Was it my imagination?

[Moonshine]

Of late, I have been trying to meditate with an intention to see if any Gods/Goddesses appear during my meditations. During my meditation yesterday, I stilled my mind and let the images flow across my mind. An owl seemed to appear again and again. Sometimes sitting on a branch, sometimes hovering around... Then I saw a warrior like lady, with long brown hair, wearing an armour, a short dress under the armour and riding a white horse. She was carrying a spear in her hand. When I wished to see her face, it seemed to turn into a mess, possibly because she did not want me to see her face..

I tried to ask her name, but I she turned her horse around and called out to me to follow her.. Then again this owl came into picture. Also, I saw many other animals; pigeon, duck, stork, snake, rabbit, a horned stag.. I seemed to be following this lady among tall trees.. Then I tried to ask the owl his name. He said something starting with a C, but now I don't remember it...

With this in the background, I have a question that has been nagging me a lot recently.:(

I am wondering if this could be my imagination or is it really a visit from a deity? Because when I close my eyes for meditation and wait till my heart rate is almost nil, it usually starts with a blank screen.. Then all these visuals start floating before me.. I am new to meditating with the intention of meeting a deity, so I don't know if this could be a figment of my imagination...

I have known about Goddess Athena that she is a warrior Goddess and a couple other things.. How do you figure if a deity really came to you? This has happened to me a couple times recently. The last visit was from the Roman Goddess Jacasta (Locaste) and one from Goddess Lakshmi (Indian Goddess of wealth).

Any help will be greatly appreciated. :hugz:
Moonshine :broomride

[misschief]

you know that better than we do. but just for future reference... you can't doubt yourself. you'll never get anywhere if you do.

[LittlePerson]

If there's one thing I've learned is that what you saw is your imagination. And this isn't in a bad way, it's just how I have shaped my beliefs. I have internal dialoge with my God from time to time and I was plagued by this question, am I doing it or is God doing it? Well, really it's both. See you are connecting to God/dess the way that you see or percieve him/her. And it is God who isn't so much doing the appearing in your dreams or visionas as it is God who is helping or inspiring you to create them and reach out to him/her. I find it's whatever you see God represented as that actually does shape and influence you. For example, I believe that God is in everything and that God is Love and uses Love to make the world work and to keep in consort with Nature. Because of that I percieve God in my mind as Eros the God of Love and the supreme creator God. But do I believe it is him talking to me? In a way. See I believe it is me doing all this because my spirit is being influenced by his Love and it is me trying to reach out to God and connect to God. And though I struggled with this for so long, I've come to the conclusion that what really matters is whether or not it helps me to personally connect to or percieve God and whether or not I harm anyone while doing so. Does it help my consciense to work out problems or frustrations or hopes? And yes it does help and I'm not hurting anyone. So there's that answer, to me. You may feel differently.

Go ahead and do some research on goddesses and owls. You may see your goddess as a warrior, a protector because that is what you need to feel good about your connection with her. I cannot tell you more because it is up to you to really understand what your conscience (who is connected to deity) is telling you.

Also, do not be alarmed if this changes. For a long time while I was christian, I believed I was imagining Jesus as my God, and I suppose for good reason as that was what the church had taught me. And then it's changed as I have. And I can only believe that should my beliefs change again, so will my perception of God.

It's okay to feel confused. And it will take you a while to figure out what you think happened or happens when you meditate. But when you do, you will know. Take your time and really think deeply and remember to just breathe and be yourself. Your answers will come to you.
Blessings.

[Moonshine]

If there's one thing I've learned is that what you saw is your imagination. And this isn't in a bad way, it's just how I have shaped my beliefs. I have internal dialoge with my God from time to time and I was plagued by this question, am I doing it or is God doing it? Well, really it's both. See you are connecting to God/dess the way that you see or percieve him/her. And it is God who isn't so much doing the Blessings.

Thanks, that really helps clear some of my doubts. :)

[LittlePerson]

Your quite welcome. I've just recently come to peace with it. I feel it's just like anything we do when we feel that God made us do something or inspired us to do it. Like singing, gardening, or whatever you do that makes you feel extraordinarily connected to God. Except when we daydream, night dream, or meditate we have a chance to see what our subconscience really wants from God and from ourselves. Sometimes all it is for me are a few comforting words like it's going to be okay. Sure a scientist might think that it's just our brains doing all this as a defense mechanism to keep us on track but I choose to think of it as something more, something where God says hey, let's play puppet theatre with the little goodie and baddie "angels" that sit on your shoulder and you can choose to make me look like whatever helps you see me and whatever helps you see you and we can play, or talk, or just be. Hehee, that may be confusing too. But really I think it's so neat that we are just so open like that.

I think of children a lot when I think of imagination. They grow up, we grew up and were told that when you reach a certain age that imagination is juvinile and should be avoided if you want to act mature. Kids can have tea parties and fantasies when they are young, but as they grow up it is discouraged until it is blocked out by society. I think this is like us saying no way is it unhealthy to use our imaginations though we are grown. I had imaginary friends when I was a child. I grew out of them. I played school and had pretend parties. I went on imaginary safaris and dinosaur hunts with my little brother on our four country acres. We had fun and laughed. I would talk to God when I was lonely. Or talk to my cat (little did I know how animistic I was) as though he was a person and could understand my every feeling. I watched movies and read stories like the Jungle Book, and the Never Ending Story. I think of how Jesus said in the Bible, whether you or I believe that it was really him saying it, said that no one comes to the Father unless they be like children. This is not to say we should be like children in all manner of things unable to care for ourselves, but to open ourselves up to our dreams, or imaginations and we open ourselves up to God/dess. At least that's what I think. I have a wallpaper at work that is from an asian quote and goes something like this: to see what inside the nut, that is genious. It is just going beyond the surface of things. To dream, to imagine.
I see it as the muse for writers and singers, the ways that they connect to something higher. It is how strange and wonderful things are invented, like faeries, elves, and other beings. We are capable of so much though our inner experiences that we often fail to recognize all that we do. Making pieces of art, writing masterpieces, creating new food recipies, designing clothing, ect. All these things that people do everyday, they do them because of their imaginations. That why though we are taught at an early age that should we continue to use our imaginations that we are lofty, or unhealthy.
I think for some people it can be, those who are schizophrenic or with multiple personalities it can be. They, I know someone who is schizophrenic and bi-polar, believe that what they imagine is real that it's something that really happened to them and that it will happen again. This isn't good. It doesn't help them because they hurt themselves and others around them. They believe things happened that could never have happened and either want it to happen again or fear it happening again, but they believe it to be real, physically real. That instead of it happening in their minds that it happened in the physical world. That to me isn't healthy. But as long as we know it is make believe, pretend, wishful thinking, fun, and all it is healthy, even if we choose to believe it was created or inspired by God.
Ah, had to get that all out because it helped me too. I'm sorry I'm so long winded. I'll shut up now. Lol.