I feel like I have to tell this to someone...

[Wanderer022]

You might want to explore the possibility of ties to Bast, Sekhmet, and Freya since you have a cat oriented personality. The various deities don't seem to have a problem with belonging to different pantheon while working with some of the same people.

Snow

Sounds interesting, I'll absolutely look into it.

[Fae]

You might want to explore the possibility of ties to Bast, Sekhmet, and Freya since you have a cat oriented personality. The various deities don't seem to have a problem with belonging to different pantheon while working with some of the same people.

Snow

I love this idea, since I too am a cat person. I had 12 at one point, mostly fosters. Over the years all but one have found amazing new homes, but it's almost too quiet around with just her. Although the queen definitely prefers it that way, she gets her devoted human slave (me) all to herself.

Wanderer, sorry I can't do multiple quotes from my tablet, but this is in response to our discussion:

And jeez, over 20 cats, I can't imagine!! Well, I probably can, but I shouldn't entertain those thoughts. It's really freeing to be able to talk to other people about this stuff isn't it? I've been. Pretty lucky regarding my family, and consider myself sort a hereditary witch, since my family has roots as far back as I can trace. Some to lesser degrees than others, but one of my earliest memories is of my mom reading tarot for extra cash at our kitchen table. I am currently the only practicing witch though, and my family has sort of stopped practicing as a whole.

Living in the northeast there aren't as many strict religious types around, but there is still a pretty good stigma surrounding it. This one friend I've had forever and is pretty open minded always said he believed and would teasingly call me a witch. One day I tried admitting it in a roundabout sort of way and he basically thought I was nuts. Such is life I suppose.

[Wanderer022]

To Fae:

I could never come out with it, even though I haven't been a Pagan long. Everyone here would think I'm satanistic. I'm really interested in witchcraft as well, mainly because the Good witch movies have piqued my interest. But I've read Cunninghams books as well which also interested me.

I really do wish I can practice witchcraft, not necessarily wicca. Although I have done quite a bit of reading I don't really know where to begin. Still need to learn some more.

[Nova13]

Thanks everyone, I will update.

I've done some reading, and some searching for pictures (because I want to draw the God and Goddess), and I think She might be Aphrodite. If it is Her, it's interesting that a Goddess of love and beauty would choose me also. I don't have a very good self esteem. Never had. I don't think I'm beautiful.

Ever since starting to pray to the Goddess, I've started doing things for myself I don't do nornally. Taking better care of myself, dressing up, doing my nails, and with a permanent marker, writing all the good things about me on my hands and arms. Weird I know.

But I've always believed that the deities choose us because we need something They have.

I've actually found that if I suffer from something, maybe something I really notice, like body image or something really small like, I'm not letting go of something small, which ever god I need at the time will ... inform me that i need them. So i think if you have poor self esteem that Aphrodite would be all over you.

You might want to explore the possibility of ties to Bast, Sekhmet, and Freya since you have a cat oriented personality. The various deities don't seem to have a problem with belonging to different pantheon while working with some of the same people.

Snow

I love Bast and Sekhmet (and Freya, but I've found that Bast and Sekhmet are more prone to work with my cats)! They are such wonderful Mama Cats! I found this on the internet a very long time ago and it's always stuck with me.

Eye or Horus
Tooth and claw
Bast will nurture
Sekhmet will awe

I also live in a tiny town, with a single digit pagan population. Be strong!

[Lord_of_Nightmares]

On the same note... if it's Aphrodite - how come I'm always associating Her with the moon and nature?? Hehe. My Goddess is very confusing.

I thought it was Her because I saw an unusual picture of Her online when I was looking for references for my drawing. When you Google Aphrodite goddess, a picture of Her comes up where She stands half naked, Her long red hair flowing in the wind, by some sort of tree or in nature, with two little children with Her.

This picture is almost exactly the one I see in my minds eye when I pray to the Goddess. Except the children aren't there. And I didn't see that picture until yesterday. So I now think it might be Her, but I'm not sure if just seeing a picture is a legit claim. Haha

Aphrodite is a complex goddess. She was originally the Sumerian goddess Inanna who became the Babylonian Ishtar. (Ishtar being the same as the Canaanite Asarte.) She was not just a goddess of sex, love, fertility, and beauty. But also of war. This attribute was lost in transition to becoming Aphrodite. However, Hesoid, I think it was described Aphrodite as "war like" and her former war status is probably the reason she hangs out with Aries a lot, the god of war. (She gave birth to Phobos (fear) and Daimos (dread) by Aries, btw.)

She is associated with the moon, and if you go by Sumerian lore her father is the moon god Nanna. (She is the Queen of heaven and earth, concerns both the fertility of animals and plants, which maybe why you see her with a tree.) She also has magical and underworld associations.

Ishtar has a night goddess form that was mistaken for Lilith, called killil, in which she is depicted standing on lions or ibexes and flanked by owls. This is thought to represent Ishtar's decent into the underworld. Since she controls Liltih (Lilitu) who is her handmaiden and Lilitu seems to be modeled after her, she is associated with prostitution, the earth, death, the wind, the underworld, the wilderness, the night, and sex and so forth. (Google the Burney relief for the image. It has nudity so I cannot post it.) Lil2 in Sumerian means "wind" and also connects to the night, which is why it appears in both Lilitu's name, who is a night spirit, and Kilili's name.

