Going back to my favorite oracle, today I received the clover.  This is the symbol of wisdom, health, and good fortune.  The salmon in the water also re-inforces the wisdom aspect of this card.  Clover is also associated with the spring. 

 The weather here is in the 70's and I have the windows of the house open.  It feels like spring is here for sure.  I'm ready for new growth both in my garden and in my life.  I hope that I will have wisdom in how to approach new growth, so that it will be healthy growth.  Nothing worse than having to go back and re-start because of a lack of attention in the hurry to get things finished. 

My one huge complaint about this oracle system... it sounds like fortune cookies.

“You will have a parting from the {Tôn} companions now around you.”
Parting: release, deliverance; companions: those accompanying.
This may be an unwelcome parting from friends or a welcome release from enemies; in either case they are now around you. This may also mean a growing apart or forced separation of a person from his or her family, peers or fellow travelers on the path. 

Actually this seems to fit with a certain situation in my life.  There is a person in my life that I am thinking this will happen with.  Enemies seems such a harsh word.  I don't know if I have ever applied the term to anyone, in my entire life. As Watson asks in the new BBC Sherlock series, "Who has enemies, let alone arch-enemies?  People have friends, girlfriends, boyfriends,  people they don't like."

 I still am preferring those oracles that have deep imagery associated with them.  They seem to allow for a more nuanced reading.  It is still early on, and I'm just getting to know this system, so I'll keep at it.

“The God [Apollo] says you will do everything {Hapanta} successfully.”
Do: achieve, bring about, effect, accomplish, make, manage, negotiate, transact, practice, fare; successfully: prosperously, luckily, with good fortune.
Your entire project will turn out well and you will meet all your goals. You will have good luck in all your activities, or prosperous business transactions and negotiations."


Why does this feel more like a prayer of what I want to happen, instead of what I think will actually happen?  By the will of the Theoi, may it be so!

I had thought to make this next Pagan Blog Project post the second part of the Book Porn series.  It seems that the Theoi had a very different idea.


Ah, beauty. Nothing moves me more deeply than a landscape full of trees and deep blue water. I find myself fascinated by works of art that stir the deeper emotions in me. Yet, the various Goddesses of beauty tend to leave me a tad cold.  

Aphrodite has, in the past, been a symbol of everything I hate the most about society. She has been, to me, only the superficial views of what is attractive coupled with sex.  She was the one who makes the plain child stand aside from the crowd and feel evil and wrong. She was cruel to any who did not meet up to the standard.  She is a great deal more than that though, and it has taken me a long time to realize this.  

She is the peitho (persuasion), himeros (longing),  Philommeides (smile loving), Goddess of mixis (the mingling of two bodies).  While society seems to view her at an external level, she is so much deeper than that.  She is what my soul craves in ritual work.  I need beauty to move me to tears and then build me up again.  

It has taken me years to realize how much beauty means to me.  It has also taken me a great deal of time to realize that beauty is so much more than I realize. Like anything of a divine nature, there will always be parts of it I don’t understand.  There will always be places in my life where beauty moves and I have no idea that it is even happening.  It is time for me to acknowledge that beauty is more than sex appeal, it is survival.I leave you with the rather deeper thoughts of Denis Dutton.  This TED talk done as a white board art piece is beautiful in its own right, but what he is speaking about is that deeper level that I crave.

Last night as I was meditating, the story, that is in the post below this one, hit me full on.  I knew I needed to get up and write it out immediately.  I decided to ask Demeter's permission before writing a rather personal account of her story.  She gave me Pi.

“Completing many {Polus} contests, you will seize the crown.”
"Contests: struggles, trials, dangers; crown: wreath, garland.
If you persist in your struggles, after many trials you will succeed. Perseverance through adversity."



At about 3am this morning I finished with the version the appears below. I felt tired, but happy.  That version is still just a first draft, but I think Demeter will be pleased once I get it perfected.

