Starting 2017 Off Right. :)

Happy New Year, folks. I’ve finally flopped down on my sofa after doing my New Year’s Eve ritual — ancestors, Asynjur, then the Roman Deities that I typically honor on this night, so three rituals in all plus setting out offerings to all the vaettir– and I very much hope that 2017 brings health, joy, and wealth to us all. Let it be a year of happiness and success. I pray that the good, immortal Gods block misfortune and malintent from entering our homes and our lives this year. May They bless us with all good things throughout the year, even in the midst of our challenges.

I want to start this year with something creative, fun, and that emphasizes the love and devotion we have for our Gods. As I was making offerings tonight to Pietas and Pudicitia, I kept thinking that if i could pick a keyword to govern my 2017, I’d choose devotion a thousand times over.

Anyway, each month I want to run a mini-Agon. I’ll choose a God or Goddess and offer a ‘prize,’ inviting you, my readers to submit prayers, poems, or art. On the last day of the month, I’ll choose a winner via divination. Everyone who submits may have a prayer card (just let me know which one you want when you submit), and the winner will get a card plus a small gift. I’ll alternate between Greco-Roman Deities and Norse-Germanic Deities since that’s the nexus at which I work.

January’s Deity of choice for me is Hermes. 🙂 He’s awesome and I think it fitting to start the year with a Hermes agon. So those of you who are interested, submit your art (photos of), prayers/poems to krasskova at gmail.com. Make sure to put “Hermes Agon January 2017” in the subject header and to let me know what card you want. The winner will get a card and a signed copy of my Hermes novena book, plus a small surprise gift.

Happy 2017.

 

Winner of the Apollo Contest

The winner of the Apollo contest is Oliver Lightfoot. I did the div. but simply haven’t had a chance to post. Thank you to every single person who submitted prayers. They were lovely and I hope y’all will consider contributing them to Melia’s Apollo devotional. 

In the meantime, may Apollo, the Lord of Light be hailed, ever and always. 

It was beautiful and moving to see such beautiful prayers for Him come into being. Thank you all. 

Apollo Contest — Entry #8

Taking Flight

The day arrives by chariot
On wings of golden radiance
Warm ripples of hope and longing
Caressing my soul. Burning
The faint sweet sounds
Of the time honored lyre
Fills my heart with
Thy magic. Haunting
As the silver arrow
Is drawn back, taunt
Anticipating it’s release
I stand still in the sunlight, Waiting
Ancient Archer, pierce my being
Fill it with inspiration and song
Rescue me from self doubt
Music from Apollo. Healing

By Autumn Pulstar

Apollo Contest – Entry #7

I sit in your health, my Lord
and the world awaits your rise
to cast the world in gold
if only for a while.
In human forms you take
the image of bare chests
and smiles unrestrained –
your white teeth bared to test
the world as it runs through your veins
and pumps to your gold heart –
as all look to another day
of which you know the best.
Good king I know not of your tears,
But goodness you’ve seen mine
that fall up carefully to rest
under your soft skies.
Please promise me that I’m unbound
just waiting to shoot forward,
like all your arrows that you keep,
whose targets you hit sound.
I turn to cards that in your name
I seek soft calls of fate
for once I knew your voice indeed;
the Muses it did bait.
I know you are the sun, my lord,
I see you everyday. “But dear
please keep in mind,” you say,
clouds must arrive some day.”

By Graysen Currie

Apollo Contest – Entries #5 and 6

1. 
Father Apollo, God of brilliant light,
You illuminate the Cosmos with Truth.
Phoebus, watching over from the heights
As you sit at the right hand of great Zeus
Proclaiming the decrees of Supreme Right.
Apollo, in you I have found Freedom,
You have freed me from the chains of dark night.
Your arrows propel me to the kingdom
Divine, none may escape their fiery might.
Apollo, help me the Hydra to slay.
Lead me forth in my tumultuous fight,
Show me the path until you bring the day.

2.
Apollo, illuminator of minds! Greatly do I adore you, O Archer, you who shine your revealing light into the thoughts of all who contemplate Truth. O Paean! Greatly do I praise you, you who heal the infirmities of soul which cloud the eye of reason. O Alexicacus! Greatly do I worship you, you who avert the evils which befall men who honor you. O Apollo, destroyer of falsehoods! Greatly do I reverence you, you who reveal to those who seek you the delusions they allow themselves to succumb to. O Aegletus! You, who with your Light purify us of our miasmas. O Apollo, I implore you, look favorably upon me!