As for the sea connections, this is the mythology of Pisces with Eros and Aphrodite in it. I would not call Aphrodite a sea or water goddess per se though. But it is one of her many associations. (Also, Isis is the patron of sailors.)

Later in Greco-Roman history Aphrodite merged with Roman (Egyptian?) Isis to become Isis-Aphrodite. Some reject this merging, but it confers to my UPG (unverified personal gnosis; my spiritual experiences that are not "facts".) with Isis so I do not. I also have UPG that Aradia, the Italian witch goddess, in Leland's Aradia: Gosepl of Witches is her as well. (Leland does connect Isis and Aradia in the appendix of the same book.)

I always saw her in Greek clothing, purple Greek clothing, adorned in white jewels. She called herself Isis to me usually, but mentioned these other names (Ishtar/Aphrodite) before I researched the subject. I usually see her with black hair, and it is curled. This would be because the Sumerians called themselves "the black headed ones", I think. But depictions of her in the Greek and Roman worlds do have her painted more as a red haired and rarely a dark blond. I guess she is like Lady Gaga and changed her style up a lot, I dunno.

Anyway, I hope this helps. If you need some stuff on researching Aphrodite, hit me up.

[Wanderer022]

On the same note... if it's Aphrodite - how come I'm always associating Her with the moon and nature?? Hehe. My Goddess is very confusing.

I thought it was Her because I saw an unusual picture of Her online when I was looking for references for my drawing. When you Google Aphrodite goddess, a picture of Her comes up where She stands half naked, Her long red hair flowing in the wind, by some sort of tree or in nature, with two little children with Her.

This picture is almost exactly the one I see in my minds eye when I pray to the Goddess. Except the children aren't there. And I didn't see that picture until yesterday. So I now think it might be Her, but I'm not sure if just seeing a picture is a legit claim. Haha

Aphrodite is a complex goddess. She was originally the Sumerian goddess Inanna who became the Babylonian Ishtar. (Ishtar being the same as the Canaanite Asarte.) She was not just a goddess of sex, love, fertility, and beauty. But also of war. This attribute was lost in transition to becoming Aphrodite. However, Hesoid, I think it was described Aphrodite as "war like" and her former war status is probably the reason she hangs out with Aries a lot, the god of war. (She gave birth to Phobos (fear) and Daimos (dread) by Aries, btw.)

She is associated with the moon, and if you go by Sumerian lore her father is the moon god Nanna. (She is the Queen of heaven and earth, concerns both the fertility of animals and plants, which maybe why you see her with a tree.) She also has magical and underworld associations.

Ishtar has a night goddess form that was mistaken for Lilith, called killil, in which she is depicted standing on lions or ibexes and flanked by owls. This is thought to represent Ishtar's decent into the underworld. Since she controls Liltih (Lilitu) who is her handmaiden and Lilitu seems to be modeled after her, she is associated with prostitution, the earth, death, the wind, the underworld, the wilderness, the night, and sex and so forth. (Google the Burney relief for the image. It has nudity so I cannot post it.) Lil2 in Sumerian means "wind" and also connects to the night, which is why it appears in both Lilitu's name, who is a night spirit, and Kilili's name.

As for the sea connections, this is the mythology of Pisces with Eros and Aphrodite in it. I would not call Aphrodite a sea or water goddess per se though. But it is one of her many associations. (Also, Isis is the patron of sailors.)

Later in Greco-Roman history Aphrodite merged with Roman (Egyptian?) Isis to become Isis-Aphrodite. Some reject this merging, but it confers to my UPG (unverified personal gnosis; my spiritual experiences that are not "facts".) with Isis so I do not. I also have UPG that Aradia, the Italian witch goddess, in Leland's Aradia: Gosepl of Witches is her as well. (Leland does connect Isis and Aradia in the appendix of the same book.)

I always saw her in Greek clothing, purple Greek clothing, adorned in white jewels. She called herself Isis to me usually, but mentioned these other names (Ishtar/Aphrodite) before I researched the subject. I usually see her with black hair, and it is curled. This would be because the Sumerians called themselves "the black headed ones", I think. But depictions of her in the Greek and Roman worlds do have her painted more as a red haired and rarely a dark blond. I guess she is like Lady Gaga and changed her style up a lot, I dunno.

Anyway, I hope this helps. If you need some stuff on researching Aphrodite, hit me up.

So many associations and deities! My head is exploding hahahaha. Well She still hasn't told me Her name so, I'm currently just calling Her Lady, Goddess. I used to call Her Great Mother or Loving Mother when I first met Her, but now Lady or Goddess sounds better. More fitting.

Whoever She is, I'm sure She had good reasons for choosing me The Aries thing also really makes sense because I am born under Aries. And I do have all of the typical Aries traits except one, I'm not a leader. I'd rather let someone else lead. My personality itself is quite dominating though. And I'm also very, compulsive, impulsive? Not sure which one (english is not my first language). I jump into things really quickly without thinking. Which is why my head is exploding. Because now I'm learning so much stuff in such a short period of time about my religion. I have information overload hahaha.

