How did you find / how do you approach your deities?

[DarbyCue]

Hi there! I'm new, but this is more than an introduction post. I wrote an explanation today, of how I connected with the deities I currently...well, connect with (there's at least one more I still need to understand), and because I have no one to discuss these things with IRL, I hoped we could have a conversation about it here. I'm an animist, and have been for a long time, but this year I discovered what we could call "greater spirits" or deities, if you will.

I get the feeling my understanding is different from many people's, as I certainly don't consider them either necessarily benevolent or necessarily malevolent. Sometimes capricious, perhaps.

Here is my account of how I got to where I am now (the names I give them are purely for my own convenience):

I met Inanna, Ishtar, the Fire Mother - she of many names, red in tooth and claw - under the ayahuasca trance. She was the fire and the forest, life itself (and by life, war and death). To say I know her sounds presumptuous, but I do know her because I am part of her in a way that she is not part of me: she is life and death, and encompasses the whole of any creature and more besides.

I have known Agua, rain and wind, water, weather, the tumult of the deep seas, in some respects since I was a child. I would speak to him as his waves sucked on my body, and as they tumbled me back to the shore, and I would speak to him when his waters clattered on the roof above me. I listened to his thunder and shrieking winds, and felt enthralled. The days before I left NZ the rains were torrential. He showed me physical power with the same force Ishtar had. It left its impression, as I think it was meant to.

I never really knew the moon. I would be caught by her bright disc in the sky, and stare entranced, and marvel at it, but when she disappeared my thoughts of her became pale. I've tried, lately, to connect with her. I've read a lot of the history of moon-worship, the moon as the first divinity recognised by humankind. The moon as time itself. But I was still having trouble. Two nights ago, I had a vivid dream. I've been planning for some weeks now to ritually celebrate the New Moon tonight, to bring myself closer and make her a part of my deeper thought processes. But I didn't know how I could succeed.

Two nights ago, I dreamt I was on a street in the dark night, a street lined with trees. It was a full moon, I was a white cat, and my fur glowed in the moonlight. The moon herself, she was a white lioness, high in the sky. And I was afraid. She was hunting me. I wished my fur were of another colour, so I could hide in the shadows. I ran, but the moon was faster. I evaded her once, by hiding among the branches of a tree - she took her place back in the sky - but when I came out she leapt down once more, and made after me.

I woke up frightened, and with a very real sense of the power of the moon. It's helped me - find her, the same way the ayahuasca helped me find Inanna and the rains Agua.




Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

[Alex]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

 
I met both Baphomet and Odin in very explicit dream-states, which is where a lot of my communication with Deities/Spirits comes from.

I met my Patron via the intervention of a shaman and a spirit-worker via a whole lot of heavy divination..we're talking hours.

[Sulischild]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

The primary deity I work with is Sulis (hence the name), who I actively sought out because one of my family lines lived near Her springs for generations and I was looking for some sort of... ancestral... something.  A link.  Like I thought She might smell the family scent on me or something.  I made contact through a meditation, which actually scared me off and I did nothing, not just nothing with Sulis but not even anything remotely spiritual or paganish, for quite a while.  I was expecting it to be the 'nice, but you can tell it's just your imagination' sort of thing you get from a guided meditation.  Instead I got a proper dollop of UPG and a test, which I was totally not prepared for emotionally.  I don't mean this to sound facetious or disrespectful, but I didn't think it'd be that easy.  I didn't think it'd be something I'd be capable of doing.

Just recently I was PMing with someone here and I mentioned that I was kind of thankful The Morrigan had never shown any interest in me, because I was quite comfortable with my timid little life and didn't think I had the courage for what She'd want.  Me and my big mouth... not long after I found three feathers in the pocket of a coat that has no business having feathers in it - red, white, and black.  Then a whole string of 'last straw' type stuff started happening at work (or maybe I became more aware of stuff that was already happening) and eventually The Morrigan visited during a meditation and asked whether I was just going to be a doormat, or was I going to do something about it.  I am.  It'll take a while, but I'm working on it.