(both entries are by Oliver Lightfoot)

Apollo Contest – Entry #4

String of Pearls For Apollôn

The eager cock crowed,
disturbing my contented slumber;
beside the flank of a god
whose shapely legs yawned,
inviting a playful touch.

gilded bronze, spirals of fine gold
playing about nipples like daisies;
never has a garden been so ripe
for the taking.
I gathered up your petals in my
fingers, my lips to taste the fruit
of your loins.

I went to the temple of Apollôn
crowning a hill thick with green branches;
myrtle kissed my locks, twining gold and ebony
in a dance above a noble brow.
I have sentiments for Aphrodite,
while incense lifts me high to the
Sun-God with His mounts.
The temple doors were open;
a god smiled invitingly, awaiting all
I had to give.

I knelled naked in the light of lamps
filled with olive oil and flame;
gold light became my clothing,
my navel filled with precious metal.
O Apollo, kouros, the beautiful youth,
Aegletes the sun’s light, Who is Helius,
the sun itself.
Your fair light slides over my hairless body,
drinking my youth, clad only in myrtle.
Where did my fine cloak go; its purple folds
discarded at your naked feet.

My hands are empty of an offering,
still your hands take all a man can give;
from the grapes my father gave me,
your mouth coaxes the wine of life
from which my father sprang.

I am not a wealthy man,
O Apollôn who has stolen my heart;
my hands are empty of gold,
whereas my body carries pearls safe inside.

At twilight the lamps are set to burn,
the flames to light our way from the
temple into the meadow.
My myrtle crown beams like the sun,
in a moon rising high above
the placid sea below.
You move my body to devotion,
fine sandalwood the scent of my
sweat.
I am a wreath crowning a victor’s brow,
while the moon laughs to mock my folly.

Before the dawn kissed the meadows
with fine gold, I approached Apollôn’s
Sanctuary with all I had to give.
His lips would gather the harvest of
my prayers, spoken not in words but in
a shudder of muscles; a lover’s offering
dancing across your strong neck.
I offered a string of pearls to my Apollôn,
which he wore before the cock crowed
too loudly.

My robe is nowhere to be found,
his naked feet took up the dust of a lonely road.
I am left discarded in what remains of my bed,
without a sign of those liquid pearls;
offered so freely, and taken by the sun itself.

All text copyright © 2015 Ptahmassu Nofra-Uaa

Entries to the Contest for Apollo So Far…

To date, three people have submitted entries to the Apollo contest. Here they are below. The contest runs through 9pm August 10 and all contributors receive a prayer card of their choosing. There’s still time to submit, folks. If you don’t want to submit to this contest, consider sending something over to Melia, who is working on a devotional anthology to Apollo. You can read about that here.

Entry #1 by Alexeigynaix

Prayer to Apollon on the occasion of donating blood

Apollon Akesios
Apollon who heals

accept please my offering
of blood from my veins.

Apollon Epikourios
Apollon who succors

grant please my prayer
that the one who receives
this unit of blood
be swiftly healed
of their injury
or their illness
and that they take
no further harm.

Apollon Oulios
Apollon who heals

grant please my prayer
that the blood bank nurses
stay safe and healthy
and good at their jobs,
that they stay
gentle with the needle
and attentive to the donors
so that no one
comes to harm
under their care.

Apollon Alexikakos
Apollon who defends against harm

grant please my prayer
that I recover swiftly
and stay in good health
that in eight weeks
I may safely
offer this again.

I thank you.

 

Entry #2 by R. Demyx

Behold! Wreathed in laurel and the splendid radiance of the sun, Apollo, the Blessed One, arrives.
He who walks on gilded plains and brings forth joyous harmony with every step.
Divine Lord of the bow, we pray that you guard my journey as long as it travels under the eyes of you and your sister.
Plague and illness part before me as they part before you.
And grant me the foresight to see dangers before me.
Divine Apollo, blessed glory of the sun, I pray that you be with me.

