Divine Multiplicity

Harm None?

Posted on July 21, 2019 by terraakhert

In my time on the Pagan part of the Internet I’ve seen plenty of posts about whether or not you have to be vegan in order to be Wiccan, or whether or not it’s OK to euthanize a critically injured animal. I’ve even seen people go as far as to say non vegans practicing Wicca aren’t actually Wiccans at all. What it basically all boils down to is the true meaning of “harm none”. It’s actually impossible to go through your life without causing any harm.

You harm microbes when you wash your hands and when you clean. You squash ants when you walk. If you eat meat then an animal had to die. If you are a vegan then a plant in many causes had to die. They are living things as well. Vegetables and other crops must be planted, the equipment used for this kills mice and bugs who live in the fields. Bugs hit car windshields, animals accidentally hit by cars and so on and so on.

My point isn’t to be depressed or upset by this harm. Animals can’t go through their life without harming others either, it’s just the world we live in. The Rede is very important but it’s not the be-all end-all. It’s not our version of the 10 Commandments.

It is extremely good advice, something to strive for in our lives. Do not however expect perfection, do your best to be a good person and to minimize the harm you cause but realize that you will cause harm to someone or something just in the course of living. This doesn’t make you a bad person or a bad Wiccan. This makes you human. The world isn’t black-and-white, it’s filled with shades of gray.

I remember a couple years ago a person had started a thread in a Wiccan group I was a part of on social media. Essentially the woman was interested in taxidermy and crafting jewelry out of bone, claws and other animal parts, all humanely sourced from natural deaths. Inevitably someone started a second thread about this talking about how shocking and “unWiccan” this was. How “disgusting” this person must be and how they are wannabes for “enabling this behavior” and that they should “go read some Wiccan books”.

To be quite blunt? It struck a very raw nerve with me.

Honestly this narrow mindedness and absolute refusal to acknowledge the natural world (which includes death) while proclaiming to honor it is why other Pagans bash us Wiccans. People of different traditions have always used animal parts in jewelry and sacred ritual, our god (The Horned God) is even a hunter! Heck, The Goddess is often portrayed as one too.

By judging others for engaging in practices that are not causing undue suffering and are in accordance with their own traditions people like that are the ones who aren’t acting Wiccan. Other disrespectful and insulting comments on threads such as this one? How about “Read some Wiccan books”? Which ones? Just the ones that agree with your thinking or any of the hundreds published by different authors with different opinions?

What of people whose ancestors are Native American and have used animal products in jewelry and sacred rituals since the beginning of their people? I am in no way comparing any form of Wicca to any Native tradition but that kind of Puritanism towards other belief systems makes me all kinds of uncomfortable.

Welsh Goddesses: Blodeuwedd

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Jak Casey - Writer

Image by terraincantata

One of the most well-known Welsh goddesses isn’t even listed in the Mabinogion as a goddess. She is instead listed as the wife of Llew Llaw Gyffes, a son of Arianrhod. In the story, Arianrhod essentially curses her son, saying he will have no name unless she gives it to him, he will not bear arms unless she gives them to him, and he will have no earthly wife.

Llew’s uncle is a magician who helps Llew by tricking Arianrhod into naming him and giving him armor and weapons. The wife was a whole other issue.

In the end, Llew’s uncle forms a woman’s figure out of flowers. He then uses his magic to give her life, and so Blodeuwedd is created, an unearthly woman. Her sole purpose is to be Llew’s wife.

After they had been married for a time, Llew went away for several days. During that time, hunters come through his lands. Blodeuwedd, being a good hostess, invites the hunters to spend the night at her castle, which they gratefully accept. At dinner, she sees the lord who is the head of the hunt and falls deeply in love with him, as he does with her. They spend three nights together, and decide that they must be together. Over the course of the next year, they slowly gather the information and tools necessary to kill Llew.

Now Llew is rather hard to kill. He must be standing in a place that is neither inside nor outside, and can only be killed by a spear that is forged in a year, among other bits. Blodeuwedd feigns concern for her husband and convinces him to demonstrate how these requirements must be met. When he does so, Blodeuwedd’s lover throws a spear, seriously injuring Llew. In fact, for a long while, all believe he is dead. Blodeuwedd and her lover run away, escaping to his lands. Eventually she is caught and her punishment is to be turned into an owl.

Now, when I first read this myth, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with her. I mean, she plotted her husband’s death after cheating on him with some strange man, then ran away with him to escape punishment. And yes, on the surface, this is what happens. But there is a lot more to the story if you look a little deeper.

