Author Topic: What do the gods do for you? (Read 14901 times)

SunflowerP · « **Reply #60 on:** July 18, 2011, 08:02:57 pm »

Quote from: treekisser;5949

I sort of agree, though I'm also guessing this statement raises all sorts of linguistic and philosophy-of-language-slash-meaning stuff which I have zero idea about so I won't add anything (...Sunflower?). Plus I've derailed this thread enough - sorry Ali!

I've already linked to what Catja had to say about it on the old board; I don't think I can express it better than she did.

Sunflower

Sharysa · « **Reply #61 on:** February 28, 2012, 02:22:01 am »

Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;2146

Maybe a bit of an irreverent question! But I've noticed a few threads asking, more or less, "What do you do for your gods, what gifts do you offer them?" So I thought I'd turn it on its head.

What do the gods do for you? What gifts or blessings have you received from them or from your work with them? What keeps you coming back (instead of throwing up your hands and just becoming an animist )?

--Ali

I don't think this is an irreverent question at all. In my experience, there are too many people with this one-sided view that the gods are there to be followed and MAYBE help you out if you really need it.

The Morrigan has often forced me to be more decisive/assertive in my life, particularly when it comes to making important life choices. She gives me ultimatums and doesn't let me think about things for too long, because thinking too much almost always scares me into backing out.

She is also quite hands-off, at least directly; her way of influencing my life tends to be through a suspiciously convenient events. I tend to joke about how paranoid she makes me, but I actually like how subtle she is; I'm not a fan of being beaten over the head with "OMG, THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE I PRAYED TO THE MORRIGAN." For me it's, "If this connects with something I asked or felt, she probably did it. ...Right?"

Essentially, she's a VERY tough-love kind of patron--which I actually need a LOT, considering my family tends to make decisions for me and my mother in particular tends to be smothering, albeit the well-meant kind. The Morrigan makes me trust my own abilities and intellect instead of asking someone else for advice.

On the thought of going back to Catholicism, I have no intention of it and she'd probably nuke me if I tried.

As for a genuine BLESSING: My college's financial aid has FINALLY stopped being stupid, meaning that I actually have spending money because I don't have to worry about tuition. And I am poised to break into the theater scene with a vengeance, considering that the Morrigan is probably dropping everything I need into my lap so I can audition for a hugely-renowned, hugely-successful musical.

Silverlight · « **Reply #62 on:** February 28, 2012, 12:11:12 pm »

Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;2146

Maybe a bit of an irreverent question! But I've noticed a few threads asking, more or less, "What do you do for your gods, what gifts do you offer them?" So I thought I'd turn it on its head.

What do the gods do for you? What gifts or blessings have you received from them or from your work with them? What keeps you coming back (instead of throwing up your hands and just becoming an animist )?

--Ali

Brihid and Inari have given me useful advice; most of the time they are passive and offer the comfort that they are there but allow me to carry out my own deeds. However, every now and then, the do intervene and tweek my path when they feel that I am very near danger. They keep me safe.

Nyktelios · « **Reply #63 on:** February 28, 2012, 07:17:35 pm »

Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;2146

Maybe a bit of an irreverent question! But I've noticed a few threads asking, more or less, "What do you do for your gods, what gifts do you offer them?" So I thought I'd turn it on its head.

What do the gods do for you? What gifts or blessings have you received from them or from your work with them? What keeps you coming back (instead of throwing up your hands and just becoming an animist )?

--Ali

Believe me, I often have that feeling! I think it's more internal, I find it easier to relate to divinity if it has a face I can recognize. I don't consider myself the special chosen child of any deity, though I do feel an affinity for Isis/Aphrodite and Serapis/Dionysos. While I don't think they do me any special favours, they do help my human mind make sense of the higher power that animates the universe.Things don't always go my way - in fact, they rarely do - but the gods give me faith in a higher cosmic order and meaning to life.

Agarista · « **Reply #64 on:** March 09, 2012, 05:22:52 pm »

Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;2146

Maybe a bit of an irreverent question! But I've noticed a few threads asking, more or less, "What do you do for your gods, what gifts do you offer them?" So I thought I'd turn it on its head.

What do the gods do for you? What gifts or blessings have you received from them or from your work with them? What keeps you coming back (instead of throwing up your hands and just becoming an animist )?

--Ali

hahaha from Athena i´ve received in a very sad period of my life, pass all exams at university with the higher marks... i really prayed to her because i could not study good. One year because my grandpa died and this year because i was really sick and i could not study good. I made an exam with 40 fever and i prayed to her (was a translation of ancient greek without dictionary) because i really neaded to be strong, and i passed the exam with 10 (in spain is the maximum!) i could not believe that!! I was every day praying to her, i gave her every day a green candle with perfume.

outlaw393 · « **Reply #65 on:** March 29, 2012, 11:30:50 pm »

Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;2146

What do the gods do for you? What gifts or blessings have you received from them or from your work with them? What keeps you coming back (instead of throwing up your hands and just becoming an animist )?

Nothing, really. I don't think I've ever gotten gifts or blessings from my gods. Honestly it makes me wonder if they care about me at all.

Tana · « **Reply #66 on:** March 30, 2012, 10:35:59 am »

Quote from: outlaw393;48116

Nothing, really. I don't think I've ever gotten gifts or blessings from my gods. Honestly it makes me wonder if they care about me at all.

Well.
Sometimes a gift from the gods, does not necessarily resemble a parcel with a neat ribbon.

Maybe they gave you something and you are not realizing it?

