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Author Topic: Direct communication with deities  (Read 2130 times)

softlight

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Direct communication with deities
« on: October 12, 2015, 10:43:35 am »
I know some experience something they call a "godphone". To me, as a skeptic, I want to challenge assuming anything that feels like communications with deities actually is. Part of this is that it seems wrongful to speak for a deity- the amount of problems involved in this when there is so much subjectivity involved seems huge. The capacity to abuse or get lost in the fog of the human mind while letting these internal experiences with the divine be seen as a real representation of beings outside the self seems harmful unto itself.

And yet. They speak to me. I challenge them because I say, you want me to take you seriously, I can not, if I am mad then my ideas could be terribly harmful. Do you not see what has happened when people listen to the voices in their heads? Terrible suffering results too often. So. They said they would give signs.

I have seen many signs now. I have taken pictures. I don't expect anyone to believe me, but if there is any truth to what I have seen and heard, they have said there will be others. The fog that blinds humanity from the divine is wearing thin. Big things await earth realm, many challenges but hope that many harms will be made right. There is so much to say, so much to discuss. I don't want to say too much for those who aren't ready, but I want to say enough that I may find others if they are experiencing these things as well. Compassion is the true foundation of strength. A being with great power can be unworthy of the title of a divine being and a being with almost none can be great if they use it to serve true compassion.
I understand not everyone shares this philosophy, but I seek to work together with those that do, to mitigate the harms that those who do not care about others, who value titles, greatness, ego, unrestrained chaos or unrestrained order- THINGS over the welfare of beings, will commit.

In any case, I don't take my own UPG too seriously, but I do take compassion seriously. If there are beings seeking to serve it I have agreed they may work through me and I will endure the sufferings of that- though I have stood for my own welfare within this for disregarding the value of the individual to do great things will also bring suffering. Encouraging sacrifice and suffering for good causes will bring us to weave suffering into our very identity into our idea of what great things are. It is also a sign of strength and greatness to say no, I will not sacrifice myself or others if there is any other way and I will seek any other way for as long as I possibly can.

softlight

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2015, 10:49:35 am »
Quote from: softlight;180940
I know some experience something they call a "godphone". To me, as a skeptic, I want to challenge assuming anything that feels like communications with deities actually is. Part of this is that it seems wrongful to speak for a deity- the amount of problems involved in this when there is so much subjectivity involved seems huge. The capacity to abuse or get lost in the fog of the human mind while letting these internal experiences with the divine be seen as a real representation of beings outside the self seems harmful unto itself.

And yet. They speak to me. I challenge them because I say, you want me to take you seriously, I can not, if I am mad then my ideas could be terribly harmful. Do you not see what has happened when people listen to the voices in their heads? Terrible suffering results too often. So. They said they would give signs.

I have seen many signs now. I have taken pictures. I don't expect anyone to believe me, but if there is any truth to what I have seen and heard, they have said there will be others. The fog that blinds humanity from the divine is wearing thin. Big things await earth realm, many challenges but hope that many harms will be made right. There is so much to say, so much to discuss. I don't want to say too much for those who aren't ready, but I want to say enough that I may find others if they are experiencing these things as well. Compassion is the true foundation of strength. A being with great power can be unworthy of the title of a divine being and a being with almost none can be great if they use it to serve true compassion.
I understand not everyone shares this philosophy, but I seek to work together with those that do, to mitigate the harms that those who do not care about others, who value titles, greatness, ego, unrestrained chaos or unrestrained order- THINGS over the welfare of beings, will commit.

In any case, I don't take my own UPG too seriously, but I do take compassion seriously. If there are beings seeking to serve it I have agreed they may work through me and I will endure the sufferings of that- though I have stood for my own welfare within this for disregarding the value of the individual to do great things will also bring suffering. Encouraging sacrifice and suffering for good causes will bring us to weave suffering into our very identity into our idea of what great things are. It is also a sign of strength and greatness to say no, I will not sacrifice myself or others if there is any other way and I will seek any other way for as long as I possibly can.

