I've been travelling on a work trip, and, as I sat quietly in my motel room listening to the drunks next door, contemplated a few universal questions - as one does.
In particular, I did some more speculating about the fact that life exists off this planet. I'm working (slowly) on a set of rune interpretations that are not limited to this planet, and began wondering about the issue of Matron/Patron Deities. I wondered if it would be better to use the term "Principle" rather than Deity - as most of these could be considered to be "embodiments" (or anthropomorphisms, if you prefer) of specific sets of attributes - or, in a sense, Principles, such as caring, courage, responsibility, etc.
In the end I decided to stick to Deity, as my experiences - particularly of the Goddess when I was initiated as a Priestess - were far too human for me to be comfortable reducing this to an impersonal "principle".
Furthermore, the Deity approach has been effective for thousands of generations of humans. It may not be perfect, and there may be a better approach somewhere in our future, but a simplistic word change ain't it.
