardian, bringer of vegetation, fearsome hunter, vampire, king of all that is dark untamable and wild, lover, mentor, face in the trees, leader of the Wylde Hunt, lord of fae... He appears to me either: clad in tartans and furs, woad paint over a scarred physique, hair in braids, horned and wearing a cloak of dark feathers; or as a shadowy trickster, all darkness and finery, thin lips over sharp teeth, dark eyes that watch your pulse and every nervous movement. The latter is rarer- usually when he has some harsher lesson to bring forth. On my altar, I have statues of horned figures and collections of feathers, bones, bits of wood and things from the forests. I leave him offerings of wine or ale and poetry. I dedicate my archery practice, my drumming, and my walks in the woods to him and listen for his hounds and horn from the northwest.

Lantern Goddess by BrennaxAdaira13

been working on getting all of mah dxvxne bastard children organized, didn't fuckin' realize how many there are--20+ & going strong jfc lol my life as a panendeist

i also think sharing 'em will help me understand their function/purpose better; it's hard for me to articulate things i Just Know™, 'specially re.: spirituality, so getting feedback may strengthen+solidify certain aspects i intrinsically know about my dxvxnes but never had a chance to confront+develop w/o any outside help

ex.: looking back i can say that The Young Moon was prolly just biding his time before entering my household, rather than appearing suddenly w/out warning as i'd originally suspected: he followed my fur-son, hermes a.k.a bubby, inside 2yrs. ago when i rescued him & am just now--like, literally had this epiphany less than an hour ago--learning he'd simply thought i didn't need a direct relationship w/him until the night i acquired bubbs

...tbh still haven't figured out exactly why that was the catalyst needed for him to reach out but i did learn real quick that The Young Moon's a vain+aloof lil' shit, if his past standoffishness is any indication (hint: it is)

I have been considering shamanic meditation on this matter (but there are a lot of reasons why I feel I’m not ready for that yet), because I feel very unguided and kind of lost and like I’m sometimes casting energy into the void, and drawing energy from something whose face I can’t see.