 
I want to apologize my first message I took so long to write that it logged me out and the message was lot and in my paraphrase I forgot to even put my question!!!!!! My question if is others are experiencing direct communication with signs (my signs I see in the sky, I will discuss it in email if anyone is interested), or if they feel urged to communicate with others about it and to work together to uplift earth realm, to aid beings who are suffering and struggling in this world. I feel we will need each other to do this, I can not do this alone.

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2015, 11:41:26 am »
Quote from: softlight;180940
I know some experience something they call a "godphone". To me, as a skeptic, I want to challenge assuming anything that feels like communications with deities actually is. Part of this is that it seems wrongful to speak for a deity- the amount of problems involved in this when there is so much subjectivity involved seems huge. The capacity to abuse or get lost in the fog of the human mind while letting these internal experiences with the divine be seen as a real representation of beings outside the self seems harmful unto itself.

And yet. They speak to me. I challenge them because I say, you want me to take you seriously, I can not, if I am mad then my ideas could be terribly harmful. Do you not see what has happened when people listen to the voices in their heads? Terrible suffering results too often. So. They said they would give signs.

I have seen many signs now. I have taken pictures. I don't expect anyone to believe me, but if there is any truth to what I have seen and heard, they have said there will be others. The fog that blinds humanity from the divine is wearing thin. Big things await earth realm, many challenges but hope that many harms will be made right. There is so much to say, so much to discuss. I don't want to say too much for those who aren't ready, but I want to say enough that I may find others if they are experiencing these things as well. Compassion is the true foundation of strength. A being with great power can be unworthy of the title of a divine being and a being with almost none can be great if they use it to serve true compassion.
I understand not everyone shares this philosophy, but I seek to work together with those that do, to mitigate the harms that those who do not care about others, who value titles, greatness, ego, unrestrained chaos or unrestrained order- THINGS over the welfare of beings, will commit.

In any case, I don't take my own UPG too seriously, but I do take compassion seriously. If there are beings seeking to serve it I have agreed they may work through me and I will endure the sufferings of that- though I have stood for my own welfare within this for disregarding the value of the individual to do great things will also bring suffering. Encouraging sacrifice and suffering for good causes will bring us to weave suffering into our very identity into our idea of what great things are. It is also a sign of strength and greatness to say no, I will not sacrifice myself or others if there is any other way and I will seek any other way for as long as I possibly can.

 

I directly communicate with my deities all the time.

I call it 'prayer'.
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softlight

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2015, 11:50:43 am »
Quote from: Castus;180946
I directly communicate with my deities all the time.

I call it 'prayer'.

 
Ha! Yes I feel you there! Mine began as prayer-- I guess one thing is that I feel that I am getting a very action based version of spirituality I am called to... not just to experience the divine in prayer but to live out the spiritual strength of compassion in actual deeds and in growing good things in earth realm.

I feel like I want to find other action based spiritual people who feel called to use their strength and divine connections to serve earth realm in an active way. Is there a type of paganry or interfaith friendly areas online where one can brainstorm with others how to solve earth problems with a spiritual focus? Discussing ancient wisdom and solution from within the heart and spirit and how we can take whatever action we can to grow these things?

I guess what I mean is I feel called to find others who also feel called to really make things happen here, not just in our own lives but to look out for the the vulnerable to take an active role in our communities and to really support each other and solve complex problems harming human beings and other creatures and beings of earth realm. I also know that spiritual strength is stronger when we work together so if we put our attentions together we may have greater strengths to do these things.

There are lot's of Christian organizations that have action based missions, and there are a few secular based.... I have found that my local pagan groups we don't really have a united mission to work on and some have missions that counter what I am seeking to do so I don't innately feel comfortable with "pagans" as if that is enough to unite us. I am just not sure how to find others that I can discuss spiritual experiences and goals and work together on them from a compassionate oriented perspective.

I think the other part is as a single mom I really can't do in person groups and I have to find online options for this. For me I feel the spiritual strength I am given may be used for myself but in the sense that it is for humanity as a whole and I need to use it to uplift all who have struggles as I have. But I am only one person, I just feel like there must be others who feel called to help humanity and are trying to sort out what their communications with the divine mean and what is needed to be done here.

softlight

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2015, 12:05:10 pm »
Quote from: softlight;180947
Ha! Yes I feel you there! Mine began as prayer-- I guess one thing is that I feel that I am getting a very action based version of spirituality I am called to... not just to experience the divine in prayer but to live out the spiritual strength of compassion in actual deeds and in growing good things in earth realm.


