Hades And/or Persephone Follower Discord Group

Herbs & Their Magickal Powers

(How to use herbs in spell work)

Mugwort: Clairvoyance, protection, prophetic dreams, purification, ward off evil, astral projection, consecration of divinatory tools.

Rose Hips: Healing heartbreak, calming anxiety, ritual baths, luck, abundance, protection, psychic powers, peace, knowledge.

Rose Petals: Attraction, banishing bad habits, love, healing, romance, casting circles, offerings to the divine.

Chamomile: Prosperity, growth, confidence, money, luck, love, relaxation.

Myrrh: Meditation, connecting with spirits, healing sorrow, sexuality, cleansing, love.

Frankincense: Consecration, rituals, purification, luck, spirituality, aura cleansing, divination, visions, meditation.

Patchouli: Money, fertility, love, list, prosperity, wealth, abundance.

Bay Leaves: Prophecy, divination, wishes, prosperity, curse reversal, wealth, money.

Mandrake: Protection, fertility, prosperity, apply to third eye for scrying.

Lemongrass: Balance, calm, love, uplifted mood, psychic ability

Warding

I've covered warding recently in my protection post. But here I will go into more detail on what warding is, the most popular ways to ward and how to create them as well as when to know when a ward is no longer useful or has been broken. I will also go into baneful warding and what it is.

What is warding?

Warding is a form of defensive magick which acts as your first line of defense against negativity. Be this baneful magick from another practitioner or negative entities and general negative energy. There are multiple ways to ward with each practitioner warding differently to the other. Wards come in all shapes and forms, and there is no limit as to how much warding you should do, you protect yourself as you see fit.

What is baneful warding?

Baneful warding is a form of warding in which the negative that hits a ward gets sent back to its source. Baneful warding is seen as a more "advanced" form of magick, however not too advanced for a novice to do with the appropriate amount of research. Baneful warding can come in the same forms as normal warding would.

Warding jars

Perhaps one of the most common wardings on this post, warding jats usually contain ingredients charged with the intention of warding. These ingredients usually range from herbs to bodily fluids such as saliva or blood. These jars are either buried on the practitioners property, left above entryway, left on an altar, or are carried with the practitioner when they want protection on the go.

A warding jar might contain: ashes of a warding sigil, bodily fluids, herbs and plants, crystals, bones, warding or protection oils, spices, metals, glass shards etc. These jars are then sealed with black or white wax (or are sealed in any other way, with glue, tape or simply just with intention).

When a warding jar is broken, you might find the contents of the jar to become moldy, the jar shatters, the seal might break or the contents of the jar to go off, you also might feel that the jar no longer has its power. When this happens, if the jar is intact, break the seal and empty the contents into the bin/trash or return them back to the earth. You can then cleanse the jar with your preferred method of cleansing and reuse the jar for another ward or spell.

Talismans and symbols

Talismans are objects which are charged with the intention fo protection or warding. A well known example would be the Nazar, known to ward off the evil eye.

Symbols are used to represent something or represent an intention example would be the pentacle/pentagram, a well known protection symbol. Another example could by the Eye of Horus, a symbol used by the Ancient Egyptians for protection, health and restoration.

You can create your own talismans and symbols to aid in warding. These might be used to ward against a specific thing, or can be used as a general ward to all negativity.

A talisman or symbol might break or feel like they're no longer useful once theyve done thier job. If this time comes, you can simply dispose of the old one and create a new one.

Sigils

Sigils are created and can be programmed with any purpose necessary. May this be warding ot cursing, they can be used for almost any working.

Sigils can be burnt to activate them, with the ashes being used in spells to add extra power. Sigils can be put up around your house or around your room for warding. These sigils can look like anything, simply draw them with the intention of warding.

Crystals

Crystals can be placed above entryways or in windows to act as a ward. Crystals can also be added to spells to give a desired effect or worn as jewellery to act as warding or protection on the go.

Some examples are: black obsidian, black tourmaline, clear quartz, amethyst, hematite.

When a crystal ward has been broken, the crystal might shatter, or go missing. Or you may feel the crystals energy feels different than usual. With crystals you cam simply cleanse and recharge the crystals to be used again!

