šŸ™ Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE- Dealing in the Divine

Blessed greetings to all! :heart:

Thank you once again to everyone who joined in on last weekā€™s challenge: Kitchen Witchery! A pinch of salt, a sprinkle of herbs, and a little magick intent later- with clean plates and happy stomachs it is time to move on to a new theme. This week, we will be looking far beyond ourselves to enchance our magick with higher powers :dove::pray:

The theme for this weekā€™s challenge isā€¦

:sun_with_face::pray: Divine Magic! :dove: :full_moon_with_face:

This challenge is all about deities, spirits, and connecting with outside forces to strengthen and focus your magick.

There are so many potential gods, goddesses, spirits, and other forces that can be called upon, given offerings to, or worshipped. Dieties appear in various forms and exist in cultural traditions around the world :earth_americas:

You may choose to ask for aid in casting, find a connection with a new diety, or simply learn about a being that is interesting to you.

There are so many reasons and benefits to practicing with deities! Tess White Hurst on YouTube talks about the importance of and why it is worth it to connect with divine beings in our practice in Working Your Magic with Deities or Divinities:

For those who have a diety close to their hearts, are searching for a being that calls to them, or are looking to enhance their magick- this challenge is for you!

Are you ready? Prepare your altars, itā€™s CHALLENGE TIME! :trophy:

STEP 1: Practicing Divine Witchcraft :pray:

For those who already have an established bond with a diety, take this time to strengthen your connection with them. Consider:

  • Learning more about their story and history
  • Taking some time to study their intentions and strengths- what are the best times and ways to call on their aid?
  • Making an offering to them or in their name
  • Tidying up and/or improve your altar or special space for them
  • Adding to their entry in your BoS
  • Having a gratitude ritual for them


[Picture from Wicca Magazine: The Greek Goddess, Gaia]

For those who havenā€™t yet connected with a diety or are interested in learning about new dieties, there are countless gods, goddess, spirits, and other higher powers out there that may resonate with you!

Dieties come in many different shapes and forms. Some take on a human or human-like appearance, while others take on other forms such as those of animals :butterfly:.

ryujin original
[Picture from Weekly Deities: Ryujin: Japanese Dragon God of the Sea]

Some traditions have representative dieties (for example, Selene as the moon), while other paths worship parts of nature directly as they are- such as the general worshiping of the earth or nature.

Key forces in the world can also have different forms in different pantheons. For example, the Greek god Poseidon, the Japanese god Ryujin, and the Irish god Lir are all gods of the sea.

The definition of what defines a deity, spirit, or higher power largely comes down to your own path, tradition, and beliefs!


[Picture from Ancient Origins: Hecate: Holding Court Over Ancient Greek Witchcraft]

When searching for a diety to connect with, there are many things to consider:

  • Are you looking for help with one spell or ritual, or hoping to make a long-term connection?
  • Do you already have any personal connections (family history, prior experience, a series of ā€œcoincidencesā€, etc.) with a pantheon, region, or particular diety?
  • Are you searching for a diety who is associated with a particular element, season, symbol, or item?

Owlvine Green on YouTube has a great video to help you figure out Which Diety Should I Work With?

Finding a diety can take some time, and you may want to try to connect with a few before you find the right one :face_with_monocle: .

Some witches find that their deity comes to them in dreams, visions, appears in their animal form, or is seen over and over again in a series of what may seem to be ā€œcoincidencesā€.

Others may feel an immediate connection with a diety when researching them. It is possible to change deities or worship several at a time- there is no wrong way to find and connect with a diety, so long as you do so respectfully! :pray:

6988731
[Picture from Goddess: Selene: Goddess of the Moon]

Donā€™t know where to get started? Here are a few great places to begin your search for learning more about deities!