I only had a single moment with her father, but it was enough.  When I first knew that I was pregnant, I felt such joy at the thought of this small life growing inside of me.  I felt her tiny kicks and stirrings.  I found myself smiling with each push and stretch.  When she was born, crying and bloody, I held her to my chest and felt my soul bind to hers.  She was so beautiful, I never wanted to put her down, for those first few months, I didn’t.  I held her, so that any cry would be instantly met with what she needed.  Her coos were my constant music, and I often lost myself in her determined gaze.   She was this small mystery that began to change and reveal its secrets slowly over time.  She began to roll, and crawl, then walk, and who she was began to be revealed.  I was so happy.  My heart was filled with love and wonder at this amazing creature.  It spilled out into the world and made the pathways green, and the fields rich with abundance.  My daughter would run through the brightly colored flowers and laugh.  She was so independent. By the time she became a young lady, I was so proud of how strong she was.  I felt no fears, for I knew how determined she was.  I knew she would always get her way. She was my Persephone. 

I heard the thunder of the ground splitting.  I felt it shake the world.  I felt the cold water of fear run through my chest.  I ran.  My Baby!  I ran so hard, my chest pieced with pain and my heart thumping so hard, it felt as if it would split me open. Where is she? Where is my baby?  I circled the world looking.  With each passing day I lost hope.  I felt the fear splinter into a million tiny thoughts.  Each shard danced and changed into a new horror in my mind’s eye.  The visions soon were replaced by grief and despair.  Would I ever know what had become of my precious one?  

I crawled into a cave dark enough to match my feelings.  Horrors swept my mind. Thoughts of what she must have endured in her final moments refused to leave.  I wept.  I cut the pain out of my skin with stones.  The blood ran free. I endured such agonies in my own head.  My despair began to leak out into the world.  The crops had long since begun to whither when Hecate’s torch light fell on my dirt covered face.  This wise woman had been walking by the crevice that had torn the world the day my daughter was lost, when she had heard the singing.  She held her torch high as she gingerly crawled down into the belly of the world, following the voice she knew in her heart was my daughter’s.

There in the throne room of the Dark God Hades was my sweet child.  Her voice raised in song; singing to chase away her hunger.  Hecate told me that Hades had struck a deal with Persephone’s father.  Hades had taken my beautiful girl to be his wife.  All the pain, the fear, the despair burned hot now as true hatred and anger.  How dare Zeus take my child and give her away to the land of death?  I approached him, all my anger leaching into the air around me.  It poisoned the world to the point that there were no plants left alive.  

Give me back my child, I demanded.  You had no right to take her. 

I am her father.  I have every right, he replied. 

My anger became a flame that burned cold. Cold enough to freeze the world.  The lives of those who rode Gaia’s back had lost so much.  They had nothing left to give to the Gods in sacrifice.  Did the Gods not feel that loss dearly?  They began to beg Zeus to force me to make the world grow again.  How could he force the anger and pain from my heart?  He knew he could not.  

You have no rights to take the sacrifices away from you Brother and Sister Gods.  

My anger gives me the right, I replied.  

I saw my rage mirrored in his face.  His pride made him hesitate, but when the sacrifices stopped completely, he relented.  Zeus went to our brother to ask for his daughter back.  Had his pride not kept him so long.... Persephone was in the land of the dead, but she was not yet dead herself.  She had grown so hungry.  It was just a few seeds from the pomegranate that Hades had given her.  Just a few.  That fruit had come from the underworld and was part of that dark land.  When she ate the seeds and absorbed them, she took part of the underworld into herself.  Hades agreed to allow his Queen and bride to return to me for part of the year.  It was also agreed that Hecate would guide my sweet child home again. She would have to return in time, but I could ignore that for now.

I watched the road leading from that dark gash in the Earth, and when I saw her shadow far off, the light of Hecate’s torch, I screamed my joy.  It burst forth from lips, and with it my love flowed out into the world again.  My joy was repeated in the songs of the birds, and the birth of new life.  My baby! My Baby!  Sweet child of my life. Home again.  Sweetest Persephone.

I recently bought a copy of Herdotus' 'Histories' in the original Greek.  I did this as a way to gain practice in reading letters that are very foreign to me. Plus, I think this is a good way for me to learn grammar (yes, I know... I should learn English grammar first), and vocabulary.  So far, it is slow going, but I am proud to say that it is going.  I can sometimes be a very slow learner. I find that the capitol letter are so much easier for me to read than the lowercase ones.  Sigma is one that drives me a little bit bonkers, but I'm getting used to it.  I find it somewhat amusing that todays tile is Sigma.