Blodeuwedd was created for Llew. She was given life with her sole purpose pre-ordained. She didn’t love Llew at all, but she was made for him. No one asked her what she wanted, or even if she would agree to marry him. The expectation was that she would do as she was told, as it was what she had been created for. She had no choice but to go along with it.

When she meets the hunter lord, she falls in love with him. He is everything she could have hoped for, and he feels the same about her. It is an instant, love at first sight that could lead to the deaths of both of them. So while they plot together, they are risking everything for each other.

Blodeuwedd shows herself to be a very strong woman. She breaks social norms and does what she feels is best for her. For the first time in her existence, she is working for something that she wants. She is strong and resilient. She finds something that she wants and she goes after it.

I feel like this makes her much more relevant to women today than ever. Too often we are forced into roles that do not suit us, things that we accept because we have to, not because we want to. If we follow our hearts and minds and break through those expectations, we are labeled as troublesome, headstrong and a whole list of worse derogatory words. Even with the advances in feminism today, we still have to fight to be what and who we want. Blodeuwedd shows us that we can do it.

Working with her has been eye-opening for me. She has shown me that the only one who defines my purpose is me. I don’t have to do something just because someone dictates that I have to. I am free to make my own choices for my life. My life, no matter who gave it to me, is mine to live.

Returning from Reality

Posted on July 18, 2019 by mahlua

Sometimes life throws you curveballs. It happens a lot, really. It’s easy to get swept up in the mundane and begin to neglect things beyond it. I know I’m guilty of this. No number of explanations or excuses I can muster could really make up for that.

Although I offer to my ancestors every day, and Loki when he asks, and the Morrigan on one week out of the month which I have set aside…for some reason, it’s the gods I love the most that I have the most difficulty approaching when my life falls out of balance. I start finding any excuse to neglect my rites and rituals and offerings to the Egyptian gods.

Of course the Morrigan noticed before I did. As much as working with her and serving her pains me, I am not so foolish as to deny her wisdom and foresight. More directly, she pointed out that though I serve her in fear, I do still serve her, so perhaps I would do well to fear the Egyptians a little more. I don’t personally want to serve anyone out of fear, but I understood what she meant last month, and I failed to heed that thinly veiled warning.

I fell into the procrastination and apathy trap. I told myself I wanted to offer to the Egyptian gods I work with every Tuesday since it’s an assured day off from work, but I would make excuses to myself that I was too tired, needed more time to rest after work from Monday, and so on. Or I would say that I have nothing good enough to offer. Or I would simply get distracted in talking to my friends and partners. And then it was how much time I was spending clinging to my partner that made me realize how unbalanced I was getting. Putting all my eggs in one basket with my energy, metaphorically speaking. I apologized to my partner for being overbearing, but not before a good textual slap in the face from a good friend of mine who called me out on all my excuses and apathetic garbage. Something in that latter conversation stands out to me still:

As someone who sometimes has precognitive concepts, I feel that much of my life is set and fated. I often get bitter over this, despite the fact that the very notion has kept me from doing stupid things many times over. I described it as feeling like I live along a moving sidewalk path. If I try to run backwards on it, the movement of the sidewalk simply speeds up and I continue where it wants anyway. If I try to walk or run with it concurrent with its direction, then I get thrown into situations before I’m ready. If I try to stop and appreciate something nice along the way, those things slip from my grip so quickly I can barely process it. I feel at the mercy of it, as if I can only let fate drag me on its moving sidewalk like a dog on a chain. It’s infuriating. Just as I was ranting about that fury, my friend gave a text shrug and told me I just needed an attitude adjustment. I wound up crying for nearly an hour because I couldn’t quite wrap my head around why it was so wrong to just want to stop and appreciate how well my life was going for once before the other shoe dropped and I’d be thrust back into work.

Then I realized: it’s not wrong at all to want to appreciate the good things in life. My problem wasn’t that, so much as that I was clinging so desperately to any shred of happiness that I was choking it. It’s a pattern I’ve seen myself fall into many times before. The same situation almost led me to failing Honors Chemistry II in high school. I was too busy texting my girlfriend in class and spending time with her instead of doing my optional homework that I really should have done to grasp the concepts better.

