Tag: Greek

Goddess – Circa (Greek)

Circa (Greek) c. 2011 Lady Abyss

“She-Falcon”.  Dark Moon Goddess; Fate-Spinner.  As the circle, or cirque, she was the fate-spinner, weaver of destinies.  Ancient Greek writers spoke of her as Circe of the Braided Tresses because she could manipulate the forces of creation and destruction by knots and braids in her hair.  Goddess of physical love, sorcery, enchantments, precognitive dreams, evil spells, vengeance, dark magic, witchcraft and cauldrons.

Circe

From greekgodsandgoddesses.net

In GREEK MYTHOLOGY, Circe was a goddess of magic, though she was sometimes depicted as a nymph (minor nature god), a witch or an enchantress.

In any case, she was associated with magic. She knew a lot about potions and herbs, and sometimes used this knowledge against her enemies and people who offended her, turning them into wild animals. She also had a wand or staff called the rhabdos which she also used to channel her magic. In fact, this was the earliest mention of a “magical wand or staff” in Western writings; it was referred to in Homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey, when Circe used it to turn Odysseus’s men into beasts.

Circe was the daughter of HELIOS, a TITAN who represented the Sun, and Perse, an ocean nymph. She was one of three thousand of her kind, daughters of TITANS OCEANUS and TETHYS. In another version, Circe was the daughter of HECATE, a goddess of sorcery.

She had two brothers. One was named Aeetes, and he looked after the GOLDEN FLEECE, a fleece that was the property of royalty. It was made from the wool of a golden ram with wings. Her second brother was PERSES.

PASIPHAE was her only sister, and she was the queen of the Greek island, CRETE, and also the wife of King Minos. It was also said that she gave birth to the MINOTAUR, a creature that was half man, half bull, with the head and horns of a cattle and the body of a man.

In some stories, Circe was exiled by her father Helios to live alone on AEAEA, a fictional island, as punishment for killing the prince of COLCHIS, who was her husband at the time.

She later had children with ODYSSEUS, the king of ITHACA from Homer’s writings. Her three sons were Ardeas, Latinus and Telegonus.

Source: <a href=”https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/goddesses/circe/”>Circe: https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net</a&gt; – Greek Gods & Goddesses, June 10, 2018

Goddess of the Day – Bast

 

Bast

In Egyptian mythology, Bast (also spelled Ubasti, Baset, and later Bastet) is an ancient solar and war goddess, worshipped at least since the Second Dynasty. In the late dynasties, the priests of Amun began to call her Bastet, a repetitive and diminutive form after her role in the pantheon became diminished as Sekhmet, a similar lioness war deity, became more dominant in the unified culture of Lower and Upper Egypt. In the Middle Kingdom, the cat appeared as Bastet’s sacred animal and after the New Kingdom she was depicted with a woman with a cat’s head carrying a sacred rattle and a box or basket.

Bast or Bastet was the cat goddess and local deity of the town of Bubastis or Per-Bast in Egyptian, where her cult was centered. Bubastis was named after her. Originally she was viewed as the protector goddess of Lower Egypt, and consequently depicted as a fierce lioness. Indeed, her name means (female) devourer. As protector, she was seen as defender of the pharaoh, and consequently of the later chief male deity, Ra, who was a solar deity also, gaining her the titles Lady of Flame and Eye of Ra.

The goddess Bast was sometimes depicted holding a ceremonial sistrum in one hand and an aegis in the other – the aegis usually resembling a collar or gorget embellished with a lioness head.

Bast was a goddess of the sun throughout most of Ancient Egyptian history, but later when she was changed into a cat goddess rather than a lion, she was changed to a goddess of the moon by Greeks occupying Ancient Egypt toward the end of its civilization. In Greek mythology, Bast is also known as Aelurus.

History and Connection to Other HodsDue to the threat to the food supply that could be caused by simple vermin such as mice and rats, and their ability to fight and kill snakes, especially cobras, cats in Egypt were revered highly, sometimes being given golden jewellery to wear and were allowed to eat from the same plates as their owners. Consequently, later as the main cat (rather than lioness) deity, Bastet was strongly revered as the patron of cats, and thus it was in the temple at Per-Bast that cats were buried and mummified.