Maybe this more direct question will help, I have a very hard time being succinct because my mind is a whirlwind of ideas, so I apologize, believe it or not I have actually deleted most of what I want to say here...

I have a specific picture of a deity and I want to share it with others and discuss what it all means, but how do you decide who is safe to talk to about these things? My sister has had some intense spiritual experiences with ancestors but I am actually worried this deity may be harmful- at least to humans-- like you might need to have a lot of spiritual strength to handle these things, not to mention if the wrong powers are getting into people's heads they may feed on the worst qualities and serve their own purposes.

I am concerned about who I discuss about these things with. Does anyone else have this concern? The first obvious is that people won't believe you. but the next is if they do and whether they can handle all the emotions of facing that there may be more than we know around us. I don't want to make people scared.

The next thing I think is that I am sad we don't have mother goddess based spiritual orgs here in my area because I feel like those serving compassionate oriented mother deities would be there to offer support and guidance with these things. It is part of my mission I want to create more of that so that people are not struggling with these things all alone and getting lost in the nether regions of the mind (or spiritual realms) without love and support to anchor them.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2015, 05:48:32 pm by SunflowerP »

Jenett

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2015, 01:09:41 pm »
Quote from: softlight;180948

I am concerned about who I discuss about these things with. Does anyone else have this concern? The first obvious is that people won't believe you. but the next is if they do and whether they can handle all the emotions of facing that there may be more than we know around us. I don't want to make people scared.


You talk in your initial post about concerns about people abusing this kind of contact - which is very true, some people do. (Because, honestly, some people, in any context, will abuse almost anything you can think of, and this is a tool that can be more readily used to control or manipulate other people than some.)

Ways to mitigate that:

1) Discuss details only with people who already have a strong spiritual or religious practice of their own, their own connections to the deity(ies) they honour or worship, their own experiences.

The reason for this is pretty straightforward: someone who already has a solid practice of their own, independent of you and whatever deity communications are involved, is not going to be as easily swayed by your experience (but may still have useful thoughts.)

Someone who already has a regular spiritual practice (that has lasted for a year or two, at minimum) that includes things like centering and grounding, cleansing, and so on, will be in a better position to notice if something unusual happens to them, and address it quickly.

2) Be really thoughtful about why you're talking about it.

Honestly, one of the biggest red flags for me in direct deity communication is "X deity wants me to tell you Y."

Now, *sometimes* there's a good reason for it: the person conveying the message has a strong and ongoing relationship with that particular deity, and I don't. The message is specific to a situation the deity cares about and the deities I normally focus on don't care about as much. The situation concerns people the deity *does* care about a lot, and telling me is a way to help solve it.

But even then, this is a thing I treat very carefully, and before doing anything about it, I confirm it through other sources and practices (my own ritual work, privately, divination, discussing courses of action with trusted people in my own life, etc.)

This is especially true if there's a "And you should do A, B, and C because I said so": in my experience that is a mode that is particularly likely to show up because the *person* passing on the message wants those things. Deities are a lot more likely to do "This thing, make it stop doing that." but leave the specific method of solving the problem up to the humans involved.

(At least for anything that's conveyed to other people: deities saying "Hey, you, do this thing" to an individual privately is much more common. I think the distinction for me is that there's an existing relationship there, and with a third party, that often isn't true.)

3) Be aware that other people will be evaluating the message, the means of the message, etc. by their own standards, and if you wish to avoid abuse of message, you should encourage them to do this.

That means giving them time (outside of ritual, ideally at least a couple of days) before asking for any kind of commitment, any kind of decision, etc. Time to do their own cross checks, time to consult other people in their lives, and so on.

Likewise, you should be aware that people (especially people whose religious practice includes things like Drawing Down or aspecting) likely have their own tells for whether a connection is to a deity or to something else. For example, there is a particular descriptive phrase that deities speaking through people use about me, and if I hear that phrase, I am a lot more likely to trust the message (though I'll still cross-check) than if I don't.

4) Spend your time talking to people who are mature, established, thoughtful, etc.

