Choose your own Deities?

[FaerySong]

I'm curious, as I am reading through this forum section, if one can choose their own deities to work with, and not just have Them pick you? I believe the Goddess who somewhat herded me into this path has felt Her job is done. It's saddening to me, and I feel like I need a deity to keep me. So, if I could, in picking deities that seem to 'click' with me and my personalities (yes, personalities, I change alot.), or go by heritage? *shrug* I am puzzled, and I would appreciate a comment or two on this.

[Flar's Freyja]

Before I actually found and connected with my patrons, yes, I chose them based on what they represented.

I continue to do so when I request the assistance of a certain deity outside of my circle of patrons for a certain purpose or intent.

[Gawdess]

I find myself switching deities frequently as my life and the energies in it change.

[veinglory]

well -- you have to come across them to 'recognise' them... I suppose that's a kind of choice...

[mothwench]

well it depends. on your basic idea of what deity is. did gods create the humans? like it says in the bible? then it's better to let them do the choosing.
or did we create the gods? (which, by no means makes them less important or significant). in this case it's only natural to choose what seems right to you.

[mato]

I'm a heratige guy myself... but the great thing about having a fully formed and functional patheon through out your life is that you can 'switch' dieties without much change to your system... and it's perfectly fine so long as you dont go round pissing off the dieties after you 'switch'.
Um... I would start with my heratige and see what that has to offer. Then I would go to more universal tones (like nondescript neo-paganism) and then search out more spacific pantheons and dieties. But I dont think it's as easy as 'choosing' which diety to use were... That's a bit rude to every one, from the ppl you are taking from to the gods you are 'taking' to the system you will be using to the world as a whole and yes even the earth...

[mothwench]

so, mato what is your heritage?
what about people of mixed nationalities? my dad is half english, half scottish, my mum is part german, part french and part belgian. what would be my heritage? probably celtic, but i can't completely ignore the germanic part, also, i live in germany, in a region called the forest of odin, therefore i feel just as drawn to germanic myth (asatru) as i do to celtic myth.
what about you? anything to do with your av?

[mato]

Native American prodominately, and it aint got nothing to do with my av. He's just cute and kinda looks like me!

[aefentid]

so, mato what is your heritage?
what about people of mixed nationalities? my dad is half english, half scottish, my mum is part german, part french and part belgian. what would be my heritage? probably celtic, but i can't completely ignore the germanic part, also, i live in germany, in a region called the forest of odin, therefore i feel just as drawn to germanic myth (asatru) as i do to celtic myth.
what about you? anything to do with your av?

Your ancestory sound very similar to mine.I have Welsh ,Scottish , and English ancestory on one side.On my mom's side it's mostly English and Danish ,with a little French and Scottish.

The Gods who called me are part of my heritage ,but personally I believe the Gods call who they wish regardless of heritage.

About being drawn to both Celtic and Germanic Gods I don't think you have to choose between them.I know of quite a few people from Wiccans to Reconstructionists who honor both.

[mothwench]

Your ancestory sound very similar to mine.I have Welsh ,Scottish , and English ancestory on one side.On my mom's side it's mostly English and Danish ,with a little French and Scottish.

The Gods who called me are part of my heritage ,but personally I believe the Gods call who they wish regardless of heritage.

About being drawn to both Celtic and Germanic Gods I don't think you have to choose between them.I know of quite a few people from Wiccans to Reconstructionists who honor both.


hey cool, you're all over the place, too!
you know, this makes me think of something i saw a while back, it was in a forum moderated by a chap studying comparing religions.
he claimed pagans are actually dishonoring their ancestors by worshipping their deities, saying that because we no longer face the daily threat of death by e.g. lions and tigers and bears, we no longer have to hunt for our food and hord for winter etc., it is blasphemous to call upon these ancestral gods.
what a dic-hed. we might not be threatened by man-eating beasts anymore, but its not like life has become any more safe. yeah, medicine and all that has improved, but i poo-poo that stuff anyhow, i have hyperactive adhd and should be on ritalin, but i say stuff it, and have my lemon balm tea. (and sometimes other things to calm me ;) ) Though i must admit the new nano-thingy technology they developed recently to cure tumours left me awstruck in a rather goggling and open-mouthed way.

mato, what uh... tribe? damn, i'm so uneducated when it comes to native americans. sorry if that sounds real naive, like out of a children's book.
well, thing is, bit embarrassing really, i need a rain spell. we had a really bad drought this summer, no fall colours, the leaves are just going brown and falling off the trees. no toadstools either :( which i find most upsetting. i want more rain next summer.
ah, ya think i'm mad now dontcha?

[veinglory]

I don't know that having a mixed heritage is any kind of problem -- guidance may easily come from sources other than blood. I am greatly influenced by british traditions (which *is* consistent with my mostly Scottish and Irish ancestors) yet I am also embedded in the Maori tradition to the extent that is is part of the land and culture I was raised in. I am not Maori and would not claim to be, but if you live in Aotearoa the concepts of mana, of spiritual beings, of respect, just become part of your life. I have an Australian Aborigonal great grandmother -- but am in no way attached to that belief system partly because my grandfather decided to 'pass' as white.

I don't think it is ok to ignorantly 'rip off' parts of belief systems like the 'fashion' that disrespectfully and ignorantly copied Maori designs or the damn spice girls doing the haka (this particular haka being for men only). But if you live within a belief system you can inherit it spiritually.