To take it a step further and apply that back to my practice, I realized with full shame that I was in pretty much the same place. I’ve only been offering during my bad times, and then when times are good, I cling to the good in the mundane and have neglected not only my other mundane duties, but also my duty to the gods. This seems to be a common problem across people. The feeling of needing to find excuses even for the things we want to do is something I’ve seen many people struggle with.

So this post is both something of a confession and a notice. I know I need to set a schedule and actually keep it. Keeping the train going has always been difficult for me, but at this stage in my life, I don’t really have the time for that kind of dilly-dallying. But it’s okay. It happens. All we can do is return back to the offerings we owe and remember that sometimes that balancing the mundane requires a little help from the divine.

Everyday rituals

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Katalin Patnaik

Hindus are big on rituals. They have a tradition for every occasion in life – and I mean it! From the day of a baby’s birth, he or she will have a naming ceremony, a ceremony at one year when they get their hair shaved off – same thing again when they are three so don’t get frightened when you see little girls going around with a bald head, hopefully it’s just her ‘mundan’ been done. Then, a ritual for when they got to school, for when they start writing, for when girls get their first period (yes, really!), for first job, first car, first house; in fact for anything valuable you buy or build there’s a ritual. Then there’s life’s big milestones; birth, marriage, death… and of course all the religious festivals have their own special traditions – and these change from state to state!

But what about day to day life? Even in India, there are days when there aren’t any festivals or religious occasions going on! (I will have to fact-check this sentence though, I am not completely sure I’m telling the truth!)

In any case, here’s how to do a basic Hindu morning and evening ritual – what I do, anyway. There are people who do less, there are people who do more. These rituals – pooja – are highly customisable so don’t feel any pressure.

Here’s what you need on your altar:

1. A statue of the god of your choice – or anything to represent them.

2. Candles – they can be simple tea lights or diyas. Diya is a kind of oil lamp, I make them for special occasions.

3. Incense sticks or cones

4. Some water

5. Some food offering. Make sure it’s vegetarian and hasn’t been tasted by anyone before you offer it.

What to do:

After taking shower/bath and brushing teeth and hair in the morning you put on fresh clothes and you are ready to do pooja. It’s important to be as clean as possible, as a show of respect to the gods. It also helps you get tuned into the pooja. If you just come home from work and do it without anything beforehand, you are likely to rush it along so you can get on with other stuff. Do it when you have 10 minutes of peace for the gods.

So now that you are ready, you go to your altar and light the candle. There are hundreds of mantras out there but I will share the two most popular ones: the Gayatri and the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra. When lighting the candle people often chant the Gayatri Mantra (see below). On the candle you light your incense stick, and do three circles around your altar with it, consecrating it and offering the fragrance to the gods.

Now, many people use little bells to get the gods’ attention. If you have one, you could ring it while doing your rounds with the incense. Any ordinary bell will do if you like the sound of it, but traditionally it should be made of brass. Brass has a special vibration that is said to clear the mind of any other thoughts and help us concentrate on the pooja. Don’t worry if you don’t have one though. I don’t use mine because it irritates the devotion out of me.

After the incense, you go and change the water you have on your altar. I do this daily once, in the morning. If by chance you have chosen a Shiva lingam to worship, pour some water over it to keep its energies calm. Shivlings are said to multiply whatever emotions are present in the house, and too much is not good of anything so we try and keep the lingam nice and calm by offering it water daily. You could do this to any statue, just make sure it is waterproof and you have a dish under it to catch the water.

This is optional, I do it only on special occasions but some people do it daily: now offer the food. It can be any fruit – peal it and/or cut it like you would for children. It could be something you cooked (but don’t taste it before offering!) or a bar of chocolate. Whatever you think the gods would appreciate. Now, there is a rule at certain states of India that this offering should be vegetarian and may not contain onions or garlic. This isn’t applicable everywhere but it is good to keep in mind, just in case. Try what suits your belief and do that.

While offering the water and food you can chant the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra. If you like, you could just talk to the gods and ask them to accept your offerings, or tell them you love them and are happy to have them around… or pour your heart out to them. In my experience they love heartfelt interaction, so whatever you do, do it from the heart.

Many people blow conch shells at the end of the pooja. It is great fun and its vibrations clear the energy in the house and blowing it is good for your organs – heart and lungs especially – so I do recommend getting one and learning how to blow it.

When you are done with this, bow down and touch your forehead to the ground. Then put your hands together and say bye to them. You are free to go.

A few notes more:

Whatever you use on your altar, belongs to the altar. You don’t use the candles anywhere else, you don’t light those incenses just for the smell, and you don’t use the oil you’re making the oil lamps with for cooking.

