As one of the primordial deities, I feel that the Goddess Nyx is vastly under-appreciated. The Greeks didn’t spend much time worshipping Nyx, even though she rules the entire element of night!
In the Ancient Greek creation story, one of the first elements to exist was night. In fact, night was synonymous with the Goddess Nyx, from whom many of the other gods were created. Nyx came before even day or light! Some cults even believed that she had given rise to everything in the Universe, including the earth, other gods, and humans.
Nowadays, some witches do work with Nyx, but she is still underrepresented. She’s a terrific goddess and can be kind as well as stern.
Nyx can help us uncover the deepest truths in our unconscious mind and learn how to be comfortable during the night and in shadow times. After all, she represents all things misty, vague, and formless.
Today I’ll go over the history and myths that include the Goddess Nyx, then I’ll talk about the signs you may notice if she’s reaching out to you and how to work with Nyx in a spiritual or magical sense.
The Goddess Nyx In History & Myth:
In the Greek pantheon, Nyx is an elder deity, though she wasn’t primary to the Greeks. In fact, there are no Temples dedicated to Nyx. She only received a few small statues scattered throughout Greece.
Nyx is a Primordial, which means that she existed (as a deity) from the beginning of time. In fact, she is the daughter of Chaos, the first being. Some tales even say that Nyx herself was the first being and from her came everything and everyone else.
In Greek mythology, Nyx is the mother to many children, including Hypnos (the god of sleep), Thanatos (the god of death), Geras (old age), Nemesis, and the Moirai, more commonly known as the Fates.
The goddess Nyx has so many influential children that one can only guess at her powerful she is herself. In mythology, Nyx chose to reside in the Underworld and didn’t ask Hades for permission.
However, she specifically resides in Tartarus, which is the deepest place in the Underworld (and in the world in general) and is a center of suffering and torment, where the other Titan prisoners live. Unlike the Titans, Nyx herself chose to live here, and made herself available to those who were brave enough to seek her out for divination purposes.
While Nyx resides in one of the most terrifying places, she isn’t depicted as evil. In fact, she’s quite moral. She is the goddess of night and presides over dreams, sleep, and even beauty, depending on the myth.
Nowadays, Nyx is linked to Hecate, the goddess of magic, witchcraft, and crossroads. Witches flock to both of these goddesses in order to understand powers that function under the shadow of darkness.
Nyx was the most well-known, in Ancient times, for riding across the sky and bringing night after a long day. Though she wasn’t particularly worshipped, she was often thanked for her services to provide a time of rest.
Common people, according to one Roman source, welcomed Nox, as she was called in Latin. The coming of night meant an end to a long day of toil and well-deserved rest at home.
Nyx’s Appearance:
The Goddess Nyx has many appearances, but she is most often portrayed as a young woman with black hair, wearing a black cloak made of stars and surrounded by a dark mist. Sometimes, she wears a veil instead of a cloak.
Nyx is often shown riding in a chariot, too, pulled by either black horses or black bulls. She rides through the night sky wearing her cloak and paints the night sky with stars. In these depictions, she is usually accompanied by her two sons, Hypnos and Thanatos.
She is occasionally depicted with large, black wings that she uses to fly through the sky instead of the chariot. She also appears with cats from time to time.
Because the Goddess Nyx is a primordial, she didn’t have as much clear characterization as other elements. She’s thought to simply represent night, so even her appearance is a bit murky. She can even appear only as mist or as night itself.
In general, the Goddess Nyx dresses in dark colors and often shades her face. She represents all things formless, so she can change form at will, but her truest construct is night itself.
Nyx’s Powers:
Firstly, Nyx controls darkness and night. She is ultra-powerful here, yet her powers were never clearly defined by the Greeks. She simply exists as night itself and spreads darkness throughout the world at the end of every day.
Nyx is the goddess of night, so it makes sense that she is also the mother of the gods of sleep, dreams, and death. She represents rest, darkness, and endings.
However, Nyx is known for her prophetic powers. In myth, she gave oracles from a cave and was thought to be extremely psychic. Tarot cards and other ancient divination methods are linked to Nyx.
The goddess Nyx can manipulate thoughts but she can also reveal the truth. She’s a wonderful deity to call upon when you need to reveal your truest essence or gain a deeper sense of awareness. If you’re looking to reveal the truth of a situation, Nyx can also be a wonderful goddess to call upon.
If you choose to work with the goddess Nyx, she can teach you how to prophecize the future, how to discover hidden answers in your own mind, and to discern those truths which feel the most vague and shadowy.
How Do You Know If The Goddess Nyx Is Calling To You?
Although you can theoretically call upon a deity with extensive amounts of worship, deities often reach out to us when they want to work with us.
The Goddess Nyx tends to reach out in very subtle ways. It can be difficult to determine if she’s the goddess reaching out to you, but there are specific tells.
