Winter and chthonic deities in death witchcraft

Winter is the perfect time of year for death witchcraft! Nature is in hibernation, the world is cold, the energy of life slows down and the wind sounds mournful. Here are some deities you can invoke:

Inanna (aka Ishtar, Astarte): Despite being a multifaceted Goddess, Inanna can help you figure out how to handle most challenges from which you may need to emerge changed. Look into her myths to see the vast range of energies she also represents.

Khepra: This beetle-headed God represented rebirth into a new existence. Call on his nocturnal form when you feel the need to let a part of yourself die so that a new part may be reborn. Wear a scarab beetle charm or ring to remind yourself of such an endeavor.

Kore/Persephone: Innocent Kore was dragged into the Underworld by Hades and eventually tricked into becoming his consort for part of each year–for what became the cold months. Upon the realization of her new role, she took on the name Persephone. Call on Kore when you feel blind to the effects of some forces in your life. Call on Persephone when you need guidance with a new part of your life that has begun and which you want to control.

Anubis: He can help one achieve an understanding of the Underworld, in part because his godform has been called to perform just such aid in the past. His jackal eyes possess much wisdom, and through the loop of his ankh one can see eternity and the souls who live on.

Ereshkigal: as a darker aspect of a powerful Goddess, Ereshkigal reminds us that Death is not evil, just another aspect of existence. Some of the melancholy nature of Death as a being comes through in her tale, for Ereshkigal did not choose her role. She was handed it, and must perform it to maintain the cosmic balance.

Hades/Thanatos: Interestingly, Hades is described as ruling over an Underworld where either the dead can be in happiness (like the Summerland) or surrounded by lesson-teaching sorrows they’ve brought on themselves (the low realm). Invoke him to understand this aspect of the hereafter. To understand the process of moving on, you’d do better to call on Thanatos, who may very well be just another face of Hades, as Thanatos has been called the Lord of the Dead, and not just one who ushers them away.

Three Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos): The three fates symbolize the afterlife process that souls go through. Invoke them to learn about each phase of the process. Clotho creates our “life thread,” or helps us pick the kind of life we need to enter. Lachesis measures the length of it, determining how many important challenges and learning experiences will come our way. Atropos cuts the life thread to carry us back to the afterlife when it is all over, making Atropos another type of traditional Death.

Taken from pgs 214-216 of Nocturnal Witchcraft by Konstantinos, 2002, Llewellyn Worldwide Books