Egyptian Deities
Egyptian-Wiccan-Devotional-Prayers-750x500

Celtic Deities
Celtic-Devotionals-Wicca-750x500

Greek Deities
Greek-Devotionals-750x500

Roman Deities
Roman-Deities-Wiccan-Prayers-Devotionals-1-750x500

Wiccan Deities
Wiccan-Deities-Lesson-750x500

Slavic Deities with Linden & Denz Intercultural Institue of Languages

Japanese Shinto Deities (kami) from Japan Talk


STEP 2: Share Your Experience :writing_hand:

To participate in this challenge, you must share your experience! You can talk about a diety close to your heart, how you found them, a diety that caught your eye, any divine rituals or spells youā€™d like to share- so long as it relates to diety magick, your wisdom and experiences are very welcome in this challenge! :raised_hands:

Please feel free to create a new post in the forums (and donā€™t forget to mention the challenge!) or write about your experience below! :memo:


:gift:
For all those who deepen their bonds or delve into diety magick, there is a special shout-out and small prize waiting for you!
:gift:


:heavy_heart_exclamation: This challenge will be open for: 7 DAYS! :heavy_heart_exclamation:

To join in, please post about your divine endeavors by 5:00 AM CET (Central European Time) on Friday, August 28th!

After the challenge closes, you are still very welcome to post but please be aware that no additional prizes will be given.


A warm reminder that this challenge is very open- all are encouraged to participate in a way that reflects their unique practice. There are no right or wrong answers so long as you practice respectfully, and there is no way to ā€˜loseā€™ the challenge if you participate !

This challengeā€™s goal is to help you help yourself! By learning about and connecting with dieties of your choice, the hope is to both help you further diversify and strengthen your practice, and to bring together the Spells8 forum family to inspire and support one another :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

May your deities always hear your prayers and may you always practice with the love and blessings of higher powers

Blessed Be to All! :sparkling_heart:

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Iā€™m very excited about this.

My first interest is Gaia. Iā€™ve done a lot of research already but I feel as if there is more to uncover. Having a job that is outside all day long, I love feeling the earth, hearing her sounds, and just overall taking in everything she has to offer.

Bastet is my next because I am all things CAT! And I resonate with what she stands for and her counterpart.

I have always been intrigued by Anubis. There is something so magnificent about his stature and how he presents himself.

And Nemesis as a new interest :slight_smile:

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Ohhh LOVE this! :heart_eyes:

Iā€™ve got my friend working on my next tattoo which is going to honor Selene :heart: hopefully the drawing will be ready in the next few days so I can post a picture :blush:

Iā€™m also looking into Persephone, the Goddess of Spring, Rebirth and the Underworld as one of the animals sacred to her is reportedly the bat :bat: which is my new favourite animal after recent events :joy:

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Iā€™m looking forward to this one! It couldnā€™t have come at more perfect time! Iā€™m still researching Brigid and I am looking everywhere for information, devotionals, invocations. Iā€™m also really looking into our Triple Goddess, I know that Brigid is considered a Triple Goddess, even though she stands for so much more than three. She is an all encompassing Goddess I have found. I am still looking into making the doll. I donā€™t have the right type of grass in my yard for making one, so I am going to try with some fake hay or reeds. I did find out that the statue on my altar is representing Brigid. Her symbols are on both sides of her and her shape is of woman with child bearing hips. She is a Goddess of fertility and childbirth, so that makes complete sense. I know that last night during my initiation ritual, I really connected with the Triple Goddess and Horned God, then before bed I was looking up information about them. It felt good to go to bed with some new places to look. I never knew that Pinterest had so much other information other than recipes and images. I didnā€™t use it that much before, but now I think it will be a big help in what I am doing.

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I made an altar for the Moon Goddess, Selene.
:waxing_crescent_moon::full_moon::waning_crescent_moon:


I realized as I was putting it together that I donā€™t have many moon items. I had to work with what I have. I have a moon necklace with a heart in the middle.:heart: And inside the heart is a stone that glows in the dark. I also have some moon water in a jar :ocean:, crystalsā€‹:crystal_ball: (of course :crazy_face:),:gem: selenite slab, 3 selenite rods, dried rosesā€‹:rose:, my amazonite treeā€‹:evergreen_tree:, and my picture with a :full_moon: moon (that counts), a girl and an eagle.:eagle:

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How exciting, I canā€™t wait to see the design :heart_eyes:

Your altar looks beautiful! I love how youā€™ve arranged everything :sparkles:

What a fun challenge! Iā€™ve started working with Hecate only a couple months ago, and the things I donā€™t know still by far outnumber the things I know :joy: Luckily Iā€™ll have some time this weekend, so Iā€™m planning to add some information to my BoS - and a gratitude ritual sounds good too, thanks for the idea @BryWisteria :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :sparkles:

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Thank you :blush::sparkling_heart: itā€™s not thee altar bc thatā€™s too personal for me and itā€™s too big to fit on one picture.too wide anyway, Iā€™ve tried.

