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Author Topic: Honoring Mulitple Gods  (Read 2622 times)

Celtag

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Honoring Mulitple Gods
« on: July 31, 2012, 03:53:59 pm »
I know a lot of people worship and honor oen or two or even three Gods. I on the other hand honor five different deities. Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less. My gods are Amaethon, Cerridwen, Don, Belenus, and Sulis.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2012, 03:55:11 pm by Celtag »
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Nachtigall

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2012, 04:02:00 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
I know a lot of people worship and honor oen or two or even three Gods. I on the other hand honor five different deities. Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less. My gods are Amaethon, Cerridwen, Don, Belenus, and Sulis.

 
I honor the Twelve Olympians, including some of the other divinities. Apollo takes absolute precedence, though; but even if I wanted to honor Him exclusively, I would still have to learn about His family.

It isn't much of an issue, that some deity is honored more than the others (it is natural to have a deity that we relate the most to). What's important is, that the significance of all the major deities in the pantheon is recognized and celebrated, when appropriate.

Stardancer

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2012, 04:18:45 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
I know a lot of people worship and honor oen or two or even three Gods. I on the other hand honor five different deities. Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less. My gods are Amaethon, Cerridwen, Don, Belenus, and Sulis.

 
I'm at five and very reluctant to accept any more. After getting on the verge of depressingly overwhelmed, I decided to hammer out a schedule for shrine offerings, where I spread them out over the days of the week.

Apart from that I call on whoever seems most appropriate. They also have their own strong and fallow times, so sometimes one or two take precedence for a while, before moving into the background, and letting others come to the forefront.

I have not found them to get mad at this schedule - and they also accept that occasionally I will break it due to other circumstances. (Like, no morning offerings when I'm called in to work at 7 am.) They are happy if I 'make it up' the next day though.. ;)

The main ones:
Gaia - every day, with special focus Sundays
Pan - mon-sat, with special focus Tuesdays and Saturdays

The rest:
Athena - Monday and Thursday
Odin - Wednesday (of course...)
Sekhmet - Friday (and a prayer when I see sunlight)
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Shine

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2012, 04:32:42 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
I know a lot of people worship and honor oen or two or even three Gods. I on the other hand honor five different deities. Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less. My gods are Amaethon, Cerridwen, Don, Belenus, and Sulis.

 
As someone who's been looking to expand the number of Netjer (gods) she worships, I've been thinking a lot about this.

I think it comes down to who you have/want to have a closer relationship with. I mean, there are gods you feel an almost familial connection to while others you're neutral about. You worship the latter on a less regular basis. On festivals and an "as-needed" basis, perhaps.

Some gods do get irritated if you don't worship them on a certain schedule. Anpu was getting pretty annoyed at me because he didn't get nearly as much attention as Bast, for example. It just depends on so many different factors. You have to feel out the situation for yourself. At least the gods will (usually) give you a poke in the head if you're not doing something right!

I also second Nachtigall. I think it's good practice to honor as many deities from your tradition as possible at appropriate times.

Bast and Anpu get something from me (a prayer, food offering, libation, etc) in the morning, noon, and night unless something comes up. I get the feeling that they don't like me skipping if I can help it, though every once in a while is okay.
Leave your darkness with me, and I will make you shine.

Nyktelios

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2012, 05:41:17 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
I know a lot of people worship and honor oen or two or even three Gods. I on the other hand honor five different deities. Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less. My gods are Amaethon, Cerridwen, Don, Belenus, and Sulis.

I follow a fair amount of Egyptian, Greek and Near Eastern deities, and though many have overlapping functions, I try to honour them somewhat separately. It gets pretty complicated sometimes

For example, the deity I honour the most regularly is Hathor, who I worship pretty much on a daily basis. I also follow Ra, but mostly only in his connection to Hathor, as she is the celestial cow goddess who embodies the sky, and so she gives birth to Ra as the sun. I also follow Isis and Osiris, though I see them as being the same as Hathor and Ra, with Isis and Hathor being both the sky mother who gives birth to the sun god, with Horus being Ra in the sky, and Osiris being Ra in the netherworld. I consider Sekhmet also to be another manifestation of Hathor, but I do honour her separately, as well. I offer Hathor daily worship because, in my view, she is the most universal in influence, and contains the other gods. As for the rest of the gods, I try to honour them on a seasonal or monthly basis. I will usually honour Isis and Osiris, for example, with the new and full moons, and also times of fertility/harvest, such as the equinoxes.

