By the goddess I worship most of all, my chosen helper Hecate, who dwells in the inner chamber of my house, none of them shall pain my heart and smile at it! Bitter will I make their marriage, bitter Kreon’s marriage-alliance, and bitter my banishment from the land!
“… the names of preliminary and propitiatory
offerings express semantically the desired effect an offering was intended to
bring about. A thelkterion was expected to enchant (thelgein) the gods, a
pentheterion to mourn (penthein) the dead, meilikteria to appease (meilissein)
them, an eklyterion to release (eklyein) a community from evil, diabateria to
cross (diabainein) a border, a chresterion to inquire of a the god (chrasthai),
and eisiteria to enter (eiseinai) a new year or position. These terms make
explicit worshippers’ desires, showing that the Greeks could project their
hopes and expectations onto the names of the offerings. A similar phenomenon is
seen in the choice of cult epithets: individuals and groups might invoke a god
with a title that indicates the effect they wanted to achieve.” p. 336
“… for most worshippers, what mattered
most was the gift itself; how the gift was called was of secondary importance.
In other words, although such terms as diabateria, meilikiteria, and eklyterion
could serve as indicators of the desired effects, the ‘correct’ naming or
labelling of a gift had little or no bearing on the offering’s efficacy to
achieve the desired result. It was the act of making the offering, not the
precision with which the offering was described, which concerned the giver and
the divine recipient.” p. 336-7
“Amid the innumerable kinds of gifts offered to the
gods in different circumstances, there was as much room for individual and
local variation in religious vocabulary as in cult practices. In Greek religion
the custom of offering gifts to the gods was flexible enough to allow
individual choice and variety, a variety which is reflected in the value and
form of the offerings, the frequency with which they were offered, as well as
the names they were given.” p. 337
Jim, Theodora Suk Fong. “Naming a Gift: the Vocabulary and
Purposes of Greek Religious Offerings,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 52, 2012, pp. 310-337.
SIS BROUGHT OUT THE SAGE, THO.
I wish I knew who to credit because this is one of the most important images I’ve ever seen. #Baltimore #CleanseThem
A woman burns sage on the streets of Baltimore –
Shameeka Dream walks along a line of Maryland State Troopers stationed on North Avenue while burning sage in the wake of protests for the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland on April 28, 2015.19 (X)
It’s come to my attention that there’s Beltane around the bent so it’s time for a nice all out warning post for the people out there who plan to have a party that involves woodruff (Galium odoratum).
Woodruff contains a chemical called coumarin that is not too healthy for you in bigger doses. It can cause headaches nausea and if you really overdo it, even coma. As a rule of thumb if you’re making May wine with that stuff you should not be using more than 3g fresh plant per liter. Repeated use can also damage your liver.
The same chemical is also in Chinese Cinnamon and the same precautions apply.
Singing For Her 