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I am SOOOOO excited about this! First of all, thank you for sharing that video. I absolutely loved her & now I have a new YouTuber to check out :slight_smile: But as she spoke of synchronicity, I was nodding along because once again, this challenge lines right up with where my heads been these past few days!

Iā€™m reading into Selene, mostly because I felt her name just kept popping up. Here, FB groups Iā€™m part of, even on Pinterest. And my start to all of this was doing moon rituals; I just resonate with the moon & felt like I needed to know more! (Iā€™m also working on a little art project having to do with this!) So Iā€™m super stoked to share all that with everyone later this week! Yay!

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Isnā€™t Selene great! Iā€™ve loved the moon sinceā€¦forever. and I was doing a moon ritual too. Then after I meditated and was ready to go to sleep, I saw a white light zoom by. After I looked up, my eyes were on the crystal grid I made for the new moon. I went outside and soaked in the moonlight and looked upon the stars. I thought, what could this mean? I had an ā€˜ahaā€™ momentā€¦got to be Selene.

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I can understand that! I donā€™t mind showing my altar (itā€™s also in the middle of my living room, so friends and family that visit canā€™t really miss it anyway :joy:), but I feel that way about my Book of Shadows. I canā€™t see myself ever giving it to someone else to read!

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Good Sunday Morning!

I recently started working with Brigid, the Celtic Triple Goddess of creativity, home, and fertility, thereā€™s other items she is known for but can be put into one of those categories. I started feeling more curious about her, and once I saw some of her symbols and statues, I realized that a triple goddess statue I had gotten was a statue of Brigidā€™s symbols! I have her on my altar space at all times. Over this weekend, I revamped my BOS to make room for more items, and I printed out information about Celtic Gods and Goddesses, articles, and pages all about Brigid (pronounced Bri-yeed, not Brigit or Bridget). I also tried my hand at making Brigidā€™s cross for the first time. Now that I work with her, I decided that it was also time to make my space more comfortable to work regularly. Friday we painted my room/area a very soothing shade of blue, I changed the curtains, stained a set of shelves that my boys made in the woodshop to match the furniture in my room already. I cleaned the two wall cases that will be used for my witchy items.
We cleaned out all the extras in my room and went through drawers to get rid of things that I no longer use or need. (I was taught that if after seven years you havenā€™t used it, itā€™s okay to pass it on or get rid of it another way). So I am in love with my room. I also have two books that came in, and one is about Celtic Gods and Goddesses, the other is related explicitly to Brigid and is called Tending Brigidā€™s Flame. There is a perpetual flame in Ireland that 19 nuns tend to so that it keeps burning day after day for Saint Brigid, the Church made her a Saint after she had been their Goddess for centuries. I recognize her as the Celtic Triple Goddess as she was before being given sainthood.

I am enjoying my space and feel more connected since it has been finished. I have worked a lot on my BOS and on my BOS journal that I have as sort of an offshoot. I canā€™t wait to start the books, for right now, I have read the articles I printed out and web pages. I re-read them after I printed out the Celtic Gods and Goddesses information to go in there too. I also added Brigid specific Imbolc pages because that is when she is celebrated, and they make the dolls and the cross for her each year at that time after burning the ones from the previous year.

