Many folks have different traditions and therefore believe in an afterlife or reincarnation. For the Hellenic Pagan it is a place called 'Elysium Fields, much like that of the "Summerlands' in the Celtic/Wiccan tradiition and/or heaven for the Catholic/Christian tradition. Elysium Fields is a place in Hades where those who have followoed 'their oaths and lived a good spiritual life go. One must have been virtueous and done good deeds and are fond in favor of the Gods! It is a place where the Gods and Heroes go to live their life out their lives. I wanted to share what I have learned of this place with you here on Covenspace and give you referrence material as well so that you may read for your self more on this wondeful place. The read is legnthy but is also references classic literature and geographical places where 'Elysium Fileds' are found. Happy read:)!
In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Underworld (also referred to as the Elysian Fileds). "Elysium is an obscure and mysterious name that evolved from a designation of a place or person struck by lightning, enelysion, enelysios ( Walter Burkert 1985 p. 198) Alternately, scholars have also suggested that Greek Elysion may instead derive from the Egyptian term ialu (older iaru), meaning "reeds," with specific reference to the "Reed fields" (Egyptian: sekhet iaru / ialu), a paradisiacal land of plenty where the dead hoped to spend eternity.
The Elysium fields, or sometimes Elysian plains, were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous. Two of Homeric passages in particular established for Greeks the nature of the Afterlife: the dreamed apparition of the dead Patroclus in the Iliad and the more daring boundary-breaking visit in Odyssey. Greek traditions concerning funerary ritual were reticent, but the Homeric examples encouraged other heroic visits, in the myth cycles accreted upon Theseus and upon Heracles (Campbell 1948; Ruck and Staples 1994).
The Elysium Fields lay on the western margin of the earth, by the encircling stream of Oceanus (Odyssey), and there the mortal relatives of the king of the gods were transported, without tasting death, to enjoy an immortality of bliss (Odyssey iv: 563). Lesser spirits were less fortunate: an eerie passage describes the twittering bat-like ghosts of Penelope's slain suitors, led by Hermes:
"down the dank
moldering paths and past the Ocean's streams they went
and past the White Rock and the Sun's Western Gates and past
the Land of Dreams, and soon they reached the fields of asphodel
where the dead, the burnt-out wraiths of mortals make their home"
Hesiod refers to the Isles of the Blessed (makarôn nêsoi) in the Western Ocean (Works and Days). Pindar makes it a single Isle. Walter Burkert notes the connection with the motif of far-off Dilmun: "Thus Achilles is transported to the White Isle and becomes the Ruler of the Black Sea, and Diomedes becomes the divine lord of an Adriatic island." (Burkert 1985, p. 198). Pindar makes it a single island:
And those that have three times kept to their oaths,
Keeping their souls clean and pure,
Never letting their hearts be defiled by the taint
Of evil and injustice,
And barbaric veniality,
They are led by Zeus to the end:
To the palace of Kronos,
Where soothing breezes off the Ocean
Breathe over the Isle of the Blessed:
All around flowers are blazing with a
Dazzling light:
Some springing from the shining trees,
Others nourished by the water from the sea:
With circlets and garlands of flowers they
Crown their hands,
Ruled by the steadfast councils of
Rhadamanthys:
Rhadamanthys,
The great Judge,
Whom the Father,
The husband of Rhea,
Whose throne is higher than all:
The great Father keeps him by his side,
His loyal advisor.
Peleus and Kadmos both are there,
And Akhilleus, brought there by his mother,
After she had conquered the heart of Zeus with her Prayers
In Elysium where fields of the pale liliaceous asphodel, and poplars grew, there stood the gates that led to the house of Ais (in Attic dialect "Hades").
Elysium in Literature
Among the poets to interpret Elysium is Virgil, who describes an encounter there between Aeneas and his father Anchises. Virgil's Elysium knows perpetual spring and shady groves, with its own sun and lit by its own stars solemque suum, sua sidera norunt (Aeneid book vi:541).
Elysium was a pagan expression that passed into the usage of the Christian patristic writers, simply a synonym for paradise.
