A Guide To Worship Of Persephone- Cheat Sheets

Offerings for Hades

Hades is the Greek god of the dead and wealth, and the King of the Underworld. He is associated with the cornucopia, cypress, narcissus, keys, serpents, mint, white poplar, dog, pomegranate, sheep, cattle, screech owls, horses and chariots.

Offerings

- Bread and Cakes

- Black Coffee or Tea

- Pomegranates

- Apples

- Cerberus or Dog Imagery

- Mint

- Peopermint-Flavoured Foods

- Rosemary

- Thyme

- Coins

- Black Crystals

- Fossils/Bones

- Keys

- Snake Skin

- Dog Fur

- Dark Chocolate

Bast Deity Guide

Who is Bast?

The Egyptian goddess is known by many as Bastet, her name is transliterated as b-ꜣ-s-t-t and is pronounced as “Bast”. The Hieroglyphs for her name look something like this: 𓎯𓏏𓏏𓁐 or 𓎯𓏏𓏏

She is most notably a goddess of domesticity, the home, cats, and women. Bast was among the most popular Egyptian deities and her cult ran as far as Rome.

Originally she was depicted as a goddess with a lioness’ head instead of a cat, and she was closely related to Sekhmet, the warrior goddess. Bast’s role was that of protector and avenger of Ra Over time Bast’s depiction softened and she became a goddess related to domesticity and the home. However, she kept the ferocious side of her, only ever using it when needed. She was known to be loving and nurturing but also she was a force to be reckoned with. Bastet used this fury to avenge those who have been wronged, carried on through her son, Maahes, the protector of the innocent.

Due to her association as the Eye of Ra, Bast was more of a solar deity before she became conflated with the Greek Artemis.

Parents and Siblings

Ra (father)

Isis (mother, later in antiquity)

Horus (brother, twin brother later in antiquity)

Anhur (brother

Lovers or Partners

Ptah

Children

Maahes (son)

Nefertum (son, sometimes)

Epithets

Beautiful sistrum (rattle) player

The Golden One/The Beautiful One

The Lady of Dread

The Lady of Slaughter

The Eye of Ra - a title held by a group of deities.

Lady of the Ointments

Lady of the East

Goddess of the Rising Sun

Sacred and All Seeing Eye

Notes

Her name also is rendered as B'sst, Baast, Ubaste, and Baset

Though sometimes synchronized with Mut, the goddess Bast was never depicted as fully human. She was always depicted as either a cat or a woman with the head of a cat, lion, or desert cat.

In Ancient Greece, she was known as Ailuros (”cat”) and she was likened to Artemis. Because of this association, she was given a twin brother just like Artemis has: Horus became her twin brother and since Horus is Isis’ son, Bast became Isis’ daughter.

Bast was also synchronized with Sekhmet, Hathor, and Isis and picked up some of their associations throughout time.

The meaning of her name is uncertain though it’s possible that her name meant She of the Ointment Jar (Ubaste). This would also point to her relation to perfume.

The central city of her cult was Bubastis. People would travel to this city to have the bodies of their pet cats who have passed buried.

It’s common for people to view Bast as a sexual deity or a goddess of lust, but she tends to lean more toward domesticity and protection. This misunderstanding likely came from her later conflation with Hathor as well as one account from Herodotus who had observed the festival in Bubastis in honor of Bast.

An annual festival was held at Bubastis where supposedly all constraints on women were released and they would celebrate “by drinking, dancing, making music, and displaying their genitals" (Gerald Pincher, quoting Herodotus). This display depicted the fertility aspect of the goddess as well as being a sign of freedom from societal constraints.

Bast has been depicted holding a sistrum, a musical instrument similar to a rattle.

Bast is one of many gods who are referred to as the “Eye of Ra”, a title that belongs to deities that are protectors or avengers.

She has been known as the protector of the dead as well.

As cats were sacred to this goddess, to harm one was seen as a slight to Bast.

Mummified cats were often delivered to Bast’s temple as an offering.

Modern Deity Work

These are modern correspondences, anything with historical or traditional backing will be marked with a (T).