[IceAngie]

Just recently I was PMing with someone here and I mentioned that I was kind of thankful The Morrigan had never shown any interest in me, because I was quite comfortable with my timid little life and didn't think I had the courage for what She'd want.  Me and my big mouth...

 
LOL. Something like that happened to me with Brighid. In the old board, someone asked how we were going to celebrate Imbolc. I answered that I didn't celebrate it because it wasn't a part of my religion, and I got this feeling of "ah, no? we'll see about that". After that, some meditation stuff guided me to Her.

[Sharysa]

LOL. Something like that happened to me with Brighid. In the old board, someone asked how we were going to celebrate Imbolc. I answered that I didn't celebrate it because it wasn't a part of my religion, and I got this feeling of "ah, no? we'll see about that".

It seems that the Tuatha De have a habit of doing things to shake us up, because the gods tend to approach me whenever I think I've got everything figured out as well.

I was looking for a therapist and then Ogma showed up telling me, "You also need a teacher, and seeing as it's been a few centuries, you're not going to find a living one very soon."

Then I asked the Morrigan about money issues and she promptly told me, "Thanks for trusting me, but I don't DO money. I know someone who does, though." Cue taking me to the Dagda to repeat my request, and THEN the Dagda following me around for a day or two running a commentary on me.

He's actually given me a lot of good advice. I just wish he used his indoor voice more often.

[Castellan]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

 
I had started honouring the Morningstar long before I first encountered him - I don't seek to willfully engage him on a matter of principle, just to willfully honour him. The first time I met him was during a state of hypnagogia one night, during which he mocked me for my indecisive nature - he was harsh, but got the point across; I'm no longer indecisive.

[Green Thumb]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

 
Spent years seeing the Green Man/Horned god in dreams and his figure everywhere. He would poke... poke... poke... every time I meditated. Once when meditating I wandered farther than the area I created in my head. I ended up at a tree with a door at the base of it. For some unknown stupid reason that escapes me still I opened the door and walked in (more of crawled since the door was so tiny). In there was this really old guy, no hair, shorter than myself, liver spots, hunched back and arthritis ridden hands. I was rude, very very rude. I was freaked out anyway. Then this dude pulled off his skin (yes disgusting to watch, and imagine) and is suddenly at least 8 inches taller than he had been with this huge rack of antlers on his head. He definitely found the entire situation humorous but I panicked so much (since I thought I had insulted the Horned God) that I broke meditation. Haven't been able to find that tree since, but I feel his presence on the borders of the area that I meditate every time.

[Frostfire]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

 
I have never really attributed names or faces to the forces I honor and respect in my personal practice. I am not sure why, I just have a recognition of thier essence, fire, water, wind, stone, these forces resonate with me and I remember the songs of their power, and I hear its echo in my soul.  I dont phrase it that way to sound dramatic, although it has that effect, it is to best describe how I acknowedge them. I have on several occassions encountered what I would call God Beings.  Most times I have sought them out. In deep trance, under the affects of mugwort and wormwood and other herbs, and in ritual. In this way I have encountered not only the beings I recognize and venorate, but those of my "coven" members as well.

I think I should explain a bit, I practice in a mixed group. I am not sure how to label myself so I wont bother trying, but by their own word my fellows are, a witch, a wiccan, a druid, and another unknown like myself.  we work by sharing, a lot. so during ritual or spell craft a large array of forces get invoked or bestirred or called forth.

For instance during a trance before a large spell, I was floating suspended in the sea, enclosed in the element that most calms me, when a black feather drifted past, then another, and another until i was engulfed in a storm of plumage that clouded everything. When it cleared I was in a clock tower and in front of me sat a massive compass of gold and brass, long story short although I do no work with the morrigan I was asked to assisst one of my friends who did. I have also come into contact with Pan, The king of dreams, and been dragged up to ride the storm during a hurricane which I would consider a god encounter.

[Sophia C]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

I put a call out to the universe, if you will, and tried (and failed) to connect with some deities. Then I went to Anglesey to check out some stone circles, and that night Manannan mac Lir popped up in a dream. Some others turned up, more symbolically at first, in meditations, and that was that. With other deities, I called on them and they responded.