On one hand, it's good to be thoughtful about affecting other people. On the other hand, there are abuses inherent in "I know better than you do what you're able to hear and understand."

Unless you are explicitly in a teaching or supervisory or other responsible relationship with someone, your job as an ethical person is to lay out known risks and dangers when something has some risks, and then let the person make informed choices.

You don't *have* to have conversations with anyone, generally speaking, but once you decide to talk to them, your overall approach can be "I'd like to talk this out with someone, and then give you as much time to chew on it, and give me any ideas/feedback/etc." and they are responsible for deciding if they're up for that (and then taking whatever steps they feel are appropriate to manage their own emotions and life as a result.

If you don't think someone can manage their own life, then maybe you don't want to talk to them about complex stuff, y'know?

(If you are actually in a position of authority or responsibility, then it's a bit more complicated: for me, then, it usually comes down to 'is telling this person this thing right now going to get in the way of the thing they want to learn from me?'. Sometimes it will, because it gets us off on a tangent away from a sequence of things they need to learn to do other things later, or they are already off-balance for reasons relating to religious training, and adding more things to the pile, not very kind.)

Quote

The next thing I think is that I am sad we don't have mother goddess based spiritual orgs here in my area because I feel like those serving compassionate oriented mother deities would be there to offer support and guidance with these things. It is part of my mission I want to create more of that so that people are not struggling with these things all alone and getting lost in the nether regions of the mind (or spiritual realms) without love and support to anchor them.

 
I'm curious why you think this would be true, honestly.

Getting direct messages from divine powers is a specific sort of thing. Some people and groups are good at providing support for it. Some are good for providing support for specific kinds, but may not be good with or for others. And a lot of groups are not going to be very good at it at all.

In my experience, the groups that do best with it are groups that include it as part of their at least somewhat regular practices: these include British Traditional Wicca, ecstatic-focused religious witchcraft traditions, several forms of the Afro-Carribean diaspora religions, and even some spiritualist and New Age groups that focus on mediumism, channelling, or similar things.

Many of these groups are decidedly *not* focused on compassionate-Mother-Goddess types: if anything, the deity focus is as likely to be deities who are psychopomps, or associated with liminal spaces and interactions, or at least both creation *and* destruction or similar cyclical effects.

(Also, there may very well be groups near you, but I think it's going to be a very long time before the US has trivially available groups focused on Goddess-centred compassion and support, for a wide variety of reasons. In contrast, groups that include direct deity contact practices are fairly widespread, if often quite private, because they're focusing on things other than public outreach to strangers.)

In other words, you might do a lot better looking for people interested either in your specific contacts and messages, or with experience with direct deity communication, rather than some idealised group that you think will be supportive by nature.
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softlight

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2015, 01:53:10 pm »
Quote from: Jenett;180952
You talk in your initial post about concerns about people abusing this kind of contact - which is very true, some people do. (Because, honestly, some people, in any context, will abuse almost anything you can think of, and this is a tool that can be more readily used to control or manipulate other people than some.)

Ways to mitigate that:

1) Discuss details only with people who already have a strong spiritual or religious practice of their own, their own connections to the deity(ies) they honour or worship, their own experiences.

The reason for this is pretty straightforward: someone who already has a solid practice of their own, independent of you and whatever deity communications are involved, is not going to be as easily swayed by your experience (but may still have useful thoughts.)

Someone who already has a regular spiritual practice (that has lasted for a year or two, at minimum) that includes things like centering and grounding, cleansing, and so on, will be in a better position to notice if something unusual happens to them, and address it quickly.

2) Be really thoughtful about why you're talking about it.

Honestly, one of the biggest red flags for me in direct deity communication is "X deity wants me to tell you Y."

Now, *sometimes* there's a good reason for it: the person conveying the message has a strong and ongoing relationship with that particular deity, and I don't. The message is specific to a situation the deity cares about and the deities I normally focus on don't care about as much. The situation concerns people the deity *does* care about a lot, and telling me is a way to help solve it.

But even then, this is a thing I treat very carefully, and before doing anything about it, I confirm it through other sources and practices (my own ritual work, privately, divination, discussing courses of action with trusted people in my own life, etc.)

