Some Different Herbs And Their Magickal uses

Ways to honor Lord Hades

Play with dogs and be kind to them

Make a candle for him, typically foresty smelling- next to Persephone’s

Find coins and keys for him

Use mint or peppermint and rosemary

Respect the dead and graveyards

Collect black stones or crystals

Talk to him and give respect

Do more research on him / the myths

Picture from pintrest

Please read before sending asks:

Updated 8 January 2022

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Before sending me an ask:

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If so, go ahead and ask!

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May your path be blessed!

Nothing I’ve read has changed me more than “you do people a favor by accepting their help” like I repeat this constantly to so many people because it’s true!!! People like to feel useful, they like to feel kind, they like to feel like they have an ability to impact people’s lives so just let them!! Not everything is a thing to be owed back — accept people’s kindness without making a competition out of it

Water Energies

Moon Water

It could energize crystals

Perfect for a magical bath

For bless yourself, your home or magical tools

Spring Water

Good for Fae work

Excellent for abundance

Used in love or fertility spell

Used in subtle magick

Snow Water

Recommended for spells that focus on purity endings and change

For slow working spells

Rain Water

Multi-purpose

Excellent for growth and rebirth spells

Good for spells that you want to keep gaining power over time

River Water

Recommended for rituals and spells that has to do with moving on.

Focusing energy

Breaking through rough times

Warding

Good for activating tools

Ocean Water

Good for cleansing

Healing

Banishing

Used for protection rituals and spells

Cleansing crystals

Thunderstorm Water

Add a magical boost to any work

Good for spells and rituals that has to do with emotional strengthening, confidence and motivation

Virtuous for hexes and curses

"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.

Hades: Babe, babe, do the thing!

Persephone: *smiles*

Hades, breathless: oh my god.

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.

Major Arcana Tarot Meanings

The Fool  – 0

Upright: Innocence, freedom, originality, adventure, travel, foolishness, carelessness, idealism, youth, spontaneity, lack of commitment, new beginnings Reversed: Recklessness, carelessness, negligence, stupidity, distraction, apathy, irrationality, lack of fun, hope or faith

The Magician  –  I

Upright: Power, influence, willpower, resourcefulness, skill, ability, logic, intellect, concentration and psychic powers Reversed: Manipulation, greed, unused ability, untrustworthiness, trickery, conniving, cunning, lack of mental clarity

The High Priestess  – II

Upright: Desirability, unattainability, mystery, sensuality, spirituality, thirst for knowledge, mystery, subconscious, higher power, creativity, fertility Reversed: Repression of intuition, blocked psychic powers, unwanted attention, uncontrolled outbursts and sexual tension, lack of self-belief, fertility issues

The Empress  –  III

Upright: Pregnancy, fertility, motherhood, sensuality, nurturing, creativity, beauty, femininity, nature, harmony, art Reversed: Insecurity, infertility, lack of confidence, lack of growth, overbearing tendencies, disharmony, negligence

The Emperor  –  IV

Upright: Older man, stability, dependability, fatherhood, father-figure, structure, protectiveness, authority, logical, practical Reversed: Abuse of power, excessively controlling, rigidity, stubbornness, lack of discipline, lack of control, absentee father, paternity issues

The Hierophant  –  V

Upright: Traditional institutions, traditional values, conventional, conformity, marriage, commitment, religion, beliefs, knowledge sharing Reversed: Challenging tradition, unconventional lifestyles, unconventional relationships, reversed roles, non-conformity

The Lovers  –  VI

Upright: Love, soulmates, kindred spirits, perfect unions, partnerships, relationships, major choices, romance, desire, sexual connections, shared values Reversed: Disharmony, trust issues, imbalance, conflict, disconnection, lack of accountability, disunion, detachment

The Chariot  –  VII

Upright: Victory, overcoming obstacles, success, ambition, determination, willpower, control, self-discipline, hard work and focus Reversed: Forcefulness, lack of direction, lack of self-control, powerlessness, aggression, coercion, being blocked by obstacles

Strength  –  VIII

Upright: Inner strength, courage, bravery, confidence, compassion, taming, control, overcoming self-doubt Reversed: Vulnerability, self-doubt, weakness, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, feeling inadequate

The  Hermit  –  IX

Upright: Spiritual enlightenment, soul searching, self-reflection, introspection, contemplation, inner guidance, solitude Reversed: Loneliness, paranoia, isolation, reclusiveness, withdrawal, anti-social, restrictive, paralyzed by fear.

The Wheel of Fortune  –  X

Upright: Good luck, destiny, change, karma, soulmates, decisive moments, cycles of life, fate, fortune, upheaval, chance Reversed: Bad luck, upheaval, disorder, external forces, lack of control, disruption, unwelcome change, delays, set backs, karma

Justice  –  XI

Upright: Justice, karmic justice, consequences, legal disputes, law, truth, honesty, integrity, cause and effect, life lessons Reversed: Injustice, karmic retribution, dishonesty, corruption, lack of accountability, dishonesty, unfairness, karmic avoidance

The Hanged Man  –  XII

Upright: Feeling trapped, confined, self-limiting, uncertainty, lack of direction, needing release, letting go Reversed: Discontentment, apathy, disinterest, stagnation, impulsiveness, negative patterns, detachment