I recently encountered Bui - Cailleach Bhearra - in the Beara Peninsula where my family comes from, which was a fairly awesome surprise. I feel like I'm going to have to go back to the places she's associated with and do a lot more exploring before I'm going to be able to work her out a bit more.

[Siren]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

One of mine, I'd been drawn to her myth since I was a little kid. Much, much later, I had the epiphany of "Wait! We can still worship these old gods if we want to!" and I sort of eased naturally into working with her.

Another one just started appearing in novels I read. I'd read a book, and bam, there she was in the middle of it, when the book blurb gave no indication that the story had anything to do with her. I'd read another book that also didn't give any indication that she was in it, and then there she was again. I started to think I was getting a message, and this was later confirmed by some meditation I did and then re-confirmed by a tarot reading someone gave me--the reader basically said "You belong to a goddess whose symbols are x, y, and z; you're resisting her because of this reason, her husband is like thus-and-so, and you need to be working with her." It was pretty much an exact description of what was going on, and I took the hint. She sent me on kind of a research scavenger hunt that I'm still working on, years later.

[Sarkana-night]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

I first met Tonatiuh in a dream. A very intense and beautiful dream. Nothing long, special and complicated, just... suddently.

[Zaphaux]

Does anyone here have any stories to share about how they first encountered their various deities, or anything they'd like to share?

 
 I have a routine of poetry and music, all the time I keep writing poems and songs  (modesty aside, they are beautiful and some awesome, sometimes I really write masterpieces) and almost everything that happens on my everyday life I imagine if it was a song. Music is in fact my life. Another thing that I really love and that I search a lot about are dolphins. I know everything about dolphins, love those animals, they are amazing.
 So, this introduction was necessary for the development of my story, here it comes:

 I was trying to find a god to actually have a basis to worship. So I decided to search about music gods, and I was listing them on the computer notepad (I haven't bought a notebook to write notes about my spiritual life yet, so notepad does it) and Apollo was the first one, and though there was plenty of god names written, Apollo did catch my attention for some reason I couldn't tell. So as I said, writting songs and poems are my routine, and eventually I got an sudden inspiration to write a poem, and started with a basis line: "And I worship the sun". Wrote the rest of the poem but still I found quite strange that I had such inspiration all of a sudden. So a little after that, I was reading about Apollo himself, and discovered other things other than being the god of poetry and music. I discovered he was considered the god of the sun. At this time I was almost sure that he was there, acting upon me, but I decided that it should be a kind of coincidence and almost at the same time I reached this conclusion two things came to my mind: something with an ironic sense (like "eh? we'll see then") and an idea to search about dolphins in mythology, to see if there is any god related to them. I searched for "dolphin god" and a Wikipedia page attempted me to open it, called "Dolphins in Mythology". I was reading it, till I came to something that just lifted my attention: "Dolphins were sacred to both Aphrodite and Apollo." Then another ironic thing came to my mind: "How big is the chances of it being just a coincidence?"

 Seems like Apollo likes to be ironic, or it was just the interpretation of his telepathic messages to me, since I didn't actually heard him... but I like him, my experiences with him so far makes me feel like he's friendly, patient and understanding. Also he makes me feel like he's in fact my friend... I like him.

[Schuyler]

...In there was this really old guy, no hair, shorter than myself, liver spots, hunched back and arthritis ridden hands.

This. This, this this. Cernunnos has been following me for quite some time, but it really hit me when I went to Yosemite. It was twilight and I was sitting in a meadow, staring up at the magical pink sky, when a stag poked his head out of the brush before me. Being that it was a national park, I know that deer are very common, and I had seen them sporadically since arriving. But our eyes met, and we both just stood there for what seemed like an eternity. It felt like a dream, and I just knew.

Lately though, I began questioning his presence with me, so a few nights ago, in my nightly prayer to him I asked him to show himself to me. It was very arrogant of me, I know. I then slipped into a meditation. It was deep, and I may have been dozing off. I saw an old man in a wooden room. He was just as you just described him, and I was absolutely terrified. I didn't even let him speak-- I just pulled myself out of the meditation immediately. It felt like him, but I had never heard of him appearing in this form. Thank you for sharing this.