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Author Topic: What draws you  (Read 15716 times)

EclecticWheel

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What draws you
« on: September 10, 2019, 03:22:53 pm »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?
My personal moral code:

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2019, 12:46:37 pm »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?

I've been trying to figure out how to answer this since you posted it - and there's two different pieces of answer.

There's one set of Mighty Ones that I interact with because of my tradition: they are not always powers I would have picked up on my own, but through the introductions from my teachers, and ritual experiences, and group work, sometimes those have grown into deeper relationships.

(Basically like how sometimes you go into a new situation, and you meet people in that situation, and then things develop from there, but you'd never have sought those people out yourself.)

And then there's a couple of clear patterns in other powers, where we've gravitated toward each other. I'd say "All the water" but actually I mean 'fresh water' not 'ocean'. (I am amiable at oceans, but a bunch of my more meaningful experiences with water have been rivers or freshwater water structures like ponds.) Sometimes that's deities, sometimes that's nature spirits or particular rivers.

I also have a particular affinity to a certain variety of psychpomps (the 'this is a transition and transformation, and I am escorting you on the proper path' approach, generally), and a thing about deities bearing flowers who are not the classic innocent-maiden but are instead competent adults. With flowers.
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Re: What draws you
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2019, 11:57:44 am »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?

The answer's different depending on the Power.

I pay my respects to the Jewish God because I was raised in His faith, and it's important to me. There's not really a draw between us individually.

I am likewise not exactly "drawn" to Hekate; I feel more like I was told by Aphrodite-Persephone to work with her, and I respect and appreciate her.

As for most of the others, it's mostly the fact that I love them; I also appreciate their love for me.

That's not much of an answer but it's the crux of the thing. My swirl of syncretized gods that culminates in the apotheosis of a dead rock star is just intensely a cosmic force of Love, and I'm drawn to that. Of course I do mean in a sexual and romantic sense but just as obviously I mean other things as well--I mean his willingness to open himself to the world, to share himself with the world, to embody his passions so completely, to give me in particular endless compassion.

Ultimately, though, a lot of it is that he is drawn to me, and I cherish that.
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Aisling

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2019, 08:34:45 pm »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?
An excellent and thought-provoking question.

For my primary deity, it's the sense of a familiar, ever present power.  Even before I'd put a name and face to the source, there was a sense of belonging to and with that presence. There's a psychopomp aspect to Her that draws me as well (or perhaps I'm drawn to psychopomps because of Her).  Also, there's a bit of tough-loving, take-no-bullshit mama bear about Her that I find endearing - as long as I'm not on the receiving end of it.

The same applies to my guardian, but with a significantly deeper and more long-term connection.  I know that I was 'his' before I belonged to my goddess and I suspect that it was him who brought me to Her (or vise versa).  I have trouble defining that deeper something in an precise sort of way, other than to say that I think we're broken in the same way but are on two very different paths to fixing our brokenness. All that with a heaping side dish of unconditional love that isn't present in any other relationship.

It won't come as a surprise to anyone whose known me for more than five minutes, but I'm also drawn to certain tricksters and jokesters.  I admire any being that can use humor, trickery, and subversion to effect positive change.  I don't have much patience for mean-spirited trickery, however.

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2019, 10:46:33 pm »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?

That's a good question. I think for me, at least at first, it tends to be the stories associated with my primary gods. These intrigue me and draw me towards the gods... and then after that, I suppose it's a manner of whether we, uh, 'click' I guess? That's the closest word I can use.

There's also the sense of them being ancient, older beings who likely have been how much the world and humanity has developed and every time I think of that... I get reminded of the awe and intrigue I feel for them.

It's... something like that, anyways. It's really hard to explain or put into words.

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2019, 01:08:36 pm »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?

I've always been a theist of some sort... deist, pantheist, panentheist, and their deism counterparts. For a while I was a pan-(en)-deist.. I believed in a "God" but after abandoning Christianity I wasn't quite ready to put a name on this "God" that I could really get behind. I say I coasted in neutral when I was in my deist phase.