Food and drink offerings must be eaten or drank after the pooja. You can leave them on the altar for some time but throwing them out would be a big insult. These are called prashadam, sacred food/drink that have been blessed by the gods.

So to sum it all up, a basic pooja is:

1. Light candle (ring bell if you have one)

2. Gayatri Mantra

3. Light incense

4. Change water

5. Give food

6. Chant Maha Mrityunjaya mantra

(Blow conch if you have one)

7. Bow

Some people sing bhajans, some stay silent and meditate… there are many things you can add to your ritual. Whatever feels right, probably is. The most important thing is:

IT SHOULD COME FROM THE HEART!

Link to the Gayatri mantra.

Link to the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra.

Yours, Not Theirs

Posted on July 17, 2019 by terraakhert

I have always been very interested in religion and spirituality. When I was just a kid I even had a little girl’s bible that I read cover to cover. As I grew up I started asking questions and exploring my beliefs. I don’t remember exactly when I discovered Wicca but I devoured everything I could find on it. I also began studying comparative religion. The rest is basically history.

I consider myself Wiccan though I take inspiration from many sources. These include but aren’t limited to New Orleans Style Voodoo, Rokkatru and some Christian beliefs. I also call myself a witch. My path puts an emphasis on the Faerie Realm.

I believe in one all powerful source Whom I call God. To me God has a masculine side (The Horned God) and a feminine side (The Triple Goddess), like two sides of one coin. I see all the gods and goddesses as being manifestations/aspects of Them while also being individuals at the same time. It’s like shining a light through a prism. It’s all one light but it shines through as a rainbow of different colors. I try to live each day being the best version of myself. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t. I like to do practical things to honor nature like putting up bird feeders, growing plants, etc.

I celebrate the phases of the moon as to me they represent the phases of The Triple Goddess and of the changing cycles of the earth. In a similar way I celebrate the Solstices as different points along the lifecycle of The Horned God. I’m very much a “Circle Of Life” type of person.

To me magick has to do with the flow of the universe. Some of this energy comes from within us, some from all around the universe and some from the gods. Magick is basically working with the rhythms of the universe to accomplish changes. It’s every bit as natural as as, the force of gravity.

This is my Wicca, but it may not be yours. Our beliefs and practices are heavily affected by our experiences and perceptions of the world around us. That’s the reason why there is no “One Size Fits All” situation here. Don’t through rules and traditions headlong out the window for no reason but don’t be afraid of your practice, your beliefs looking different from the person next to you. Yours isn’t their’s.

Why I Work With Deity-Class Spirits

Posted on July 12, 2019 by Kyaza

Within the American Heathen community, there seems to be a consensus that the gods are the ones that you go to last. First, you are supposed to develop a relationship with your ancestors, then with the wights of the land and the wights of the home, and then, finally – if necessary – with the gods themselves.

I’ve always found this a bit problematic, as I don’t easily connect with spirits that aren’t deity-class spirits. I actually find it a bit depressing, sometimes, since I have such a difficult time connecting with ancestral spirits and with the wights around me. Then I feel bad about getting depressed. After all, I have what so many other people seem to want – the ability to communicate fairly easily with the gods.

I did not start out with that ability – it is one that I eventually developed as I grew more and more into the Pagan world and mindset and left the monotheistic worldview behind. It took a lot of work for me, as I grew up in the middle of the Bible Belt, and I had a lot of trauma associated with the Christian god – namely, that despite my avid belief and worship of him as a young child wasn’t enough for him to ever step forward into my world and answer the prayers I leveled at him for the situation I had to deal with at home. He was yet another example of someone who abandoned me for no discernible reason.

That took a few years to unravel in my mind, and then I also had to start reading up on polytheism itself to begin to comprehend how the universe could be structured if there wasn’t a single god at its helm. That was rather difficult for me, as my mind kept coming back to this realization that there had to be something at the source, something that generated everything.

Reading mythology really helped me come to understand that the “something” I was perceiving was the Primordial Ocean, that which existed before creation. It is, in different religions, also referred to as the Abyss, the Ginnungap, Chaos, or the Void. No matter which religion’s mythology I examined, I always found the First Principle to be the same – life emerged from the Primordial Ocean, the Universal Matrix that existed before creation itself occurred.