When the owner died they would put the owner next to the mummified cat. More than 300,000 mummified cats were discovered when Bast’s temple at Per-Bast was excavated. Herodotus writes that when a cat in the family dies, Egyptians shaved their eyebrows and took the body to Bubastis to be embalmed.

As a cat or lioness war goddess, and protector of the lands, when, during the New Kingdom, the fierce lion god Maahes of Nubia became part of Egyptian mythology, she was identified, in the Lower Kingdom, as his mother. This paralleled the identification of the fierce lioness war goddess Sekhmet, as his mother in the Upper Kingdom.

As divine mother, and more especially as protector, for Lower Egypt, she became strongly associated with Wadjet, the patron goddess of Lower Egypt, eventually becoming Wadjet-Bast, paralleling the similar pair of patron (Nekhbet) and lioness protector (Sekhmet) for Upper Egypt. Bastet was the daughter of Amun Ra.

Later PerceptionLater scribes sometimes renamed her Bastet, a variation on Bast consisting of an additional feminine suffix to the one already present, thought to have been added to emphasize pronunciation; but perhaps it is a diminutive name applied as she receded in the ascendancy of Sekhmet in the Egyptian pantheon. Since Bastet literally meant, (female) of the ointment jar, Bast gradually became regarded as the goddess of perfumes, earning the title perfumed protector. In connection with this, when Anubis became the god of embalming, Bast, as goddess of ointment, came to be regarded as his wife. The association of Bastet as mother of Anubis, was broken years later when Anubis became Nephthys’ son.

Egypt’s loss in the wars between Upper and Lower Egypt led to a decrease in her ferocity. Thus, by the Middle Kingdom she came to be regarded as a domestic cat rather than a lioness. Occasionally, however, she was depicted holding a lioness mask, hinting at potential ferocity. Because domestic cats tend to be tender and protective of their offspring, Bast was also regarded as a good mother, and she was sometimes depicted with numerous kittens. Consequently, a woman who wanted children sometimes wore an amulet showing the goddess with kittens, the number of which indicated her own desired number of children.

Eventually, her position as patron and protector of Lower Egypt led to her being identified with the more substantial goddess Mut, whose cult had risen to power with that of Amun, and eventually being syncretized with her as Mut-Wadjet-Bast. Shortly after, Mut also absorbed the identities of the Sekhmet-Nekhbet pairing as well.

This merging of identities of similar goddesses has led to considerable confusion, leading to some attributing to Bastet the title Mistress of the Sistrum (more properly belonging to Hathor, who had become thought of as an aspect of the later emerging Isis, as had Mut), and the Greek idea of her as a lunar goddess (more properly an attribute of Mut) rather than the solar deity she was. Indeed, much of this confusion occurred with subsequent generations; the identities slowly merged among the Greeks during their occupation of Egypt, who sometimes named her Ailuros (Greek for cat), thinking of Bastet as a version of Artemis, their own moon goddess.Thus, to fit their own cosmology, to the Greeks Bastet is thought of as the sister of Horus, whom they identified as Apollo (Artemis’ brother), and consequently, the daughter of the later emerging deities, Isis and Ra.

The worship of the Goddess Bast continues today through Khemetic reconstructionalist religions, there are several ‘Bast Cults’ some of which may be found online and as such, technically, predates most Religions. In current day it is very common for Bast to be seen as a fertility goddess or even a goddess of lesbianism, despite the fact that research on her actual functions within the Egyptian pantheon is so very easy.

From Crystalinks.com

The Witches Correspondence for Samhain

The Witches Correspondence for Samhain

Date: October 31st

Colours: Black, orange

Stones: Bloodstone, jet, obsidian, ruby, beryl, carnelian

Herbs: Bay leaf, mugwort, nutmeg, sage, wormwood

Foods: Apples, nuts, beef, turnips, pears, pomegranates, pumpkin, corn

Drinks: Mead, mulled wine, apple juice, absinthe

Flowers/Decorations: Chrysanthemum, hazel, thistle, pumpkin, autumn leaves

Type Of Magick/Activity: Banishing, breaking bad habits, divination, drying herbs, past life recall(see meditation page), clearing out everything you don’t want in the new year (habits and personal items).

