Dog Manners- Mostly For My Own Reference As A Trainer

my heart breaks thinking about the elderly women who voted for kamala harris thinking they’d finally get to see a female president in their lifetime only for a man who wants to take women’s right away to win.

Prayer of Thanks to Hermes for Safe Travels

To blessed Hermes, kindly God of wanderers and travelers, For safe walks on dangerous and unknown roads, For safe journeys in places always known to me, And for safe journeys in new ones, For kind strangers assisting me, Or for peace journeying with me, Do I give my thanks. With Your guidance I am at the end of my journey, With Your help I am safe again.

🌱 Subtle Persephone Worship 🍂

Take a walk/drive through an area with lots of falling leaves during the Fall

Step in dry leaves to hear that satisfying crunch

Start a garden; tend to plants within your space

Pick flowers (not from other people's gardens!!!)

Make flower crowns

Have a candle that reminds you of her (no altar needed)

Wear jewelry that reminds you of her

Keep a picture of her in your wallet

Have a stuffed animal pig, rooster/hen, snake, or dog

Have imagery of spring, flowers, fall, winter, or pomegranates around

Eat pomegranate seeds or drink pomegranate juice

Learn to let go of shitty people, if able; assert your personal boundaries

Take a hike/walk in nature; visit a nature preserve

Honor your ancestors; learn about your family history

Keep family heirlooms; hold onto to objects given to by loved ones who've passed on

Become comfortable with change; take new risks and go outside your comfort zone

Make a list of goals at the end of each month; these goals are for the month ahead

Find simple joys in your day to day; make a list of things that you enjoy

Spend time with pets and loved ones; show appreciation for them

Volunteer at animal or homeless shelters

Support children-focused or environmental preservation organizations

Show yourself the same love you give to others

Practice standing up for yourself

During the winter, make yourself cozy; drink something warm, watch a favorite movie, curl up in a fuzzy blanket, etc.

Do spring-cleaning; keep your space clean

Donate things like blankets and coats to homeless shelters at the start of winter or fall

Cook a warm meal for someone in need, especially when it's cold out

Collect animal bones (thank the animal's spirit; I think that's just respectful)

Remember to regularly go outside/get some fresh air; take frequent breaks from technology throughout the day

Wear flowery perfumes/colognes

Have flowery scents for body wash, shampoo, conditioner, etc.

Take a self-care bath/shower

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I might add more down the line! For the time being, this is my list of ways to discreetly worship Persephone. Take care, and I hope this helps! 💚

Link to Subtle Worship Master list

Manifesting my dream life with affirmations and subs🤭

Ladynoir July 2024, Day 30: One Last Chance

@ladynoirjuly

(good luck miraculous vs rigged fair game)

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The nature symbolism in The Picture of Dorian Gray makes me go FERAL!!

The way that the nature similes and imagery start to become less and less prevalent as Dorian loses his humanity!! They go from almost multiple a page to barely one a chapter; the way he stops aging goes against the way that nature is supposed to go.

The way that a main character (Basil) who suffers at Dorian’s hand is literally shares a name with an aspect of nature!! Dorian has gone against the will of nature and is paying for it.

The fact that Dorian is offered and eats cherries the night before gaining his undying youth; in some mythologies, the cherry tree contains the elixir to give the gods their eternal life. To add on, cherries in literature usually represent immortality and youth.

The fact that the flowers in Basil’s garden represent romance/love/beauty/courage (roses), purity/innocent/spirituality (lilacs), pain/pleasure (pink-flowering thorn), and PENSIVE/FORSAKEN BEAUTY (laburnum). The way Henry rips apart SEVERAL pink daisies (represents gentleness and love) in the very first chapter. The way Basil keeps a book titled “Forest Scenes” in his house. Basil is a person who nurtures beauty and love and romance in the purest way he can and is hurt horribly by the way Henry poisons Dorian’s brain and rips him apart.

And that just SKIMS the surface. THE NATURE SYMBOLISM IN THIS BOOK!! I’M GOING TO EAT DRYWALL ISTG

NORMALIZE TALKING HIGHLY ABOUT YOURSELF

zeus to me is a god who feels and loves so deeply and emotionally, but is constantly forced to be in a position of impartiality, fairness, and wisdom that sometimes directly contradicts the thing he is feeling. and that to me shows not only how loving he is but also how capable he is. zeus is a good king because he cares, and he's a good king because he's know when to put his own cares aside, even if it's hard, and it is this constant struggle for him that makes him so compelling to me <3

Young girls need to be actively taught to not help males regardless of their circumstances or age. Whether it's your boyfriend of 5 years who recently got into a debt or if it's any stranger in a dark alleyway crying for help. Neither of them are gonna end well FOR YOU. You're not gonna get appreciated, you're not get acknowledged for long. Infact, you're gonna be the one who'll be taken advantage of. Other men surrounding these helpless men have far more power than you ever will(most). These men are not approaching you because you're "the one" they could trust. And let me tell you something, the men you'll help build, will resent you for helping them or being there to witness when they were at their worst. They do not want to be reminded of the times when they were a loser or that a woman(someone who's considered below them) helping them.

