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Author Topic: reconciling different pantheons of deities.  (Read 6434 times)

Kahina

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reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« on: July 16, 2014, 03:20:27 am »
I've been working with my spirituality these past eight months (having really started research around October) and while I feel very happy choosing to practice as a sea which, I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out what kind of deities I'd like to align to.

For me, I'm a bit stuck between observing the Orishas of the Yoruba and the Goetic Demons. Of course, all that I do ultimately ties back into my worship and connecting to the element of water, so while it's not hard to pinpoint a deity related to that (i.e. Yemaya, Amon), I guess I'm being a bit fickle about how I want to go about doing this. Realistically, I could merge both concepts - make an altar for a given Orisha and a pendant of a demon's sigil, but I'm not sure if I want to do that. I don't want to complicate my practice with a lot of bouncing-back-and-forth - ultimately, I'm rooted with honoring the sea in its rawest form, and whether I channel that through my card readings or a spell, I want that to be the root of what I'm doing.

Even if you don't have experience in either African Traditionalism or Demon Magic, any advice where you've felt conflicted about trying to 'juggle' what feels like two separate beliefs would be great. Please let me know what you think and provide any insight - I'd love to hear it!
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Darkhawk

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2014, 09:28:06 am »
Quote from: Kahina;153042
Even if you don't have experience in either African Traditionalism or Demon Magic, any advice where you've felt conflicted about trying to 'juggle' what feels like two separate beliefs would be great. Please let me know what you think and provide any insight - I'd love to hear it!

 
I think you might find it useful to explore what, precisely, you feel is in conflict.  It does not seem (from what I'm reading here) like you are using strictly traditional structures to deal with any of these entities, so you're not trying to fit a particular belief/practice system to an "outsider" entity.  You don't appear to be suffering from the illusion that acknowledging one family of entities means you cannot acknowledge another family of entities.

So: where do you think something needs to be reconciled?
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Kahina

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2014, 03:24:46 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;153058
I think you might find it useful to explore what, precisely, you feel is in conflict.  It does not seem (from what I'm reading here) like you are using strictly traditional structures to deal with any of these entities, so you're not trying to fit a particular belief/practice system to an "outsider" entity.  You don't appear to be suffering from the illusion that acknowledging one family of entities means you cannot acknowledge another family of entities.

So: where do you think something needs to be reconciled?

 
I think it's a matter of trying to make what I do very 'organized' and how I should go about observing deities. There's so many kinds, and I guess I'm confused - which one fits better with my practice as a sea witch? What's easier to incorporate? Sure, I can make a mashing of the two ideologies, but I feel like if I try to do that, it takes away from the root of what I want to observe, which is sea magick. I feel like I'm getting so caught up in what kind of deity I can align myself to that it's taking away from my core desires.
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Kahina

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2014, 03:38:07 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;153058
I think you might find it useful to explore what, precisely, you feel is in conflict.  It does not seem (from what I'm reading here) like you are using strictly traditional structures to deal with any of these entities, so you're not trying to fit a particular belief/practice system to an "outsider" entity.  You don't appear to be suffering from the illusion that acknowledging one family of entities means you cannot acknowledge another family of entities.

So: where do you think something needs to be reconciled?

 
Basically, I want to observe some kind of deity in my practice but my interests are kind of going left and right. A part of me wants to observe something from my heritage (hence, the Orishas), and another part of me is kind of going off of the intuition (the demons). I know I want to work with spirits and invoke, I just am not quite sure what fits me the best.
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Sage

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2014, 03:47:50 pm »
Quote from: Kahina;153093
Basically, I want to observe some kind of deity in my practice but my interests are kind of going left and right. A part of me wants to observe something from my heritage (hence, the Orishas), and another part of me is kind of going off of the intuition (the demons). I know I want to work with spirits and invoke, I just am not quite sure what fits me the best.

 
Something to keep in mind is that deities are not their religions of origin and vice versa. For example, I've been doing this Pagan thing for seven years and darted in and out of several flavors of Paganry including Wicca, Druidry, Kemetic Orthodoxy, and now primarily a devotional path focused on one goddess. My relationship with Brighid has changed depending on context, whether my Imbolc rite was a Wiccan one, practiced as a High Day ritual for ADF (my druid group), or the whatever-it-is I'm doing now. :) You can certainly honor a deity respectfully and craft a meaningful spiritual practice that benefits both you and Them even if you aren't interested in picking up an entire new religion at the same time.
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Kahina

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2014, 04:44:40 pm »
Quote from: Sage;153095
Something to keep in mind is that deities are not their religions of origin and vice versa. For example, I've been doing this Pagan thing for seven years and darted in and out of several flavors of Paganry including Wicca, Druidry, Kemetic Orthodoxy, and now primarily a devotional path focused on one goddess. My relationship with Brighid has changed depending on context, whether my Imbolc rite was a Wiccan one, practiced as a High Day ritual for ADF (my druid group), or the whatever-it-is I'm doing now. :) You can certainly honor a deity respectfully and craft a meaningful spiritual practice that benefits both you and Them even if you aren't interested in picking up an entire new religion at the same time.