That helped resolve the fact that things always seemed to go back to one, but that one gave rise to a plurality, and the gods were a part of that plurality. That, to me, doesn’t make the gods simply one being, as they were generated by the Primordial Ocean. Like children who are born to parents are not, in fact, just their parents with a different face on, I do not view the gods as being the Primordial Ocean personified in an infinite number of guises.

I see the gods as holding the powers of creation that gave rise to them, but not as that which created them. That means I can view the gods as separate, individual entities who have agency and plans of their own, rather than stepping back into a monotheistic worldview that sees the gods as nothing more than a divided part of the Primordial Ocean.

Once I was able to perceive the gods as separate entities of their own, with their own desires and goals, then I started to hear and see them around me. It was like, just reaching the realization that the gods themselves were individual beings opened the doorway for me to be able to communicate with them. Once that happened, the Norse gods were the first to show up in my life, and they are the ones who have been with me ever since.

I think it’s important, however, to note that as a child, when I still firmly believed in the Christian god, I had no trouble communicating with him. I very much knew he was real, and I talked to him regularly. I have never, in my entire life, doubted that the divine exists, because I’ve always known that it does – it is hard to deny the existence of someone who has communicated with you.

I think that was another reason it took me as long as it did to pull away from the monotheistic worldview – I knew that I was pulling away from someone who had once been a friend, a friend that had hurt me in a way that I could not forgive. I had to figure out a way to be okay with creating that separation, and that took some time. I am not a person who easily gives up on others, even to my own detriment.

Once I managed to severe that relationship and embrace the polytheistic mindset, I found friends in the gods that I knew would never betray or hurt me the way that the Christian god had. They helped heal the hurt that had been done to me by a one-sided spiritual relationship, and they taught me how to trust them. That is why the Norse gods will always be the gods that I turn to first – it was them who showed me that the worth I had was merely in my existence, not in what I could do for them. They showed up, wanting nothing but to make their presence known to me, and I learned to love them in a way I cannot adequately express.

The work I do for them now is work I do for them out of gratitude for all they have already done for me, not out of a sense of obligation or requirement. I continue to serve the gods in the capacities I hold because I know that I could walk away from all the responsibilities I have taken upon myself, and they would let me. They would be sad, but they would understand. They give me the freedom I need to be the person I am, and that, in turn, induces the deepest sense of loyalty in me that I can gift to anyone. I never feel trapped by the gods, as the chains of responsibility I wear are the ones that I wrapped around myself.

It is the gods, however, that engendered my ability to learn to trust in the spirit world after being hurt by it. There is still a level of mistrust that I hold towards the wights of the land and home, as I grew up in a home that was full of spirits. I have started to work on healing those relationships, as I have grown to the realization that those spirits in my childhood home did what they could to help me, but they couldn’t do much due to the limited power they hold. I did not understand how limited that power was as a child, but I do now. I may never be incredibly close to the wights, but I do view them with reverence and treat them with the respect they deserve.

It is much more difficult for me to connect with my ancestral spirits, not because they ever did anything to harm me but because of something my mother did to me as a child. In the familial tradition I practice, it is possible to prevent someone – to lock them – from being able to access certain parts of the spirit world. This is generally only done when someone is being threatened by spirits and is removed when they have learned enough to defend themselves, but it is weird that my mother prevented me from accessing my ancestral spirits. I didn’t learn about this until a couple of years ago, and it took the intervention of a god before that particular lock on my spiritual abilities was broken.

There is a lot there for me to process, and it will take time for me to approach the ancestors I wish to work with. I have been hurt by many, many people close to me, and generally, the people who have hurt me have been family members. That makes it hard for me to want to open myself up to the potential of pain that some of my ancestors might cause, as I still struggle to trust other people – alive or not.

I work well with the gods because I have learned to trust them, and I understand that the foreignness they hold to humanity causes any misunderstandings I have. I do not try to hold them to human standards, and it is probably because of their non-human qualities that I find it easier to trust in them. I trust that I will not ever fully understand the actions they take, as they cannot be simply explained by human morals or concepts. I work best with the gods because they are the spirits that I find myself most capable of trusting.

I also understand, now that I’m older, that the gods have preferences for the humans they interact with. The gods choose their followers as much as we choose the gods. Sometimes, we are not compatible with the gods we choose, and those gods never step forward into our lives. I realized, a few years back, that the Christian God never betrayed me or abandoned me – he just wasn’t interested in me.