Some confuse a Dantean idea of the Elysian Fields with Limbo - he described Limbo as the very upper level of hell, a place of peace that the unbaptized and the non-believers who lived virtuous lives go. It is a place of happiness, but it is closed off from God and thus remains as hell.
In the Renaissance, the heroic population of the Elysian Fields tended to outshine its formerly dreary pagan reputation; the Elysian Fields borrowed some of the bright allure of paradise. In Paris, the Champs-Élysées retain their name of the Elysian Fields, first applied in the late 16th century to a formerly rural outlier beyond the formal parterre gardens behind the royal French palace of the Tuileries.
After the Renaissance, as images of Valhalla entered the popular European imagination, an even cheerier Elysium evolved for some poets. Sometimes it is imagined as a place where heroes have continued their interests from their lives. Others suppose it is a location filled with feasting, sport, song; Joy is the "daughter of Elysium" in Friedrich Schiller's Ode to Joy.
When in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night shipwrecked Viola is told "This is Illyria, lady.", "And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium." is her answer, and "Elysium" for her and her first Elizabethan hearers simply means Paradise.
In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Opera Die ZauberflÅte (the Magic Flute), Elysium is mentioned in Act II during Papagino's solo while he describes what it would be like if he had his dream girl: "Des Lebens als Weiser mich freun, Und wie im Elysium sein." (Enjoy life as a wiseman, And feel like I'm in Elysium.)
The New Orleans neighborhood of the Elysian Fields mentioned in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire is ironically the declassé purgatory where Blanche Dubois lives with Stanley and Stella Kowalski. The Elysian Fields of New Orleans are the second act setting in the second act of Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine.
In the fictional writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Undying Lands, the home of the gods, elves, and a select few others, and is based on stories of Elysium. A combination of Olympus and Elysium, the Undying lands can only be reached by crossing the western sea, much like one would have to cross the stream of Oceanus to reach the underworld in greek mythology. The latter could be more related to the Fortunate Isles myth.
Elysium in Neopaganism
Many Neopagans today, particularly Hellenic neopagans in the United States, have what most would consider a new-age view of Elysium. Elysium is seen as a multi-layered paradise, or Heaven, to many modern neopagans. Some believe that the outer layer of Elysium is composed of great and beautiful fields, often envisioned in imaginative descriptions as having green glowing blades of grass and bubbling springs of glowing water and wine, often made from the nectar of Ambrosia. Beyond the fields of Elysium, reserved only for the most righteous and virtuous, is the Golden City where spirits exist in a state of constant euphoria. Whether or not such beliefs are based in actual mythology often seems rather unimportant to many neopagans. Most claim that old myths are simply mortal accounts and interpretations of the divine, but the same could be argued about any current beliefs regarding Elysium.
"Geographic" Elysian Fields
In Nova Scotia, Canada, a rural community near Minudie, on the Bay of Chignecto.
Elysian Fields is also part of the 14th fairway on the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. Elysian Fields has long been said to be the flatest fairway on an otherwise undulating seaside golf course.
Extrasensory perception (ESP) is the ability to obtain information beyond the limitations of our five known senses. ESP happens normally in everyday life, like when you simply have a feeling something important is going to happen for no reason and it does. Feelings of "de ja vue" are believed to be forgotten precognition dreams. ESP can be divided into many smaller categories, but the three most common are telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.
Telepathy, the best known form of ESP, is the direct transmission of messages, emotions, or other subjective states from one person to another without the use of any sensory channel of communication. In other words simply sending a message from one mind to another. Telepathy is particularly strong between people who have an emotional bond and works best in times of stress. It can be as simple as knowing exactly what someone wants for dinner without discussing it earlier or as complex as knowing when someone close to you is in danger and needs your help. An interesting example of telepathy comes from a young woman who woke around 2:00a.m. with an urgent feeling that she had to go see a friend who she was very close with. When she finally went to see her friend later that day they started, and she found out that about the same time of morning her friend had been fighting off a rape attempt.
