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Author Topic: Devotional Relationships  (Read 1826 times)

Emerald

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Devotional Relationships
« on: March 10, 2013, 05:47:40 pm »
I'm interested in devotional relationships to Deity. I've read through Gilbride's Loop of Brighid column, which gives a good explanation. Now I'd like to hear about other peoples experiences. My interest particularly lies in Child and Servant relationships. I'd like to hear about other types of relationships as well, as I'm endlessly curious. ;)

What is your relationship to specific Deities?

How did you come to devote yourself in this way?

What does this involve?

Gaudior

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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2013, 06:36:16 pm »
Quote from: Emerald;100509
I'm interested in devotional relationships to Deity. I've read through Gilbride's Loop of Brighid column, which gives a good explanation. Now I'd like to hear about other peoples experiences. My interest particularly lies in Child and Servant relationships. I'd like to hear about other types of relationships as well, as I'm endlessly curious. ;)

What is your relationship to specific Deities?

How did you come to devote yourself in this way?

What does this involve?


There are so many. When you said "devotional relationships" it made me think of Krishna, because His devotees talk about a love affair between Him and them.

I like the relationship of friend, laid back, without a whole lot of fuss. From what I can tell, everytime I've tried the elaborate "Oh great one blah blah blah" they've just gotten really annoyed with me xD So I speak to them, with respect, but in a friendly and warm manner.

http://suite101.com/article/the-five-bhavas-a108732 <---these are the Five Bhavas in Hinduism, which talk about relationship to deity. I choose Sakhya Bhava-Friendship :)
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CaveMan

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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2013, 07:01:56 pm »
Quote from: Emerald;100509
What is your relationship to specific Deities?

How did you come to devote yourself in this way?

What does this involve?

i found the world turtle by sitting inside of a cave while rattling watching the clouds pass by, suddenly instead of the clouds passing by it was the world moving/turning. im not devoted to it, because it is nothing but a mystical experience through a natural phenomenon. that however does not take anything away from its mystic wander. i see a variety of different gods using various natural phenomenon, this is my personal form of pantheism :)
« Last Edit: March 10, 2013, 07:07:43 pm by CaveMan »

Shine

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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2013, 07:09:44 pm »
Quote from: Emerald;100509
I'm interested in devotional relationships to Deity. I've read through Gilbride's Loop of Brighid column, which gives a good explanation. Now I'd like to hear about other peoples experiences. My interest particularly lies in Child and Servant relationships. I'd like to hear about other types of relationships as well, as I'm endlessly curious. ;)

What is your relationship to specific Deities?

How did you come to devote yourself in this way?

What does this involve?

 
I had something written, but then I made a dumb and now I guess it's gone. :confused: There's not a lot I can share, but maybe you'll find the words below of interest.

Basically, Bast is my spiritual mother and she owns me. Right now I don't do much as a servant since I took a break while I transition out of college. Even so, a lot of the work I do is ultimately for her. (For example, I realized that the difficulties in designing my senior project mirror the difficulties in making projects for Bast, such as devotionals, traditions, etc.)

I'm expected to come to shrine twice a day, sometimes three times a day, with the morning rite the most important. I'm supposed to write: devotionals, essays, poems, etc.

I don't know how I came to devote myself like this. It seems like I just one day woke up and realized that Bast is, in my eyes, the mightiest, greatest goddess in the entire universe, a flame without peer.
Leave your darkness with me, and I will make you shine.

Lokabrenna

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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2013, 08:10:21 pm »
Quote from: Emerald;100509
I'm interested in devotional relationships to Deity. I've read through Gilbride's Loop of Brighid column, which gives a good explanation. Now I'd like to hear about other peoples experiences. My interest particularly lies in Child and Servant relationships. I'd like to hear about other types of relationships as well, as I'm endlessly curious. ;)

 
I half-jokingly describe my relationships to various deities as "fangirl/celebrity" type relationships, distant, admiring from afar, then timidly approaching to ask for an autograph.

Emerald

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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2013, 05:52:19 am »
Quote from: Gaudior;100513

http://suite101.com/article/the-five-bhavas-a108732 <---these are the Five Bhavas in Hinduism, which talk about relationship to deity. I choose Sakhya Bhava-Friendship :)

 
Thank you for the link, that was very interesting reading. :)

Emerald

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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2013, 05:59:58 am »
Quote from: Shine;100521

I don't know how I came to devote myself like this. It seems like I just one day woke up and realized that Bast is, in my eyes, the mightiest, greatest goddess in the entire universe, a flame without peer.

