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Author Topic: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing  (Read 1942 times)

Kira

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Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« on: February 25, 2013, 12:29:30 pm »
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but since I still very much consider myself a beginner, I'll play it safe.

As I am a beginner, I am still reading up on the different pantheons, and am finding myself interested in deities from every corner of the world.  

For those of you who follow gods from different paths, how do you find that works for you?  Are there some gods who are better at others than "sharing"?  Are there others that do not like each other at all?  How do you find balance?

I'm sure this has all be discussed in threads before, but as my company is gone, and my kids and husband are back at school and work respectively this week, I really need to get to the work I was using their presence last week as an excuse to ignore.  In other words, I can't spend all day and evening surfing on here while I hide from my Mother-in-law, like I did all last week.  :o

Sorry if this post sounds/seems idiotic - cramps hit this morning, and my brain is in "everything sucks" mode.

Thanks!

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Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2013, 01:31:21 pm »
Quote from: Kira;98313
For those of you who follow gods from different paths, how do you find that works for you?  Are there some gods who are better at others than "sharing"?  Are there others that do not like each other at all?  How do you find balance?

In general, I expect that gods who do not want to share wouldn't bother with me because I'm already... I guess you could call it religiously poly. All the gods I work with now approached me while I was working with other gods and were okay with sharing.

Also the ones who don't like the ones I work with tend not to come around either, and I don't call them in. Works pretty well for me. Logic and research can prevent the latter concern: if you've read the myths, you probably don't want to call on, say, Hephaestus and Ares at the same time without a very good reason behind it.
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Shine

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2013, 01:34:26 pm »
Quote from: Kira;98313
For those of you who follow gods from different paths, how do you find that works for you?  Are there some gods who are better at others than "sharing"?  Are there others that do not like each other at all?  How do you find balance?


It can get complicated. As a person who prefers to consolidate practices into one, say, tradition, having gods pop in from outside my preferred pantheon can create hurdles that I can't get over. That eventually happened with the Hellenic gods. There were too many perceived differences between Hellenic and my Kemetic practices for me to worship properly.

But Hindu deities (and Hindu thought, in general) fit with Kemeticism a lot better, and I've found honoring Ganesha and Durga easier.

What exactly do you mean by "sharing"? Do you mean sharing time with you? Sometimes deities claim people (although from what I understand this isn't all that common) and will only want to share their people in particular ways.

There are some deities who don't like each other at all. They'll let you know if there's a clash, but you can also be aware of known dislikes by being familiar with mythology.  

Balance seems to come in its own time. You struggle with it for awhile until you find a place where you're honoring your gods properly, yet you're not so distracted with spiritual matters that the mundane suffers. Two years in and I'm still working on it, but what I've found most helpful is dedicating certain times to deities, and also providing prayers and offerings sporadically throughout the week.

If you're trying to balance two systems of religious thought along with the related gods, then that's harder. I think it was Darkhawk who said that it's necessary to evaluate the core values of each religion and see if there's enough overlap to combine the two. So far, combining Hinduism and Kemeticism has been surprisingly smooth. I can't speak for other combos.
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Heliocoptero

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #3 on: February 27, 2013, 05:48:50 pm »
Quote from: Kira;98313
For those of you who follow gods from different paths, how do you find that works for you?  Are there some gods who are better at others than "sharing"?  Are there others that do not like each other at all?  How do you find balance?


I use a cultural approach. There's a matrix that forms the basic elements of my religious life: my calendar, ritual rules, theology and even the bulk of my pantheon. If I add gods from another culture I either adapt their cults to fit my matrix or I keep separate practices according to their native traditions.

To put it in practical terms, I'm a Roman polytheist, but my personal pantheon also includes Norse and Kemetic deities. I've been Romanizing my cult to Ingui-Frey and as result I've included Him in my Roman New Year ceremony together with Jupiter, Minerva, Mercury et al. Khnum and Anubis, however, I worship separately according to Kemetic ritual rules.

Nyktelios

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #4 on: February 27, 2013, 11:13:24 pm »
Quote from: Kira;98313
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but since I still very much consider myself a beginner, I'll play it safe.

As I am a beginner, I am still reading up on the different pantheons, and am finding myself interested in deities from every corner of the world.  