I see sea magick as the center of my - let's call it a tree. It's the trunk. The roots. My branches consist of things I do that all revolve around that - divination and spellcasting, namely. I do both things with my element in mind - I incorporate it into my readings, into the spells I perform, etc. Of course, I wouldn't mind working as a traditionalist/demonalater too, to augment my sea witchery, but then I feel like I'm muddling myself up and taking away from the center of what I want to do.

tl;dr I'm super confused about how I want to go about deity worship without feeling like whatever I worship is not related to my primary interest (sea magick).
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Altair

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2014, 05:07:10 pm »
Quote from: Kahina;153042
I've been working with my spirituality these past eight months (having really started research around October) and while I feel very happy choosing to practice as a sea which, I'm having a hell of a time trying to figure out what kind of deities I'd like to align to.



Pardon my ignorance, but I've never heard of a sea witch. Could explain what you mean by that? Is it some organized pagan path I'm not familiar with? Or do you mean that you have a special affinity for the sea and want to explore that spiritually and tap into it in an esoteric fashion, eg, through magic, divination, and the like?
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Darkhawk

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2014, 06:24:12 pm »
Quote from: Kahina;153092
Sure, I can make a mashing of the two ideologies, but I feel like if I try to do that, it takes away from the root of what I want to observe, which is sea magick. I feel like I'm getting so caught up in what kind of deity I can align myself to that it's taking away from my core desires.

 
I think that's fairly apparent in that you are talking about ideologies in your comments, but your question is about entities.

Who you deal with is not in any way the same as how you deal with them.  You are clearly not intending to do the traditional how in the first place, therefore there is no ideology in your question as I understand it?
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Juni

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2014, 07:03:39 pm »
Quote from: Altair;153107
Pardon my ignorance, but I've never heard of a sea witch. Could explain what you mean by that? Is it some organized pagan path I'm not familiar with? Or do you mean that you have a special affinity for the sea and want to explore that spiritually and tap into it in an esoteric fashion, eg, through magic, divination, and the like?

 
I've heard it in the same vein as hearth witch, hedge witch, kitchen witch, etcetera; an affinity and aesthetic for magic of, or utilizing elements of, the sea. Which, to be honest, most "sea witches" would be more appropriately named "shore witches" in that case. (My own use of it is literary homage.)
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Kahina

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2014, 07:30:51 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;153109
I think that's fairly apparent in that you are talking about ideologies in your comments, but your question is about entities.

Who you deal with is not in any way the same as how you deal with them.  You are clearly not intending to do the traditional how in the first place, therefore there is no ideology in your question as I understand it?

 
Yes. I guess another way to frame it would be how do I incorporate the deities of my interest into my practice without feeling like I'm deviating? It's one thing to already be practicing African Traditionalism or be a demonolater, but another to add those deities separate of (or not primarily focused on) the religion they were born out of.

Right now I kind of feel like I'm in a Build-a-Bear workshop where the parts I want don't look like they match the body.

I hope I'm making some kind of sense.
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Kahina

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2014, 07:32:32 pm »
Quote from: Kahina;153111


Right now I kind of feel like I'm in a Build-a-Bear workshop where the parts I want don't look like they match the body.

I hope I'm making some kind of sense.

 
On more broad terms, how do I select deities that feel right for my practice?
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Darkhawk

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #11 on: July 16, 2014, 08:44:52 pm »
Quote from: Kahina;153112
On more broad terms, how do I select deities that feel right for my practice?

 
Which entities are relevant to your practice?  Which have stories that speak to you, symbols that resonate with you, or connections with other things that are relevant?
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Kahina

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #12 on: July 16, 2014, 09:10:18 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;153120
Which entities are relevant to your practice?  Which have stories that speak to you, symbols that resonate with you, or connections with other things that are relevant?

 
Now that I've had time to sit down and think while I was in the shower, I'm not sure. I'm torn between wanting to invoke spirits to explore their energy, and not wanting to give the sea any particular 'image' or 'name' - I don't want to go to a deity when I'm paying homage to the sea. I just want to go straight to the source.

How does one go about picking their spirit/deity? I've been reading and thinking and thinking and reading and I'm running myself into circles. Should I take a break and just focus more on working with the sea until then, or - ?
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Darkhawk

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #13 on: July 16, 2014, 09:31:38 pm »
Quote from: Kahina;153123
How does one go about picking their spirit/deity?

 
By answering the above questions.
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Kahina

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Re: reconciling different pantheons of deities.
« Reply #14 on: July 16, 2014, 09:45:28 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;153125
By answering the above questions.

 
I think I'll just have to keep reflecting on that. I need to stop being so impatient - I'm just eager to try and feel stable in my spirituality. Uncertainty and I don't get along.
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