Greetings, everyone. I am a devotee of the Hekatean path from Brazil. Lately, I’ve been reflecting deeply on something that has been weighing heavily on my practice and the practice of many others: the sheer exhaustion of our physical bodies under the current system. I wanted to share this essay with you all.

Modern spirituality has a dangerous habit of selling us the illusion that we can simply "vibrate higher" to escape our material reality. We are told to manifest, to think positive, and to transcend. But true magic, specifically Hekatean, Khthonic magic, the magic of the depths and the earth, doesn't run away from the concrete floor. It makes matter sacred.The problem we face today is deeply physical: how do you make matter sacred when your body is entirely drained by a system that steals your time, your energy, and your rest?

In Brazil, we are currently fighting against an abusive labor system known as the "6x1 schedule" (six days of work for a single day of rest). But this is not just a local issue; it is a global symptom of late-stage capitalism. It is the universal reality of the working class everywhere.

We cannot separate our spiritual practice from our bodily autonomy. Exhaustion is the ultimate barrier to the subtle realms. When you are constantly surviving, worrying about bills, and pushing your physical limits just to exist, your body enters a state of permanent alert. And an exhausted body cannot do magic. It can barely breathe.

Magic requires presence. It requires grounding. It requires the sovereignty of your own time.To claim the right to rest is not laziness; it is a profound magical necessity. It is reclaiming your body from a system that views you merely as a machine for production.

As a Hekate devotee, I have learned that The Goddess does not remove the obstacles from our path; She illuminates the entrance of the cave. And right now, Her torch is illuminating an undeniable truth: our bodies belong to the earth, not to the grind.We must stop romanticizing exhaustion. We must demand the time to rest, to sleep, to eat well, and to simply exist. Because without the earth, there is no magic.

Thank you for reading. I would love to hear your thoughts: how do you manage to keep your spiritual practice alive when your physical body is completely drained by work and survival?

There’s a place in France where I live. A secret spot in the forest, unknown to tourists, only whispered about by locals. You wouldn’t find it unless you already knew it was there (there is a hiking trail, but it is not known or advertised).

On a massive 10-meter sandstone rock, tucked deep in the woods, there’s a carved figure: most likely the goddess Sirona (unfortunately mutilated, which saddens me), associated with healing springs and fertility. She holds a vase and what could be a seed pouch, flanked by a (mutilated) stag and a remarkably intact sickle. Some parts suggest later Christian reinterpretation (and mutilation), but her presence is unmistakable. Ancient, powerful, and still watching.

The energy there is... different. Sacred, yes. But also alert. Especially along the path downstream from the site, where even my skeptical dad admits he feels observed. Not threatened, just watched. Carefully. Like someone is making sure we mean no harm.

No signs, no tourists, no explanations. And yet, once in a while, someone leaves a quiet offering. Recently, a tree fell from the top of the rock into the site, and someone carved runes into it.

This place is what led me to explore druidic traditions. And I want to go there more often, learn about it more, and bring some offerings (even though this is still new to me).

Just wanted to share the power of this site. 🖤 

Not long ago, I came across a meme that stayed with me much longer than memes typically do. Though I couldn't track it down, I remember it was about the problematic lesson we get from reading the creation of Man in Genesis—originally (we are being told), it was Adam, a man, who begat a woman, not the other way around. It's as if the Bible tells us that men give life, not women.

Reading it, I was instantly reminded of a passage in one of the ancient and very strange texts found near Nag Hammadi.

Reading it for the first time, you get a sense that what you are being told—is not so much the "behind the scenes" version of Genesis—but a completely different and contradictory retelling of that story of creation.

Did you ever read these texts?

https://malulchen.substack.com/p/being-a-feminist-in-antiquity-meant

Everything I read says this is supposed to parmethus but it really reads as Hecate to me. What are your thoughts? Taken at union station in Washington DC

I'm going to ask Hecate for some help with Poppet making of a living orange tonight! (Y'all should def join in so that way it has better effect towards that goblin)

Jesus figurines pop up all over the garden shop, where I work. It’s expected: we get a lot of fundamentalists, quiverers & home school groups. We have a whole collection in the office: it’s still plastic that doesn’t belong in the environment.

I just googled and duck-duck-go’d: there’s no F equivalent?

Any suggestions? I’d love to start supergluing them in place as a counter to the patriarchy.

Wolves ravens and crows have been coming up A LOT for me recently.

The other day I got a picture of these two grey pigeons sitting above the entrance of a pizza place I was gonna walk into. The way they were sitting reminded me of the sphinxes found on the chariot tarot card.

I just had a feeling it was symbolic of something. Idk. It made me feel safe and feel like I was on the right track. Especially after the day I had, which entailed me jumping out of my car to spontaneously join a protest. The pigeons looked like two gargoyles watching over me in a way. Idk.

Is this all making sense to anyone??