For those of you who follow gods from different paths, how do you find that works for you?  Are there some gods who are better at others than "sharing"?  Are there others that do not like each other at all?  How do you find balance?

I'm sure this has all be discussed in threads before, but as my company is gone, and my kids and husband are back at school and work respectively this week, I really need to get to the work I was using their presence last week as an excuse to ignore.  In other words, I can't spend all day and evening surfing on here while I hide from my Mother-in-law, like I did all last week.  :o

Sorry if this post sounds/seems idiotic - cramps hit this morning, and my brain is in "everything sucks" mode.

Thanks!


I follow both Egyptian and Greek gods, and except for some overlap and redundancy, it doesn't really cause any problems for me. There was historical syncretism between the two cultures in Hellenistic and Roman periods of Egypt, so there are long established precedents, and I find they complement each other well. I haven't had any experiences of gods "not getting along," but I would say just use your intuition about that kind of thing before mixing gods from different pantheons in the same ritual.

Rhyshadow

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #5 on: March 03, 2013, 08:00:45 am »
Quote from: Kira;98313
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but since I still very much consider myself a beginner, I'll play it safe.

As I am a beginner, I am still reading up on the different pantheons, and am finding myself interested in deities from every corner of the world.  

For those of you who follow gods from different paths, how do you find that works for you?  Are there some gods who are better at others than "sharing"?  Are there others that do not like each other at all?  How do you find balance?

I'm sure this has all be discussed in threads before, but as my company is gone, and my kids and husband are back at school and work respectively this week, I really need to get to the work I was using their presence last week as an excuse to ignore.  In other words, I can't spend all day and evening surfing on here while I hide from my Mother-in-law, like I did all last week.  :o

Sorry if this post sounds/seems idiotic - cramps hit this morning, and my brain is in "everything sucks" mode.

Thanks!

 
Finally getting to this, sorry for the delay

While I mainly follow an Irish-Gaelic path, and work mainly with the Tuatha de Dannan, I also haven't abandoned the Norse deities I worked with for several years. While they're more in the background, I do have small shrines to Thor, Freyja and Skadi.

While they seem to get along for the most part - I do keep the practices separate, honoring those I work with in a manner suited to the culture they belong to.

I think that's the important part for a mostly Recon point of view - follow the practices of the culture.

A more generalized path might be more inclined to mix them, and if it works for you, then go for it - me, I've got a bit of OCD when it comes to such things :whis:

Kira

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2013, 05:09:04 pm »
Quote from: Jack;98329
In general, I expect that gods who do not want to share wouldn't bother with me because I'm already... I guess you could call it religiously poly. All the gods I work with now approached me while I was working with other gods and were okay with sharing.

Also the ones who don't like the ones I work with tend not to come around either, and I don't call them in. Works pretty well for me. Logic and research can prevent the latter concern: if you've read the myths, you probably don't want to call on, say, Hephaestus and Ares at the same time without a very good reason behind it.

 
Yeah, I know that some gods don't like one another.  But I am wondering if people have found that some gods are more jealous of attention than others?  I haven't been approached by anyone, and as I do more research on who I might approach myself, I want to be respectful of who is more open to sharing.  I guess the best way to figure out is to just try, hey?  

Thanks!

Kira

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2013, 05:14:15 pm »
Quote from: Shine;98330
It can get complicated. As a person who prefers to consolidate practices into one, say, tradition, having gods pop in from outside my preferred pantheon can create hurdles that I can't get over. That eventually happened with the Hellenic gods. There were too many perceived differences between Hellenic and my Kemetic practices for me to worship properly.

But Hindu deities (and Hindu thought, in general) fit with Kemeticism a lot better, and I've found honoring Ganesha and Durga easier.

What exactly do you mean by "sharing"? Do you mean sharing time with you? Sometimes deities claim people (although from what I understand this isn't all that common) and will only want to share their people in particular ways.

There are some deities who don't like each other at all. They'll let you know if there's a clash, but you can also be aware of known dislikes by being familiar with mythology.  

Balance seems to come in its own time. You struggle with it for awhile until you find a place where you're honoring your gods properly, yet you're not so distracted with spiritual matters that the mundane suffers. Two years in and I'm still working on it, but what I've found most helpful is dedicating certain times to deities, and also providing prayers and offerings sporadically throughout the week.