Clairvoyants can often foretell plane crashes, major fires, or even earthquakes. Clairvoyance is the least common of the three extrasensory perceptions mentioned in this article, mainly because it cannot happen on command. Sights of clairvoyance come suddenly and cannot be controlled, and they are not often recognized for what they are. Here is an example of clairvoyance that at first was thought nothing more then a strange and disturbing nightmare. Once a young man who was very close to his grandfather, but they lived thousands of miles apart and rarely saw each other. This man awoke one morning hearing his grandfather calling his name. He opened his eyes and thought he saw his grandfather sitting on the side of his bed crying. He asked what was wrong and his grandfather told him that he had come to say goodbye, and that he loved him. With that said the image disappeared. The young man was very disturbed by this, but eventually fell back to sleep. When he awoke he thought it was all a bad dream and went to work. After he got home that evening he received a phone call from his sister telling him that their grandfather had passed away around 1:30 that morning. Clairvoyance is also called second sight and is defined as the foretelling of future or past events, or of knowing of something that is happening a great distance away at the same time as the clairvoyant is 'seeing' it happen. Clairvoyance is said to occur most often in a state of trance, during which the medium (clairvoyant) describes what he or she sees or foresees. Such as a man living in the U.S. and watching a building burn down in England in his own mind.
Precognition and clairvoyance are closely related. Precognition is the foretelling of events before they happen, but this usually takes place in dreams, whereas clairvoyance often happens when the person is wide awake. A man named Michael was planning a trip up north to the English provinces. A few days before the journey he had a vivid dream in which he saw himself speeding in his car when suddenly there was a sharp turn in the road. He saw another car's headlights coming around the corner and they ended in a head on collision. Taking his dream seriously he drove more cautiously on his trip. When he recognized the road from his dream he slowed and therefore avoided hitting a car, head on, that came around the turn in the wrong lane.
An ESP experience can take the form of a hunch, an uncanny feeling, an intuitive impression, or it can be stronger and more defiant, such as a flash. an image, or auditory signal, a warning voice, or vision, depending on your own make up and inborn talent as a receiver. Everybody has an extra sense beyond the five known senses relied upon. It is very easy to find information on telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition in your local library, and even to find tests to see which form of ESP you possess. Now is the perfect time to learn more about your extra sense!
This article was posted by M. Harris of Pacific Junction, USA & Written by M.A. ALLEY
Note: This is intended as a guideline only, the dreamer has to consider what the color means to them and what connects most importantly to the dream symbol.
Red is a color of power. It is most associated with passion and love, as in red roses or sexy red dresses. Kissable red lips and a glass of red wine for toasting, red strawberries and raspberries on a plate. Negative - blood, corruption
Orange is an unusual color, a color of fire, of tropical fruits and island sunsets. This color represents adventure, change, unusual situations. Negative - an unwanted change.
Yellow is a bright, happy color, the color of sunshine, of daffodils and buttercups. It represents joy, fun, laughing out loud. Negative - illness, as in jaundice and yellow skin.
Green is the traditional color of growing things, of fertility, of fresh young plants and fresh grass. It also represents wealth and money. Negative - greed, green with envy.
Blue is the color of great expanses - the deep blue sea, the wide blue sky. It represents peace and harmony, of patience. Negative - Sadness, the blues.
Purple is a spiritual color, representing spirituality, religion, self belief, self empowerment. Negative - Sadness.
Brown is a rich, earthy color, the color of fertile soil to grow vegetables in. The color of chocolate and tall trees and acorns. It is a color of solid dependability. Negative - Dullness.
Black is a color that has many meanings. To some it means death and destruction, the lack of all. To others it means the comfort of night, the warmth of a snuggly black blanket that keeps you safe. Black is definitely a color that you need to look within yourself to find how you react to this color.
White is equally a color that has unique meanings to each person. While many may feel it represents the fresh, innocent bride, the brand new baby, the dawn of a new day, white can also be the impersonal hospital, the cruel, harsh teacher, the white expanse of a harsh desert.
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology and folklore, as well as in science fiction and fantasy. In its broadest sense, it is a change in the physical form or shape of a person or animal. Other terms include metamorphosis, morphing, transformation, or transmogrification.
