So the following experience seems entirely appropriate given that the moon is basically full right now. Also it just occurred to me that the last time I went on a kind of pilgrimage to the wilderness, I kept encountering deer: they kept suddenly jumping up from nearby and running away, scaring the shit out of me.
I have been thinking about Artemis and Apollo a bit lately, and I have been wrestling with Artemis quite a bit. For some reason, I find her terrifying: there is something primal about her, sexual but untouchable and untouched, something about her as a goddess of the hunt but also the protectress of babies and children that just puts her close to the jugular vein of human existence, frighteningly close to our primordial origins. Maybe it’s the story of Aktaion, but to me, Artemis is fearsome and panic-inducing. She reminds me of the First Slayer, from a particularly weird episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: primal, destructive, female, savage, and above all a huntress.
I prayed to Artemis as I was putting my children to bed two nights ago–the night before I had my forgotten revelation from Artemis and her brother–and I felt a brief presence, malevolent and disapproving. It made me feel tight inside and frightened.
Last night, I was thinking about the experience, and feeling a bit anxious about it–I prayed to Artemis to ask for her forgiveness if I had done something to wrong or slight her, but the panic I felt became almost a tangible thing. I didn’t really know what to do. I will admit that I am no stranger to anxiety, and the dark and twisty fear I was feeling was not unlike other times I have felt varieties of anxiety attack, so I decided to use a meditative trick I have learned, and try to embrace the panic and feel its roots instead of trying to run away from it. Only I visualized it in terms of the goddess: instead of trying to run away from Artemis, in fear for my life, I decided to turn and face her, to be present to the goddess not in spite of my fear, but fully embracing my fear.
The panic went away immediately, and I was overcome by a powerful kind of euphoria–of the same general category of experience as I felt when I first experienced the divinity of Aphrodite, but of a different flavor. It was milder, lasted shorter, kind of a mini-mysticism. It was brief, more like a mini-contact than a full-blown spiritual euphoria, but it was warm, and it was good. Like for just a moment I was being touched by some incredibly powerful spiritual conduit–just a taste, nothing more. And the fear was completely gone.
I am resolved to make a sacrifice to Artemis, to thank her for her presence and to acknowledge her power.
Sailing to Byzantium 
I don’t know Her myself, but everything I’ve read from those who do tells me that She is not a Goddess for the faint-hearted…
why are you still sacraficing? what do you sacrafice? i have a deep love for artemis. she will be nice to you if your nice to her. much love
I have been worried about my unfulfilled vow of sacrifice for a couple of days, actually. I decided to make a sacrifice of incense, olives, and beer. I am not sure that they are necessarily things she loves, but they do not seem inappropriate, and they are things I love. So it’s a real sacrifice. The prayer and sacrifice seemed fitting, almost a release of tension and worry, nothing earthshaking but a warm but nevertheless nervous sense that my gifts were accepted and my vow fulfilled.
In any case, my interest in Artemis is quite high, but I am fairly wary of her. She is the only god/goddess so far that has really struck me as dangerous. Aphrodite and Dionysus are wild and furious, like tempests, but there is a cunning on the edge of malevolence to Artemis. She is a hunter, that’s for sure. And a fierce protectress, and I also have the distinct impression that she has chosen to protect my children specifically. For that, I have thanked her.
artemis is my favorite goddess. she IS somewhat “dangerous” at times that she gets angry, but being the goddess of children and the protectress of the wild and of animals, i have GREAT respect for her. i also look up to her in many ways, probably having to do with the fact that i’m female. she stands up for women in a way seeming to say “women can have a lot of power too”. also consider that artemis is apollo’s TWIN, as in almost equal i dare say. and we all should know how powerful apollo…
The experience that I had with Artemis was quite interesting… I was taken in a vision to a glade from my childhood. A beautiful place surrounded with a spruce and fir forest. I was waiting and all of a sudden a magnificent stag appeared out of the forest. He had a full rack of antlers and rippling muscles… He was so beautiful. He slowly walked towards me in the center of the clearing and stood looking at me.
I heard a female voice say “own your power”. The voice was imbued with such force and strength yet beautiful and young. I knew it was Artemis making herself known to me.
I fear Hekate, no relation to Artemis, for me She is wild, huntress, not malevolent, for me Gods arent malevolent or evil. =/