If you're trying to balance two systems of religious thought along with the related gods, then that's harder. I think it was Darkhawk who said that it's necessary to evaluate the core values of each religion and see if there's enough overlap to combine the two. So far, combining Hinduism and Kemeticism has been surprisingly smooth. I can't speak for other combos.

 
I find myself drawn to mainly the Celtic pantheon, but to some extent, to the Norse, and Hindu ones as well.  As I am so new to this, I don't want to bungle everything up right at the beginning, but I am not quite sure how to approach things.  But I will take your suggestion of trying to find overlap.

Thanks!

Kira

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2013, 05:16:26 pm »
Quote from: Heliocoptero;98767
I use a cultural approach. There's a matrix that forms the basic elements of my religious life: my calendar, ritual rules, theology and even the bulk of my pantheon. If I add gods from another culture I either adapt their cults to fit my matrix or I keep separate practices according to their native traditions.

To put it in practical terms, I'm a Roman polytheist, but my personal pantheon also includes Norse and Kemetic deities. I've been Romanizing my cult to Ingui-Frey and as result I've included Him in my Roman New Year ceremony together with Jupiter, Minerva, Mercury et al. Khnum and Anubis, however, I worship separately according to Kemetic ritual rules.

 
I'll have to sit down and figure out how that all works out when I become more familiar with the different pantheons.  Thanks for the good ideas!

Kira

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2013, 05:17:51 pm »
Quote from: Carnelian;98838
I follow both Egyptian and Greek gods, and except for some overlap and redundancy, it doesn't really cause any problems for me. There was historical syncretism between the two cultures in Hellenistic and Roman periods of Egypt, so there are long established precedents, and I find they complement each other well. I haven't had any experiences of gods "not getting along," but I would say just use your intuition about that kind of thing before mixing gods from different pantheons in the same ritual.

 
I've always had trouble connecting with my intuition, but it's something I'm working on.  Hopefully, it will serve me well here.

Thanks!

Kira

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2013, 05:21:47 pm »
Quote from: Rhyshadow;99412
Finally getting to this, sorry for the delay

While I mainly follow an Irish-Gaelic path, and work mainly with the Tuatha de Dannan, I also haven't abandoned the Norse deities I worked with for several years. While they're more in the background, I do have small shrines to Thor, Freyja and Skadi.

While they seem to get along for the most part - I do keep the practices separate, honoring those I work with in a manner suited to the culture they belong to.

I think that's the important part for a mostly Recon point of view - follow the practices of the culture.

A more generalized path might be more inclined to mix them, and if it works for you, then go for it - me, I've got a bit of OCD when it comes to such things :whis:


I guess I'm just worried that I'll "mix" things wrong and end up with a mess - I already so don't know what I am doing, and am so reluctant to actually "do" anything because I still don't feel qualified. Does that feeling ever pass?

Thanks!

Rhyshadow

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2013, 07:23:53 pm »
Quote from: Kira;99500
I guess I'm just worried that I'll "mix" things wrong and end up with a mess - I already so don't know what I am doing, and am so reluctant to actually "do" anything because I still don't feel qualified. Does that feeling ever pass?

Thanks!

 
Entirely...no, even though I've been honoring the Norse one way or another for nie on 15 years now, and the TDD for about 7, I still wonder if I'm doing it right. Since I rarely get thwapped, I think I do a pretty good job.

The key is to set up the method and follow it, discipline as in all things is good.

The other is to DO it, they'll let you know if you screw up and teach you more about yourself in doing so.

So go, get started, even if it's just a simple little thing.

Kira

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Re: Cross-cultural pantheons and sharing
« Reply #12 on: March 03, 2013, 08:38:22 pm »
Quote from: Rhyshadow;99510
Entirely...no, even though I've been honoring the Norse one way or another for nie on 15 years now, and the TDD for about 7, I still wonder if I'm doing it right. Since I rarely get thwapped, I think I do a pretty good job.

The key is to set up the method and follow it, discipline as in all things is good.

The other is to DO it, they'll let you know if you screw up and teach you more about yourself in doing so.

So go, get started, even if it's just a simple little thing.

 
As my six year old would say, "Will do!"  :)  And thanks for taking the time to give me a shove.

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