 
Thank you for responding, Shine. What you have been able to say has been informative. I can see why you are so devoted. :)

Emerald

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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2013, 06:01:01 am »
Quote from: Lokabrenna;100530
I half-jokingly describe my relationships to various deities as "fangirl/celebrity" type relationships, distant, admiring from afar, then timidly approaching to ask for an autograph.

 
They can be awe-inspiring, for sure.

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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2013, 06:21:28 am »
Quote from: Emerald;100509
What is your relationship to specific Deities?

How did you come to devote yourself in this way?

What does this involve?

I haven't formally devoted myself to any of my deities, which is why I use the term 'honour' when I talk about them - I honour them, but I'm not a devotee of any (yet). I suspect that will change quite soon. It's been two years, and I think some of them are wondering if I'm going to formalise the relationship. :D:

My relationship with each of my deities is different. With some, I'm a tool for their work. With others, I feel like part of their tribe - they show an interest in me, more at some times than others, but the relationship is not necessarily all that personal. In other words, I'm one of 'their' people, with the caveat that they have many other people, and are often busy. I suspect this is because most of the gods I honour are widely-known and widely-worshipped among Celtic and Gaelic Pagans of various types.

I have very different (and often much closer) relationships with my ancestors and the spirits of the land. I know that many Norse Pagans/polytheists talk about relationships with ancestors as being closer than those with the gods. I don't hear that expressed quite so clearly in Celtic polytheist or druidry contexts, but in practice, I see something very similar going on there too.

It's been a very different experience honouring a deity who's less well-known - or, more accurately, a less well-known aspect of a generally well-known goddess. (This might be about me, more than her - I'm a lot more willing to be guided with UPG where lore is missing or lost.) I'm not exactly sure how to characterise my relationship with her yet. The only way I can come close is to talk about a dance. It's a dance of mutual self-revelation. She is a creator and the wild forces of nature, I am the creature at the mercy of those forces. And we dance.

Have you read Brendan Myers' book Loneliness and Revelation? He talks about the relationship between a lover and a beloved in terms of mutual self-revelation, towards the end of the book. He doesn't talk a great deal about deity relationships, but they are hinted at. It's worth a read.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2013, 06:22:08 am by Naomi J »
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Re: Devotional Relationships
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2013, 04:22:04 am »
Quote from: Emerald;100509
What is your relationship to specific Deities?


I formally devoted myself to Manannan as His daughter/son back on Samhain (or...around then).

Before that, I formally devoted myself to Brighid as Her priestess. And I'm Morrigan's godslave, but that didn't really require a formal devotion. (Though there sort of was one. Well. Less formal than my other rituals. Also, content warning for that post and sacred BDSM.)

Quote from: Emerald;100509
How did you come to devote yourself in this way?


With Morrigan, it just...sort of happened? She thwapped me, let me know She owned my ass. It never really occurred to me to say no. I knew in my heart that Her love was what I wanted.

Brighid was a bit more subtle, and Manannan even more so. I realized that I wanted to do Brighid's work -- that I was Her tool as much as I was tM's, and that They worked together to make me do Their work. It seemed a natural next step to devote my life to Her.

Manannan showed up shortly after Brighid did, but His intention -- to be my Father -- sort of seemed a fleeting idea at that time that I quickly dismissed. Last year I finally realized He really meant it. I don't think I could have realized that had I not severed my biological sire from my life.

Quote from: Emerald;100509
What does this involve?


I'm still sort of figuring this out.

I do Their work in the world. Brighid and Morrigan have similar purviews of social justice and feminism, but with Brighid my Work is largely through my writing and, occasionally, healing. With Morrigan it's...fucking everywhere. (THERE IS NO ESCAPE.)

Manannan is...He's tricky. He's a lot like the ocean, in which you think you know something about Him, but there are depths untraveled by any mortal. He's Death, in my tradition. In a lot of ways, He terrifies me -- or rather, His Mysteries do. I've always been scared of drowning, and to dive into what He offers is a lot like that.

So on top of doing Their Work, I'm also trying to figure out where They fit in my personal practice, and how I can build a religion based off Them. That may also be part of Their Work. They don't tell me everything. ;)

I don't know; I don't have much more of an answer than that. Hope it helps, somewhat. :)
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