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Iā€™m glad this challenge is calling your name, @janelle! :blush: You have many connections with some wonderful gods and goddesses! I know a little about Gaia, Bastet, and Anubis but Nemesis is unknown to me as a goddess. Iā€™d love to hear what you find out about her if you search further- good luck! :open_book: :heart_eyes:

Good luck with your tattoo, @Abs53!!! Ohhh Iā€™m so excited to see how the drawing comes out :star_struck:. And yes, that sounds like a great choice after your lovely night visitor! :bat: Let us know if you are able to connect more with Persephone :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Iā€™m glad you are connecting so well with Brigid, @trissie117! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: As well as the Triple Goddess and the Horned God too- very exciting! Pintrest is a huge collection of various treasures- there are many great ideas and sources of insiration to be found there. Enjoy the search, and best of luck! :two_hearts:

Your Selene altar is lovely, @christina4! :heart_eyes: I think you were very creative with the items you found- and the result is beautiful! It is an altar unique to you and your bond with Selene- thank you for sharing! :sparkling_heart:

Youā€™re very welcome, @chrisinte4! Were you able to do some research over the weekend to add to your book? :open_book: I hope it went well and you learned some interesting new knowledge! :books::two_hearts:

It sounds like Selene was calling to you, @haley! You are very welcome and I hope this is the opportunity you needed to finally reach out and connect with her and the moon at an even deeper level! :full_moon::sparkles: I canā€™t wait to see your art project- what are you working on? Iā€™m excited to see it! :star_struck::paintbrush:

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Yesssss I recently met Macha. I even went as far as to create a guided meditation video with permission from the original author. As I was reading the book version, I was so connected and drawn to this. It literally called to my soul. It was an amazing experience.

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This is great!
The goddess I have felt a connection to, or intrigue with over the past few weeks is Hecate. Itā€™s strange to me how I have this almost drive like feeling or thirst (I know weird word choice, but it really sums up the feeling :laughing:) to gather as much knowledge about her that I can. I have a key necklace that I have chosen as an offering to her, hung above my altar. And I plan on creating a BOS page for her this week.
Hecate, is the ā€œGreek goddess of the three paths, guardian of the household, protector of everything newly born, and the goddess of witchcraft ā€“ once a widely revered and influential goddess, the reputation of Hecate has been tarnished over the centuries. In current times, she is usually depicted as a ā€œhagā€ or old witch stirring the cauldron. Usually classified as a ā€œmoon goddessā€, her kingdoms were actually three-fold . . . the earth, sea, and skyā€(Google, 2020).
I feel as though Iā€™m supposed to learn more about her.


Blessed Be!

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Love Pinterest! :heart:

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In the last 2 weeks The Green Man keeps popping up on my computer. Iā€™ve taken it as a sign to learn more about him. Is he considered a deity?

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@jill If I am not mistaken, The Green Man is also known as the Horned God. Yes, he is considered a deity. Deity is another term for divine, god/goddess, etc. Thatā€™s amazing heā€™s making his way to you through the computer.
:wink:

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Your Macha guide meditation was lovely, @SilverBear! Thank you again for sharing it :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

You have a very thrilling bond with Hecate! It sounds very exciting- pursue that thirst for knowledge and see where it leads you! Hecate is a fascinating Goddess with many intriguing aspects and depictions. Good luck and enjoy strengthening your connection with her! :pray::hearts:

@Rowan has it right, The Green Man absolutely counts as a spiritual being and deity! :green_heart:

The Green Man is a very interesting deity, and can refer to many different beings or creatures and appears across various traditions and cultures. I looked more into him, and I found this interesting article on Ancient Origins. :open_book: The article is called ā€œUnraveling the Nature and Identity of the Green Manā€ and is a very good read for anyone interested! :leaves:

An enigma spanning thousands of years, the Green Man is a symbol of mysterious origin and history. Permeating various religious faiths and cultures, the Green Man has survived countless transformations and cultural diversities, enduring in the same relative physical form to this day. Although specifics about his beginnings and his worship are not fully known, due in large part to how far back and to what initial cultures he can be traced to, it is a testament to the widespread reach of his character that he is still remembered and worshipped to this day.

[From Ancient Origins: Green Man]

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Beautiful :bouquet: :heart::rose: Iā€™ve always been drawn to Hecate, too. I love the picture :heart_eyes:

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I have been seeing things for Gaia, so I think I am going to research her a little bit more. I get a lot of things Brigid too.

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