This is especially true if there's a "And you should do A, B, and C because I said so": in my experience that is a mode that is particularly likely to show up because the *person* passing on the message wants those things. Deities are a lot more likely to do "This thing, make it stop doing that." but leave the specific method of solving the problem up to the humans involved.

(At least for anything that's conveyed to other people: deities saying "Hey, you, do this thing" to an individual privately is much more common. I think the distinction for me is that there's an existing relationship there, and with a third party, that often isn't true.)

3) Be aware that other people will be evaluating the message, the means of the message, etc. by their own standards, and if you wish to avoid abuse of message, you should encourage them to do this.

That means giving them time (outside of ritual, ideally at least a couple of days) before asking for any kind of commitment, any kind of decision, etc. Time to do their own cross checks, time to consult other people in their lives, and so on.

Likewise, you should be aware that people (especially people whose religious practice includes things like Drawing Down or aspecting) likely have their own tells for whether a connection is to a deity or to something else. For example, there is a particular descriptive phrase that deities speaking through people use about me, and if I hear that phrase, I am a lot more likely to trust the message (though I'll still cross-check) than if I don't.

4) Spend your time talking to people who are mature, established, thoughtful, etc.

On one hand, it's good to be thoughtful about affecting other people. On the other hand, there are abuses inherent in "I know better than you do what you're able to hear and understand."

Unless you are explicitly in a teaching or supervisory or other responsible relationship with someone, your job as an ethical person is to lay out known risks and dangers when something has some risks, and then let the person make informed choices.

You don't *have* to have conversations with anyone, generally speaking, but once you decide to talk to them, your overall approach can be "I'd like to talk this out with someone, and then give you as much time to chew on it, and give me any ideas/feedback/etc." and they are responsible for deciding if they're up for that (and then taking whatever steps they feel are appropriate to manage their own emotions and life as a result.

If you don't think someone can manage their own life, then maybe you don't want to talk to them about complex stuff, y'know?

(If you are actually in a position of authority or responsibility, then it's a bit more complicated: for me, then, it usually comes down to 'is telling this person this thing right now going to get in the way of the thing they want to learn from me?'. Sometimes it will, because it gets us off on a tangent away from a sequence of things they need to learn to do other things later, or they are already off-balance for reasons relating to religious training, and adding more things to the pile, not very kind.)


 
I'm curious why you think this would be true, honestly.

Getting direct messages from divine powers is a specific sort of thing. Some people and groups are good at providing support for it. Some are good for providing support for specific kinds, but may not be good with or for others. And a lot of groups are not going to be very good at it at all.

In my experience, the groups that do best with it are groups that include it as part of their at least somewhat regular practices: these include British Traditional Wicca, ecstatic-focused religious witchcraft traditions, several forms of the Afro-Carribean diaspora religions, and even some spiritualist and New Age groups that focus on mediumism, channelling, or similar things.

Many of these groups are decidedly *not* focused on compassionate-Mother-Goddess types: if anything, the deity focus is as likely to be deities who are psychopomps, or associated with liminal spaces and interactions, or at least both creation *and* destruction or similar cyclical effects.

(Also, there may very well be groups near you, but I think it's going to be a very long time before the US has trivially available groups focused on Goddess-centred compassion and support, for a wide variety of reasons. In contrast, groups that include direct deity contact practices are fairly widespread, if often quite private, because they're focusing on things other than public outreach to strangers.)

In other words, you might do a lot better looking for people interested either in your specific contacts and messages, or with experience with direct deity communication, rather than some idealised group that you think will be supportive by nature.


I thank you so much for your response it is so helpful. I have a problem in that some of the entities/dieties I could potentially (though I won't say I know at all because eI really don't) have contacted me may have very mixed alignment in terms of compassion for humanity. I think I am kind of afraid of discussing this with pagans who have openly said they don't care if their deities are destructive... like... I guess I don't want advice about how to deal with this from people who are that callous about human lives? Not that that is anyone here, online is a big place and I have read a lot of people who celebrate and worship some darker entities and seem comfortable with the idea of human sacrifice and things that I have concerns about and no desire to accept, I will stand against these things, and have concerns about deities/beings/humans that are comfortable with these things.

