Hekate’s Haven

Much like Australia's own Emu in the sky, here we have the Ñandú in the night sky. The Ñandú (or Rhea) are large ratites (flightless birds) in the order Rheiformes, native to South America, distantly related to the ostrich and emu (image source: Fefo Bouvier).

The night sky has a spectacular lineup waiting for you:

🌗 June 8 – Last Quarter Moon
🪐 June 9 – Venus shines near Jupiter
🌙 June 10 – Moon meets Saturn
✨ June 12 – A beautiful Planet Parade featuring Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury

Grab a blanket, find a dark spot, and enjoy the wonders above with family and friends. The universe always has something amazing to show us!

"The Sumerian Tablet That Lists the Seven Powers Taken From Humanity — And Who Still Holds Them

In the restricted storage wing of the British Museum, past the Assyrian reliefs and the Babylonian boundary stones, there is a climate-controlled room that does not appear on any public floor plan. Constant temperature, humidity locked at 40% on shelf 14C of cabinet row seven, cataloged under the designation K.
20100, sits a clay tablet slightly larger than an adult hand, recovered from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh by Layard's expedition in 1851. The standard museum record describes it as a mythological fragment, Old Babylonian copy, partial preservation, variant of the descent of Inanna cycle. The general structure of these texts is well known.
The goddess Inanna descends through the underworld, passes through seven gates, and at each gate something is removed from her. A garment, a piece of jewelry, a symbol of divine authority. The standard interpretation treats this as allegory. Death and rebirth, seasonal cycles, temple ritual. That reading has held for over a century.
The problem is that K2100 does not describe garments. The word that standard translations render as ornament is written on K2100 as a compound Sumerian term that translates most accurately as a power embedded in the body, not an object removed from the outside, a capacity extracted from within. And the tablet lists seven of these capacities individually, with a description of each, with the name of the deity to whom each was transferred after extraction, and with a direct statement that humanity once possessed all seven and now holds none.
If the Sumerians were writing poetry, they chose extraordinarily specific language. If they were recording something else, then what was taken from us, and who still has it? The Sumerian word the tablet uses ME, one of the most debated terms in the cuneiform lexicon. Mainstream Assyriology translates ME as divine decree, a vague theological concept representing abstract forces that govern civilization.
The standard reading treats the ME as symbolic, metaphors for cultural institutions like kingship and priesthood. But the cuneiform on K2100 does not support that reading. The tablet enumerates the seven ME as functional capacities with physiological descriptions. The first is nam kuru, the power of seeing what is distant, described not as wisdom, but as a function of the eye and the back of the skull, a capacity to perceive beyond the range of ordinary vision.
The second is nam gis tukku, direct knowing without instruction, the ability to absorb complex information without being taught. The third is nam shub, the power of the spoken command, not rhetoric, but a capacity for speech to alter physical reality, for sound to affect material structures. The fourth is nam till a, which translates literally as the power of living without end.
The text is specific. Biological processes that do not degrade, cells that replicate without error, a body that does not age. The fifth is nam en, the power of sovereign connection, the ability to communicate between minds without spoken language. The sixth is nam igi gal, the power of seeing what is hidden, perceiving the interior of solid objects.
And the seventh, given the longest description, is nam me lam, translated for decades as divine radiance, but described on K2100 as a field generated by the body that repels harm, prevents disease, and makes the bearer immune to physical damage. Seven capacities, described in physiological terms that read less like theology and more like a technical inventory of capabilities removed from a species and redistributed to its creators.
And the tablet names every recipient. The redistribution section of K2100 is the part that no mainstream translation has fully published. Partial renderings exist in academic footnotes accompanied by disclaimers that the passage is too damaged for reliable interpretation. The tablet is damaged......read more 👇

Vishnu Beyond the Stars: The Eternal Preserver of Infinite Worlds ✨🌌

In Hindu tradition, Lord Vishnu is revered as the divine preserver who sustains cosmic order across countless ages. Inspired by sacred teachings from the Puranas and the concept of an infinite universe woven through Hindu philosophy, this artwork portrays Vishnu amid celestial realms, holding symbols of protection, wisdom, and divine harmony. 🌺✨

The lotus represents purity and spiritual awakening, the conch symbolizes the sacred sound of creation, and the discus reflects the power that upholds dharma. Across generations, devotees have looked to Vishnu as a source of guidance, balance, and hope in an ever-changing world.

⚠️ Disclaimer:
This artwork is AI-generated and symbolically inspired by Hindu cultural and spiritual traditions. It is shared purely for artistic and inspirational purposes, with deep respect for Hindu beliefs and heritage. This piece is a symbolic interpretation meant to invite personal reflection and appreciation—it does not claim historical, factual, or religious authority. 🙏✨

In Hoodoo, much like the belief in mermaids in the African Diaspora in general, the average mermaid is seen as a mystical creature. Sometimes, the mermaid is considered a powerful haint. Sometimes, if she likes you, she will adore and fiercely protect you. Mermaids are seen as half human and half fish or snake-like.

