Of Bee’s and Sheep

I asked how to incorporate bee’s more, this was my answer. The sheep’s milk may be subbed with sheep milk cheese, I’ve never seen it fresh.

Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 5. 15 (trans. Conybeare) (Greek biography C1st to 2nd A.D.) :
“[The shepherd Aesop] poured a libation of as much milk as a sheep would give at one milking in honour of Hermes, and brought a honeycomb and laid it on the altar, big enough to fill the hand, and he thought of regaling the god with myrtle berries, or perhaps by laying just a few roses or violets at the altar. ‘For,’ said he, ‘would you, O Hermes, have me weave crowns for you and neglect my sheep?’”

Source

Eriounia

Water, Owls and Stars

Absolutely love the name “water star”, gives me a reason associated with Himself for my love of Wednesday’s(outside of Odin), and owls. I thought the owls were Freyja’s but there was the nagging feeling that it wasn’t her alone.
I’m really loving my 3am wake up calls from my Divine Family. I have learnt something new pretty much the whole week.

In ancient China, Mercury was known as Chen Xing (辰星), the Hour Star. It was associated with the direction north and the phase of water in the Wu Xing.[109] Modern Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese cultures refer to the planet literally as the “water star” (水星), based on the Five elements.[110] Hindu mythology used the name Budha for Mercury, and this god was thought to preside over Wednesday.[111] The god Odin (or Woden) of Germanic paganism was associated with the planet Mercury and Wednesday.[112] The Maya may have represented Mercury as an owl (or possibly four owls; two for the morning aspect and two for the evening) that served as a messenger to the underworld.

SOURCE
IMAGE SOURCE

Worshiping With Beauty

The Road, the Walker, and What Comes Next

Beauty is a subject I have found myself confronting within my devotional and magickal practice for a few years now. I came to this topic unexpectedly and without many road signs telling me where I was headed.

I came to beauty via pleasure, when I discovered that certain beautiful forms gave me a pleasurable experience like nothing else really had before. Various sexual complications and nearly a decade of committed sacred marriage had all but snuffed out my libido; I have never gotten a great deal of pleasure from that particular aspect of my humanity. I’m aware of my weakness when it comes to drugs and alcohol so I limit my consumption. These things don’t get me high like they do other people (a physical high sure, but not, you know, HIGH). Food, perhaps, sometimes, takes me to that place. Not even fine or exotic food, just food that is…

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The Feminine Loki

Much love to He and She.

The Road, the Walker, and What Comes Next

Any discussion about Loki is going to bring up His parentage of Sleipnir. This particular bit of tricky business is praised by some, sneered at by others. A rather more detailed discussion about Loki will bring up the accusation made by Odin that Loki spent winters under the earth as a woman either milking cows or nursing babies. A more in depth discussion of Loki may mention that He became pregnant after eating the heart of an unnamed woman burned for unknown reasons. A quite detailed discussion of Loki will mention in passing that He’s known to have given birth to a race of ogre-like female creatures or witch women. This is why those who love Him exalt His title of Mother of Witches.

All this lore-based information collects to form a distinctly complex picture of Loki’s gendered identity. People who love and worship Him are generally familiar with His…

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Autumn 2014

A collection of pictures from my wanderings this Fall.

Adornments

New Uhm…hooks? For my stretched ears. It’s all Freyja’s fault.
And I got a mani/pedi/nail polish kit thing for Christmas that I asked for in a fit of insanity. I am also laying this at Her feet. She just smiles that amazing smile and laughs softly, kindly.

The Land of Dreams

Homer, Odyssey 24. 1 & 99 ff :
“[Hermes] held in his hand the golden rod that he uses to lull men’s eyes asleep when he so wills, or again to wake others from their slumber; with this he roused them [the ghosts of the newly dead] and led them on, and they followed him, thinly gibbering . . . Hermes led them down through the ways of dankness. They passed the streams of Okeanos, the White Rock (leukas petre), the Gates of the Sun (pylai helion) and the Land of Dreams (demos oneiron), and soon they came to the Field of Asphodel (leimon asphodelon) where the Psykhai souls (psykhai), the phantoms of the dead (eidola) have their habitation.”

Aesop, Fables 563 (from Babrius, Fabulae 30) (trans. Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.) :
“A sculptor was selling a white marble statue of Hermes which two men wanted to buy: one of them, whose son had just died, wanted it for the tombstone, while the other was a craftsman who wanted to consecrate the statue to the god himself . . . In his sleep, the sculptor saw Hermes himself standing at the Gate of Dreams (pylai oneiroi). The god spoke to him and said, ‘Well, my fate hangs in the balance: it is up to you whether I will become a dead man or a god!’”

God of Rustic Divination

Hermes presided over the rustic art of divination by pebbles, practised in the highlands of shepherds and cattle-herders.
He was said to have learnt the art from certain Nymphai known as Thriai, given to him by Apollon in a trade for the music of the pipe.

Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes 550 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.) :
“[Apollon to Hermes:] ‘As for sooth-saying, noble, heaven-born child, of which you ask, it is not lawful for you to learn it, nor for any other of the deathless gods . . . But I will tell you another thing, all-glorious (erikydes) Son of Maia and Zeus who holds the aegis, luck-bringing genius of the gods (daimon eriounes theon). There are certain holy ones, sisters born – three virgins gifted with wings: their heads are besprinkled with white meal, and they dwell under a ridge of Parnassos. These are teachers of divination apart from me [i.e. of divination by pebbles], the art which I practised while yet a boy following herds, though my father paid no heed to it. From their home they fly now here, now there, feeding on honey-comb and bringing all things to pass. And when they are inspired through eating yellow honey, they are willing to speak truth; but if they be deprived of the gods’ sweet food, then they speak falsely, as they swarm in and out together. These, then, I give you; enquire of them strictly and delight your heart: and if you should teach any mortal so to do, often will he hear your response – if he have good fortune. Take these, Son of Maia [and preside over this primitive form of divination].’”

Source: http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/HermesGod.html#Divination

Photographic Offering – December 23rd, 2014

Starting a new Thing. Also will feed my geeky photography love. At least one photo per week.