I wouldn't say I follow all of the Olympians, but I give worship to a decent amount of Greek gods. The Athenian festival calendar is a good guide for when to worship certain gods, as the major gods of Athens (Athena, Poseidon, Apollon, Artemis, Aphrodite) each have a day that they are given monthly sacrifice, but there are also the bigger festivals that occur over the course of the year. Generally speaking, people should honour each major god at least once a month, though gods they feel closer to they may honour more often. Household gods like Hestia and the Agathos Daimon are honoured daily (or at least weekly). I personally honour Aphrodite and Dionysos the most regularly, at least once a month but often more, and I try to keep the monthly sacrifice days of Athena, Artemis, Apollon and Poseidon, also. Hera only has one festival on the Athenian calendar, but I try to honour her regularly, too.

Long and complicated story short, it's important to honour each god you follow regularly, but I'd say once a month is perfectly sufficient. If there are certain gods in particular you feel closer to or are more relevant to your life, by all means honour them more often.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2012, 05:45:46 pm by Nyktelios »

Darkhawk

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2012, 05:51:04 pm »
Quote from: Nachtigall;66827
It isn't much of an issue, that some deity is honored more than the others (it is natural to have a deity that we relate the most to). What's important is, that the significance of all the major deities in the pantheon is recognized and celebrated, when appropriate.

 
This.

Let's see.  Of powers I have shrines/icons for:  Hetharu(-Nut), Set, Wepwawet, Khnum, Djehwty, Lilitu, Ganesha.  The household shrine, which is currently in storage, has honored Bast and Brighid in the past, with minor assistance from Bes and Taweret; when it goes up again it will also honor Hashem.  I have no current space for any of the Feri deities, though that will happen at some point.  I used to have a Wesir shrine, and would like to again.

The first four of those are the most important to me personally, though Khnum is kind of neglected since I don't have my studio set up.  (His current icon is in the space where the studio will be.)  He's fairly easygoing, at least with me, so mostly that bugs me, not Him.  And most of my honor of the gods is in deeds, not in ritual, which means that it goes with the flow of my life.

Most of the other deities/powers/etc. are simply those that I honor, not anyone I have any personal relationship with.  If I piss any of Them off, I have not done so in a manner sufficiently that They felt a need to inform me, thus far.
as the water grinds the stone
we rise and fall
as our ashes turn to dust
we shine like stars    - Covenant, "Bullet"

veggiewolf

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Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2012, 08:17:18 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
I know a lot of people worship and honor oen or two or even three Gods. I on the other hand honor five different deities. Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less. My gods are Amaethon, Cerridwen, Don, Belenus, and Sulis.

I've five (or six?) I should be honoring but at the moment I consistently worship three: Set, Sekhmet, and Ganesha.   One of my "resolutions" for the New Year (which for me is August 5th) is to incorporate Spider and Nut into my routine practice and to determine if number six is Who I think it is.

To date, no one is ticked off to the point that I've been informed.
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SatAset

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2012, 08:18:22 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less.


I honor Aset the most (almost daily), along with Wepwawet, Nebet Het, and Sekhmet-Mut.  

I also honor Oya, Elegba and Yemaya once a week on Wednesdays.  

I honor Frigga, Idunna and Thor once a week on Fridays.  

I honor Brighid on Her shift once a month.  

I honor Hestia and Athene on Athene's monthly holy days.  

I also have a Hearth shrine set up to Aset, Frigga, Hestia and Brighid.  I tend to that once a day.  