On the other hand, you are right of course.
Nothing says that they need to care about you, just because you have an interest in them.

outlaw393 · « **Reply #67 on:** March 30, 2012, 09:57:34 pm »

Quote from: Tana;48177

Well.
Sometimes a gift from the gods, does not necessarily resemble a parcel with a neat ribbon.

Maybe they gave you something and you are not realizing it?

I think if the gods gave me something, I would either remember or know about it. I do find it strange, however, that most everyone on this thread had something to offer. I do not. Oh well.

monsnoleedra · « **Reply #68 on:** March 30, 2012, 11:32:07 pm »

Quote from: outlaw393;48231

I think if the gods gave me something, I would either remember or know about it. I do find it strange, however, that most everyone on this thread had something to offer. I do not. Oh well.

I'm curious. If your god / goddess causes you to turn left vice right because they are watching out for you and you avoid the accident does it mean you have to know they changed anything? Does it even mean that for you to equate it to their intervention they have to tell you or indicate to you they did something?

Now if you call upon him / her and ask for a specific thing then yes I'd take it they would let you know even if only through providing what you asked for. Yet inversely, if you ask for the sun type thing and they give you what you need not what you asked for do they then have to confirm for you they are the source that provided it?

I can think of events I could equate to a specific intervention. I died in my early youth and was brough back to life, so yes for me that was a sign I was watched over and they in fact acted. I think it was Artemis as she was the prominante one in my youth yet I can't rule out any of the four goddesses I am sworn to and honor. Heck it might not even have been one of them but another who saved me so I could come to accept those four and honor them through libations and offerings and the other things I do.

Juniperberry · « **Reply #69 on:** March 31, 2012, 12:54:18 am »

Quote from: outlaw393;48231

I think if the gods gave me something, I would either remember or know about it. I do find it strange, however, that most everyone on this thread had something to offer. I do not. Oh well.

I don't remember what I was reading, but there was a section that looked into the reciprocal gifting relationship between the Germanic gods and mankind. It's based off the gods original gift to us: spirit, sense, and good color. They reached out first, in an incredible way, and we return that gift with gifts of our own.

Maybe the vall is in your court on this one.

HeartShadow · « **Reply #70 on:** April 01, 2012, 08:17:37 am »

Quote from: outlaw393;48231

I think if the gods gave me something, I would either remember or know about it. I do find it strange, however, that most everyone on this thread had something to offer. I do not. Oh well.

Maybe because other people with nothing to say in this thread just don't say anything?

outlaw393 · « **Reply #71 on:** April 04, 2012, 11:10:55 pm »

Quote from: HeartShadow;48394

Maybe because other people with nothing to say in this thread just don't say anything?

But I felt like offering an opinion and I offered it.
Even if it seems like I can't offer anything to the thread at hand, perhaps someone reading the thread will go, hmm. I'm not the only one that didn't get anything from my gods...she didn't either.

Elani Temperance · « **Reply #72 on:** April 15, 2012, 04:21:56 pm »

Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;2146

Maybe a bit of an irreverent question! But I've noticed a few threads asking, more or less, "What do you do for your gods, what gifts do you offer them?" So I thought I'd turn it on its head.

What do the gods do for you? What gifts or blessings have you received from them or from your work with them? What keeps you coming back (instead of throwing up your hands and just becoming an animist )?

--Ali

I think I see most of their gifts and blessings in my daily life. Small prayers that are answered right away (a train that is delayed by a minute or two so I can just make it, a car running on empty that just makes it to the gas station) as well as an overall positive thread that runs through my life since I started praying and offering. It could all be a coincidence but that has never stopped me from considering them gifts.

Then there are the dreams, readings and talks that come from them and which guide me on or answer questions that have been holding me back for a long time.

Meeting them in Ritual is so awe inspiring that even without anything else, I'd offer and pray to them just for that second of contact.

Great question

Vella Malachite · « **Reply #73 on:** April 17, 2012, 03:03:49 am »

Quote from: LittleWitchMagazine;50307

I think I see most of their gifts and blessings in my daily life. Small prayers that are answered right away (a train that is delayed by a minute or two so I can just make it, a car running on empty that just makes it to the gas station) as well as an overall positive thread that runs through my life since I started praying and offering. It could all be a coincidence but that has never stopped me from considering them gifts.

This. I'm so glad someone else mentioned it; I was afraid of looking petty or overentitled if I mentioned that a diety did something tiny, like making a train late so I can make it Just for Me...

Other than that, strength, courage, and occasionally stepping in and taking a hand in things when I'm working myself up about a problem so much I'm not dealing with it rationally anymore. Mostly, they leave me to sort out my own problems, though, and I'm not sure I wouldn't call some of my problems 'gifts' in that I've grown through them more than I would have if I were just coasting through life.

SatAset · « **Reply #74 on:** April 17, 2012, 08:15:24 am »

Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;2146

What do the gods do for you? What gifts or blessings have you received from them or from your work with them? What keeps you coming back (instead of throwing up your hands and just becoming an animist )?

Aset helps me become a better person. She helps me heal myself, know the joy of feeding my soul, and have confidence in my abilities. She helps me love myself and not give apologies for who I am. She gives me strength and the ability to love fiercely.

Oya wants me to learn about the positive aspects of money and wealth. How a product is valued only if you have confidence in yourself and your product. I'm still working on this one.

Frigga has helped me understand the sacredness of my home and how that effects your own energies and the world around you. She helped me understand the importance of my ancestors and how honoring Her is apart of honoring them.

What keeps me coming back is that I can't imagine my life without them. I would be incomplete.

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