If you are a child of water/Mermaids (to be a child of the Mermaid means the Mermaid is your guardian), or if the Mermaid takes a liking to you, it's said you must be careful when traveling by water, swimming in large bodies, or you just might be taken under. One may ask why the water would take a child of water or of a Mermaid. Well, one reason is because they're the child of water and they love their children and want to be together, or you may have a deep connection and attraction to the water spirits, and they're simply attracted to you. If you call, they may come.
One recorded event in Hoodoo lore is the story of Sukey and the Mermaid published in (1992). Sukey called on Mama Jo the mermaid after running away to the water. Mama Jo promised a magical kingdom beneath the sea without pain and no sense of time. Mama Joe has been published in lore before 1992 it's seen in lore in the 1920s as well, but told well before then.

In Hoodoo, if a mermaid decides to protect you, the mermaid will not like you to be unhappy and and will attempt to bring you to a happy place in the water.

It is also known that even in Hoodoo, you must ask for blessings to sail or fish in the waters, and you can't just take from the water, or else payment is asked for. I've seen these beliefs are pretty much across the board, especially in Africa and her Diaspora.

It is important to know the stories of tradition because they give lessons, give valuable advice, and help paint the logic and concept of the people. African American tales serve the same purpose in Hoodoo, just like lores in any other culture.

Here is one of the most famous stories about how to handle a mermaid. Yes, you read that right, there is a concept of mermaids in Hoodoo. The stories passed down from the people, no matter the tradition, play a big part in understanding the tradition.
Below is a well-known Hoodoo tale.
Sam and the Mermaid 🧜‍♀️ 🧜🏿‍♀️🧜🏽‍♂️

Before they had any steam, ships were sailing by sails, you know, across the Atlantic. The Atlantic was fifteen miles deep, and there were mermaids in those days. And if you called anybody’s name on the ship, they would ask for it, say, “Give it to me.” And if you didn’t give it to them they would capsize the ship. So the captain had to change the men’s name to different objects -hatchet, ax, hammer, furniture.

Whenever he wanted a man to do something, he had to call him, “Hammer, go on deck and look out.” The mermaid would holler, “Give me hammer.” So they throwed the hammer overboard to her, and the vessel would proceed on. The captain might say, ” Ax, you go on down in the
kindling room start a fire in the boiler; it’s going dead”

Then the mermaid says, “Give me ax.” So they have to throw an iron ax. Next day he says, ” Suit of furniture, go down in the stateroom and make up those beds.” And the mermaid yells, “Give me a suit of furniture.” So they had to throw a whole suit of furniture overboard.

One day he made a mistake and forgot and said, “Sam, go in the kitchen and cook supper.” The mermaid right away calls, “Give me Sam.” They didn’t have anything on the ship that was named Sam; so they had to throw Sam overboard. Soon as Sam hit the water she grabbed him. Her hair was so long she could wrap him up -he didn’t even get wet. And she’s swimming so fast ha could catch breath under the water. When she gets home she goes in, unwraps Sam out of her hair, says: “Oooh, you sure do look nice. Do you like fish? Sam says, “No, I won’t even cook a fish.” “Well, we’ll get married.” So they were married.

After a while Sam begin to step out with other mermaids. His girl friend became jealous of him and his wife, and they had a fight over Sam. The wife whipped her, and told her, “You can’t see Sam never again.” She says, “I’ll get even with you.” So one day Sam’s girl friend asked him didn’t he wont to go back to his native home. He says yes. So she grabs him, wraps him in her hair and swum the same fastness as his wife did when she was carrying him, so he could catch breath. When she come to land she out him onto the ground, on the bank. “Now if he can’t do me no good he sure won’t do her none.” That was Sam’s experience in the mermaid’s home in the bottom of the sea.

Then ho told the others how nice her home was, all fixed up with the furniture and other things. There weren’t any man down there -guess that’s why they ain’t any mermaids any more. Sam said they had purple lips just like women are painted today.

You see pictures of mermaids with lips like that. In old days people didn’t wear lipstick, and I think they got the idea from seeing those pictures.

Sam told the people the mermaid’s house was built like the alligator’s. He digs in the bank at water level; then he goes up -nature teaches him how high to go- then digs down to water level again, and there he makes his home, in from ten to twenty feet long. The mermaid builds in the wall of the sea like the alligator. Sam stayed down there six years. If he hadn’t got co`ting he’d a been there yet, I guess.