Some Appropriate Goddesses: All crone and underworld Goddesses, Cerridwen (Welsh), Freya (Norse), Hecate (Greek), Morrigan (Celtic), Persephone (Greek), Rhiannon (Welsh)

Some Appropriate Gods: All old and underworld Gods, Cernunnos (Celtic), Anubis (Egyptian), Hades (Greek), Odin (Norse), Osiris (Egyptian)

Deities Associated with Saturday – Saturn, Roman God

goddess 2
Deities Associated with Saturday – Saturn, Roman God

Saturn is perhaps best known today for his annual winter festival of debauchery, called the Saturnalia, which falls in December. However, for the ancient Romans, he was an important agricultural deity, holding various associations both with the planting season and with time itself. Similar to the Greek god Cronus, Saturn is credited with giving the gift of agriculture to the Romans.

A temple was erected to Saturn at the base of the Capitoline hill in Rome, where it housed the state treasury.

Not much is known about Saturn in his Roman persona, because there is so much overlap between him and the Greek Cronus. While it is possible the some variant of Saturn was worshiped as early as the pre-Roman Etruscans, it’s difficult for scholars to tell what attributes were originally Roman, and which were Greek.

In general, one thing that academics do agree on is that Saturn’s festival, the Saturnalia, was held each year during the month of December. By contrast, festivals honoring Cronus took place in the summer.

Businesses and court proceedings closed up for the entire Saturnalia celebration, and food and drink were everywhere to be had.

Elaborate feasts and banquets were held, and it wasn’t unusual to exchange small gifts at these parties. A typical Saturnalia gift might be something like a writing tablet or tool, cups and spoons, clothing items, or food. Citizens decked their halls with boughs of greenery, and even hung small tin ornaments on bushes and trees. Bands of naked revelers often roamed the streets, singing and carousing – a sort of naughty precursor to today’s Christmas caroling tradition.

A great statue of Saturn stood in the temple, and interestingly enough, it was filled with oil – likely olive oil, given his status as an agricultural god. In addition, the statue’s feet were wrapped in wool, and the strips were only unbound during the Saturnalia. In addition to merrymaking, street celebrations, and social role reversals, there were sacrifices made to Saturn for a bountiful harvest during the coming year.
 

Author

Patti Wigington, Paganism/Wicca Expert
Article published on & owned by About.com

Let’s Talk Witch – Pantheon Pathways

witchcraft

Pantheon Pathways

 

As Witches, we often draw upon the mythology of many different lands to find the god and goddess figures that we identify with most strongly. And while this can vary greatly from Witch to Witch (like everything else we do-hey, at least we are not a bunch of boring conformists), many of us are drawn to the pantheons (from the Greek “temple of the gods,” meaning the officially recognized gods of a particular people) of the Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Celtic cultures, with a few Norse and Hindu gods thrown in for good measure.

It is interesting to see how much the gods from one culture resemble the gods in another. It makes sense, I suppose, when you consider that most Pagan peoples had the same interests as we do today: love, protection, prosperity, the moon, growing things, etc.

In addition, it is historically possible in many cases to follow the path that a god took from one culture to another. For instance, many of the Roman gods and goddesses were taken more or less directly from the Greeks who preceded them.

It is fine to focus on one pantheon or culture, but it is also okay to mix and match. The gods that want you will find you, that much is for sure.

 

 

Everyday Witch A to Z: An Amusing, Inspiring & Informative Guide to the Wonderful World of Witchcraft

Deborah Blake

 

Deities of the Moon

Deities of the Moon

 

Aditi: Hindu mother goddess, mother of the sun and moon Gods, Mitra and Varuna.

Aine of Knockaine: Irish-Celtic Goddess of love and fertility, related to the moon.

Alcyone: Greek Goddess of the moon and tranquility.

Alphito: Greek Goddess of destiny and the moon.

Anu: Irish-Celtic Goddess of the moon and air. She is also the Mother Earth Goddess and Maiden aspect of Morrigu.

Aradia: Italian Goddess, protector of Witches. Symbolises the element of air and the moon.

Baal: Canaanite rain God who symbolises air, fertility, health and the moon.

Cerridwen: Welsh-Celtic moon and nature Goddess.

Chons: Egyptian God of the moon.

Coyolxuahqi: Aztec moon Goddess; symbolises the element of fire.

Diana: Queen of the Witches – love, luck, the moon and general magic are hers.