Have you written a general guide about khernips? All I do is extinguish a wooden match in water because snuffing a flaming brand has been referred to in mythology, but some people on Tumblr have very different ideas like incorporating all kinds of herbs or mixing ashes into it. I'd love to read your take on what was done in antiquity.

I haven’t, but I can! Because the concept of khernips is so linked to ritual purification–because khernips is the method through which we become ritually clean–we will also discuss the practice of katharmos and the notion of ritual pollution: miasma. 

Within Hellenic practice, miasma describes the lingering aura of uncleanliness in regards to a person or space through which contact is made with the Gods. Miasma occurs whenever the space or person comes into contact with death, sickness, birth, sex, excessive negative emotions and bodily fluids. It also comes from a lack of contact with the Hellenic Gods. Not the actual acts of dying, sex and birth cause miasma but the opening up of the way to the Underworld (with births and deaths) as well as contact with sweat, blood, semen, menstrual blood and urine pollutes us. Miasma is an incredibly complicated and involved practice and it’s often misunderstood. The most important things to remember about miasma is that it holds no judgment from the Gods, and that everyone attracts miasma. It’s a mortal, human, thing.The practice of purification is called katharmos (Καθαρμός). The process of katharmos is elaborate because the process not only involves the physical but also the emotional, mental and spiritual. In modern practice, it usually starts with a shower, but this is not a historic necessity. Step two is the preparation and use of khernips. Beyond the practical, there is a large mental component to katharmos. It means leaving behind negativity, worry, pain and trouble before getting in contact with the Gods. The greatest barrier in understanding miasma and katharmos, to me, is our modern frame of mind. On the one hand, we know too much about personal hygiene, about the human body and about science as a whole, on the other hand religion has become something separate from life in general. As a result, we colour ancient Hellas with our ‘hygiene brush’. Secondly, not everyone has faith, our society does no longer revolve around it, and as a result, we–as modern religious people–struggle for a mindset of simple, all-encompassing, unquestionable worship. There might be a few remnants of ‘Original Sin Thinking’ lodged in there as well.

After a lot of research into the workings of miasma, I have come to the conclusion that miasma is linked to distraction. Anything that takes your mind off of the Gods during ritual can be considered miasmic. For example, the ancient Hellenes agreed that murder causes miasma (when not committed as part of a war, soldiers were not tainted with miasma for killing their enemies), but only once other people became aware of the fact that you had committed an act of murder. As such, if you were exiled and you travelled to another town where no one knew what you had done, in essence, you were not miamic to the rites and people around you. We all incur miasma, every single day of our lives. It has nothing to do with sin, shame or guilt. Miasma is a consequence of living. We breath, make decisions, come in contact with others, and along the way, we become too human–for lack of a better term–to petition the Gods. The divide between the purity and cleanliness of the Theoi and our human mortality and imperfection keeps us away from Them. Miasma is not about being physically dirty, although that is a part of it, and katharmos is not about becoming physically clean, although that is a part of it as well. Katharmos is devotional. It not only helps you get in a ritualistic mood, it prepares the room and your body for it. Even if you do not understand the use, it’s a vital part of Hellenistic worship.

Khernips are the traditional way to cleanse yourself from miasma. As far as basic information goes, khernips is created by dropping smoldering incense or herb leaves into water. When throwing in the lit item, one can utter ‘xerniptosai’ (pronounced 'zer-nip-TOS-aye-ee’) which translates as ‘be purified’. Both hands are washed with khernips and you can wash the face as well. The vessel holding the khernips is called a khernibeionas (Χερνῐβεῖον). 

Artwork has taught us that khernips was often applied just outside the temenos, with hands being washed in a bowl or water poured out of a jug while the supplicant washed their hands. The water was collected from a moving source of water, which could be a natural spring, a river, or even the sea. Moving water was considered sacred, and often viewed as an extension of the body of a stream/river/sea God(dess). For my video tutorial on how to prepare and apply khernips, go here.

As with anything concerning miasma, most books on ancient Hellas and/or Hellenic religion don’t mention khernips at all, or under a synonym. As with miasma, I am going to assume this is because the evidence of its existance is so flimsy besides a resounding 'it was used and important’. My rather vast collection of scholarly material is silent on any details beyond the basic information already provided. As such, I am forced to speculate based upon what I know. Personally, I tend to mix tap water with sea water into a large vessel from which I take a measure every evening to use throughout the day. I drop the smoldering firebrand (a match when traveling, a bit of burning wood or herbs when home) into the measure poured our, not the vessel itself. So, in short, I prepare the base in advance but the actual mixture on the spot. I only use one measure one day, after that, I dip it out onto the earth and replace it with a fresh batch before my evening rituals.

Khernips is important, and it’s important they are properly prepared, but in the large scheme of things, I feel it’s more important you actually perform the ritualistic motions without a specific part of it than skipping it altogether. So, no, you can’t make khernips without dropping something smouldering in, but that doesn’t mean you can’t wash before ritual and improvise a little. Drop herbs into the water and wash with that, drop essential oils in it, if you don’t have herbs. Find something to make the water special, and then use it to cleanse yourself. Just go through the motions and focus on the rites ahead. That is its function and it should be used as such.