I've outlined broadly what I understand by the term "Matron/Patron Deity" here, so I'll let anyone new to the concept go there, rather than repeating the explanation here.
Before I get into what I want to cover, I'd like to touch on two points:
- the advantages and dangers of anthropomorphising powers; and
- service vs being served.
Now, in general, most of what I've come across on the notion of anthropomorphising powers (e.g., viewing the wind as something created by a being blowing air around, and giving a name to something frightening or uncontrollable [such as volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunami, or tornadoes] ) is critical of that concept.
Such criticism includes points such as: it belittles the power being treated that way. (If you want to know more about such views, I suggest you try John Beckett's blog "Under the Ancient Oaks" [I haven't done a search as it keeps trying to permanently disable my ad blocker, which I find presumptuous, invasive and offensive, and consider a major security and privacy risk to boot, so I do not bother with such sites] .)
Those points are worth considering, in my opinion, but anthropomorphising powers can also be a potential advantage - if it is part of a time-phased development of someone's ability to interact with, appreciate, or understand that power.
This example is not quite the same, but as a child I used to have nightmares about dinosaurs (specifically, being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex) after I saw Disney's "Fantasia" (the brooms going out of control during the "sorcerer's apprentice" segment wasn't much fun either). The nightmares eased as I grew, but I was always uncomfortable about carnivorous dinosaurs ... until I saw "Jurassic Park". Oddly enough, the description of the science was more reassuring to me than the "scary" scenes were upsetting. I made myself go and see it a few times, and now, while I certainly would avoid a T. rex (or the modern version of dinosaur), I no longer have a strange fear of them. (I won't describe that fear as irrational: somewhere there was some meaning or significance [to be a little facetious, given the view in some shamanic groups that power animals are those that kill you {which applies to my power animals Wolf and - I kid you not - Giraffe [the family associations of Giraffe are particularly significant for me], but not the others}, perhaps the T. rex is a power animal of mine ... ] .)
Let's consider another film from that era: the Steven Spielberg film "Jaws". While I was annoyed at my visceral reaction to the music score, and the next few times I was on a Sailfish (the Australian one) I kept my feet out of the water, I didn't develop a strong fear of sharks, but I did seek information and develop a wary respect for them.
In the first example, getting an "inside insight" enabled me to see through my fears of a nightmarish - to me - creature and come to a more balanced understanding, including an understanding of its role in the ecology of the world of their time - and its rarity (a recent article suggested that the peak number of T rex's at any one time may have been 20,000 globally). In the second, my introduction was through a combination of "inside insight" and a graphic warning of their dangers, which led me to a balanced understanding of them, including the role they play in the ecology of today's oceans.
Now, for another example, let's consider storms - particularly, thunderstorms. For most of my life, I've loved storms - I felt the exultation of being in powerful winds, and love sailing in rough weather (I was always more successful sailing competitively in gales than on moderate or light wind days). However, I know the dangers: as a teenager I was often used, because of my ability in rough weather, to help others who were not as well suited to rough weather sailing; I read about the devastation of Cyclone Tracey in Darwin; and, through research for a history assignment, I found out about the devastation caused in Mackay by a cyclone in 1918 (which actually changed the path of the Pioneer River). Subsequently, I was given ways to calculate the effect of wind on structures while studying engineering at Uni, and my concerns were made more specific (in particular, understrength buildings - and I was concerned to discover that the area that was wiped out in Mackay is now being built in again ... ). In addition, reading "Heavy Weather Sailing" by Adlard Coles, "Once is Enough" and similar books also gave me more specific concerns about rough weather sailing - on top of all the rough weather experience, which includes all the rescue work I have done. (I also went out before a national championship race and handled the strong winds fairly easily, which led to race organisers underestimating my ability because I was so young, starting the race - and seeing most of us wiped out [ironically, including me, but that was because we ran into some jellyfish that were densely packed enough to capsize the boat rather than problems with the wind.) My understanding and appreciation have both matured as I have, and, when I came across Thor, I came across a way to personalise (i.e., anthropomorphise) my interactions with storms.
But if, at any one stage, I had said "this is how I am on this power" (whether dinosaurs, sharks, or storms), "and that is how it must always be", then I would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle, as I would have blocked myself from further growth. And note that the growth often did not change what I "liked", it often gave that "liking" a depth and maturity that enhanced it, even as I appreciated also the dangers and the changes (which can be unsettling / uncomfortable or devastating) associated with those powers.
There have been ... developments in my power animals over this life (on that, see here), and the reason I am writing this article is to describe a similar sort of ... development in my Matron/Patron Deities.
