It's something I've sometimes used as an analogy for how I feel about my Patron Deities - I didn't read a list of Deities' attributes, as if I was reviewing a set of job applications, and then grandly decide "you'll do - you can serve me and do my bidding". No,
EVERY
SINGLE
PATRON DEITY
I HAVE
EXPECTS ME
TO SERVE THEM
Should I repeat that? Maybe I'll just quote from the definition/explanation of mine that I linked to earlier:
The relationship with Patron Deities can be more difficult - for instance the work I do for Yinepu (who most people refer to by His Greek name, Anubis) is spirit rescue. Often this is enjoyable or at least rewarding, but at times it is difficult, challenging, exhausting work - especially so when I was learning. The work I do for Bast, the work where I am seeking to protect cats against human cruelty, can be extremely upsetting.So, it was with very considerable interest that I came, courtesy of good ol' Wild Hunt, across the following debate:
This can get even more difficult if your Patron Deity is not so easily anthropomorphised into a human image ...
In the old days, my impression is that, often, it was the quality of one's relationship with a Deity that mattered more than whether or not that Deity's attributes best suit the goal you have. That meant, establish a good, healthy relationship with a Deity, and ask that Deity to intercede with others if need be, rather than being so arrogant as to presume that all Deities exist to serve your whims. They have tasks and work you know: anything they can do for you is a minor - miniscule - matter for them, not something of pressing importance.
- Theurgic binding: or, “S#!t just got real”, by Morpheus Ravenna, about the consequences of making a commitment to a or several Deity/Deities, which includes several links to responses to her article. Those links that I liked follow;
- Holy Work and Two Lies of Religion, by John Beckett, which has a similar theme;
- The Only Choice, by Dver (I might have to check in there again, actually);
- The Sighted and The Blind, by Rhyd Wildermuth; and
- the clear logic and thinking of Responses to Theurgic Binding, by Ember (I will have to call in there again, as well, particularly as she also is working on a glossary).
I wish you, Dear Reader, Good Thinking :)
[2]
Please see here and my post "The
Death of Wikipedia" for the
reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of
h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as
extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather
engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to
the Galaxy").
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr,
Wéofodthegn
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix
Lux? … Morinehtar?
… Would-be drýicgan
... )
My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this site) is here, and my glossary/index is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "Pagans for Peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour, and see also here and be flexible.
- Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
- Our entire life experience, with all the many wondrous and varied people, places and events in it, is too small a sample for statistical reliability about Life.
- May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
- Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal.
- Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master.
- The means shape the end.
- As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
- My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films.
- All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...
Jesus loves you. Odin wants you to grow up.
We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us.
F.W. Boreham
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious.
Jane Elliott
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing.
(based on
writing by) Edmund Burke
We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children
Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
There are risks and costs to a program of
action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of
comfortable inaction.
John F. Kennedy
Tags: Deity, devotion, Patron Deity, practice, religion, spirituality,
First published: Tysdagr, 28th October, 2014
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Sunday, 28th October, 2014
