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Mix ‘n Match Deities: Should you? Would you?

Mix ‘n Match Deities: Should you? Would you?

Last updated on: March 20, 2017 at 10:52 am by Rachel Patterson

Mix ‘n Match Deities: Should you? Would you? 2017-03-20T10:52:27+01:00 Rachel Patterson

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The Cailleach & Ganesha mix n match deities

The Cailleach & Ganesha

Mix ‘n match deities: Early on in my pagan journey (back in the dark mists of time…) I was told on several occasions strictly not to mix my pantheons. But you know how it is and me really not liking being told what to do…I ignored the warnings.

Not only did I start to mix my pantheons but I ended up with a matron goddess from ancient Britain and a patron god from India – you couldn’t get more mixed up. But bear in mind I didn’t choose them…they chose me.

Did we get eaten by demons?

We also started bringing in not two, but four different deities to our Kitchen Witch rituals sometimes from four different pantheons.

Did the heavens open and rain fire down upon us? Were we struck by lightning from the gods? Did the ground open up and send us into the pits of damnation? Was there an almighty deity punch up in the middle of the circle? NO.

I am not saying that all deities ‘get on’ with each other and in fact I think my Cailleach and Ganesha merely tolerate each other rather than being best buddies but I do think stirring it up a bit works, mostly.

Be open

I have always believed and in fact teach my students to be open to whatever deity comes along. In my experience the deity chooses you and it is best not to ignore them because they usually have a very good reason for seeking you out.

Turning away a deity just because they don’t fit into the pantheon you usually work with could lead you to miss out on something really important or a new and exciting twist to your spiritual journey, in my humble opinion.

With our Kitchen Witch open rituals we usually have four of our Hearth Guardians writing the ritual and once we have chosen the theme for the ritual they each independently come up with a deity to call in. They always pick different gods or goddesses and they are often from different pantheons but it all comes together and everything works.

In the beginning

Originally, I chose to work with the Celtic pantheon purely because I live in the UK and it seemed to make sense to me. For the first couple of years I chose who to work with and picked each deity careful. Then as my journey continued other deities started to make themselves known to me, at first it was ancient British ones but then the whole world opened up to me. I have worked with deities from many different pantheons such as Greek and Egyptian along with Orishas and Loas as well. And each experience has been enlightening, tough sometimes because some gods like to kick butt but always worthwhile.

Give it a try

I am not saying that all deities will work happily together, some of the stronger more warrior like ones would probably overpower the flowery goddesses so just bear that in mind. But in my experience, I haven’t had any problems…so far. It may not work for everyone but it certainly works for me.

The world of gods and goddesses is an intriguing place…I encourage you to explore and see where it takes you…

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