Correspondences

Rocks/Stone/Crystals

Gold (T) - Cats of royalty were sometimes known to don gold jewelry

Tiger’s eye

Cat’s eye

Bronze (T) - Bronze statues were used as votive offerings for Bast

Herbs/Plants

Ivy

Catnip

Rosemary

Mint (catnip is in the mint family also)

Animals

Cat, namely housecats but all cats could qualify

Symbols

Sistrum (rattle) (T)

Cat (T)

Eye of Ra (T)

Offerings

Cat imagery

Whiskers, claws, and teeth of cats (only if sourced ethically!)

Lapis Lazuli, Turquoise, Emerald, Carnelian, Quartz, Malachite, and Galena were used in Ancient Egypt for jewelry or various cosmetics and could be offered. (The Structure of Crystals. Early historical notes)

Perfume or scented oils

Alcohol (such as wine or beer)

Fruit

Grains

Honey

Incenses or resins (T)

Jewelry

Acts of Devotion

Donate to, volunteer at, or otherwise support cats at shelters.

Pray to her or write poems in her honor

Research her

Honor your mother or the mother figure(s) in your life

Protect and fight for the innocent

Dance!

Play music or curate a playlist in honor of her

Learn about perfume and scented oils and how they were used and made in Ancient Egypt

Take care of your home

Of course, these are only suggestions based on my research but when making offerings to deities it's always best to do what feels right to you. You can also reach out to the deity and ask them yourself if you feel comfortable doing so.

References and Further Reading

Bast - eqyptianmuseum.org

Bastet - Britannica

Bastet - World History

Bastet - ARCE

Per-bast.org (The whole website is informational but this link will send you to their sources page!)

Offerings for Bast - The Gourmet Witch (blog)

Kemetic Offering Guide - The Twisted Rope (blog)

💀Unusual Death Witchcraft💀

Visiting natural history and art museum. Not only for the spirit work (museums are surprisingly rife with spirits) but also the reflection on the objects themselves that are imbued with death energy due to their age.

Kitchen witchcraft with fermentation. I’m talking both home starters/yeasts and drink based fermenting! The process of encouraging fermentation is literally a controlled necromancy if you think about it! Also your own fermented product will be excellent to use in spellwork!

Upcycle crafting! The process of reusing items in a new way that you already had or seeking out items to use instead of letting them become trash is also working with death energy!

Playing death related games or watching movies with friends and family. Death witchcraft tasks and energy work doesn’t have to look witchy! If you have a weekly or monthly hangout where you play tabletops like Betrayal at House on the Hill or even online games. Or watch documentaries or movies with loved ones that related that totally counts! Especially as a lower spoon option.

Drawing or photographing abandoned buildings/architecture. So often people forgot that the decay of manmade objects and places do hold death energy and weight. Tapping into this side of death witchcraft can be an interesting experience.

Visiting a 24 hour store or restaurant in the middle of the night. This is a personal experience of mine but that quiet low level liminal space energy is such a similar transitional energy as to help you grow your experience and sensing of death energy. Also walking through a store at 3am is a good time to practice a walking meditation or some simple spirit communication without too much trouble. Just have your headphones in for an excuse!

Learning to maintain your own compost! I’m hopeless with the green thumb side of things myself but I still have composting I do for my yard in general. My wildflowers and natural growth is lovely because of it! The cycle of your kitchen supplies life and decay is such a simple and deep way to access that death energy and maybe even work your way up to having that green thumb! Also using this compost in spellwork will pack a punch!

What are some unusual ways you experience death witchcraft and energy?

Hades and/or Persephone Follower Discord Group

If you are someone who:

-works with Hades and/or Persephone

-worships Hades and/or Persephone

-is a devotee of Hades and/or Persephone

-is on a priesthood path with Hades and/or Persephone

And you want to have people with similar views, values, and experiences as you, come join the discord!