Don: Welsh-Celtic Queen of the Heavens and Goddess of air and sea, who ruled the land of the dead. Also known as Danu (Irish-Celtic) .

El: Canaanite God of fertility and the moon.

Epona: Gaulish Goddess of horses and birds, represents the moon, enchantment and charms. Also called Rhiannon (Welsh-Celtic) .

Freya: Norse Goddess of love, and fertility, symbolises war, the moon and poetry

Frigg: Norse Goddess of marriage and motherhood, symbolises foresight, wisdom and the moon. Also called Frigga.

Hathor: Egyptian Goddess of joy and love, who symbolises the element of Air and the moon.

Hecate: Goddess of the Witches and the Dark Moon. The Crone aspect of the triple Goddess.

Hera: Greek Goddess who can be invoked for love, the moon, element of Air,motherhood.

Jana: Italian Goddess of the moon.

Kuu: Finnish moon Goddess.

Luna: Roman moon Goddess, also known as Lunah.

Neith: Egyptian Goddess of war and weaving, symbolises the moon and courage.

Phoebe: Roman moon Goddess and teacher to sorcerers; also known as Selene(Greek).

Rhiannon: Welsh-Celtic Goddess of horses and birds, represents the moon, enchantment and charms. Also called Epona (Gaul).

Selene: Greek moon Goddess and teacher to sorcerers; also known as Phoebe(Roman).

Tlazolteotl: Aztec Goddess of the crescent moon.

Varuna: Hindu moon God.

WOTC’s Extra – Goddesses/Gods You Can Call On for Specific Spellworking

Goddesses You Can Call Upon for Specific Spellwork:

Aphrodite: Greek; Goddess of passionate, sexual love.
Aphrodite will assist you in pulling loving energy toward yourself.
Aradia: Italian; Queen of the Witches, daughter of Diana.
Aradia is an extremely powerful entity and a protectress of Witches in general.
Artemis: Greek; Goddess of the Moon.
Astarte: Greek; Fertility Goddess.
Whether you wish to bear children or have a magnificent garden, Astarte will assist in your desire.
Demeter: Greek; Earth Mother archetype.
Excellent Goddess where birthing or small children are involved.
Diana: Roman; Moon Goddess and Goddess of the Hunt. Diana is many faceted.
She is seductress (as she enchanted her brother Lucifer to beget Aradia in the form of a cat) as well as a mother figure for Witches.
Isis: Egyptia; represents the Complete Goddess or the Triple Goddess connotation in one being.
Persephone: Greek; Goddess of the Underworld as well as Harvest. Daughter of Demeter.
Selene: Greek; Goddess of the Moon and Solutions.
Appeal to Selene to bring a logical answer to any problem.
Venus: Roman; Goddess of Love and Romance

 

Gods You Can Call Upon for Specific Spellwork:

Adonis: Greek; consort of Aphrodite. Also another name for “lord”.
In Phoenician his counterpart is Astarte.
A vegetarian God. Roman counterpart is Venus.
Apollo: Greek and Roman; twin brother of Artemis. God of the Sun, Light and the Arts.
Cernunnos: Celtic; Horned God and consort of the Lady. Also Kernunnos.
Eros: Greek; God of Romance and Passionate Love.
Hymen: Greek; God of Marriage and Commitment. His counterpart is Dionysus.
Luce: Italian; Soul mate and Brother of Diana. Father of Arcadia. God of the Sun and Light.
Osiris: wiccan; counterpart of Isis. Over-all God form including vegetation and after-life.
Pan: Greek; God of Nature and the Woods, Laughter and Passion.
Also music and personal abandon. Of course, you can refer to either the God and/or Goddess as merely Lord and Lady if it makes you feel more comfortable.

 

 

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Today’s Quiz: Your Guiding Goddess for 2014

Quiz: Your Guiding Goddess for 2014

Which face of the Divine Feminine is by your side in this year, urging  and encouraging you to be the person you are meant to be? Take this quick quiz  to see which goddess is your guide:

Which statement is TRUE for you?