Once I realized and accepted that the gods are choosy, I realized that it is basically impossible for the gods to betray anyone. It is, however, possible for the gods to reject someone. That is why it is so important that when you approach a god you have never honored before, to be okay if that god tells you no. We just aren’t compatible with all the gods, and even some we wish would work with us will turn us down. There are millions upon millions of gods out there, however, so the chances that you can find a god who will step forward into a relationship with you are pretty solid – I’d say almost guaranteed.

©Kyaza 2019

A Day In History – Poem

Posted on July 11, 2019 by mdmoffitt

If I could change a day in history, I would change the day the gods died. When crusaders marched across green hills and crosses were erected against the blue of the sky.

I would ask you how the world would look now, if we worshiped in temples made of falling leaves instead of stained glass. If our chapels were citrine instead of Sistine.

I would ask how divinity feels when you stand beside your gods instead of under them. When you walk beside them instead of kneel before them.

If I could change a day in history, I would change the day the gods were abandoned. When their children were burned and their songs were all but forgotten.

I would ask you how the world would look now, if we cared for her creatures instead of cutting them down. If we cleaned our oceans as we do our bodies.

I would ask how our gods would feel if we sang with our souls instead of our fear. If we asked for their help instead of their forgiveness.

If I could change a day in history, I would change the day that love cried. When our families were reduced to two parents of opposite genders.

I would ask you how the world would look now, if love was as abundant as the air. If we cared more about the children without parents than we did about their genders.

I would ask how our ancestors would feel, knowing the hatred that seeps into their holy ground, soiling it with disgrace and pity. How they would cry because we no longer love each other, but ourselves instead.

If I could change a day in history, I would change the day the gods died.

-Valfreyja

And Then There Were Angels

Posted on July 6, 2019 by brightesttwilight

There are angels in many religions and cultures. I work with angels in the Abrahamic faiths. In Judaism, Islam, and Christianity there are canonical angels that are specifically written about in canon works. Canon means writings that are accepted by a specific group. Gabriel and Michael are examples as they are mentioned in canon literature for all three Abrahamic faiths. Some texts may be canon for one group but not another (for example-the books that make up the difference between Catholic Bibles and Protestant Bibles). There are angels that are known from people working with them over time in various places. And there are angels that are mentioned in non-canonical literature. The Book of Enoch is generally a non-canon source except for some groups in Ethiopia. Many names of angels are listed in this book including fallen angels.

For the longest time I worked with no other entities outside of the Trinity. Eventually I got a niggling feeling and curiosity about angels, specifically those in the Abrahamic religions. The end result was my asking God, if it was His will, to introduce me an angel to work with. I was in my inner space at the time, the place where I go through visualizations to commune with the Trinity. What followed was a series of what I later realized were signs as to who I was introduced to.

What is that old saying? Be careful what you wish for. Or in this case, pray for. Now, to be clear, I figured I’d be introduced to my Guardian Angel or some other angel with a fairly narrow slice of cosmic workings. It took me a few days to pinpoint who I had been introduced to. And a few more weeks to stop whining. Why? Because Archangel Michael showed up. And I was not expecting that at all. Michael was patient about it though. And I think the Trinity was delighted overall. I hadn’t specified Guardian Angel, I’d only said angel. And I’d put it in their hands. For myself, I thought it would have been rude to tell my God which angel to introduce me to or what angel I had decided to work with. They are His workers, His messengers.

I was adverse to the idea of working with an Archangel for a few reasons. I figured they were busy doing their jobs and I would be a bother. A friend pointed out to me that the Archangels must be quite lonely then, with so many people thinking that way. The other reason is that I felt apprehensive (still do to some extent) because I want a quiet life. A quiet career. And I want control. I’m in school with a very specific degree at the other end- too far in to change it now. A very specific career path with related but alternative careers as an option. I became quite nervous that the Trinity had other plans for me other than the ones I had in mind. It took me time to let go and realize that my relatively short term goals are fine. And it took time to let go of the desire for control over long term over goals. What I see and want now may change. Also, for anyone that knows me, quiet and calm is unlikely to ever be my life for an extended period of time.

I’ve been getting to know Michael over about the past year or so. I’ve never had to deal with him in his more warrior aspect. Then this summer I started getting the feeling that other angels were around or wanted to be around. I got signs at times or I would reach out for Michael and someone else would be present. In a few cases I was able to identify which angel specifically showed up. I got nervous. Until I am familiar with any being I get some amount of social anxiety. For about the last week, maybe two, I’ve had the feeling of others around and wanting to communicate. My response was to ignore the feeling. I distracted myself in every way I knew. Not really a good idea. I have noticed my mental health declines when I do things that separate myself from the Trinity. Ignoring is a great way to create separation.