There is no settled agreement on the terminology. Still, the most common usages are:
·shapeshifting indicates changes that are temporary[1]
·metamorphosis indicates changes that are lasting[2]
·transformation indicates changes that are externally imposed[3]
Shapeshifting is distinguished from natural processes such as aging or metamorphosis (despite shared use of the term), the body contortions of animals such as the Mimic Octopus, and illusory changes. Instead, shapeshifting involves physical changes such as alterations of age, gender, race, or general appearance or changes between human form and that of an animal, plant, or inanimate object.
Shapeshifting, transformations and metamorphoses serve a wide variety of purposes in classical mythology.
Proteus among the gods was particularly noted for his shape-shifting; both Menelaus and Aristaeus seized him to win information from him, and succeeded only because they held on during his manifold shape changes.
While the Greek gods could use transformation punitively - as for Arachne, turned to a spider for her pride in her weaving, and Medusa, turned to a monster for having sexual intercourse with Poseidon in Athena's temple - even more frequently, the tales using it are of amorous adventure. Zeus repeatedly transformed himself to approach mortal women, both as a means of gaining access:
More innocently, Vertumnus transformed himself into an old woman in order to gain entry to Pomona's orchard; there, he persuaded her to marry him.
In other tales, the woman appealed to other gods to protect her from rape, and was transformed (Daphne into laurel, Cornix into a crow). Unlike Zeus and other god's shape-shifting, these women were permanently metamorphised.
In one tale, Demeter transformed herself into a mare to escape Poseidon, but Poseidon counter-transformed himself into a stallion to pursue her, and succeeded in the rape.
Humans were also transformed, for many reasons.
Tiresias once saw two snakes mating and struck the female with his staff; this transformed him into a woman, and he lived as such for many years. At the end, he saw the snakes again, and this time was careful to hit the male, which restored him to male form.
Caenis, having been raped by Poseidon, demanded of him that she be changed to a man. He agreed, and she became Caeneus, a form he never lost, except, in some versions, upon death.
As a final reward from the gods for their hospitality, Baucis and Philemon were transformed, at their deaths, into a pair of trees.
Pygmalion having fallen in love with a statue he had made, Venus had pity on him and transformed the stone to a living woman.
In some variants of the tale of Narcissus, he is turned into a flower.
After Tereus raped Philomela and cut out her tongue to silence her, she wove her story into a tapestry for her sister, Tereus's wife Procne, and the sisters murdered his son and fed him to his father. When he discovered this, he tried to kill them, but the gods changed them all into birds.
Sometimes metamorphoses transformed objects into humans. In the myths of both Jason and Cadmus, one task set to the hero was to sow dragon's teeth; on being sown, they would metamorphosize into belligerent warriors, and both heroes had to trick them into fighting each other to survive. Deucalion and Pyrrha repopulated the world after a flood by throwing stones behind them; they were transformed into people.
Material derived from text 'The Real Witches Year' by Kate West. A book of spells, rituals and mediatations for every day of the year.
One of the older accusations levelled against Witches was the raising of storms, especially with a view to wrecking ships at sea. Sailors in some places will still 'buy the wind' from a Witch before setting out.
Many 'spells' are taught in attempt to bring good weather. Probably the most common of these is the chant, " Rain, rain, go away, come back an other day, " so as to maintain the balance of wet and dry. I have come accross, " The clouds are sheep, the wind's a shepard, shepard take your sheep away, " which should be repeated three times facing the wind.
Whilst children may want to keep the rain away, lest it spoil their outdoor games, spells to produce rain are just as useful. Douse a cat in water and let it shake itself outside to bring showers. Similarly, douse a besom and shake it into the wind. Rain sticks can be bought or made for this. Ours is so effective that we keep it well out of reach unless really needed! To raise the wind, perhaps to dry your washing, stand with your back to the clothesline and whistle into whatever slight breeze there might be. Of course, the ability to 'whistle up the wind' has long been said to be a sure sign of a Witch.
To conjure sunshine place 7 orange candles in a circle with one gold one in the center. Light the orange candles starting from East, moving clockwise around the circle, lighting the center one last.