 

Entry #3 By Amanda Artemisia Forrester

Hymn to the Rustic Apollo

I begin now to sing of Apollo, the brightest God on Olympos
Surely the fair-haired Muses will attend my song, and lend my words power
For Apollo is beloved of those clever Goddesses Nine
Often have They danced at the feasts of the Gods
While Golden Apollo played the lyre
And when He lay in sweet love-making with Kalliope, eldest Muse,
She conceived Orpheus, the musician-prophet.
Great Apollo is known as a God of knowledge, a severe philosophers’ God
But He has a another side long forgotten by scholars.
Sing, Muses, of the rustic Apollo, of Apollo of the fields,
The One Who prizes His herd of cattle,
Stolen by His precocious baby brother Hermes.
This Apollo is trickier, even a Trickster
(as the Fates learned when They came for Admetos)
This is the Apollo Who hunted down Pytho,
And founded His oracle on Her rotting corpse.
This is the Apollo Who flayed Marsyas –
Punishment for His hubris in challenging an Olympian.
He is far more than the brightness of the educated mind,
He is also the burning fire of senseless passion.
This is the wolf-God, the Hunter, the far-shooting
O Muses, sing again of this darker Apollo
This forgotten complement to the bright philosopher’s God.
O rustic Apollo, the shepherd’s God,
I will offer to You red beef, red wine,
And most importantly (to me at least)
The red pumping blood of my heart.

Reminder about the Apollo Contest

For a God to whom I am not devoted, Apollo sure has gotten a great deal of my attention of late and i’m ok with that. 🙂 It’s just rather surreal at times. 

Anyway, i want to remind folks about the contest I’m running. Win free stuff. lol. 

Here’s what I said in the original post: 

Ok, so the main statue that I have of Apollo on the household shrine to the Healing Gods was mildly damaged (He’s supposed to be holding a bow but it’s broken off) so I decided to replace it. I did that and then got overly enthusiastic, forgot I did it (even though I tend that shrine regularly), and bought the same statue again. As I was lamenting this, I thought that it could work to good advantage and make more prayers for Apollo so I decided to run this contest.

I’ll keep this open until 9pm EST August 10, 2016, at which time I’ll do divination with Apollo to determine the winner. Everyone else will receive a prayer card of their choice – let me know when you email me the prayer which you want and include your address. I’ll send those out early.

Here’s the deal:

Contribute a prayer or poem for Apollo. Email them to me at Krasskova at gmail.com. I will post them here and on Aug. 10 divine on the winner. That’s all there is to it.

Consider, however, also submitting them to Melia’s devotional for Apollo. Information can be found here. It’s good to have more prayers for our Gods.:)

Contest: Win this Statue

Ok, so the main statue that I have of Apollo on the household shrine to the Healing Gods was mildly damaged (He’s supposed to be holding a bow but it’s broken off) so I decided to replace it. I did that and then got overly enthusiastic, forgot I did it (even though I tend that shrine regularly), and bought the same statue again. As I was lamenting this, I thought that it could work to good advantage and make more prayers for Apollo so I decided to run this contest.

I’ll keep this open until 9pm EST August 10, 2016, at which time I’ll do divination with Apollo to determine the winner. Everyone else will receive a prayer card of their choice – let me know when you email me the prayer which you want and include your address. I’ll send those out early.

Here’s the deal:

Contribute a prayer or poem for Apollo. Email them to me at Krasskova at gmail.com. I will post them here and on Aug. 10 divine on the winner. That’s all there is to it.

Consider, however, also submitting them to Melia’s devotional for Apollo. Information can be found here. It’s good to have more prayers for our Gods. 🙂

 

Update and Contest #2

Ok, so I have finished writing the Novena booklet for Asklepios and I am deeply grateful for His help and benevolence over the last few weeks. On Sunday night, I’ll do the div to choose the title and then it should be available next month (maybe sooner, depending how I publish it). I’ll keep y’all updated. 

I will be doing the same type of novena booklet for the Norse healing Goddess Eir. It occurred to me as I was working on the one for Asklepios that I really should honor Her too. I focused on the former because my husband isn’t Heathen and I prayed primarily to his Gods and Their relations first and then my own. it seemed fitting, but I did petition Eir as well and She deserves more cultus than She gets. So…same deal, folks. I desperately need help with a title! 

If you have any suggestions for a title for a novena booklet for Eir, email them to me at krasskova at gmail.com by 11pm EST on the 17th. On that day, i’ll put them in a bowl, on Her shrine, and divine to see which She wants. The “winner” will receive a free copy of the novena booklet, signed and personalized, and one each of the Eir prayer cards. please help. I want to do right by Her, as I have tried to do for Asklepios.