I did stop eventually. And my little world is again upended. When I stopped ignoring the feeling I went to my inner space and invited those who wished to speak or be with me to come. Michael showed up, which I was not completely expecting. I asked who wanted to be known to me and the impression I got of “All of us”. A bit unsettling. Perhaps I am too easily unsettled. Uriel showed up next with the directions that things would be moving along now that I was done pretending they didn’t exhist. Later when I asked for clarification about what was meant by “all” a distinct number popped into my head. I was leaning towards the major 4 (although whom exactly those are does vary). I figured Michael likely meant archangels specifically. Fewer meant less work on my end figuring out names and getting to know them. More likely to be able to find out something about them. And concern over space on my alter was on my mind.

Those reasons sound weak to you? They did to the angels too. I got the impression of the number 12. How does one even start figuring out the names? I first made a list of the ones that had already introduced themselves. I got 5 from that. But where to go from there? I consulted and got Uriel who gave me the impression to look to the Kabbalah Tree of Life. I was briefly confused when I saw that for there are only 10 positions with an archangel associated with each position. But when I compared my lists I realized two that had introduced themselves were on my list that were not associated with the Tree. 12 total. Neat and tidy, relatively speaking.

I spend much of the next day trying to glean what I can about the 12 from sources I can find online. Which is quite difficult considering the amount of fluff that is present with varying degrees of potential accuracy. This includes little in the way of references that I can use to follow up on. So often people only want to consider angels as beings of love and light. I have a feeling that many of the angels have a duality that we do not often see or comprehend. My search for information goes beyond just names and jobs but also what associations are known about them. Colors, gems, plants, animals, ect… I figure it is another way to come to know them. My next step at this point is to try the local libraries but I have a feeling it might be hard to find good sources for the associations. But I’m not whining this time! Cosmic gold star maybe. And I’m not fretting overly about the contradicting or unverified information. They are archangels after all. If they want me to know something they will reveal it to me in some way.

If any are curious these are the names of the 12: Azriel, Gavriel, Haniel, Khamael, Metatron, Michael, Raphael, Raziel, Sandalphon, Tzaphkiel, Uriel, Zadkiel.

I welcome anyone with a good source about any of these angels to let me know! Books and sites are both welcome. I’m also investigating Kabbalah more so recommendations that way are welcome.

As always feel free to leave questions or comments.

How Gods Recruit Their Followers

Posted on July 2, 2019 by neptunesdolphins

Since I follow several Gods, who are not as well-known as the Norse or Celtic pantheons, I often wonder how They get followers. Why are some Gods or pantheons are more popular than others? How do the lesser known pantheons go about getting devotees? Many Pagans follow Gods who are from the African Traditional Religions, Egyptian, Celtic, Greek or Norse pantheons. Meanwhile, various other Gods such as Inanna (Babylonian) and Astarte (Canaanite) are usually followed as individuals separate from their respective cultures.

One factor is that some of the more popular pantheons have Gods who actively recruit such as Odin and The Morrigan. Also, Sekhmet of the Egyptians recruits from the general population as does Dionysius of the Greeks. Within each of these pantheons are popular Gods such as Isis and Apollo, who also attract devotees. People will shift pantheons in their spiritual lives as some Gods come to speak to them, while other Gods leave. Odin and Sekhmet will often leave the person once they are settled in Paganism.

Another factor is that people are introduced to popular Gods such as Hecate in “Goddesses” books. These books often do bring people deeper into Paganism. However, many focus on the Goddesses as archetypes for self-empowerment, while others present the various Goddesses as aspects of the Great Goddess.

I have come to realize that the focus on individual Gods (Goddesses) in general Paganism hinders knowing some of the more obscure pantheons. Furthermore, Pagans often see Them as archetypes representing a part of a whole. To me, this is a paradox of extreme individualism and non-differentiation between Gods.

My experience with the Acheulian Goddess reflects some of the common problems faced by the more obscure Gods. I was approached by the Acheulian Goddess because of my work with the Early Human Dead. I see Her in that context, as a Goddess of Homo erectus, the Goddess of Beginnings. I know of only few people who differentiate between the various Neolithic Goddesses. I suspect that it is because in general culture, They are lumped together. Moreover, few discussions of Neolithic religion present each of these Goddesses as being discrete from each other.

