Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Fear of the Gods

Fear of the Gods

Last updated on: January 22, 2013 at 5:39 pm by John Beckett

Fear of the Gods 2013-01-22T17:39:20-06:00 John Beckett

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Athena Parthenos – Nashville

On a fairly regular basis I hear from someone who expresses fear of the gods. This isn’t the awe and reverence expressed by monotheists and Pagans alike, which is a natural response when encountering a being who is older, wiser and much more powerful than you are. This is a fear of approaching the gods and goddesses of our ancestors and it generally falls into one of four categories. I’d like to explore those fears and what I’ve found to be helpful responses to them.

I don’t know how to begin. Read their stories. Read Gods and Fighting Men and Cuchulain of Muirthemne. Read the Eddas. Read the classic stories of the Greeks and Romans and Egyptians. They aren’t scripture and they haven’t been perfectly preserved, but they’re the best connections we have to how our ancestors viewed their goddesses and gods. Remember these are stories, not historical accounts. Read them, meditate on them, and let them speak to you beyond the literal words on the page.

Read the scholarship about the gods: what history, archeology, linguistics and literary analysis can tell us about them. Look for them in art, literature, and the mainstream culture (days of the week, anyone?). There’s more material for some than for others, but we can usually get a good idea of where and how they were worshiped. That in turn gives us more insight into who and what they are.

Talk to their priests and priestesses. You may have to do a little looking, but they’re out there – and nothing gets a Pagan talking like someone saying “tell me about your gods.” We don’t proselytize, but we love to publicize. I can’t tell you for certain who Cernunnos is, but I can tell you how I’ve experienced him and what he’s asked of me.

None of this guarantees you’ll encounter a goddess or god. What is does is prepare you so that if you do encounter a goddess or god you’ll recognize who’s speaking to you.

What if nobody picks me? Read through the Pagan internet and you’ll encounter priests and priestesses, god-spouses and god-slaves, and people speaking of their patron deity as though she’s their favorite grandmother. It can create the expectation that if you don’t have a close personal relationship with a goddess and you don’t have an ecstatic experience of her at every full moon then you’re doing something wrong. This simply isn’t the case.

You don’t have to be a formally dedicated follower to honor a god in ritual or to make an ordinary request. One of the features of polytheism is that different deities have different areas of responsibility. If you need healing, you can call on Brighid, make an appropriate offering and ask for what you need. It helps if you already know her, but you don’t have to be her priestess to approach her. I strongly disagree with people who advise cold calling a god you just found on the internet and asking for something big (I’ve done it – the results weren’t pretty – won’t do it again), but if you’re familiar with several deities in a pantheon, you should be at least on speaking terms with someone who can help you.

Priesthood is a calling that’s not for everyone. It has benefits, but it also carries obligations you may find annoying, objectionable, or even unworkable. Oaths should never be made lightly. They should be made in accordance with your True Will and in full exercise of your sovereignty.

What if I’m called by someone I don’t like? I call this the “what if I’m put in Slytherin?” fear. As Harry Potter told Albus Severus “then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student.” I’m still not sure why a primal forest god called a nerdish engineer to be his priest, but the relationship has been beneficial to me, and I trust, to him as well. Sometimes gods call people because they have a specific skill or attribute the god needs. Sometimes they’re preparing the person for future service. Sometimes… sometimes you just don’t know. But you go with it and you do what you can and in the process, you learn and grow.

I haven’t heard a peep from Eris or Loki or any of the many trickster gods. I think they understand I’m too orderly (and as those who know me well would add, too uptight) to be much use to them. They aren’t going to waste their time with me when there’s plenty of people who find pleasure (and even great meaning) in their antics.

What if nobody is there? Now we get to the tough one. Part of our mainstream society insists there’s only one god, while another part insists there are none. Polytheism is a very natural concept, but like so many other natural, intuitive ideas it’s been squashed by people who think it’s primitive or childish or unsophisticated.

As Sam Webster pointed out at the Between the Worlds conference, belief was irrelevant in the ancient world. What mattered was that you rendered due honor to the gods. Whether you saw the gods as individual beings or aspects of The Divine or archetypes or metaphors wasn’t important.

When I am in ritual or in meditation I have no doubt the gods are real, distinct, individual beings. My experience of them is too strong and too meaningful and I’ve done it for too long for me to think otherwise.

Outside of ritual, my skeptical side wakes up and starts offering skeptical alternatives: “it’s all in your head” “this isn’t real” “you have no proof” and “confirmation bias.” And I have to admit that skeptical side might be right. I don’t know.

But here’s what I do know. Since I started diligently following this path, I’m a lot happier than I was. I used to wonder what I was supposed to be doing with my life – now I know. I used to mindlessly accept the mainstream culture’s materialistic idea of success – now I’m awake. I used to fear what comes after death – now I’m confident it will be good.

Are my beliefs about the gods “right”? I don’t know, at least not in a literal sense. But they’re meaningful, and they’re helpful, and that’s good enough for me.

These four fears of the gods are very understandable for someone approaching Paganism from our mainstream Western culture. Like most fears, they stream from ignorance – we don’t know, so we imagine the worst. When we move forward in spite of our fears, we learn and grow. As our ignorance dissolves, so does our fear.

Paganism isn’t for everyone. Polytheism isn’t for everyone. If worshiping the old gods and goddesses doesn’t feel right to you, try something else. But if you feel their call, I encourage you to listen, and respond, and practice, and see where it takes you. Not because you have no fear, but because your desire to experience them is greater than your fear.

Previous Post

January 21, 2013

A New Home

Next Post

January 25, 2013 Pagan, Druid and UU

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does James say someone who doubts is like?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind A house built on sand A leaf falling from a tree A sheep without a shepherd