So I have concerns about asking people who worship some of these deities, like, the horned entity I have seen a few times... and I hesitate to ask people who stay on the light side because I don't want to bring my associations with complex and potentially harmful beings toward them.

I do sort of feel like if this is real then I'm like a person with a disease and I should be put in quarantine or something... I don't agree with that sentiment entirely, I have an internal conflict about it.

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2015, 11:58:31 pm »
Quote from: softlight;180940
I know some experience something they call a "godphone". To me, as a skeptic, I want to challenge assuming anything that feels like communications with deities actually is. Part of this is that it seems wrongful to speak for a deity- the amount of problems involved in this when there is so much subjectivity involved seems huge. The capacity to abuse or get lost in the fog of the human mind while letting these internal experiences with the divine be seen as a real representation of beings outside the self seems harmful unto itself.

And yet. They speak to me. I challenge them because I say, you want me to take you seriously, I can not, if I am mad then my ideas could be terribly harmful. Do you not see what has happened when people listen to the voices in their heads? Terrible suffering results too often. So. They said they would give signs.

I have seen many signs now. I have taken pictures. I don't expect anyone to believe me, but if there is any truth to what I have seen and heard, they have said there will be others. The fog that blinds humanity from the divine is wearing thin. Big things await earth realm, many challenges but hope that many harms will be made right. There is so much to say, so much to discuss. I don't want to say too much for those who aren't ready, but I want to say enough that I may find others if they are experiencing these things as well. Compassion is the true foundation of strength. A being with great power can be unworthy of the title of a divine being and a being with almost none can be great if they use it to serve true compassion.
I understand not everyone shares this philosophy, but I seek to work together with those that do, to mitigate the harms that those who do not care about others, who value titles, greatness, ego, unrestrained chaos or unrestrained order- THINGS over the welfare of beings, will commit.

In any case, I don't take my own UPG too seriously, but I do take compassion seriously. If there are beings seeking to serve it I have agreed they may work through me and I will endure the sufferings of that- though I have stood for my own welfare within this for disregarding the value of the individual to do great things will also bring suffering. Encouraging sacrifice and suffering for good causes will bring us to weave suffering into our very identity into our idea of what great things are. It is also a sign of strength and greatness to say no, I will not sacrifice myself or others if there is any other way and I will seek any other way for as long as I possibly can.


I tried communication with deities through meditation. It take a longer time (a month or longer), but a deity often comes visibly.

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2015, 07:47:20 am »
Quote from: softlight;180942
I want to apologize my first message I took so long to write that it logged me out and the message was lot and in my paraphrase I forgot to even put my question!!!!!! My question if is others are experiencing direct communication with signs (my signs I see in the sky, I will discuss it in email if anyone is interested), or if they feel urged to communicate with others about it and to work together to uplift earth realm, to aid beings who are suffering and struggling in this world. I feel we will need each other to do this, I can not do this alone.

 
Everyone's "god phone" seems to work differently. Some people do hear and see deities and spirits, some people interpret signs and divinations, some people do trance or meditation, and sometimes it's a combination of any or all of those techniques. I used to have a fairly decent god phone until a really bad psychic experience this past winter, and I'm working on rebuilding my skills again. A word of advice... Absolutely do use warding and protective measures if you're in direct contact with deities and spirits.  (Something I didn't know when I was first starting out.) And also use a healthy dose of discernment. If you're getting messages that seem harmful or just "not right," then something else may be going on.

If the Gods are telling you something, and you either aren't understanding the message or you're assuming it's just all in your head, They'll find a way to get through to you. ;)

I do have a few friends that I share experiences with. Having people you trust to talk to is priceless. We use one another as a sounding board sometimes, and it does help us figure things out and keep our feet firmly planted on the ground. Blogging is another tool to connect with other people. Wordpress is pretty good site, but tumblr seems full of drama. Other bloggers, especially people that have more time and experience with spirit work, can help you learn how to safely communicate using your own personal skills.

