Artemis

Blessing: Artemis’ blessings are wildness, self-reliance, physical prowess, cunning, skill, and closeness to nature. She protects the innocent, especially the wild creatures of the forest, but also pregnant women, children, and those who are just. She punishes wrong-doers, especially those who offend the Gods through hubris or unremitting pride.

Epithets: Agreia (Hunteress), Agrotera (of the Wilderness), Arktos (the Bear), Cedreatis (Cedar), Daphnaia (of the Bay Laurel), Delia (of Delos), Eukleia (Glorious), Hegemone (She Who Leads), Karytis, Keladeine (Sounding [of the chase]), Koruthalia (Laurel-Maiden), Kynthia, Laphria (of the Hunt), Leukophruene (White-Browed), Limnatis (of the Marshes), Lokhia (Protector in Childbirth), Lygodesma (Willow), Megale (Great), Ortheia (the Upright), Parthenos (the Virgin), Phoebe (Shining), Phosphoros (Lightbringer), Potnia Theron (Mistress of the Animals), Puronia (Fiery), Sosipolis (Savior of the City), Soteira (Savior), Tauropolos (Bull-Hunter)

Equated with: Diana, Hekate, Bast, Anat, Anahita

Associations: bow, moon, torches, all wild creatures, but especially deer, bears, boars and the female of the species, moonstone, pearl, crystal, damiana, almond, mugwort, hazel, frankincense, jasmine, ginseng, camphor, aloe, menstrual blood

Festivals:
Festival of Artemis Leukophryene (6 Artemisios)
Kunègia (6 Xanthikos)
Thargelia (6-7 Daisios)

Ways to honor: The best way to honor Artemis is to care for the natural world. Clean up pollution, protect wildlife, donate time and money to ecological concerns. But don’t just do it from your safe cities: actually get out into the wild, and experience the natural world. Go on nature walks, go for picnics, camp, hunt – but get outside! If you eat meat, respect the animal that it came from. Hunt, if you can. Be mindful of what the animal went through, and the intimate connection that exists between its death and your life, even if you can’t. Be respectful of personal space, privacy, and of women-only spaces. Support pregnant women, children’s rights, and women’s sports.

See Also: Unbound: A Devotional Anthology for Artemis, released by Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the publishing arm of Neos Alexandria.

Ancient Texts:

Excerpt from Description of Greece by Pausanias

Excerpt from Homeric Hymn V (To Aphrodite)

Excerpt from Life of Alexander by Plutarch

Excerpt from Metamorphoses by Antoninus Liberalis

Excerpts from The Histories by Herodotus

Homeric Hymn IX (To Artemis)

Homeric Hymn XVII (To Artemis)

Hymn to Artemis III by Callimachus

Orphic Hymn II (To Prothyraia)

Orphic Hymn XXXVI (To Artemis)