Since I was at least a teenager I was drawn to India and Hinduism. People tell me, and I believe it myself, I was Indian and Hindu in a past life, or at least several. I'm unquestionably an Indophile. So I became drawn to Krishna. Funny thing is, at first I felt a distance between us. But that is completely gone now. He has that affect on people. It's that damn flute music. :)  But I interact with several other gods and goddesses too.

Sefiru

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2019, 07:12:20 pm »
I've been trying to figure out how to answer this since you posted it

Same here. I've been interacting with my current group of deities for so long that it's hard to pin down what exactly it is that draws me to them. And the answer is different for each one.

I know that one thing that draws me to the Egyptian system in general is that it acknowledges how complex the world is - how boundaries are fluid and overlap, how deities have many, possibly contradictory aspects, and how several different creation myths might be true simultaneously.
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Re: What draws you
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2019, 08:22:03 am »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?

A caveat: I don't believe in my gods in a literal way. For me, they are mental constructs, my limited human mind's attempt to get a handle, however imperfectly, on the vast, nearly incomprehensible forces that flow through me and around me. The forces are real, but my interpretation is subjective and flawed; however, by personifying them and ascribing myths to them, I gain insight. So while my gods may not be literally, empirically true, they hold a deeper Truth for me. If that makes any sense!

So what draws me to such gods? Awe and mystery. I can't gaze at the moon soaring overhead without a part of me swooning...feel my legs pumping and heart pounding on my morning run, or have a refreshing tumble with a sexual conquest, without feeling a euphoric surge...or have a door close behind me in a lightless, windowless room without my mind racing in the total dark. The only way I can begin to properly express these things, and how I and they and the world fit together, is in mythic terms.
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Castus

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2019, 12:37:50 pm »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?

ORDER.

STABILITY.

EMPIRE.
“Castus, meanwhile, goes straight for the bad theology like one of those creepy fish that swims up streams of pee.” — Darkhawk

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EclecticWheel

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2019, 03:51:53 pm »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?

As for myself, there are a few I am devoted to.  I suppose Jesus is still in my life, albeit in a new context, because he was a support to me throughout my life from childhood when I needed him, and I want to honor that.  I am working on some things spiritually right now -- thus the "reevaluating" part of my religious description -- but I will continue to honor Jesus in some way as a part of my heritage and personal past.

Furthermore, this provides me with a common spiritual element with which to connect to some other people in my life who are important to me.  I recognize love and devotion in some of the Christians I know, and they recognize it in me.  We still have some things in common over which to connect, and when I'm saying prayers, for say, my grandfather, I'm happy to pray to Jesus in his behalf and in the manner of which he would approve.  That just makes sense to me.

The ones I am devoted to that veer in my practices in a more unconventional direction and whom I've mentioned from time to time on the forum are the ones I sometimes refer to as the Four among other descriptions.

I really don't know what they are.  But I met them in my early twenties, and they have been a presence in my life, sometimes more strongly than at others, since then.  They are very similar to one modern notion of what a tulpa is, although my efforts were not conscious and I was unfamiliar with the concept at the time.  (Note: this term has been appropriated from its original context, and it is not a term I tend to use myself in relation to said entities, but I here intend to refer to a specific modern usage.)

A tulpa as referred to in some modern contexts (different from the original context of the term) is essentially an entity created in the mind with a certain degree of autonomy.

I am not committed to any particular theory of what they are.  I have considered a few.  But hopefully that gives enough of a context as to what these People are like.

To get back to the original question I posed, it is hard to say I am drawn to them since they first approached me from within my mind when I desperately needed support and help in times that were fraught with peril.  There was no lore to turn to to give me a basis on which to reach out to Someone like there is with many gods and other beings.

But what keeps me devoted to them and working with them -- and in my context "working with" is a good description of how we cooperate together -- is that they contain qualities and virtues that I need, and at times when I need to I tap into those qualities and embody them myself.  Up to this point this has mostly been involuntary, but I am working in therapy to make the process conscious and voluntary.