I have met people who follow the Goddess Path, who venerate Her with the other Neolithic Goddesses. They tend to think of Her as a facet of the Great Goddess. Outside of the Goddess Worshipers, She attracts few people.

My experiences with lesser-known Gods is that They often wait until the person is firmly entrenched in Polytheism. These Gods are often from pantheons that require more structured practices than what eclectic Pagans often do. They are not usually accessible to the general population of Pagans.

Taking a Responsible Approach to Spirit Work

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Kyaza

Recently, someone in the Loki’s Wyrdlings group started to claim that he was Loki, that Loki horsed him all the time – even to the point that the cops in the area knew him as Loki. He posted pictures and did his best to entice people into believing what was obviously false information.

There are people out there who are like this, who claim to speak for the gods and other spirits as if they are able to know the minds of the gods. We cannot do that, and we have a responsibility to ourselves and our communities not to run around claiming that the gods are always horsing and/or communicating through us.

Yes, everyone has religious experiences. Many people do communicate directly with the gods in a way that is almost telepathic. That does not give those people the right to repeat the gods’ words as if they are the gospel truth for that deity. That is an abuse of the privilege of being able to communicate well with the gods. On top of that, the louder a person is about their ability to communicate with spirits, the more aware all spirits become – good and bad – about that person’s ability to communicate. That can potentially open a person up to dangerous situations with malignant spirits.

That is why discernment is such an important part of polytheistic practice. We all deal with very real entities with their own ideas and agencies. Not all spirits are benign. The gods are not safe, and we are not entitled to whatever we want from the spirit world. Bragging about deity communication or deity possession is also a good way to alert the less benign spirits that hey, there’s someone around capable of hearing them and holding their power. It’s a dangerous game to play, and a lot of people would benefit from exercising a little more caution.

I can give you plenty of examples of what not to do, but I think I’ll provide an example of what to do instead – there are plenty of people out there making spiritual mistakes, and far too few approaching spirit work with the right amount of caution.

One of my friends had an intense experience during meditation, and she was almost certain that the spirit that had communicated with her during that meditation was Yemaya. Instead of automatically going “oh yeah, totally her,” she discussed the experience with me and another experienced practitioner who already works with Yemaya to determine whether or not the spirit that had come to her in her meditation was actually Yemaya. It was only after the three of us discussed it and came to the conclusion that yes, it probably was Yemaya, that my friend gave an offering to Yemaya. The way in which the offering was accepted pretty much confirmed that it was Yemaya, so that promises to be the start of a beautiful relationship.

When my friend asked me about her experience during meditation, I had a responsibility to her not to give her information that could potentially put her in harm’s way. Even then, my strongest piece of advice was, “It sounds like it is probably Yemaya.” It wasn’t an “it is 100% without a doubt this one particular spirit” because I cannot give someone that kind of guarantee when it comes to spirit work.

Now, I am aware that not everyone has access to experienced practitioners, especially when it comes to deity and spirit-work. Even among contemporary Pagans, it is rarer to find devoted polytheists than people who solely practice some form of magic.

That lack of experienced practitioners seems to have created this idea that people can do whatever they want with spirit work and everything be fine. I have read horror stories about people going to “shamans” for “soul retrieval” who end up plagued with horrendous nightmares for years afterward. (As an aside, the whole “soul retrieval” technique was contrived by a scam artist looking to capitalize on the guru movement. Anyone trained in “core shamanism” has been duped).

I have also witnessed some terribly horrendous decisions made by those who refuse to listen to more experienced practitioners. I witnessed one woman make a blood contract with an incubus utilizing a ritual she pulled off of the first page of Google search results. I’ve also had people tell me of the spirits that attacked them in their sleep because they failed to ward their space – even after I told them they needed to ward their space.

Spirit work is inherently dangerous. Engaging with spirits means engaging with beings that you can never fully comprehend. Their motives and your motives may align on occasion, but there is never any guarantee that they want what you want. Acting as if the gods and spirits exist only to serve your purpose is a good way to put yourself in harm’s way.

When I warn people about this kind of danger, and I hear “oh, but you cannot judge another person’s religious experience,” it makes me want to scream in frustration. Because it’s not their religious experience I’m judging – it’s their inability to make wise decisions and approach spirit work with the respect it deserves.

As a note, experienced practitioners don’t give idle advice. That’s why I always highly recommend looking for someone with at least a decade of experience for advice. That’s what I mean by experienced.