Some of the indicators that Goddess Nyx is reaching out to you include:
1. You feel a strong connection to the night. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t afraid of the dark, it just means that you feel peaceful at night, or maybe you feel as though nighttime is especially important in some way.
2. Symbols like the stars and the moon appear to you. If you see these symbols pop up over and over, this can be an indicator that Nyx is reaching out to you. However, if you’re only seeing the moon, you will want to consider the Goddess Selene or another moon deity, as Nyx represents night as a whole instead of just the moon.
3. You love learning about Nyx. Researching a specific deity over and over is often an indicator that they’re trying to contact you. However, you’ll need more symbols than just this, as we can be interested in deities who we are too similar too instead of deities we can learn from, as well.
4. You want to go within and uncover things in your unconscious mind. If you’ve been delving deeper into your locked memories or unconscious mind lately, then Nyx may be around you. She’s very good at helping her students deal with their most unconscious thoughts, belief, and trauma. However, remember that this can be painful, so you should be 100% ready to work with her!
5. You’ve dreamed of the Goddess Nyx. If you’ve had any dreams about Nyx or even about night in general, then she may be reaching out to you. Remember that Nyx can take any form, including dark mist or night itself. Any dreams that seem odd or random should be considered. If you’re not sure whether or not you had a legit dream, check out this post that details the different types of dreams and how to tell the difference between them.
How To Work With The Goddess Nyx:
Although Nyx is the queen of darkness and lives in a shadowy world, she is surprisingly willing to work with humans. Like any deity, she’s very strict and requires absolute honesty, so you should know what you’re getting into before you start worshipping Nyx.
Many witches call upon Nyx in their darkest hour. While she is the goddess of night, she is also able to reveal the light at the end of the tunnel. She can teach you that darkness is nothing to be afraid of, that darkness cannot exist without light.
Nyx is also a wonderful goddess to call upon if you’re working on your divination skills, particularly those relating to prophecy and the future. She can help you learn about Tarot readings, crystal ball work, other types of scrying, meditation, and even pendulum practice. She’s known to teach astrology, particularly relating to the night sky. However, you must be willing to do the inner work as well, or you can find yourself in over your head.
If you’re ready to connect with the deepest parts of your mind, then you’re ready to call upon Nyx. It’s OK to be afraid, but know that everything will be revealed to you, both good and bad. After all, Nyx is all about the duality of light and dark and shows us that not all dark things are bad.
When you’re working with her, the goddess Nyx can feel rather soft or gentle. She is formless, like the dark mist of night, but she can turn very quickly if you ignore the work of the shadow self.
So, how do you actually contact the goddess Nyx?
First of all, you’ll want to give her some offerings. This is simply respectful when working with deities and is a good way to establish a connection.
Some of the best offerings for Nyx include:
- Night-blooming flowers
- Incense (relating to night/darkness)
- Red wine
- Dark spirits
- A dark veil
- Dark chocolate
- Dark berries
- A black cat statue
- Symbols of her children (scissors, skulls, symbols of sleep, etc.)
- Anything relating to the moon
- Selenite
- Moonstone
- Symbols of stars
- Black Onyx
- Agate
- Statues of owls
You can also dedicate your divination tools to Nyx as an offering.
I personally like to start with a simple offering such as incense or a stone or statue. The goddess Nyx doesn’t require anything too fancy, but she will want to know that you’re putting effort into this work.
You can also put a symbol of Nyx under your pillow in order to have prophetic dreams. However, as the goddess of the Nyx (and a deity who lives in Tartarus), be aware that you may have some “dark” dreams, simply because you’re opening up your mind to the darkest pit of the world in dreams.
Next, I recommend looking for signs that Nyx is willing to work with you. These signs may come through dreams or through small associations in real life.
You can certainly do a meditation to see if you can connect with the goddess Nyx, too. Astral travel can be especially helpful here, but even regular meditation can work.
It can be especially helpful to give an offering before working on divination. After all, divination is the specialty of the goddess Nyx.
When you’re working with a deity, you’ll need to keep your eyes open for signs over time. Deities will influence your life in very subtle ways, so even though it might feel like they’re not around, you’ll find yourself being pushed to work on things that fall under the domain of the specific deity.
Nyx will often push you to work on:
- Divination
- Astrology
- Mental health healing
- Shadow work
- Cursing and hexing (if you desire)
- Dream work
- Self mastery
- Stars/stellar magic
- Revealing the truth
- Finding your inner power
- Facing your fears
While there are no constraints, I do recommend that you attempt to work with Nyx at night. After all, night is the only time she is out!
One caution: although Nyx can be soft and kind, she doesn’t like laziness. Make sure that once you contact her, you’re willing to do the work and go the distance.