Before I get on to that, however, I also wish to touch on the issue of service vs. being served.
The best way I can approach this is, in my opinion, with a quote from "Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth" by Stuart Holroyd (Pub. Corgi, 1979; ISBN 10: 0552109975, ISBN 13: 9780552109970):
"If we must go in for psychological speculation - which we must if only because everyone else will, rather than accept the story at its face value - it would, I think, be subtler and more apposite to think of these three not as seeking the satisfaction of exercising power but rather that of being exercised by it. The sense of being in service to a cause, of having a personal destiny bound up with the destiny of something greater and more significant than self, is surely an under-acknowledged component of the motivation of much extraordinary behaviour." (Chapter Two)
A lot of people tend to arrogantly view the issue of a Matron/Patron Deity as a commodity purchase by them: they choose what they want, and their expectations aren't met, they change it - much as someone may choose a consumer good to a colour they like more.
In actual fact, the Deity is not being honoured: the person chosen is.
The relationship - which like all good relationships, must be nurtured from both sides - is firstly about being in service to a greater cause (the Deity's), secondly about an old fashioned Master-Student relationship (definitely a Mentor-Mentee situation), and thirdly and leastly about aid for your goals that the Deity can and will provide.
Millennia ago, people did not flick through a shopping list of attributes to determine which Deity was best suited to their goals: it was firstly about which Deity you had the best relationship, secondly about which Deity was locally prominent, and, once that short list had been prepared, and only then, about who might be best suited and most likely to provide the aid you sought.
Developments (i.e., changes) in my Matron/Patron Deities
Now, one of my most prominent Patron Deities has been, for many years, Týr (or Tiwaz) - the Deity of community service and acting for the greater good, as Týr does in the story of the wolf Fenrir (also referred to as Fenris-wolf), when Týr puts his sword hand in Fenrir's mouth to gain Fenrir's trust while the other Æsir Deities bind the wolf. Of course, when Fenrir discovers that he is being bound, he bites off the sword hand of the most accomplished sword fighter amongst the Deities, so the Deity also has an association of personal sacrifice for the greater good.
However, through my day job I came across someone (at another company) who appears to also have been a devotee of Týr - but focuses on the business benefits that Týr apparently also has. The clash of our values - community service vs. material gain for self - was strong, and I found the discordance of values, the dissonant experience of that person's relationship with Tyr, and our personality clash so unpleasant it has left me with some disquiet in my relationship with Týr (along the lines of "how could you?" - which reflects my limited understanding of that Deity).
In some ways, this is a little like those idiot journalists who use an acronym for a West Asian violent extremist group that is also the Greek name for the Egyptian Goddess Aset - it has made using the most commonly known name of this Goddess With a Thousand Names impossible, just as the thugs who took over Germany in the 30s and dragged the world into World War Two have made using a sacred symbol of divinity and spirituality shared by several Indian religions impossible. (There are also mundane examples of this blow to "good" associations - such as child abuse victims who cannot go into the places they were abused in [such as churches if they were abused in a church, or all banks if they were abused in a bank, or all schools if they were abused in a school [which is still a problem for me] .)
I am still doing the sort of work I was doing, but without the same strength of connection to Týr - which does have a noticeable effect.
There have been other changes in recent years as well, such as my being claimed by The Morrìghan - which, although I have no awareness of being devoured by her, was quite as terrifying as being claimed by my Power Animals Wolf and Giraffe.
It is possible to say no to a Matron/Patron Deity, or to negotiate the terms of service/work, which is something John Beckett also covers. I did that with The Morrìghan.
I speculated, a little, about whether another Deity would take on a role or personal (i.e., to me) prominence such as that which Týr used to have - not out of any desire for that to happen, as I do work with all of them (Gyhldeptis is still, for instance, the Matron Deity who is best at enabling me to do coordination, connection and community building work), but rather as an idle curiosity.
I thought my spirit rescue work would possibly lead to the Opener of the Ways, Yinepu, taking on that role - or that my writing would lead to Djuti being in that role (my power animal Pegasus also helps with that work - and teaching), but I do much writing that I don't consider any change of status necessary (and those presences are extremely subtle, but pervasive), as is also the case with Bastet. I even speculated about Aset (who I did not recognise who she was for years, to my great embarrassment) or Athena.
However, such relationships, as I alluded to above, are not about what I consider significant, but about what the Matron/Patron Deities consider significant.
What has happened is that The Morrìghan and the Egyptian Deity of Healing, Heru (generally known by His Greek name Horus, one of the Eyes of Ra [Sekhmet is the other] ), will jointly move into that sort of personal (again, to me) prominence.