[Wanderer022]

Oh right sorry, you were talking about the Aries god, not Aries star sign hehehe. My bad. See I told you I have information overload!!

[Wanderer022]

Thanks everyone, I will update.

I've done some reading, and some searching for pictures (because I want to draw the God and Goddess), and I think She might be Aphrodite. If it is Her, it's interesting that a Goddess of love and beauty would choose me also. I don't have a very good self esteem. Never had. I don't think I'm beautiful.

Ever since starting to pray to the Goddess, I've started doing things for myself I don't do nornally. Taking better care of myself, dressing up, doing my nails, and with a permanent marker, writing all the good things about me on my hands and arms. Weird I know.

But I've always believed that the deities choose us because we need something They have.

I've actually found that if I suffer from something, maybe something I really notice, like body image or something really small like, I'm not letting go of something small, which ever god I need at the time will ... inform me that i need them. So i think if you have poor self esteem that Aphrodite would be all over you.

You might want to explore the possibility of ties to Bast, Sekhmet, and Freya since you have a cat oriented personality. The various deities don't seem to have a problem with belonging to different pantheon while working with some of the same people.

Snow

I love Bast and Sekhmet (and Freya, but I've found that Bast and Sekhmet are more prone to work with my cats)! They are such wonderful Mama Cats! I found this on the internet a very long time ago and it's always stuck with me.

Eye or Horus
Tooth and claw
Bast will nurture
Sekhmet will awe

I also live in a tiny town, with a single digit pagan population. Be strong!

That quote is so awesome!

I have actually told my brother and my sister. They seem fine with me being pagan, probably because they are too. Hahahaha. They however, believe that everything is myth until proven. So they don't mind. My sister told me as long as something enriches my life its worth pursuing. They are far away though so still nobody in my town I can tell.

[Lord_of_Nightmares]

Oh right sorry, you were talking about the Aries god, not Aries star sign hehehe. My bad. See I told you I have information overload!!

Ah well, isn't it associated and named for him? I remember asked Aphrodite's horoscope as a joke once, and she told me it was Aries. Haha. so not off the mark?

[Wanderer022]

Oh right sorry, you were talking about the Aries god, not Aries star sign hehehe. My bad. See I told you I have information overload!!

Ah well, isn't it associated and named for him? I remember asked Aphrodite's horoscope as a joke once, and she told me it was Aries. Haha. so not off the mark?

Awesome! Hehehe

[Fae]

To Fae:

I could never come out with it, even though I haven't been a Pagan long. Everyone here would think I'm satanistic. I'm really interested in witchcraft as well, mainly because the Good witch movies have piqued my interest. But I've read Cunninghams books as well which also interested me.

I really do wish I can practice witchcraft, not necessarily wicca. Although I have done quite a bit of reading I don't really know where to begin. Still need to learn some more.

Aww, I'm very sorry to hear that, but I can relate. While I could tell my mom's side of the family I haven't yet, although not for any particular reason. Other than that one friend, an ex of mine knows since I sort of outted myself after one too many glasses of wine when he made a comment(probably as a joke) about my familiar. He didn't care one way or another, but has since moved and we've lost touch. So I definitely understand the "long witch" feeling.

As for wicca and witchcraft, there's no rule you have to be a wicca. I identify as witch and not wicca, although I really can't put into words why since I've always followed the same basic principles, and fully embrace the harm none philosophy. As you continue your learning and path of knowledge I'm sure you'll embrace your own ideals about witchcraft and how it pertains to you on a daily, spiritual, and religious level. My honest advice is to do what feel natural to you. When you think you're ready to put your knowledge into practice, you probably are ready, but only you can decide that. Start with smaller spells and build up your confidence and skill. Read through the forums on topics that interest you and learn as much as you can. It's a beautiful journey, and I'm sure you'll end up learning a lot about yourself in the process.

And to lady lilith, thank you for sharing more about Aphrodite and her ties to other pantheons. It's fascinating and explains some questions that recently popped up with me.

[Wanderer022]

To Fae:

Yeah witchcraft has piqued my interest ever since watching The Good Witch movies. Of course some of it is just fiction, but I found that a lot of it is accurate too. Ever since then I've been really wanting to learn. I know where to begin, just not sure how to begin. If that makes sense. Haha

But I feel like I still need to do some more reading before I get into it. At first I was really into finding crystals, like passionately into it (again typical Aries, just jump into it!) Where I live is not a lot of variety though and that deflated me somewhat. But I got 2 as a gift from someone. I got a Rose Quartz (love and healing crystal, Aphrodite, is it just me or do these coincidences just keep adding up??) And I also got a Tiger's Eye. I also got candles, and the rest I sort of pick out of nature when I make an altar.

Since then the enormous "need" for crystals have passed (ever since I figured out they are not compulsory for practicing magick) and I've been more focused on learning about the pagan holidays since. I still need to figure them out since I'm living in the southern hemisphere the dates are different. There's so much to learn, but me being me I want to learn EVERYTHING NOW at this instant!! Hehehe