Do be mindful, though, about "passing messages" from spirits and deities. I personally don't do it. If a God wants to tell someone something, They're perfectly capable of getting the message across Themselves. I will do tarot or rune readings for family and friends, if they ask for it, so I suppose that is a way to get a message across. But I won't tell someone, "Hey, Deity X says" something for them. No way. I'll leave stuff like to the professional channelers! The way I choose to look at it is that whatever messages I'm given are meant to help me along my path, which also helps others along their paths... In a grand-scheme-of-things sort of way. :)

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2015, 06:49:57 pm »
Quote from: journeyintoinsanity;181008
And also use a healthy dose of discernment. If you're getting messages that seem harmful or just "not right," then something else may be going on.


I'm not entirely sure if this thread was already linked or not, but it's a good checklist to evaluate.

Quote
If the Gods are telling you something, and you either aren't understanding the message or you're assuming it's just all in your head, They'll find a way to get through to you. ;)


That's also something. You could just sit and wait and see if they get the message to you another way. Eventually, something will or won't happen, and generally that'll clear things up.

Quote
Wordpress is pretty good site, but tumblr seems full of drama. Other bloggers, especially people that have more time and experience with spirit work, can help you learn how to safely communicate using your own personal skills.


Tumblr doesn't just *seem* full of hiveminded drama, it *is* full of hiveminded drama. While fun to look in on, I would recommend staying off the pagan side of tumblr for now, or at least make sure to not post opinions where others can see them. Opinions and tumblr don't often mix well.

Finding people to talk to, bounce ideas off of, and/or learn from is invaluable, so if you can find a community you trust, go ask questions and read their experiences. And lore. Researching lore is always good.
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Lilirin

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2015, 08:18:37 am »
Quote from: HarpingHawke;181023


Tumblr doesn't just *seem* full of hiveminded drama, it *is* full of hiveminded drama. While fun to look in on, I would recommend staying off the pagan side of tumblr for now, or at least make sure to not post opinions where others can see them. Opinions and tumblr don't often mix well.

Finding people to talk to, bounce ideas off of, and/or learn from is invaluable, so if you can find a community you trust, go ask questions and read their experiences. And lore. Researching lore is always good.

 

Depends on where you go in Tumblr. The pagan community there has a lot less drama that I have seen vs the fandoms, especially anime. I post controversial issues on my witchy blog. I have triple digit followers. I rarely get people who complain and most are fairly knowleadgable it seems.

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2015, 10:57:49 am »
Quote from: Lilirin;181045
Depends on where you go in Tumblr. The pagan community there has a lot less drama that I have seen vs the fandoms, especially anime. I post controversial issues on my witchy blog. I have triple digit followers. I rarely get people who complain and most are fairly knowleadgable it seems.

 
True, it does depend on where your niche is. Some people are quite knowledgeable--just it seems to be easier to get sucked into the drama, at least for me?
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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2015, 04:19:55 pm »
Quote from: HarpingHawke;181023

Tumblr doesn't just *seem* full of hiveminded drama, it *is* full of hiveminded drama. While fun to look in on, I would recommend staying off the pagan side of tumblr for now, or at least make sure to not post opinions where others can see them. Opinions and tumblr don't often mix well.


Oh, preach it loud. Tumblr is a nightmare of emotionally immature pagan teenagers, or rather adults who behave like the worst stereotype of what teenagers are. I have been observing some major drama lately and it makes me so thankful that I don't use any kind of social media or blogging platform anymore.

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #13 on: October 17, 2015, 01:55:56 pm »
Quote from: HarpingHawke;181023
I'm not entirely sure if this thread was already linked or not, but it's a good checklist to evaluate.



That's also something. You could just sit and wait and see if they get the message to you another way. Eventually, something will or won't happen, and generally that'll clear things up.



Tumblr doesn't just *seem* full of hiveminded drama, it *is* full of hiveminded drama. While fun to look in on, I would recommend staying off the pagan side of tumblr for now, or at least make sure to not post opinions where others can see them. Opinions and tumblr don't often mix well.

Finding people to talk to, bounce ideas off of, and/or learn from is invaluable, so if you can find a community you trust, go ask questions and read their experiences. And lore. Researching lore is always good.

 
I thank you all so much for your responses. I found that the two hardest things for me have been dealing with the hunting/harmful aspects of deities and people speaking for the divine in a way that reads to me as their own personal wishes that they want to shame others for not practicing or believing the same way.

