u/MnM066

Long story short, my wife is immigrating to my country, and we applied earlier this year. We also have hired a lawyer to help this go as smoothly as possible. Right now we are in a waiting period, and have yet to hear anything beyond “we received your request.” So there’s really nothing we can do right now. I know these things take time, but the pain of being an ocean apart is genuinely so difficult to handle. According to what I saw on the website processing times are roughly 1.5+ years.

I am looking to make an offering to a deity in hopes of speeding up the process. Whether it’ll work or not, I don’t know, but I want to do something to feel like I’m helping the process along. I feel so powerless right now.

I am thinking of praying and leaving an offering to Hermes or Zeus or both. I know Hermes has associations with travelers and Zeus has associations with hospitality and protection of foreigners (of course that’s simplified). I’m trying to look into epithets for them, for Zeus I was thinking Zeus Xenios and for Hermes I was thinking Hermes Eriounes.

If I’m remembering the formula correctly, generally you would open the prayer by invoking the God’s name(s) and mentioning what they are known for (myths and such), describing your relationship to the deity and any previous deeds you have done in their name/offerings you have given, and closing with your petition (or praise though this would be a petition) and perhaps a promise for a future offering.

So, to the main point of this post. I haven’t practiced in a long time, and when I was practicing it wasn’t really a reconstruction of the ancient religion, it was more….loosey goosey I suppose. I want to do this properly though. I’m not necessarily nervous about “messing up” but I still want to make sure I’m doing it correctly. Is this the correct formula? I’ve been reading more books and trying to do more research, but I’m also not the best when it comes to research, so I just wanted to make sure. And if it is, since I haven’t really practiced lately, for the part of the formula of describing your relationship to the god/previous deeds, how would you recommend going about phrasing that part? I don’t really have anything to go off of in terms of past deeds….is there something I can replace that part with? Or can I just cut it out?

As for the ending, I would like to make a promise of a future offering as well. At the time of the prayer I do plan on making a libation, but in terms of a future offering, I was thinking about donating to an organization that aids immigrants (not sure of an exact organization but it’s something I’ll look into). It has a connection to what I am asking for, and has connections to Zeus and Hermes. I’m not sure if it’s an appropriate offering or if it is tied to anything historical, though, and was hoping for some insight into that.

To summarize, I’m hoping for some insight into how to go about the part of the prayer formula where you mention your relationship and deeds when you don’t have a history to go off of, as well as whether donating to a charity would be an appropriate future offering.

If anyone has any other insights into this that would be much appreciated!! If there are any other deities or epithets that would be useful I’d love to hear them. The mundane aspect of my situation is handled, my goal with this is just to try to help speed the process along, to at minimum feel like I’m doing something.

Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this and comment, I hope you all have a blessed day/night!!

I cannot stand working register anymore. I hate it with a burning passion. This past week especially has just been awfully, maybe I’m PMSing or maybe I’m burnt out, or both, whatever. Either way, I cannot stand having to force a smile and have a conversation with people I genuinely don’t care to talk to. Most of them aren’t too annoying but it’s still so insanely draining. Earlier this week I had an older lady with a caretaker come in, I have a bit of a line and I’m on my own at the front, the old lady comes from the side to ask me a quick question, she wanted to know if we had any drink holders that clip on to a walker (she gestured to the one on her walker for reference). I told her I was pretty certain we did not but I’d double check. She asked me to call someone to the front so they could see it too. Whatever. I asked over my ear piece the question as I’m handling a customer, and getting asked questions from another customer who came up to me from the side. I didn’t call someone up because they have other shit to do, why call someone to the front to take a look at something when I can explain perfectly fine over the ear piece? It took a couple minutes to get an answer because the volume was low and the person responding usually talks quietly into the ear piece, also I’m handling a million things at once. Once I was finally able to get a clear answer, the old lady yelled over to me from the end caps near the back of where my line had grown to. I told her that I was informed we didn’t have any, and she was like “well you could’ve told me that!” all snippy as she slowly walks out with her caretaker. The woman I was helping at that moment looked at me and I looked at her and I just whispered “I just did” and the woman (who was probably 30s/40s, I believe she had some young kids with her) was like “jeez she sees you have a lot going on, a little patience would be nice” and it’s just like…..she yelled at me literally a second after I had received an answer….and she had walked away while I was checking so it’s not like I had her clear in my sight….wtf

Also earlier this week, I had a woman who was like in her thirties buying some art supplies, crayons, markers, etc. She had a pack of 25 paint brushes, but she said it was opened when she found it so she wanted to count just to make sure it was all there. She did that as I rang up the rest. There were 24. She was like “you know I don’t normally do this but my mom taught me it’s the right thing to do. It’s missing a piece and would like a discount on it.” At first I thought she was joking because of the way she was phrasing it and her tone so I laughed gently and she was like “I’m being serious” so I told her I’d ask my manager as I can’t be the one to make that decision. My manager comes over and handles her, customer makes her case, manager says no, customer makes a big stink, over not getting a discount on choosing a pack of paint brushes that’s missing literally one. But the funny thing. She kept looking over at me and winking/doing that side smile that says “watch this”????? Like she totally seemed she was making a big deal out of it just for fun, just because she could, not because she actually cared… there were two customers likely in their 60s or older after her, and after she left they the guy was like “I don’t know how you handle that, I had to take a step back myself” and the lady kept saying we need more patience and kindness towards each other, that the other customer was super rude for no reason. I get it, the entire product is not in the package, I can understand not wanting to pay full price. But come on. It was less than $10, you’re only missing 1 out of 25 pieces (the missing piece we found later on on the floor🙄), that reaction was totally out of proportion, ESPECIALLY since she was just reacting for fun. Like what the actual fuck????

I’m so insanely burnt out. I can’t fake a smile anymore. I can’t pretend to laugh at the same jokes anymore. I had an interview this morning at a job at my aunt’s work which is in a totally different field, she’s been there for almost as long as I’ve been alive so i trust it will be good in terms of management and all that, it’s completely hands on work with no customer interaction. One of the things I like at my current job is working the photo counter producing custom photo products. So while it’s not quite the same I’m excited to work in this environment where it’s crafting products and parts with my hands. I really hope it comes through. I need it so bad. Last night I was so tempted to walk out of work and never look back. But that’s not exactly professional. It’s so exhausting. I know you all get what I mean. I just can’t do this anymore, it’s been so hard finding jobs not in retail with no experience. I need out