Spells

Warding spells can be as simple as a dressed candle, or can be a complex ritual. Warding spells differ from practitioner to practitioner. Similar to warding jars, these spells might include the use of herbs, bodily fluids, crystals, plants etc. The methods of creating a warding spell vary, as there is no one way to create one.

When a ward breaks down, you might feel the ward break, or if it does what is intended, you might feel something bounce off the ward. Depending on the negativity sent your way, the ways in which you might feel a warding spell break down vary, this could range from feeling sluggish or nauseous to downright feeling psychic attack. (Whenever this happens, please consult a doctor, mundane before magical. What you may feel is a magical occurrence could be explained by illness, so please consult a doctor of you feel this way constantly)

Warding is a great form of protection which is used very often in a persons practice. While not all practitioners use warding, this is just to inform you of the ways you can ward to keep yourself safe in your practice!

Hi could you please make a post about devotional acts for anubis?

Ways of Honouring and Worshipping Anubis

( thank you for your patience ❤ )

As with most deities, researching them is a great form of worship! I've found this one goes a particularly long way with Egyptian deities

The number 9

Beer, wine or preferably strong alcohol like rum

Bread was a traditional Kemetic offering

Water (cold)

Frankincense, myrrh, cedarwood and kyphi incense

The colour black! Gold is also associated with Anubis

Cypress and Cypress oil

Tigers eye, hematite and obsidian

Keys!

Star imagery

Some say he enjoys spicy foods, spices and dark chocolate

Learn his names/epithets and their origins: Anpu (to decay), Yinepu, Inpew, "The First of the Westerners", "Lord of the Sacred Land", "Master of Secrets", "Who Is Sacred Upon His Mountain", "The Right Hand of Osiris". And many more

Do your shadow work (this can mean going to therapy)

Visit cemeteries

Visit museums with Egyptian and Mummy exhibits

Reflect on your thoughts and feelings about death

Offerings related to mummification! Like mummified statues and figurines

He's also fond of dog related items! Such as dog toys, dog collars, spending time with pets etc

Foster some doggos! Or donate to rescue shelters, anything you can to help take care of dogs (the Sacred animal of Anubis)

Do protection work with him or in honour of him! Anubis was a divine protector

A statue of him!!

Wear a mask or simply have one on his altar

Visit cemeteries and treat the spirits there with kindness, leave them libations and offerings too

Help guide and care for others such as helping the homeless, donating to shelters and helping orphaned or homeless kids

Ankhs/Ankh imagery

Witchcraft: Fruits

Apple:

Protection, immortality, romance, longevity, adoration, endurance, warding, happiness, and love.

Apricot:

Admiration, compassion, cheerfulness, devotion, bliss, love, happiness, romance, and optimism.

Avocado:

Compassion, adoration, contentment, optimism, pleasure, romance, happiness, lasting love, and positivity.

Banana:

Fruitfulness, affluence, sexuality, lustfulness, fertility, prosperity, passion, bounty, sensuality, and desire.

Cherry:

Resurgence, reawakening, prosperity, revival, rebirth, sensuality, romance, rejuvenation, and fortune.

Coconut:

Purifying, revolution, rejuvenating, reawakening, exclusion, cleansing, transformation, and banishment.

Dragon Fruit:

Conquest, opulence, strengthening, excellent luck, victory, energizing, achievement, and success.

Grapes:

Extravagance, lushness, prosperity, fruitfulness, magnificence, regard, bountifulness, fertility, and luxury.

Lemon:

Cleansing, invigorating, cunning, purification, dexterity, refreshing, intelligence, and banishing.

Lime:

Regeneration, cleansing, stimulating, sustenance, reformation, revitalization, purification, energizing, and transformation.

Lychee:

Good fortune, sophistication, love, attraction, wealth, excellent treasure, elegance, romance, splendor, and abundance.

Mango:

Cheerfulness, success, happiness, delightfulness, prosperity, pleasure, abundance, and blissfulness.

Orange:

Cleansing, creativity, energizing, positivity, purification, refreshing, regeneration, Solar Energy, successfulness, and transformation.

Olives:

Camaraderie, coherence, cleansing, harmonization, restoration, purification, cooperation, synchronization, and healing.