As for not needing the old gods because we aren't being eaten by wolves anymore -- taxis and idiots on cell phones are just as dangerous to poor little me on my bicycle. The human condition is not all that different just because the outer appearence of the perils has changed. I think the old gods are quite capable of taking on new aspects also rather than sitting on a museum shelf amongst the other forgotten relics...

hope I haven't bored y'all.

[mothwench]

bored? no way, that was really well put.
would you consider it disrespectful if i were to *borrow* a rain spell from native american culture or maybe even aboriginal culture? just because i miss the fall colours and the toadstools?
thing is, i reckon there's never really been any need for that sort of thing in my culture, normally, we got rain coming out of our ears.
i'm asking this cause i heard something about native americans getting upset at the fact that their art is copied and put on ikea rugs for example... similar to what you describe. it makes me wonder how they would feel about *using* their spirituality, even though i really know nothing of it. it does seem disrespectful, in a way...

[mato]

I would consider it massively disrespectful to 'borrow' such a 'spell' but using the ritual you might find as insperation to make one of your own without pledgerising our stuff might be a better way to go about it.

I am of a mixed ancestry but the prodominate culture through my line is Muskogean. THe most familiar you might be with them is Creek.

[veinglory]

Some practises are for all and some must be used only from thorough understanding. It's like when we put a Maori pattern on the cobbles -- we checked and made sure we used something purely decorative and appropriate to walk on. If you borrow something with a complex meaning you can get it wrong or out of context and end up doing something disrespectful.

But I think modern practitioners from within each tradition know how to make things available to others through books and lessons -- these things arer gifts to us all and meant to be used. So I guess I think it is bad to just lift an idea from an athropologists description, but if you buy a book that offers the practrise for your use than thats good for everyone.

[mato]

But even then you really shouldnt try using it until you understand it fully. IMO

[mothwench]

But even then you really shouldnt try using it until you understand it fully. IMO
i agree. anything else would be dabbling. i've said this about other people i consider dabblers, so i'm hardly going to go breaking my own principles.

what's the difference tho? between using the base ritual and borrowing a spell?

[mato]

Not using the base ritual, using the ritual to INSPIRE your own!
It's like getting a creative/divine kick in the head. And the difference is that inspiration is a gift from divinity :sick: and 'borrowing' is imperialism. I have said it a thousand times, Go back to your own system (kinda like, "You Kids STAY OUT OF MY YARD!") if you like something in anothers dig around in your own to find what you are missing.

[mothwench]

um. i have never been one to say anything like *you kids stay outta my yard*, and i never understood and actually took great offense when it was said to me. but maybe that's my upbringing. if your whole family is just a big potpourri/cesspit (however you want to look at it) of nationalities, then the keeping people outta the yard stance really doesn't make much sense.

anyway. as i said i know nothing of your culture- totally naive in that respect. some schools in britain still even use the word *red indian* which i know you must think is either absolutely hilarious, or you might take great offense at it. just trying to explain to you just HOW LITTLE i know of this stuff. i also went to school in the states, but it was a catholic private school (long hard story) in PA near philly, and i never got to know any native americans.
so, i couldn't look for inspiration in the ritual even if i wanted to, because i simply don't know what it is, i don't even know what *creek* is, i'm ashamed to admit. but i'll do some googling... but then i could have done that in the first place, write in key words like pagan american rain magic or something along those lines, and wuhay, i can make a rain stick???
no thanks. i'll take advice from you if you'll give it to me, and if you won't i'll take the hint that this is something i shouldn't mess with.

this is a touchy subject. hope i wrote clear and noone takes anything the wrong way. ;)

[Gorgonqueen]

Dear Faerysong,
I think we need to choose our deities. I mean, suppose for example, I was meditating and the Greek goddess Hestia came to me and declared herself my patron goddess. Hestia is a goddess form, that I don't personally relate to. Therefore, praying to Hestia and invoking her presence in my rituals, would be extremely uncomfortable to me. You cannot practise magick, if you do not believe and connect with, the forces you are trying to work with. You must choose a goddess, who resonates with you and what you believe. Hestia could never be my patron goddess, not even if she really wanted to be. I am pledged to Astarte, and she is my patron goddess. Astarte did not reveal herself to me in meditation or prayer, I chose her as my goddess. I chose her, because her myths appealed to me. For now, I have a patron goddess. Perhaps, in the future, a goddess will reveal herself as my patron, and I will worship her instead. This I know, Astarte watches over me and guards my destiny. Our relationship is all the more special, because I chose her-and not the other way around.

[Heathen Dawn]

For me the answer is a bit complicated. I backslided into atheism a couple of times, but, since God has implanted in me a fear of death, it’s been impossible for me to stay an atheist. It was both that I chose Him and that He chose me: He made my condition such that I could never leave Him totally. He made me choose Him.

[argento_occhi]

i'd like to say i chose mine, but i think there's a bit of both, in that They choose you and you choose Them. I have always been attracted to the egyptian culture aznd pantheon, and my heritage is as british/welsh as it comes. I have always felt close to Isis, and being a writer, Djehuti (thoth) has a special place in my heart. I have yet to figure out where Sobek lies in me, as my only reason for 'choosing' Him is my love of dinosaurs and crocs. If you're wondering how you know, sometimes the only answer is that you know. it's instinctive. research them, find out about them, and you'll know when you've found Them.
bright blessings
argento_occhi