I think part of my mission does include sharing "messages" but that is mainly living out compassion in the world and it's more of a do than a message. The other part is protecting the environment and the vulnerable from harmful human behavior. (I was going to ask others a question about this but I think I'll make a new question as it's a different topic I think, I don't have a very good sense of what fits into what topic, my head doesn't deal with that lol).

I have had a lot of peace and, I felt a strong maternal presence in both my spiritual self and social life that was very comforting for me. Last night I dreamed my grandma was there with me and I was explaining to her treating animals with compassion and learning to live without eating them (I eat meat, it's a long term not short term goal for me) and about not hurting the environment. She was both a little skeptical and then agreed about the environment and thought it was sad for the animals. She then said "Look at you, you're a teacher!" and then she hugged me for a very long time, and I woke up crying because I've just been needing a big hug from someone who understands for such a long time. I think that's the hard part I would like to seek comfort with the difficulties I face on the pagan aspect of my journey but I have felt like at least online, comfort and support is a complicated thing to seek and so many deities and groups of pagans may actively compete or be basically enemies of each others missions or needs. Sigh. Anyway.

It feels a little less lonely to know others have a hard time with the online communities too. I also found a very comforting goddess forum space that felt very safe space to me and I it's been very helpful! Seek and ye shall find, right? (Well, not always but if you're going to find anything you'll have to at least start the seeking!)

Faemon

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Re: Direct communication with deities
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2015, 01:49:33 am »
Quote from: softlight;181124
I thank you all so much for your responses. I found that the two hardest things for me have been dealing with the hunting/harmful aspects of deities and people speaking for the divine in a way that reads to me as their own personal wishes that they want to shame others for not practicing or believing the same way.

I think part of my mission does include sharing "messages" but that is mainly living out compassion in the world and it's more of a do than a message. The other part is protecting the environment and the vulnerable from harmful human behavior. (I was going to ask others a question about this but I think I'll make a new question as it's a different topic I think, I don't have a very good sense of what fits into what topic, my head doesn't deal with that lol).

I have had a lot of peace and, I felt a strong maternal presence in both my spiritual self and social life that was very comforting for me. Last night I dreamed my grandma was there with me and I was explaining to her treating animals with compassion and learning to live without eating them (I eat meat, it's a long term not short term goal for me) and about not hurting the environment. She was both a little skeptical and then agreed about the environment and thought it was sad for the animals. She then said "Look at you, you're a teacher!" and then she hugged me for a very long time, and I woke up crying because I've just been needing a big hug from someone who understands for such a long time. I think that's the hard part I would like to seek comfort with the difficulties I face on the pagan aspect of my journey but I have felt like at least online, comfort and support is a complicated thing to seek and so many deities and groups of pagans may actively compete or be basically enemies of each others missions or needs. Sigh. Anyway.

It feels a little less lonely to know others have a hard time with the online communities too. I also found a very comforting goddess forum space that felt very safe space to me and I it's been very helpful! Seek and ye shall find, right? (Well, not always but if you're going to find anything you'll have to at least start the seeking!)

 
That's a beautiful experience with your dream grandmother, thank you for sharing. :)

Direct communication, I believe, need not be limited(?) to deities that have been named and established in the lore. While I have had some negative experiences as well, overall I'd like to believe that anything that comes into one's presence has some significant message that can be applied to personal development or positioning oneself in the world(s).

I would have recommended Lierre Keith's The Vegetarian Myth, which would have been one of my favorite books for the moral philosophy section on compassion and the circle of life-and-death (if only she'd stopped there instead of going on about dodgy science and fabricated facts and then I found out that she's a transphobic radical feminist. But that one chapter was, unfortunately, enlightening.)

Generally, what somebody personally wishes or believes shouldn't do any harm if the listener holds to their own views. Trying to somehow fix the internal world of somebody else, like, "You believe that you're the child or spouse of an established figure in the lore, and you make it public in your personal blog and even forum posts so I am not cool with that" is very different from "You persistently demanded that I change my practice or relationship with my deity because you think you have authority over that as a child or spouse of same deity; I am not cool with that." People should be able to share different experiences, and be honest about what doesn't resonate, without there necessarily being shame just because of difference. (Defining communal responsibilities is something else, I'm only thinking right now about mutually-respected boundaries of individuals.)
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