Just send me a message/ask or comment on this post and I'll send you the link :)

Persephone

Persephone isn’t a damsel in distress, she has never been. She was vibrant, rebellious and strong, and that’s what made Hades fall in love with her in the first place. She loved her husband and her mother, the land of the living and the land of the death, she was full of love, full of the feeling of home. And that’s why Homer described her as a formidable, venerable and majestic, the true queen of the Underworld. Persephone is everywhere for me…In the feeling of power and confidence every time I commit an act of rebellion. In the love I put on taking care of my plants, and in the feeling of pride of watching them grow. The warm feeling I have after arriving home and watching my dog come to welcome me after a weekend out. In every kiss of a couple who hasn’t seen each other in a long time, and in every student smile when they have a homemade meal with their parents after an eternity away from home. She is in every child who loves their parents, even when they make a huge mistake, and in every married couple who treat their partner as an equal and loves them with all their heart.   She is a daughter, a godess, a wife, a queen… Cicically moving, eternally returning.

-This artwork belongs to @greekmyth_mika (in Instagram and Twitter) aka Me, so please don’t steal my artwork or repost it anywhere. Thanks ^^-

Black folks looking for some books on spirituality,root work ,herbal medicine ,ancestor working and candle work here are some good book suggestions:

How to pray to the chthonic gods 🪦 🌒

Position

When praying to underworld deities, we should direct our prayers downwards. An example of this is seen in the ninth scroll of the Iliad when Althaea prays to Haides and dread Persephone by kneeling and beating her hands on the ground. Whereas women wore their hair up or covered for ouranic rituals, they wore their hair down in chthonic rituals. The prayer should be murmured.

Offerings

Chthonic Theoi received special nighttime offerings of black animals, unmixed wine and special libations of milk and honey. Animal sacrifice was always done in a holókaustos--a sacrifice where the entire animal was burned and none of the meat was saved for human consumptions.

Homer in the Odyssey writes Circe advising Odysseus how to perform a libation to the dead:

"Draw near then, as I bid you, hero, and dig a trench two feet square, then pour a libation all around to the dead, first of milk and honey, then of sweet wine, thirdly of water, sprinkled with white barley meal."

Prayer format

The format is the same as when praying to any other theoi: Invoke the god, introduce yourself, make an argument as to why they should listen to you, and make a request .

Who are the underworld deities?

- Haides, King of the underworld

- Persephone, Queen of the underworld

- Hecate, Goddess of magic

- Thanatos, God of death

- Hermes Athanatus Diactorus, the chtonic aspect of Hermes in which he guides souls to the underworld

- Nyx, primordial Goddess of the night

- Hypnos, God of sleep

- Charon, ferryman of the dead

- Cerberus, guardian of the underworld

- The Furies, goddesses of vengeance and retribution

Sources:

- http://hadesandtheafterlife.weebly.com/respecting-hades.html

- http://baringtheaegis.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-to-pray-to-khthonic-gods.html?m=1

- https://homericist.tumblr.com/post/677291374969815040/there-are-three-main-parts-to-prayer-in-ancient

Sorry, this may be kinda basic but I'm getting some conflicting info. Can you please explain the diff between the terms Hellenic, Hellene, Hellenist, Hellenistic, Hellenism, Hellenismos and Hellenic Polytheism? What is the proper term to use for a practitioner of the religion who is not culturally/ethnically Greek? Or does it matter? Is Hellene referring to a Greek person? Do any of those terms have anything to do with recon vs revival? I want to be sure I'm using the terms correctly.

I don’t think I’ve ever addressed these terms on this blog, so here goes.

Hellenic (adj.) simply refers to something Greek. Whereas the word “Greek” comes from Latin Graecus, the word “Hellenic” comes from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνικός (Hellênikos) and is still used by Greek people to refer to Greece, or Ελλάδα (Ellada) in modern Greek, to this day. Because of this, any phrase with the word Greek can be replaced with Hellenic: for example, Hellenic food, Hellenic music, Hellenic culture, and yes, Hellenic polytheism.