Papaya:

Escalation, inspiration, contemplation, love, prosperity, and compassion, attraction, introspection, and romance.

Peach:

Vitality, perseverance, rejuvenation, wellbeing, spiritual rebirth, vigor, fertility, longevity, vitality, and fecundity.

Pear:

Synchronization, intelligence, wellbeing, affluence, endurance, harmonization, healthiness, prosperity, and longevity.

Pineapple:

Decadence, magnificence, affluence, knowledge, abundance, understanding, good luck, and opulence.

Pomegranate:

Fruitfulness, attraction, majesty, magnetism, lushness, fruitfulness, splendor, magnificence, and fecundity. 

Tomato:

Relationships, accomplishment, dignity, reward, triumph, desire, connections, success, honor, bounty, victory, and lustfulness.

Watermelon:

Great fortune, fecundity, profusion, fertility, abundance, bounty, lushness, opulence, potency, multitude, and good luck.

I’m not sure whether I should laugh or cry.

Is OP aware that oh so many books exist on this subject?

And that almost universally the ones authored by people with doctorates in classicism and mythology disagree with OP?

Including the… epic hymn that first told this story? You know what’s in that original source material… right?

Abducted, yes. Demeter mourned? Definitely. Rape, no.

So here’s some info on Ancient Greek wedding traditions which (oh my stars and garters!!) included abducting the bride. With the father’s permission, which Hades got before he took her away.

Here’s a whole book on the subject of Ancient Greek wedding custom and its conflation with funeral rites. (Which sounds a bit like Hades and Persephone to anyone who’s ever dabbled in things like explication and context)

Here’s a link to another book that talks about Persephone’s rise to power as a result of her willingly eating the pomegranate seeds.

Oh shit!!

Here’s a whole bunch of myths and hymns that talk about her Queen of the Underworld badassery!!

Holy pug tacos Batman!!

Here’s another book about the myth focusing on the seasonal religious and liminal rites. WHICH TAKE PLACE IN THE DRY SUMMER (not the fucking winter), which you know if you read a book.Way to go, OP!

All these fucking books!  What could anyone possibly do with them all?!?!?!?! Do you eat books to absorb their powers instead of read them?

A better guess would be that you got into a moral panic over the name of a certain Renaissance statue and maybe after reading three pages of Edith Hamilton or the first paragraph of a Wikipedia article. And then used that to castigate and demean not only the people who actually take their limited time to create gorgeous art but also to denigrate modern day worshippers of Persephone and Hades?

Maybe next time, you stringy piece of over-boiled okra, you might want to take your own advice and pick up a book, instead of reducing the feared and respected Queen of the Underworld who held power equal to or in many interpretations GREATER than her husband into a meaningless pastiche of female disenfranchisement that you seemingly plucked from your own ass.

SMALL DEVOTIONAL ACTS I DO FOR MY DEITIES

(THIS IS NOT A GUIDE, THIS IS JUST WHAT I DO)

ALL

Made them all a Pinterest board of their aesthetic

Made them all a separate Pinterest board for things of their choosing

Made them playlists

APOLLON

Play him songs on my ukulele

Play video games with the sound up

Read poetry to him

Write him poetry

Bitch about people to him

Honour him while I take my medication

APHRODITE

Practice self-care

Practice self-love

Honour her while I masturbate

Make an extra cup of tea whenever I have one

Sit in the shower and relax

Gush about my crushes (If Applicable)

PERSEPHONE

Take walks around my local park

Pick up rocks that I find

Drink herbal tea

Use all natural face-masks

Honour her while I work

Tell her all the things I learnt in class

Use pomegranate washing up liquid

HADES

Honour the dead by preserving animal bones

Offer hospitality to anyone that enters my home

Honour him while I take a day for myself

Take walks when I am feeling down

Sit in my garden at night

Stream calming games on a discord server for people who can't sleep

Use pomegranate washing up liquid

Use mint shower gel

Blessed are the Chthonic, The gods that reign below

Blessed is their domain, where spirits come and go

Hail to thee Haides and Persephone, regal rulers of the dead

Hail to thee Thanatos, winged god of gentle death

Hail to thee Nyx, veiled in dark and starry sky

Hail to thee Hecate, matron of mystery and magic and shadows.