1. This year, what I long for MOST is freedom.

2. This year, what I long for MOST is a fresh start.

3. This year, what I long for MOST is love.

4. This year, what I long for MOST is to be healed.

5. This year, what I long for MOST is wisdom and learning.

6. This year, what I long for MOST is creativity.

If you answered TRUE to 1, ARTEMIS is your goddess. To the ancient Greeks,  this goddess was a feisty, wild woods-dweller, in tune with nature and animals.  Artemis encourages us to connect with the outdoors, with animals, and with our  own fiercely independent spirits.

If you answered TRUE to 2, KALI is your goddess. This Hindu deity is the one  to call if something in your life needs to go in order to make room for  something new. Kali destroys what is stale so that new life can come in.

If you answered TRUE to 3, VENUS is your goddess. If love relationships or  the longing for love are paramount for you this year, the Roman goddess Venus  can help you to open your heart.

If you answered TRUE to 4, KWAN YIN is your goddess. This Asian bodhisattva  is the most prayed-to deity on earth. Kwan Yin reminds us that the healing power  of her understanding and compassion are always available to you.

If you answered TRUE to 5, ATHENA is your goddess. The ancient Greek goddess  of wisdom and learning is often shown companioned by an owl, the traditional  wisdom-bird to many. If you desire deep wisdom or want to do well in some course  of study, Athena will help you to clear your mind.

If you answered TRUE to 6, BRIGID is your goddess. This fiery Celtic goddess  of poetry and crafting (among other things) is a great help in unlocking your  creative potential.

You might want to do a little research on your goddess, and then find images  or statues of her to remind you of her help and guidance as you follow your path  throughout the year.

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Gracious Goddess, Let Me Be My Best Self Ever

New Age Comments & Graphics

Great Goddess
I ask that You lend me
Your strength
That I might excel
And be my best self.
 
At all times and places
When I need it most
Let my brightest self
Shine out like a star.
 
Help me to succeed
At all tasks at hand
And make the most
Of all the possibilities
made available to me.
 
Great Goddess
Lend me your light
That I might excel
And be my best self ever.
 

So Mote It Be.

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The Myth of Cupid and Psyche (The Divine Love Story)

The Myth of Cupid and Psyche

The Divine Love Story or Myth of Cupid and Psyche

By , About.com

The great Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, was born from the foam near the island of Cyprus, for which reason she is referred to as “the Cyprian.” Aphrodite was a jealous goddess, but she was also passionate. Not only did she love the men and gods in her life, but her sons and grandchildren, as well. Sometimes her possessive instincts led her too far. When her son Cupid found a human to love — one whose beauty rivaled hers — Aphrodite did all in her power to thwart the marriage.

How Cupid and Psyche Met

Psyche was worshiped for her beauty in her homeland. This drove Aphrodite mad, so she sent a plague and let it be known the only way the land could get back to normal was to sacrifice Psyche. The king, who was Psyche’s father, tied Psyche up and left her to her death at the hands of some presumed fearsome monster. You may note that this isn’t the first time in Greek mythology that this happened. The great Greek hero Perseus found his bride, Andromeda, tied up as prey for a sea monster. Andromeda was sacrificed to appease Poseidon who had ravaged the country of Ethiopia, which was ruled by her father, after Queen Cassiopeia had boasted about her own beauty. In the case of Psyche, it was Aphrodite’s son Cupid who released and married the princess.

The Mystery About Cupid

Unfortunately for the young couple, Cupid and Psyche, Aphrodite was not the only one trying to foul things up. Psyche had two sisters who were as jealous as Aphrodite.

Cupid was a wonderful lover and husband to Psyche, but there was one odd thing about their relationship: He made sure Psyche never saw what he looked like. Psyche didn’t mind. She had a fulfilling night life in the dark with her husband, and during the day, she had all the luxuries she could ever want.

When the sisters learned about the luscious, extravagant lifestyle of their lucky, beautiful sister, they urged Psyche to pry into the area of his life that Psyche’s husband kept hidden from her.

Cupid was a god, and gorgeous as he had to have been with Aphrodite for a mother, but for reasons known best to him, he didn’t want his mortal wife to see his form. Psyche’s sister didn’t know he was a god, although they may have suspected it. However, they did know that Psyche’s life was much happier than theirs. Knowing their sister well, they preyed on her insecurities and persuaded Psyche that her husband was a hideous monster.

Psyche assured her sisters they were wrong, but since she’d never seen him, even she started having doubts. Psyche decided to satisfy the girls’ curiosity, so that night she took a candle to her sleeping husband in order to look at him.