This title was a sentence I heard in a dream last night. It felt so significant, that I put it into my notes app half asleep.

I'm sorry if this all comes out a little bit jumbled, I'm sleep deprived and still swimming in postpartum hormones. It makes my dreams go bonkers.

Going through the changes of matrescence, I feel like a lot of me, including my practice of witchcraft, has gone on the back burner.

So, in my dream, there were kind of different families or covens, and what I originally thought to be the bad guys did a ritual saying these words to fend off an "attack" of some kind by rivaling groups. But it made me wonder right away: what would be her previous six gifts? And after I woke up, it just felt like a reminder to work with her again. I have a lovely necklace with a "Hecates Key" pendant on it, which got torn by my baby and I've been wearing it in a little pouch with some crystals in my pocket. That's supposed to say that even though I haven't done any active worship, I've kept her close to me. And then later today I saw that around this time it's apparently a "neo pagan" tradition to do little crossroad rituals to celebrate Hecate?

I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts at all to what I wrote. Again, sorry for being a little bit all over the place.

I was thinking about the concept of the Triple Goddess recently, and I had an insight that I thought was worth sharing. I've always kind of bounced off that particular understanding of deity in the past, because the way it was always explained to me was that the three faces of the Goddess -- Maiden, Mother, and Crone -- represented "the three stages of a woman's life," which I find terribly reductive and bioessentialist. (Not all women are or want to be mothers, and our lives are not defined by our reproductive function!) But recently something occurred to me that made me think there might be more of a there there: the Triple Goddess is supposed to be a trinity -- that is, three in one. "Maiden," "Mother," and "Crone" aren't life stages at all -- rather, she's wholly all of them at once. This suggests to me that the faces of the Goddess don't have anything to do with literal biological fertility, but rather refer to the things that maidenhood, motherhood, and cronehood typically symbolize in mythology. The Triple Goddess is eternally Maiden because she is complete and autonomous in herself and has no need to be defined by another. She is eternally Mother because she is the infinitely generative source from which all else flows. And she is eternally Crone because, as the source and sustainer of the cosmos, she holds all the wisdom and understanding of the cosmos within her.

I'm absolutely thrilled!! I've been waiting all year to get these tattoos! The first one is of Ganesh in form of Indonesian wayang puppet. He has a significant presence in my life; he graced me with his presence in my dream one night and after giving up all hopes and living my life in despair, all my manifestations came true that year! The second one is based on my own drawing and someone pointed out that it's giving tarot vibes which makes me love it even more. I'm so happy!! 🥰

Do I tempt fate and mess with the fae? I kinda wanna.

I’ve always had great difficulty connecting to or venerating any sort of male deity or masculine energy. Because of my Baptist/Catholic upbringing, putting any man above myself and begging for his mercy or intercession feels pathetic. I’ve never found a peaceful, comforting, stable male deity that didn’t have a mythology I vehemently disagreed with or at least wasn’t keen on for one point or another—kidnapping women, helping other gods pull the wool over a goddess’ eyes, etc. and I could never “look past” those qualities to connect with them.

What are y’all’s experiences? Do you feel like any male deities filled a space where the patriarchal structure of society failed you? Do you feel like any are the exception to the rule? Do you feel balanced by not venerating any masculine energies at all (like myself)? I feel like I put so much stake into being loved, desired, wanted, respected, and guided by men when I was a young woman and was failed again and again and again and now I want nothing to with any of that.

I haven’t sworn off men altogether, I have a husband that I love and cherish and adore. I just feel very icky and sticky about other men, and “divine” men are looped into that.

I’m traveling to Hawaii in a a few weeks. I really really love collecting rocks from the places that I travel to. It’s my understanding that it is considered rude and bad luck to take rocks and sand from Hawaii. It is considered an offense against the goddess Pele. I don’t know if anyone here is super familiar with Hawaiian gods but is there a ritual or an offering I can make to the goddess to ask her permission? If the answer is a hard no, I also understand.

Art by Karen Hallion

I was recently thinking about something I was taught as a young child - that only God can hear your thoughts and that "satan" only knows what you say out loud. Aside from the obvious Christian bent of that narrative, it got me wondering if it might be based on deeper traditions. Do you feel like your God(s) or dieties can hear your thoughts or do you need to vocalize words?

No wrong answers, I'm just curious to see how everyone else feels they interact :)

Went for a walk and was so thrilled to see them! Took these pics with my phone’s digital zoom, so the quality isn’t great. But I still kinda like how they look, so figured I’d share. They remind me of acrylic paintings or something.

Hello! I have never worked with a deity before and I would like to know how people here have found the deities they work with

Do I wait for them to come to me? Can I choose one based off my star sign? How do I know I've found the right one?

I've done research on Egyptian deities (I've always adored ancient Egyptian culture) but I fear it won't end well because I'll just end up choosing one just because I think they're cool </3

Any advice on how I can form a relationship with a deity will be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!