Death  –  XIII

Upright: Spiritual transformation, new beginnings, letting go, endings, change, transition, sudden or unexpected upheaval Reversed: Inability to move forward, fear of beginnings, repeating negative patterns, resisting change, dependency

Temperance  –  XIV

Upright: Balance, peace, patience, moderation, inner calm, perspective, tranquillity, harmonious relationships, soulmates Reversed: Imbalance, self-indulgence, excess, clashing, lack of perspective, discord, antagonism, recklessness, hastiness

The Devil  –  XV

Upright: Addiction, depression, mental health issues, secrecy, obsession, cheating, dependency, bondage, materialism, sexuality, powerlessness, hopelessness, abuse, violence, assault Reversed: Detachment, independence, overcoming addiction, freedom, revelation, reclaiming power, reasserting control

The Tower  –  XVI

Upright: Chaos, destruction, sudden upheaval, trauma, unexpected change, disaster, loss, tragedy, revelations, confusion, pain, divorce, abuse, violence, bankruptcy, natural disasters, inevitable endings Reversed: Resisting change, averting disaster, avoiding tragedy, delaying the inevitable, avoiding loss, lack of insight, codependence

The Star  –  XVII

Upright: Hope, inspiration, creativity, calm, contentment, renewal, serenity, spirituality, healing, positivity Reversed: Hopelessness, despair, focusing on the negative, lack of faith, lack of inspiration, lack of creativity, boredom, monotony

The Moon  –  XVIII

Upright: Intuition, illusion, dreams, vagueness, instability, deception, anxiety, fear, misconception, subconscious, insecurity, clouded Reversed: Releasing fear, unveiling secrets, subsiding anxiety, truth, regaining composure, self-deception, blocked intuition

The Sun  –  XIX

Upright: Positivity, freedom, fun, success, optimism, vitality, joy, confidence, self-expression, good luck, enthusiasm, happiness, truth, openness, pregnancy Reversed: Lack of enthusiasm, excessive enthusiasm, sadness, pessimism, unrealistic expectations, ego, conceitedness, oppression, infertility

Judgement  – XX

Upright: Judgement, self-evaluation, awakening, renewal, composure, decisiveness, homesickness, snap judgements, apportioning blame, forgiveness, judgemental Reversed: Indecisiveness, self-doubt, malicious gossip, lack of self-awareness, unwillingness to learn karmic lessons, unfair blame, false accusations

The World  –  XXI

Upright: Success, achievement, accomplishment, travel, completion, fulfillment, sense of belonging, wholeness Reversed: Lack of success, stagnation, lack of achievement, disappointment, burden, lack of completion

Hades devotion 101- part 2

Part 1

Read the Wikipedia page, the theoi.com page, or even the hellenicgods.org page, what we know about Hades from ancient writings is quite limited.

Much of what we know about Hades, is collected from various sources, in them, he is actually almost never mentioned as a deity, but as a place- the personification of the underworld. The most famous myth around him is the abduction of Persephone, his wife, and the Goddess of spring- which is part of the Hymn for Demeter and is told to explain the changing of seasons. After marrying Persephone, she receives the status of a queen and does most of the management of souls in the underworld (as can be seen in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice). Hades is always in the background, wearing an invisibility helm that he got as a gift from his uncles, the cyclops (hence his epithet: the unseen).

Biographic details give us some valuable context- Hades is the oldest son of Rhea and Chronos, followed by his 5 siblings- Hestia, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and baby Zeus- all but the last consumed by their father right after their birth, in fear of a prophecy that one of his offsprings might rebel him. When Zeus freed them all and defeated their father, the war between the Gods and the predecessors- the titans, began. Once the war was over, the world was under the Olympians rein, and each of them received a realm to rule on- Zeus is the king of Gods and ruler the sky, Poseidon got the seas and oceans, and Hades got the underworld- the land of the dead.

The underworld itself is believed to have 3 different sections: Elysium- islands of the blessed, Asphodel plains, and Tartarus- the pit of the cursed. Around the underworld circled 5 different rivers: Styx separating it from the land of the living, Lethe is the river of oblivion or forgetfulness, The Acheron is the River of Misery, Phlegethon the river of fire that leads to Tartarus, and the Cocytus the River of Wailing, for the souls that Charon refused to ferry over because they had not received a proper burial. On the gates, stands Kerberos, a hellhound with 3 heads. This is the kingdom ruled by Hades.

Back in ancient times, Hades had only a few cults of his own. Usually, he was partnered with his wife and her mom to form a chthonic agricultural cult. 'Chthonic' means 'earthly', all agricultural and underworld Gods are chthonic in a sense. He was venerated both as an agricultural deity- his absences allow for abundance, and as the lord of the dead in any ritual that involved necromancy.

Now, modern interpretations keep a steady narrative about Hades as evil, devilish, cunning, deceptive, and most of all- as aspiring to leave the gloomy underworld, fight Zeus over the throne and become the king. Those views, obviously inspired by Christian belief, are not representing the ancient world view. It's not to say people in the past did not fear death or were afraid to speak Hades' name aloud so he won't pay his attention to them, but the God himself was one of the most just and level-headed in the pantheon. For example, he judges the souls that enter his realm with attentiveness and does not punish anyone just for the fun of it.

Regardless of what you knew of him before starting your practice- you are reading these lines. So you, just like me, must find him fascinating and admirable.

On the next post: what is this devotion thing all the kids or talking about- anout Hades in Hellenic polytheism context

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