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Aug 5, 2019
Deities
Who is in your personal pantheon? Why/how did they get there? What role(s) do they play in your Craft and in you life?
Deities
Who is in your personal pantheon? Why/how did they get there? What role(s) do they play in your Craft and in you life?
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My pantheon is quite large, with new deities inserting themselves into it every now and again. When I first became interested in the Craft and Paganism, many years ago, I was basically duotheistic -- a generic Goddess for the female powers, a generic Horned God for the male. Over the years, these archetypes have differentiated into more specific gods and goddesses. They make themselves known in my thoughts, broadly hinting (or proclaiming) that they have come to stay. So far, no one has left, although different individuals come to the fore, or fade into the background, depending on my needs and circumstances at a given time. Currently, some of the most active members are:
Pan. Ever since I started raising goats a couple of years ago, he's been very involved in the doin's on my little ranchette.
Green Tara and Quan Yin. They are watching over the financial health and creature comforts of my retirement.
Hephaestus and Vulcan. They've been keeping my vehicles going for years, even when I didn't have the money for regular maintenance or new tires. Their current charge is my 2003 Chevy Tahoe, which I love with all my heart!
Hecate. She's been around almost from the get-go. Of course.
My First Member of my pantheon was the spirit of an apple tree, twofaced and generous.
The second and third have been Athena and Horus in elementary school. Kaguya and Amaterasu, Thoth, Anubis, Hathor, Isis, Ishtar, Pan, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Flora, Iris, Hecate, Ra, Thamus, Persephone, Vesta, Gaia, Diana, Hermes and Morrigan joined later.
I know it is a big pantheon but I feel connected to them in all my daily life and work with them since I was 4, my great grandmother was an very old witch.
How neat, that you have that tradition passed down to you, Illien Soleil! I'm not familiar with Kaguya, Amaterasu, and Thamus -- Can you tell me where I can find some information about them?
Anubis came to me many years ago, and Maat appeared just recently. I need to learn more about them and them and their incredibly rich Egyptian family of gods and goddesses.
Bright Blessings to you and all your divine family!
Amaterasu is the Japanese goddess of the sun and mistress of Takamagahara, associated with fertility and agriculture, weaving, light, the nation-state of Japan, and the universe.
After her brother threw a flayed pony into her weaving hall(ups...) she hid herself in a cave and didn't want to come out again. Until the stripping, dancing and partying goddess of the dawn lured her out.
Kaguya was the name of a child a pair of bamboo cutters found in the hollow trunk of a bamboo the husband cut. From that day on the found gold in every bamboo he cut and she grew up to be beautiful like no other. The prince asked her to be his wife, brought her to the palace, but she told him she had to leave. And in the night, a parade of gods, goddesses and spirits came from the heavens to take her home to the moon. Where she is princess/goddess.
My first source is the library of my university, I study history and philosophy, so there, then to find material I want to read (Wikipedia-> read abbreviations-> look up the primary source of the text and read it), or ask my friends in Japan, my native American friend or people I know know something about it. And with the background information I can research open source materials and text in Google Text/book(?) There you get free texts to read. Or, very scandalous, I watch YouTube. I may send you some good resources there.
And I have quite a collection of historical literature. Homer Iliad and Odysse, the book of the Celtic Myths( of gods, warriors, Fairies and druids)(ISBN for the German version 978-3-7306-0567-7), a book about Egyptian history and gods, one of the mesopotamian region and gods, I have Faust and the necronomicon, some works of lovecraft and books about herbs, oils, crystals and runes. I believe that pile is about 70cm high...
I currently only have one Goddess as I'm still very new to the practice. Brighid came to me at Imbolc and has been supporting me in all my endeavours since then :)
Brighid is wonderful! She is also in my pantheon and has been very helpful in maintaining the health and promoting the healing of me and my herd (a horse and nine goats). How fitting that she came to you on her Sabbat!
There are several with me at the moment, mostly Egyptian. I got "passed" to Yinepu a few years ago when I had a situation in which he was uniquely suited to help. I'm sure I try his patience every day, when he and the others aren't laughing at me.
Hathor came to me several years ago as well. I fought it, but at the same time, I wanted to understand why a goddess known most for children and fertility wanted me - a childfree woman who was at the zoo on the day they handed out the maternal instinct. It took me a long time, but I finally came to understand that those attributes aren't the totality of her, but rather a consequence, for lack of a better term. She is free and independent. She enjoys her sexuality and knows how to celebrate! She is of the earth as well as the stars.
I love the Egyptian deities and would like to learn more about them. And I like the way you describe being "handed off" from one to another -- sort of like a psychic football.
I'm sure the folks in my pantheon give me the cosmic eye roll for being so obtuse sometimes.
I can relate to you and Hathor. Anubis has been with me for decades, and I still can't figure out why (but I am grateful for his presence). And Hecate has always scared the bloomers off me! She says it's because I'm afraid of my own power as one of Hers -- I know she's right, but she still scares me.
There are several books and websources that have helped me. A book called Devoted To You has an entire chapter on Anubis. Sometimes, you can find Terence Duquesne's writings online for free - he wrote some excellent articles and books about jackal divinities. Jackal at the Shaman's Gate is short but excellent look at Anubis.
Alison Robert's books are fairly good looks at Hathor, but she takes the view that she is but a facet of an older goddess and not exactly her own being. Lesley Jackson's Hathor: A Reintroduction To An Ancient Egyptian Goddess is very good.
Don Webb and Judith Page's Set: The Outsider is a very good look at him, as well as Billie Walker's The Setian: The Mysteries of the Shadows.
Big fan of Ma'at. Long history there for me. And I just spell it weird.
Well, this is another nudge for me to get to know her! Re: the spelling, I lived in New Mexico for many years and am used to seeing the apostrophe ' in words. In the Navajo (Dine) language, it signifies a glottal stop.
The ones that have been with me ever since I first wandered onto the path have been Skadi (I've always been a hunter, and more than once she's helped me follow trails) and Brigid.
Who is Skadi? I'm not familiar with her. Brigid is a big favorite of mine. I named one of my new baby goats (born on Lughnasadh eve) after her.