I honor you, the Chthonic, the gods that reign below.

Beginner Tips for Interpreting Tarot (with Real Examples)

There’s this game called Powerpoint Karaoke. In the game, someone makes up a short series of powerpoint presentation slides. They will give the whole presentation a title, and then pick related or unrelated images to go on the slides. Another person has to give the presentation to the audience - basically improvising along the way the best they can to turn a random topic plus random images into a coherent presentation.  Reading tarot is a lot like doing Powerpoint Karaoke. The title of the presentation is the question you ask, and the cards are the slides. The better you are at stringing disparate images into a coherent narrative on the fly, the better you will be at making sense of tarot spreads.  For each of these tips, I will illustrate it with a real question that I am genuinely asking my tarot, the card I pull, and how I interpret it. 1. Ask clear questions. It is ten times harder to interpret an answer when the question was muddled in the first place. Your questions can be general, or specific, but it’s best to only ask one question at a time. I think about the wording of my question for a while before I actually answer it. I might think at first, “How is this new creative project thing going to go? Should I start it on the New Moon, or am I going to be an unproductive mess this week? Is it a bad month to start it? Why have I been so unproductive?” I’ll take that and cut it down - for instance, removing my own speculations about myself and how it will go and all of the different options. If that stuff is relevant, it will come up in the cards. I end up with a straight-forward question that is open to lots of different answers: “Is it a good move to start working on my new creative project at the New Moon?“ Example: Is it a good move to start working on my new creative project at the New Moon? Ace of Pentacles. Ooh. This seems like a good omen to me. It is not particularly hard to interpret because it feels very on the nose, because Aces are about beginnings. And it indicates that whatever I do could eventually become profitable, even though that’s not explicitly my intention.  2. Get rid of any preconceived notion of what the answer will be. Sometimes you turn over the exact card you are anticipating - like me the time I flippantly asked my tarot deck what my persistent headache might be from and thought, “I’m probably just dehydrated and it’s going to be Temperance or some shit like that.” But other times the card you get will not fit into the mold of what you are expecting. The answer you get is not always going to be the answer you want. Sometimes you are just looking for a “Should I keep going with this story or scrap it and start something new?” but that assumes that one of those options is the correct answer. Your cards may think that you should keep going with the story, but change it in some way. Or maybe you should scrap it and not start on something new right away. If you are expecting a purely yes-or-no type of answer, you may feel confused by the result you get. I often ask questions that could have a whole range of answers, instead of expecting a specific type of answer, so instead I might say, “What should I write about?” Example: What should I write about? The Chariot. This card is about overcoming obstacles, and maintaining control. It’s not really at all what I was starting to write about recently. This is definitely a card where the interpretation isn’t obvious to me. I’ve just been sitting here and had flash of realization that I think maybe I was asking the wrong question - ironic for an example about having preconceived notions. But this actually illustrates the “having preconceived notions” thing perfectly. I asked it what I should write about, and the flash of realization I just had about the message of the Chariot is, “You worry too much about what you should write about, when you will only succeed by actually putting in the effort of writing. Stop worrying about the content - write about anything as long as you are actually writing instead of pacing and contemplating.” So yeah - sometimes the answer you need is not the answer you want.  3. Read interpretations of the cards online. Yes, this is obvious. But it needs to be said because a lot of people have strong, contrary ideas about how tarot should be done. You don’t have to read only the pictures, or have a list of associations memorized, or expect the answer to come purely from your intuition. Lots of sites online offer long and detailed explanations for each tarot card upright and reversed. Often cards can have several meanings, and while reading on a few different interpretations a meaning may jump out at you as obvious.  Example: What’s going to happen this week?  The Moon. This card always seems hazy to me, so it’s a good one to look up. This site says, “On the New Moon, set your intentions and plant the seeds of opportunity so they can grow,” which feels relevant given that the New Moon is this week. This site says, “The towers on the opposing ends represent the forces of good and evil, and their similarity in appearance can allude to the difficulties that we face in distinguishing between them,” which frankly sounds like America to me right now. It also says, “the negative energies must be released and turned into something constructive.” I wouldn’t necessarily gather all of that just from relying on my own ideas about what this card means, but seeing it written here feels very apt for what Americans are going through - both last week and I guess maybe the upcoming week. 

