One of the topics I’ve written about in the past is Matron/Patron Deities - see http://gnwmythrsglossary.blogspot.com/2014/09/patron-deity-partial-draft.html, and https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2021/04/post-no-1838-matronpatron-deities.html.
One of the issues I have is actually finding a decent nonbinary term for such Deities: -ix is becoming more widely used, but I prefer modifying the fem. version of such terms rather than the masc. (which reinforces patriarchy), and Matrix Deity rather than Patrix Deity just isn’t going to work . . . (not in the way I want for this post, at any rate)
Sigh.
Sponsor doesn’t work, as such relationships involve doing work for the Deity - and I’ve always felt more claimed by the Deity than “just” mentored or even sponsored. Champion doesn’t fit either - I am a small part of such Deities existence so I am not going to be arrogant enough to claim they are Championing me (although they may well be aiding me in many powerful ways), and I am rarely - if ever - going to be able to claim to be Championing said Deity, but, in any case, that usage would be using the word in reference to me, not the Deity.
Personal Deity is trite rubbish, and Partnered is (a) used in too many other contexts, and (b) makes it sound like an equal relationship, which it isn’t to me. (Interestingly, Raymond Buckland wrote in one of his books that Saxons would start the day by claiming to be equal to the Deities: I have no idea whether that was true, but - excepting that our Higher Selves are all co-creators of this reality, albeit at a much higher level than is relevant to this discussion - I would feel arrogant trying to make that claim.)
OK, I'll see how Aligned Deity goes.
I can decline service to - and thus benefits from - a Deity, and they can similarly disclaim me. We work best, though, if we are working towards the same thing, so I’ll run with that for now until my thesaurus quests yield better fruit.
Having used up six paragraphs, let me move on to my main topic 😊 - Aligned Deities, specifically Týr and The Morrígan.
From the second link above:
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).
It was not the most constructive response to the problem situation, but it has turned out to be a good learning experience - in good part, about respecting, honouring, and maintaining my personal boundaries - my personal sovereignty, in a sense, which is where The Morrígan.
I find The Morrígan a terrifying Deity, although the work she does with the dead is essential. One of the other aspects of The Great Queen is sovereignty, including personal sovereignty. I have been doing some work on improving my personal boundaries and then my personal sovereignty, and now feel not only comfortable about re-establishing my relationship with Týr, but a bit like metaphorically kicking myself in the backside.
Oh well, personal growth can be embarrassing 😊 .
One of the good aspects of these Deities I have now found, is that they are capable of (doesn’t mean it will always happen) working together on human (sentient life) rights and dignity work - re-establishing the Personal Sovereignty of those who have been abused, holding those in power to account, and generally utterly brilliant (and who am I to think I can praise? Oh well) work on clearing nonBPM and strengthening BPM units in a wide range of situations.
One of the goals I have is to come up with ways of supplementing my Psychic Weather Reports with daily adaptations: getting more time and energy after I retire (assuming I can) will help with that (I’ve tried a few possible options for such posts), but I may also be able to start passing such message via my and other people’s Aligned Deities.
So pay attention 😊
Assumptions / basis
In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following:
- reality has multiple levels, not only a physical;
- nonphysical energy exists, and can be worked with - for better (e.g., this) or for worse (e.g., this);
- there are forces which have been anthropomorphised into Deities, and it is possible to work with those;
- there is a spiritual purpose for all Sentient Life.
Possible flaws
Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:
- I could be wrong about not being equal with Deities;
- my recollection of Raymond Buckland’s writing could be wrong - in whole or part: I haven’t enough time to check;
- there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend to Brendan Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;
- I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