“Phoibos [Apollo] speaks plainly {Saphôs}, ‘Stay, friend.’”

Plainly: distinctly, certainly; stay: wait, stand fast, remain.
Neither advance nor retreat; wait or hold your ground, as appropriate; the best action is inaction. “Phoibos” refers to Apollo as Bright and Pure, which also characterizes His advice in this oracle.

 I guess that urge to throw the book across the room is to be ignored.  Maybe a re-examining of what I have worked on so far isn't such bad advice?  It isn't retreating or advancing, but maybe strengthening what I have learned.  For today, I will stay.

Today was the first day I pulled wisdom from the alphabet oracle tiles I made.  I must say this one made me happy.  At the bottom of this post will be a picture of the tiles I made.  If you click on it, you will be taken to an explanation as to how it works and the historical evidence for this method.

The wisdom for today is Eta.  Eta is the letter for the Apollo, God of oracles, prophecy, healing, and the Sun.
“Bright Helios [Sun] {Hêlios}, who watches everything, watches you.”
The life-giving Sun will care for you. Helios is an enforcer of oaths and promises, and He knows the deceit in your heart."
I would like to add a prayer written by Diane Bronowicz and slightly modified by me.

Shining Apollon, leader of the Muses; far-shooting; far seeing God of oracles; brilliant healer and protector of youths, I wish to honor you this day.  I thank you for your many gifts and for the light you have placed in my life.  May I always bring honor to you by my actions, and may my lips speak the truths you have revealed to me.  I seek to know you better.  Please, accept my worship and look upon me with your favor as our bonds of Ghosti grow ever stronger.  Theoi, I thank you.

One of the next steps I am hoping to finish for an ADF study program is the mastering of a type of oracle.  We in ADF use different forms of oracles to take omens during our rituals.  I have tried various forms of Oracles.  Sorry to say Runes just don't speak to me, and neither do Ogham.  I have made a Greek Alphabet tile set that I am hoping to get familiar with, but so far Carr-Gomm's Druid Animal and Plant Oracles mixed together into one huge deck has been the powerful for me.  I am hoping to practice one form of oracle at least once a week if not more for the next year.  So in keeping with this new practice I drew cards today, asking for guidance for a rather odd situation that seems to have developed in my life recently.  I asked one question, "What advice can you give me for what is going on?", and drew one card for each kindred.

The ancestors gave me the Owl.  

First of all, it made me happy to see the animal that represents my patron right off the bat.  According to Carr-Gomm, the owl teaches us the wisdom of turning a disadvantage into an advantage.  The single "call words"  are listed as, "Detachment, Wisdom, and Change."

I will admit the current situation makes detachment a tad difficult, but I hope I am showing wisdom and the ability to change as things require.

On the branches hang votive offering to the hag/crone Goddess, with a full moon in the background.  Crones have a very special place in my heart, and to see her in the reflection of a full mother moon makes me feel calm, and protected.  Crones are not to be crossed, and can be very dangerous, but they also tend to be wise and use only what force is necessary. 

The Nature Kindred gave me Reverse Burdock.

The description of this card that drew my attention first was, "...the process of scapegoating is occurring in your life."  Now it doesn't only mean that I am the one being scapegoated, but that I may also be blaming someone else for the situation.  I am thinking it is a bit of both, truth me told.  It also doesn't say if that blame is well deserved or not, just that it is happening.

The description continues with, "To truly resolve an issue, a different approach is needed."  Now if I could just figure out what that different approach looks like... I'm thinking some meditation is in order for this one.

The "Call Words," for this card in reverse are, "The Outcast, Scapegoating, and Blame."

The Theoi gave me the Reversed Boar. The Boar when not reversed is raw power channeled to a certain end, usually by a warrior spirit.  The reverse is the power being turned into madness. 

"Sometimes we have to go through a period of breakdown so that something wider and deeper can enter our lives.  The Boar is the emissary of the Terrible Mother- who is the Initiator."

Huh, there's that crone again!

The call words for the Boar in reverse are, "Madness, a period of destruction that precede a period of creation."

I will be offering whiskey to the Kindreds tonight for their wisdom.  I would love to hear what impressions these cards give you, and what you feel they might mean.