4. Generate a bunch of different ideas for what the cards might mean. If the answer doesn’t seem obvious or immediate, write down three or four things you think it could be saying. Write down all of the associations that spring to mind, even if they seem stupid, and then whittle them down later. You may have some intuitive sense of which interpretation is correct, or one interpretation will grow on you the longer you sit with it. Sometimes the answer may have shades of all of the interpretations you came up with.  Example: What is the best way to spend my Sunday? Three of Pentacles. For me, this could go a few different ways. I asked my deck once what someone thought of me and got this card. So I associate this card with that person. It is that person’s birthday today, so it may be indicating that I should actually reach out to them. I have some good reasons for not doing that though. Or it may be a much less personal interpretation, telling me to do something collaborative. The more that I think about it, the more I think it may also relate to the first card. I’m drawing a connection here because the suit is the same. I’ve kept my ideas about my new creative project entirely to myself, but maybe before embarking on it I should get feedback from someone else on the aspects of it I’ve been struggling with. I think that’s the interpretation I’m going to go with.  5. Ask your cards silly, simple, or non-consequential questions. If you only ask serious questions where you really need an answer, you may feel way more pressure to interpret the cards correctly. As practice, it can help just to ask casual questions like “What should I eat for dinner?” and see what it says. In fact, I’ll do that right now just to show how I would interpret it. Example: What should I eat for dinner tomorrow? Six of Wands. The meaning of this card is ‘success’ and ‘praise’ and things like that, so it kind of reminds me of how I would always choose lobster on birthdays, or after my choir concerts, or middle school graduation and those types of events when I got to pick what to eat. It is definitely a celebration food for me. This is actually a card that is like ‘the answer I want but not the answer I need,” because I don’t know where I’m going to get lobster for dinner tomorrow. Maybe seafood in general will do, because I have salmon I could make. Overall - interpretations are very personal. In the examples I’ve included, someone else may not draw the same conclusion just from the card and the question because they don’t have all of that background knowledge about me to draw from. One of the best things to do when interpreting tarot readings for yourself is just to know yourself - and be able to look at yourself honestly.

Tarot Inspired Journal Prompts

Fool: what is something new you are doing or want to do?

Magician: what is a magical way to enhance my day? Or, how can I be more like the magician?

High Priestess: what are my thoughts on divination? What about intuition?

Empress: what part of myself do I want to grow/nurture?

Emperor: what part of my life needs me to take authority? How can I?

High Priest: what are my personal traditions? How is my spirituality unique to me?

Lovers: what relationships mean the most to me?

Chariot: what part of my life needs me to be more combative/ warrior-like?

Strength: what part of my life should I face with courage?

Hermit: what do I need to do alone more often? What do I need to do with others more often?

Wheel of Fortune: what do I think about luck, fate, and/or fortune?

Justice: when do I need to focus on legality vs fairness? Or, What may cause me to seek justice/retribution?

Hanged Man: what have/will I sacrifice for -x-? What am I never willing to sacrifice? What will I easily give up?

Death: what is something personal I want to end or change? What is something that will end or change no matter how I feel? How can I accept it?

Temperence: what part of my life needs more patience? What part needs more balance? How can I achieve both?

Devil: what is a primal desire I have? Should I grant it to myself? Why or why not? How can I get what I want?

Tower: what can I learn from the current or recent chaos/disaster in my life?

Star: what do I hope for? How can I get it?

Moon: what part of my life is best kept private? Why?

Sun: what makes me happy?

Jusgement: what part of me needs reflection? What is a fair assessment of that part?

World: what parts of my life have been fulfilled? What parts are still lacking?

"In the reciprocal system of such charis relations, favor implies favor; any divine charis must be linked with the favors offered by the mortal. The favors mortals offer are limited by their limited power to give, but a mortal must always offer something to the deity, even if it is only words of praise. The more elaborately crafted the hymn, the more beautiful the poetry, the more exhaustive the praises of the deity, the more of a favor it provides for the god."

Drawing Down the Moon, Radcliffe G. Edmonds III, p. 162. Emphasis mine.