Hellene (n.) is the term Greek people use to identify themselves. Just like a German person might say “I’m a German” or a French person might say “I’m a Frenchman”, Greek people call themselves Hellenes (or Έλληνες, Ellines, in Greek). Within the Hellenic polytheistic community, there has been debate on whether non-ethnically Greek polytheists should call themselves Hellenes, the main argument in favour of this being that Hellene was historically the term for polytheists, whereas Greek Christians called themselves Romans. I personally don’t encourage this, given that regardless of the term’s history, it’s currently the term in use by Greek people to describe themselves. A non-Greek person calling themselves a Hellene is misleading, just like it would be for a Norse polytheist to call themselves Norwegian (despite both terms having similar etymologies).

Hellenist (n.) refers to a person who admires and/or academically studies (usually Ancient) Greek civilisation. If you have a bust of Socrates in your home, you’re probably a Hellenist. If you have a degree in Classics, you’re definitely a Hellenist. (The equivalent term for people who study Rome, by the way, is Latinist.) Hellenist can be used to describe Hellenic polytheists, but while I don’t discourage using it like I do with Hellene, I’m personally not a big fan of it, since it can lead to confusion as to what, exactly, we do.

Hellenistic (adj.) specifically refers to the period of history between the death of Alexander the Great and the Battle of Actium (323 to 31 BC). As a result, Hellenistic polytheism is the religion that was practised at the time in Greece, and which involved a large amount of cultic exchange and syncretism (for example, Zeus-Serapis).

Hellenic polytheism (n.), by contrast, is the general term for the polytheistic religion practised by Ancient Greeks, in all its forms. Hellenistic polytheism is Hellenic polytheism; Mycenaean polytheism is Hellenic polytheism; the modern revival of the religion is Hellenic polytheism. When it comes to modern movements specifically, I would define a practise as Hellenic polytheism if it strives to honour Hellenic deities within the spirit of Ancient Greek belief. According to this definition, a Wiccan who calls on the four quarters while summoning Hekate for a spell is not a Hellenic polytheist, despite a Hellenic deity being involved, since this practise functions within the belief system of Wicca. On the other hand, an eclectic polytheist who worships each deity according to their culture of origin could call themselves a Hellenic polytheist, despite not strictly worshipping Hellenic deities only.

Hellenismos, and its anglicised form Hellenism (n.), is another term for Hellenic polytheism. It was invented by the Roman emperor Julian in the 4th century AD, and at the time, it applied not only to the religion, but also to all other aspects of Greek culture Julian was attempting to popularise instead of Christianity. Nowadays, Hellenismos generally - though not exclusively - denotes Hellenic reconstructionism, a Hellenic polytheistic movement that aims to stay as close as possible to ancient practise (as opposed to revivalism, which allows for more modern innovations).

Other terms for Hellenic polytheism include Dodekatheism, Olympianism and Hellenic ethnic religion. The latter is mainly used by Greek people in Greece, and as with Hellene, I would discourage its use by non-Greek people as it implies you are ethnically Greek. Olympianism is rarely used. As for Dodekatheism, a while ago, there was some debate in the Tumblr community as to whether we should call ourselves Hellenic polytheists or Dodekatheists, a term which some people viewed as more respectful towards Greek people; I myself chose not to involve myself in the debate, and still don’t. Personally, I call myself a Hellenic polytheist because it’s an accurate descriptor of my religion (whereas Dodekatheist implies I only worship twelve Gods), and because all of the Greek people I have interacted with have been fine with it. However, I have no issue with the term Dodekatheism and if someone feels more comfortable with it, I encourage them to use it instead.

I hope this clears up some of the confusion!

Msgs & Guidance from Anubis

I don't talk much about what or who I work with, but I must say. I love Imeut dearly. <3 So lets see what messages he has for you all! I apologize for the shortness of this message, Imeut tends to be pretty brief. PILE 1

