Poison gods or goddesses

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Thank you for the link.

@Nimosdomus Circe, in Greek legend, a sorceress, the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and of the ocean nymph Perse, or Hekate. She was able by means of drugs and incantations to change humans into wolves, lions, and swine. The Greek hero Odysseus visited her island, Aeaea, with his companions, whom she changed into swine.

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So she would be good for my poison research you think? The drugs and incantation part is interesting.

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In the study of Veneficium and regarding the greek divinites, Hekate and Hermes have been the ones primarily involved in aiding and guiding my work, so I can confirm from experience they are more than capable of leading you to what you need. Circe is also a great resource, but I only know her in the literary sense - I have not worked with her in a spiritual way.

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Interesting. How does hermes and hekate help you. If you donā€™t mind me asking of course. Any help would be great. Also Iā€™m glad to see a followwr of venficium. I would be interested in hearing about your studies if that is possible. If not I understand.

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Outside of direct guidance, which has come in the form of revelation that I found to later be validated by ethnobotanical literature or folklore, read and grow. There are certain signs and sensation that I have developed in my relationships with them to indicate when I have found something relevant or that i should learn. Now they helped me make my foundation and the point Iā€™m at now involves working with the actual plants themselves as their own entity and evocations and spells with the plant spirits. I donā€™t feel like thereā€™s a formula you have to follow. Iā€™m a pretty diehard fan of any work by Daniel Schulke. I also recommend blending esoteric literature with ethnobotanical literature - For instants in the realm of science itā€™s all alkaloids whereas when you believe in magic you understand thereā€™s more to it than just alkaloids but that doesnā€™t mean you ever ignore the alkaloids so I think a balance is important. The most comprehensive list rather than writing one myself for you that I have found comes from Sarah Lawless -
https://banefolk.com/weblinks/

scroll to bottom - the recommended reading list. Lol, make it your curriculum! :wink: There are few books I have read on the topic that are not on that list, and i think theyre certainly the most valuable to read up on.

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That is a refreshing take. Not many follow this path so I like hearing others. So I thank you for that.

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You are welcome! I also think that the channels you pursue and the gnosis you acquire is dependent on which plants you end up being drawn toward and how your relationship with them evolves. I was obsessed with mandrake for instants and I still love my babies but Iā€™ve actually ended up developing a stronger relationship with the Solanaceae plants of the Americas, such as most Datura species, Brugmansia, and Solandra. I do love my healers also. I particularly enjoy the ā€œcurse and cureā€ qualities of Rue and Elder in the esoteric sense, So I donā€™t limit myself to poisonous plants, though Rue can cause some awful reactions when contact is made with its sap and exposed to the sun. But just research everything thoroughly and if you ever get to a point where you want to experiment with the plants on your own make sure you are using extreme caution especially if it ever involves anything internal.

Hekates sacred plants are many - i started with Garlic and hellebore.

Hermes is the crocus and strawberry tree - upg he also has a strong connection to mullein (as does Hekate - nicknamed Hekates torch).

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Very interesting. Iā€™ve been attracted to mainly poison plants such as morning glory due to the hallucinations. And plants containing atropine which is a paralytic. I think I will try with Circe first due to her potions.

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Neat idea! Id love to hear what happens with Circe. I may have to do a little work of my own!

I love morning glory also! Compared to things having atropine, i dont really think ā€œpoisonā€ when i think of it. The biggest concern is the seed coating when buying packs, and if youre working with their effects ritualistically, i think its beneficial to grow them yourself anyway. Even without the coating they can still cause intense nausea, but ive never thought of them as too worrisome - i work with them also :grin: But of course, do your own research and its good to have healthy caution!

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Very true. Thank you for your knowledge

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Oh and i had forgotten to mention Dionysus. He made a recent. He made a recent contribution to my work with poisons that resulted in a formulation i utilize almost daily. Alcohol wasnt it, though a poison of note also. Anyway, he deserves an honorable mention as a greek god concerning poisons, especially considering his connection to madness, which is shared by some of the venefic plants. :ok_hand::wink:

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Interesting. Would you recommend him for poison / alchemy work? Paracelsus has me enticed with the study of alchemy and poison.

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Hermes more for alchemy, but Dionysus and my relationship is fairly new, and the revelation he brought does have alchemical applications. Distillation is an alchemical operation, but Dionysos is more about the wine. I say its worth exploring though!

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Interesting. Yea I was thinking alcohol tinctures and dionysos was an interesting combo. How do you go about asking the gods for help? Simple prayer or ritual? If you dont mind me asking of course.

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I to attempt to reconstruct traditional Hellenic practice as a religion which intermingles with my magic work. One should consider that Hellenism was also a very locality dependent religion so different city states had different ways of honoring the gods and goddesses. But that is a consistency among hellenism - to honor the gods and goddesses so for me I build them shrines, I pray Ancient hymns or make up my own, acquire skills in their honor, and make votive offerings. The only holy day i keep consistently so far is the first three days of the lunar month - deipnon, honoring the agathos daimon and the noumenia, and i do my own stuff based on planetary days and where i think they fall it it isnt obvious (like Aphrodite gets special attention on Fridays).

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Thank you for all this. This knowledge will help me out quite a bit. Thank you.

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Hellenism is not dogmatic though, so i think how you ā€œhonor themā€ is up to you. You could
simply light a candle and burn some
incense, offer the scent to the god/goddess if focusing on an ouranic one/ or aspects, or pour wine into a hole if focusing in cthonic aspects (if they have them).

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youre welcome!!

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