Cupid Deserts Psyche

Cupid’s angelic form was exquisite, so Psyche stood there gawking at her husband with her candle melting. While Psyche dawdled, ogling, a bit of wax dripped on her husband. Her rudely awakened, irate, disobeyed, injured husband-angel-god flew away.

“See, I told you she was a no good human,” said mother Aphrodite to her convalescing son Cupid. “Now you’ll have to be content among the gods.”

Cupid might have gone along with the de facto divorce, but Psyche couldn’t. Impelled by love of her gorgeous husband, she implored her mother-in-law to give her another chance. Aphrodite agreed, but ungraciously, saying, “I cannot conceive that any serving-wench as hideous as yourself could find any means to attract lovers save by making herself their drudge; wherefore now I myself will make trial of your worth.”

The Epic Trials of Psyche

But Aphrodite had no intention of playing fair. She devised 4 tasks (not 3 as is conventional in mythic hero quests; this is a feminine story), each task more exacting than the last. Psyche passed the first 3 challenges with flying colors:

  1. sort a huge mount of barley, millet, poppy seeds, lentils, and beans.   Ants (pismires) help her sort the grains within the time allotted.
  2. gather a hank of the wool of the shining golden sheep.   A reed tells her how to accomplish this task without being killed by the vicious animals.
  3. fill a crystal vessel with the water of the spring that feeds the Styx and Cocytus.   An eagle helps her out.

But the last task was too much for Psyche:

4. Aphrodite asked Psyche to bring her back a box of Persephone’s beauty cream.

Going to the Underworld was a challenge for the bravest of the Greek mythical heroes. Demigod Hercules could go to the Underworld without much bother, but even Theseus had trouble and had to be rescued by Hercules. Psyche barely batted an eye when Aphrodite told her she would have to go to the most dangerous region known to mortals. That part was easy, especially after the tower told her how to find the entryway to the Underworld, how get around Charon and Cerberus, and how to behave before the Underworld queen.

The part of the fourth task that was too much for Psyche was the temptation to make herself more beautiful. If the perfect beauty of the perfect goddess Aphrodite needed this Underworld beauty cream, Psyche reasoned, how much more would it help an imperfect mortal woman? Thus, Psyche retrieved the box successfully, but then she opened it and fell into a deathlike sleep, as Aphrodite had secretly predicted.

  “And by and by shee opened the boxe where she could perceive no beauty nor any thing else, save onely an infernall and deadly sleepe, which immediatly invaded all her members as soone as the boxe was uncovered, in such sort that she fell downe upon the ground, and lay there as a sleeping corps.”   William Adlington Translation (1566)

Reunion and Happy Ending to the Myth of Cupid and Psyche

At this point, divine intervention was called for if the story were to have an ending that made anyone really happy. With Zeus’ connivance, Cupid brought his wife to Olympus where, at Zeus’s command, she was given nectar and ambrosia so she would become immortal.

  “Incontinently after Jupiter commanded Mercury to bring up Psyches, the spouse of Cupid, into the Pallace of heaven. And then he tooke a pot of immortality, and said, Hold Psyches, and drinke, to the end thou maist be immortall, and that Cupid may be thine everlasting husband.“

On Olympus, in the presence of the other gods, Aphrodite reluctantly reconciled with her pregnant daughter-in-law, who was about to give birth to a grandchild Aphrodite would (obviously) dote on, Pleasure.

Another Story of Cupid and Psyche

C.S. Lewis took Apuleius’ version of this myth and turned it on its ear in Till We Have Faces. The tender love story is gone. Instead of having the story seen through the eyes of Psyche, it’s seen through her sister Orval’s perspective. Instead of the refined Aphrodite of the Roman story, the mother goddess in C.S. Lewis’ version is a far more weighty, chthonic Earth-Mother-Goddess power.

More on C.S. Lewis and the re-telling of the Cupid and Psyche myth: A Great Gulf Fixed: The Problem of Obsessive Love in C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces

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May the Goddess Bless You With Warmth & Comfort on this Wednesday!

Blessed Be Comments

Faith is the Dark Moon
Unseen in the night
We know it is present
Yet long for the light.
 
Faith is the wind
That whispers around us.
 
We cannot touch it
And must take it on trust.
 
