Dark wineMyrrhA debt paidAn apology made properlyThe thing returned
Invocation Approach
Tone
Level and unhurried
Address
NemesisLady of RhamnousDistributor of Dues
Relationship
The measure that arrives after the boast
Warning
She is not karma and she does not teach lessons she collects
Resonance
Those who have been wronged and those who are about to be proud
Symbols
WingsApple branchWheelGriffinVeil
Mythology Summary
Nemesis is the goddess who gives each person their due, and her particular target is hubris, the excess that thinks it can go unmeasured. Hesiod makes her a daughter of Night; at Rhamnous in Attica she had a great temple and a festival, and the statue there held an apple branch. She is not the shape of law, which is Themis, nor the verdict once spoken, which is Dike: she is the recoil the world makes when a limit is crossed.
Modern Practice
Nemesis is called on when a wrong has to be named and answered, and when a success has begun to feel unbounded. The practice is unglamorous: state the debt accurately, pay what is yours, and do not ask her to humiliate someone on your behalf.