Channeled Song: Paranoid - Kanye West

Imeut wants to remind you that you are in fact overcoming your shortcomings. I know thing are moving at a pace slower than you like, but have you taken a moment to actually appreciate the things you DO have? I feel like you are so wrapped up in what you don't have and stuck in this mindset of constant need and lack. I know you are feeling high strung and so stressed out. He wants you to remember that you do in fact have a foundation to stand upon, your abundance is right under your feet. All you need to do is have faith in yourself. Have trust in resources, manifestations, and most importantly release the need to constantly judge yourself. You are so mean to yourself for no reason, it's not even fair. Give yourself a chance, you deserve to feel confident and strong. You ARE confident and strong, you may not physically self harm but I see you absolutely emotionally self harm. Like I was saying, you do in fact have a very strong foundation, though something I think that should be said is that you spend too much time seeking divine intervention or guidance from the divine. You are missing out on legitimate opportunities in the physical due to your preoccupation with the ephemeral. It's time to tap out and ground for a bit. It's time to go outside and appreciate the sun, smile, laugh, have a good meal and take some time at least a few times a week to disconnect and be present. PILE 2

Channeled song: Pretty - Coco & Clair Clair This might be really niche, but the sample from Odd Toddlers (tyler the creator), and One Beer (MF DOOM) is also a channeled song. (Huit octobre) You guys could be moving on from someone from the past, perhaps someone you emotionally depended on or saw as a pillar in your life. I feel like this group is so powerful because you're taking the pain and grief this person caused you and turning it into stability. You are at times though kind of lacking in gratefulness for what you have. Like, okay things aren't perfect yet but take some time to actually appreciate how far you've come instead of condemning everything because you feel like it's not good enough for you yet. I know you don't do it because you think you're better than everyone else. I think for a lot of you that you feel like you're not good enough. So therefore you need to work as hard as you possibly can and anything you achieve isn't good enough for you. Drop the expectations, learn to be fair to yourself, your inner child, and your loved ones. I feel like a lot of old ways of self defensiveness and functioning are being ripped and torn down. I also do feel like you're being asked to surrender and release your childhood trauma. I don't want to detail, but that one big thing you went through that was really fucked up? Yeah, it's time. It's possible this tower moment will remove any financial blockages you are currently experiencing. Despite feeling confused and misguided, you guys are being blessed with luck. For those of you dealing with a younger person trying to meddle in your life or cause issues, they will go through a healing transformation. You are being protected, however, go your own length to protect yourself and the emotional sanctity of your relationships. Spend more time developing your romantic relationship as well. There is more blessings to come, but you must do the dirty work to receive them. Someone here could get 1,000 dollars for doing some type of very intense shadow work. Best of luck pile 2. PILE 3

Channeled song: Curse of the witches - Strawberry Alarmclock This is so funny, I usually get very opposite messages from Imeut. This group could be really avoidant of conflict, like you will do anything you can to get out of conflict. Sometimes you could also go to unintentionally manipulative or toxic lengths in order to avoid conflict. You could have some extremely deep rooted trauma dealing with conflict. Perhaps a verbally or physically violent household, I'm thinking it was a mother figure. For some it was an older sister. I feel like you're being told to stop being scared and have confidence. You are not going to be the one who suffers in response to ur self defense/standing up. In fact, this person that's been meddling and gossiping about you recently will get their shit rightfully wrecked. Have more faith in your words & your mind. Some of you could have 12H placements. Honestly you're being told to say what the fuck you need to say, move on, get some alone time, and uproot that connection. That shit is very much past life, there is so much going on for your pile spiritually. I wish you the best of luck .

A list of lovely moments and feelings

Slow dances to your favorite tune alone or with someone you love

Random and unexpected hugs

Handwritten letters

The smell of books and the sound of turning pages

Hearing the phrase "I love you"

Compliments from strangers

Returned smiles

Someone playing with your hair

Sunrises and sunsets

Handwritten notes found in old books

Cardigans, big sweaters and knitted socks

The taste of food after a long, tiring day

When you finish reading a great book and you feel like you've lost a good friend forever

Feeling the cold wind caressing you skin and hair

When you're at the beach and you close your eyes to listen to the sounds of ocean waves crushing against the shore

Playing with children and hearing them laugh

Making lists

Long, meaningful discussions with someone who means a lot to you

Slow kisses

Being brave enough to do the right thing

Hearing "this made me think of you" and "I miss you"

Playing with animals on the street

Visiting your grandparents

Long peaceful baths

unexpected car trips

No homework

The excitement of new beginnings

Waking up after remembering a nice dream