Faith is the soft voice
Of the Goddess of Old
Who warms us in the Winter
And wards off the cold.
 
Let my heart feel the warmth
Let my soul hear Her voice
Let me find faith in the darkness
And my spirit rejoice.
 

So Mote It Be.

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Your Charm for December 20 is the Abraxas

Your Charm for Today

Abraxas

Today’s Meaning:

A powerful force will rule you within aspect for the duration of a year. You will be given few choices to make as most will be made for you. This force is benign in nature and the end result will be positive.

General Description:   

Abraxas stones were commonly worn and highly esteemed in the Roman Empire about the time when Christianity was becoming established there. Much importance was attached to the word Abraxas in the Greek notation making up the number 365, signifying 365 heavens, occupied by the 365 gods, who according to the Gnostic religion, formed the earth and ruled its destiny. The Abraxas, the curious divide Jeo, of Jehovah of the Gnostics, has a fowl’s head, signifying watchfulness and foresight; the shield, wisdom; whip, authority; two serpents, mystery, eternity, vitality. These rings were worn as talismans for protection against physical ills.

Deity of the Day – Aphrodite

Deity of the Day – Aphrodite

Aphrodite, also known as Marianna. She was the Greek “Foam Born” Moon Goddess, and was often referred to as “She who binds hearts together”, and the Goddess from the Western Corner. She is depicted as beautiful and voluptuous with blue eyes and light hair, and while considered virginal, she was not a virgin but an independent woman. Her followers celebrated with sexual rites from which men where banned. Myrrh and Frankincense was often used in her celebration rituals. Her animal associations where: the heron, lovebird, swan and the dove. She is the patron Goddess to prostitute’s who refer to her as the Goddess of Love. She is associated with beauty, physical love, sensuality, sexuality, passion, relationships, affections and fertility.

 

The Goddess, The Virgin

The Goddess, The Virgin

The Virgin is the first aspect of the Goddess that dates back to Grecian times. “Holy Virgin” was a title for temple prostitutes, a duty of the priestesses of Ishtar, Asherah, or Aphrodite. The title itself did not mean virginity, but it simply meant “unmarried.” The functions of these “holy virgins” was to give forth the Mother’s grace and love by sexual worship; to heal; to prophecy; to perform sacred dances; to wail for the dead; and to become Brides of God.

The Semites, and parthenioi by the Greeks called children born of such virgins bathur. Both terms mean virgin-born. According to the Protoevangelium, the Virgin Mary was a kadesha and perhaps was married to a member of the priesthood known as the “fathers of the gods.”

There is an analogy between Mary’s impregnation and that of Persephone’s. The latter, in her virgin guise, sat in a holy cave and began weaving the great tapestry of the universe, when Zeus, appearing as a phallic serpent, impregnated her with the savior Dionysus. Mary sat in a temple and began to spin a blood-red thread, representing Life in the tapestry of fate. The angel Gabriel came to Mary, telling her that the spirit of the Lord would over shadow her and she would be with child. (Luke 1:28-31) This child was Jesus Christ, who many call savior.

In the Hebrew Gospels the name Mary is designated by almah which means “young woman.” The reason that Mary is held to have remained a virgin by Catholics and some Christians is because Matthew in his gospel used the Greek word parthenos, meaning “virgin,” instead of almah when referring to the virgin birth of Jesus. Also almah was derived from Persian Al-Mah, the unmated Moon goddess. Another cognate of this term was the Latin alma, “living soul of the world,” which is essentially identical to the Greek psyche, and the Sanskrit shakti. So the ancient Holy Virgins, or temple-harlots, were “soul-teachers” or “soul- mothers.” Thus comes the term alma mater.

Arithmancy

Arithmancy

Divination by numbers (sometimes wrongly called Arithmomancy). The ancient Greeks examined the number and the values of letters in each name of two combatants. They predicted the combatant having the name of the greater value would be victorious. It was by using this science that some diviners foretold that Achilles would defeat Hector.

The Chaldeans also practiced arithmancy. They divided their alphabet into three parts, each part composed of seven letters which they attributed to the seven planets. Through this arithmetic method they made predictions based on the planets.

The Platonists and Pythagoreans were also strongly attracted to this form of divination which is similar to certain aspects of the Jewish Kabbalah.