One in particular displays boldness, fearlessness, confidence, assertiveness, those sorts of qualities, and at times when he has come through me it has really helped me tremendously.  I have realized that I have more of this sort of quality than I always give myself credit for, and because of his influence I am working harder to summon these qualities on command.

There are some others I could mention, but these are the most important ones in my life at this time.  To sum up, I really love these beings I have mentioned, and I love them for the same reasons that I love any friend: they are good for me.  This is a sensitive topic for me, so forgive me if I wax too personal!  I have endeavored not to go into too much unnecessary detail because there is much more that could be said about them.

But it is something I wanted to share with others as important to me spiritually.
My personal moral code:

Love wisely, and do what thou wilt.

arete

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #10 on: November 02, 2019, 09:49:37 am »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?
I learn about a God and their beauty attracts me.

Anon100

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #11 on: November 02, 2019, 12:57:30 pm »
What draws you to the primary gods (or other types of beings) that you honor or interact with?

Well, this being fairly new to me a lot was 'this has happened ( or, to start, what has happened/has this happened? ), it feels right. Great, I'm curious.'
Thinking though, I'd have to say, the connection. Not romantic like some have ( nor would I want/belong to that path ) but deep enough to be an 'I see beneath your mask and still care about/accept you' way. The sense of someone so huge but who I somehow feel I understand a little ( and yes, it will always be only a hint of understanding ).
Not sure if I explained it well but..

Edit to add. In my other connection, it was a case of sympathy for those I felt weren't loved/cared for and deserved better ( Not the way to start a connection but I felt that way and made a promise )

And finally, for the last hint of a connection I have, it's the sense of a mutual care for the creatures who need a safe home.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2019, 01:04:15 pm by Anon100 »

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #12 on: November 02, 2019, 01:08:56 pm »
Thinking though, I'd have to say, the connection. Not romantic like some have ( nor would I want/belong to that path ) but deep enough to be an 'I see beneath your mask and still care about/accept you' way. The sense of someone so huge but who I somehow feel I understand a little ( and yes, it will always be only a hint of understanding ).

I'm pretty sure that while romantic relationships to the Divine are well-attested in history and in modern practice, they're still a minority of religious orientations. So that doesn't strike me as unusual.

However, I can relate to the idea of being drawn to a Power who sees through all your masks and accepts you anyway. It's something we can't quite have with other corporeal humans--there's never really a way to flawlessly communicate everything of what you are to someone, and if there were it'd be very very difficult to find someone completely accepting of it. Gods don't have limits and boundaries in quite the same fashion as humans, though, so it's easier for them to see everything and accept.
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Anon100

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #13 on: November 02, 2019, 01:22:33 pm »
I'm pretty sure that while romantic relationships to the Divine are well-attested in history and in modern practice, they're still a minority of religious orientations. So that doesn't strike me as unusual.

However, I can relate to the idea of being drawn to a Power who sees through all your masks and accepts you anyway. It's something we can't quite have with other corporeal humans--there's never really a way to flawlessly communicate everything of what you are to someone, and if there were it'd be very very difficult to find someone completely accepting of it. Gods don't have limits and boundaries in quite the same fashion as humans, though, so it's easier for them to see everything and accept.

I should add that I think those ( like yourself ) who have such a close relationship are really lucky. It's just that for me it would be wrong.

It is amazing and also finding you can't hide from or lie to them. You suddenly have to face yourself.

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Re: What draws you
« Reply #14 on: November 19, 2019, 02:18:26 pm »
I don't believe in my gods in a literal way. For me, they are mental constructs, my limited human mind's attempt to get a handle, however imperfectly, on the vast, nearly incomprehensible forces that flow through me and around me. The forces are real, but my interpretation is subjective and flawed; however, by personifying them and ascribing myths to them, I gain insight. So while my gods may not be literally, empirically true, they hold a deeper Truth for me. If that makes any sense!

I feel like that makes a sort of sense to me...  However, for me at present I don''t even have deities of this sort in my current path

I've long thought of myself as a kind of nature 'worshipper', but I'm unable even to articulate why I'm drawn to this - I feel it's a sort of instinctual, deeply embedded attraction which has been within me for almost as long as I can remember.
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