There are times when I am able to keep this all straight and others not.  And there are times when certain gods don't want me to do ritual if I have my menstruation.
I am the Goddess of Who I can Become. I mix the magic of the sorceress with the blade of a warrior. I walk the liminal pathways to see the face of the Goddess, both terrible and kind. As She stares back at me, I tremble in awe and ecstasy.  --SatAset

Sobekemiti

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2012, 11:05:26 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
I know a lot of people worship and honor oen or two or even three Gods. I on the other hand honor five different deities. Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less. My gods are Amaethon, Cerridwen, Don, Belenus, and Sulis.


I honour Aset/Isis, Sobek/Suchos, and Heru-sa-Aset/Harpocrates every day. I also honour Ganesha, Djehuty, and Wepwawet. There's also the hearth where I honour Hestia. At some point, I would like a shrine for Wesir/Serapis/both, and one for Amun.

I keep it balanced by keeping it simple, mostly. Aset, Sobek, and Heru-sa always get my first attention because as my Parental-type Gods, They are always honoured first, then Ganesha, and it all works out from there. I have to keep in mind who my main Deities are, and that They will always come first, no matter who else wishes to get my attention. I find that sort of prioritising helps a lot in keeping everything balanced. I know I can't honour every God in existence all the time, so I have to keep it manageable for me. Knowing when to tell a God to back off, because you've already got a lotta Gods to deal with, is an important instinct to have.
Sobekemiti | Hekatean Witch, Kemetic Orthodox Shemsu, Sobek Devotee | My pronouns are they/she

wadjet

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2012, 03:52:08 am »
Quote from: Celtag;66824



 
I have nine. I am actually almost antipathetic with some of them, but we work with each other out of mutual respect. Others I get along with due to similar personality, or related interests. I honor them for their skill and power, but they definitely have their "bad sides". I don't really have a schedule or try to balance - going on intuition at the moment, because they seem to let me know it they're irritated with me. Some like the cold shoulder, some are more obtrusive.

I'd actually like to develop some sort of holiday calender or something and have specific days, but alas, I rarely ever know what day it is.

MoonCrone

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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2012, 10:49:06 am »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more?
And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less.


My principal Sacred She is Gaia, while my principal Sacred He is Green Man, there are others "around" but I've never really claimed them (if that's the correct phrase to use here) or counted them in that kind of fixed or on-going way before, like tallying them all up to end with say 5 or 6.  It's been a bit more "fluid" than that for me.  I think that's possibly because I'm so very eclectic in my path life, maybe???  Some kind-of just "pop-up" in my world briefly from time to time, maybe for a lesson I need to learn, or support they feel I need or whatever, then go away again.  Some come back, some don't, and I just go with it.  
There was only one situation I can remember where it caused, let's call it "friction".  Kali-Ma was not happy when I became drawn to my lady Yemaya.  I felt her displeasure, and her leave of me in no uncertain terms.  :mad:  It's made me a bit.. wary now ;)  
But on the whole, I haven't had any trouble mixing deities, no.  I find they all like such different things, you can't compare really.  :) That's how it works for me, anyways.
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Re: Honoring Mulitple Gods
« Reply #11 on: August 01, 2012, 07:09:03 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;66824
I know a lot of people worship and honor oen or two or even three Gods. I on the other hand honor five different deities. Are there others here who honor that many Gods or even more? And how do you find it to keep a balance in honoring all of them, without them getting mad, that maybe one God is honored more or less. My gods are Amaethon, Cerridwen, Don, Belenus, and Sulis.

 
This is my experience: I specifically follow the Neteru (Egyptian)and I have worked with about 30 of them (I think the number has grown though). I haven't had an issue of not following any one of them enough. I found it isn't about how elaborate the ritual or the offering or the frequency, but do we remember they exist and what we do in the present, not in the past or in the future. If we need them or want to celebrate them, that we do it respectfully is the focus rather than frequency. Some of them like to be in the open and others like to interject from the sidelines. I do work with some of them more than others. It is based on our own individual connections. Just because I don't have issues with structure doesn't mean that others don't. Any time I try to structure it more than I have, it doesn't work for me. They have a multitude of personalities and like people, tend to click a bit better with some and not so well with others.

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