The Carnation Collection

Submissions

Hermes, the Messenger of the Greek Gods, informed us the Goddess of Magic is calling for writers of adult age and older, to contribute to a collection of short stories, poems, and essays she is weaving together with her fellow goddesses. What is this collection about, you may ask?

Well, let the goddess tell you herself. Her message is below:

To all who would contribute,

I am Hecate, the Goddess of Magic, and I call forth any souls brave enough to contribute to this collection. I present you with a challenge: Tell me who you are.

I do not mean who the world says you are.

I mean how you see yourself, when nobody is looking. 

Who are you in your heart?

Who are you in your soul?

Who are you, in the privacy of your inner world?

In that sacred place nobody can see but you? How do you imagine yourself? How do you… create yourself? 

Perhaps you are an aeronaut floating through the astral plane. Or perhaps the great scientist who broke the barrier into space travel. Maybe you are a witch! Maybe you are a lion! Maybe you are Buddhist monk! Maybe you are an adventurer, a mother, or a leader of your own nation.

Perhaps you are even the great goddess of magic!

Oh wait, that would be me.

I know who I am. 

I want to know who you are. 

It can be as simple as a stone or as fantastic as a galaxy. I will not judge you and I can guarantee that what you share will be handled with the utmost care. 

My fellow goddesses and I, we have fought for who we are and where we stand. Each one of us earned our power and we will not relinquish it for anything. It is our hearts. We fought for our truth, and now, we want to hear yours. We want to hold yours. We understand your truth is just as sacred as ours. Brave soul, if you so choose to take up this challenge, you will find below each goddess. With each one, you will find a message. 

Choose which goddess you feel kinship with. Choose which goddess you trust to protect your truth. She will hold it as sacredly as their own. We have only one stipulation. Be kind. To those around you, as well as yourselves.

We understand, my darlings.

Be yourself in any way you can.

I hope we can help you along the way.

Regards, truly,

Hecate

The Goddesses and their message:

Hera—Queen of the Gods. Goddess of Marriage, Women, and Childbirth.

“If you were to choose me, I am indeed the Queen of the Gods. I am indeed temperamental. I play a dual game of grace-and-regality as well as tooth-and-knife. That is what it is to rule Olympus. But just as women have fought and struggled, I have as well. What they have been through, I have been through. I have watched them from the days when marriage and childbirth were their only game to now, when they  can work and rise. If you choose me, know that I rule and I want that for you too.”

Demeter—Goddess of the Harvest and the Cycle of the Seasons

“If you were to choose me, please know that I am a mother first. Everything I do is to help my people thrive. The land is my child, as much as my daughter, as much as the human souls I work so hard to keep alive. The cycle of the seasons is my music, the harvest is my song, and I have taught all who I love to dance with me. If you do my dance respectfully, the world will give you life. If you choose me, please know that I only wish to nurture you and watch you grow.”

Hestia—Goddess of Hearth and Home

“If you were to choose me, please know that you don’t need to hide from me. Home is where the heart is. All those centuries ago, the hearth was the heart of the home. It was the fire that kept the family alive. Things have changed since then, but home is still where you feel safe and loved. It can be outside or inside. It can be with others or alone. I am still a homebody, now and always. Even on Olympus, when the family gathers around my hearth, animosity falls away. We love each other and that is enough. If you choose me, your safety and joy is all that matters to me.”

Artemis: Goddess of the Moon, the Hunt, and the Wilds

“If you were to choose me, you should know that I think pretenses are stupid. I want you to be your authentic self, even if you piss me off. Nature is my domain. The wilds are my home. And just as my moon can see all your secrets, lying to nature is a fruitless effort. We run with the animals, we bathe in the rivers, we hunt to survive. And we think, feel, say, and do what we want. I am free here, among the towering trees. I can breathe out here. I only wish every person could know this relief, and this freedom. If you choose me, your true self is the best thing I will ever see.”

Athena: Goddess of Wisdom and War 

“If you were to choose me, you should know I make no decisions until I have all the facts. In my realm of war rooms and politics, I gained my renown because my strategy is always direct, clear, and correct. However, this game is a sloppy one played by flawed players. The majority of them are greedy, selfish, and play for ulterior motives. Council rooms from Ancient Greece to modern day senates all sound the same song, but I engage in my trade the right way for the right reasons. I do not say a word, let alone call for war, unless I have all the facts. If you choose me, I know that is a calculated decision on your part and I will treat your words with the wisdom and respect it deserves.”

Persephone: Goddess of Spring. Queen of the Underworld.

“If you were to choose me, you would be choosing darkness, as well as light. Life and death, to be precise. Duality is my nature, and everything in between. I am the cycle: as I descend below as Queen, leaves turn gold and scarlet, they decay into the earth, the veil thins, and snow falls. As I rise as the Vernal Goddess, the earth warms, the rains fall, color returns to the world, and life blossoms and blooms. I love all my souls in my kingdom below and I love all the life I rebirth into the world. Yet, I am intense and very often misunderstood. I am very often feared. But I will hold your hand as you walk through the cycles of life, just as I have and I still do. Sometimes my love is kind and sometimes my love is firm, but it is all to help my souls and my season grow. If you choose me, please know I can see your soul and I will hold love for it, no matter what you have been through or what you have done.”

Aphrodite: Goddess of Love, Art, Pleasure, and Sex

“If you were to choose me, well, sweetheart, I would admire you greatly. I am not for the faint of heart. I ask nothing more or less of you, then to love. I am love, you see, but do you know what that means? It means my reach has no limit. It means I love the forsaken and the great. I love the broken and the whole. I love the ugly and the beautiful. To me, truly, there is no difference. Just as I love all of myself, including the dark parts I would rather not look at, I ask of you the same. That is why I am so feared by many. From the realm of love, there is no good and evil. There is just you and what your soul needs. The balancing of the heart is an act of sensitivity and strength; the balance of opposing forces so they can work together. If you choose me, you should know that I will love all of your beautiful heart, in all its kindness and savagery.” 

Instructions for Submission

The intended audience for this anthology is adults.

We are looking for stories no more than 10,000 words, poetry no more than 40 lines, and essays under 5,000 words with a chosen Greek goddess as inspiration. Accepted manuscript formats are google docs and Microsoft word.

Please submit all manuscripts to brittany@wild-ink-publishing.com with the following subject line formatting:

Subject: Carnation Anthology – (insert goddess name), (type of manuscript; short, essay, poetry, etc.)

Please also be sure to include a synopsis of your manuscript within the body of the email submission, and a brief bio about yourself.

Deadline for all submissions is set for February 14, 2023.

Note: This is not a paying anthology and there is no fee to submit.

Reach out! We would love to chat.