Path Forging - Communicating with Deity

Perhaps you've noticed that the Path Forging entries are becoming quite focused on Deity. The relationship between human and deity is one that is, I think, both the simplest and most complex one that any of us will ever experience. At its most basic, this relationship is one of belonging... us to our gods and our gods to us. At its most complex, the relationship can be one that is, at least for we humans, difficult to navigate.

As in all relationships, communication is the key to making things work. Communication with deity varies through history and across cultures, yet is a vital part of worship for many. Some questions regarding the subject follow:

• Do you communicate with deity?
• What form(s) does that communication take?
• Is this communication formal and ritualized or more casual?
• Is regular communication with deity important to your path?
• Can a person communicate directly with deity or is it necessary to have a mediator such as a religious leader or spiritual guide to facilitate communications?
• Does deity respond to your communications? What form do these responses take?
• Who typically initiates communication? You or your deity?
• What types of information are communicated between you and your deity?

I'll keep my answer short and simple: yes, I communicate directly and often with multiple deities. That, I think, is enough of answer, as my primary purpose is not to share my experiences, but to spark each person to think about their own experiences and answers.

Path Forging - Dedicating to a Specific Deity

As we progress down our spiritual paths, we may come to a crossroad in which it becomes appropriate or even necessary to dedicate ourselves to the service of one or more deities. While it may seem simple on the surface, choosing to follow a particular deity can create a new set of questions.

• Whose decision is it when a person dedicates to a specific deity? Is it entirely up to either the worshipper or deity? Or is it a case of mutual agreement?
• Is a formal dedication or declaration necessary to follow a deity?
• Is it even necessary to dedicate oneself to a deity?
• Is it necessary to ask a deity's permission and/or blessings before declaring oneself a follower of that particular deity?
• Does dedicating yourself to a specific deity alter your ability to work with other deities?
• Does your patron deity require that you seek permission before working with other deities?
• If you regularly work with or are dedicated to more than one deity, what happens if there is a conflict of interests between those deities?

I can only speak from my own experiences as I ponder these questions. My patron goddess choose me, I believe, but also has given me the choice of whether I accept her patronage and permission to give up that patronage at my choosing. For me, there was never a conscious formal dedication; I am and have long been simply Hers. This patronage existed long before I became aware of it and it seemed only to be a matter of my recognizing the relationship and making the decision to embrace that relationship.

Because I am claimed by her, my interactions with other deities are affected, although the impact isn't horrible. She does not claim, as some deities would, that she is the only deity and that divine worship is to be hers alone. However, there is an expectation, both hers and mine, that I submit to the will of other deities only with her blessing. There are other deities with whom I have forged a working relationship and whom I feel I can call upon if necessary. Always, though, it is her will that has ultimate rule over me, as it should be.

Ah, The Crucial Question

"Will you walk the road to your destiny, or must the Gods drag you to it unwillingly?" ~Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon

Life, or to be more precise about it, my life, seems to be a web folded in upon itself. Points that seem to be disparate connect in unexpected places with other seemingly unlinked spots. In this sticky folded mass of interconnectedness, it happens sometimes that a particular idea or notion will stick in several places and it seems that even though I go in a different direction, the same notion will appear again and again. Whether meant to be omens or merely interesting distractions, these things happen more and more frequently as I grow older.

Take the quote from above for example. I stumbled across this particular quote written on slip of paper in a journal. More precisely (and why it gains enough significance to be written here), the journal belonged to Andy and recently came into my possession. The paper on which he'd written these lines was actually my business card. It made me laugh, because being unwillingly dragged by the Gods was how I ended up with Andy back in my life in the first place.

A few days later, I finally decided to read The Mists of Avalon. When I read the now familiar quote in the book, it was hard to know whether to laugh or cry. Life, again my life anyway, is full of these strange co-tangents of seemingly unrelated moments connecting at a single point. Nearer to winter solstice, I had the warning that things were going to change and that I could either embrace those changes or struggle against them. In either case, the warning was clear- the changes would happen whether I willed them or not. So the question becomes the one that Bradley has asked. Do I willingly walk my path or be dragged down it, arriving in the end at the same destination?

Path Forging - Relationships with Deity

The subject of humans' relationship with deity is a profound one, covered in countless texts and chewed over in countless debates and discussions. Ironically, I also just addressed this question from my own perspective on TC earlier today. It is a subject worthy, I think, of consideration by anyone who believes in the existence of deity.

Some things to ponder:

• What is the nature of your relationship with deity? Is it one of parent/child, student/teacher, partners, or something entirely different?
• Is fostering this relationship important to your path?
• If you are polytheistic, do you favor one deity over others?
• Do you limit yourself to a particular pantheon of deities?
• How did you come to know or be aware of your deity/deities?
• Did you choose the deity you worship or was he/she/it/them chosen for you?
• Does your relationship with deity ever falter? If so, how do you repair it?
• Are there deities with whom you have an adversarial relationship? If so, what is the source of those feelings? How do you deal with that deity?
• If you are dedicated to a single deity, is it conceivable that you would work with other deities?

Yes, there are a lot of questions there. To answer the first of them, I'm just going to quote what I posted to TC, rather than compose a whole new response: When it comes to my primary deity, I am daughter, sister, partner, student, partner, devotee, soldier, employee, and handmaiden all at once. Yet that doesn't quite cover it. It's a complicated relationship, but really, it can be simply stated: I am Hers... of her, belonging to her, and devoted to her. What form that relationship takes largely depends on the circumstances of the moment and what is needed.

The remaining questions I'll treat as rhetorical for the sake of time and space here.