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
The Spiritual Authority of Oracles is Dangerous but Necessary

The Spiritual Authority of Oracles is Dangerous but Necessary

Last updated on: November 27, 2018 at 4:00 am by John Beckett

The Spiritual Authority of Oracles is Dangerous but Necessary 2018-11-25T10:12:15-06:00 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.

Last week Morgan Daimler had a great post on the Agora blog titled Be Your Own Spiritual Leader. Morgan discussed the necessity of mundane leadership in Pagan groups, and the value of teachers, guides, and mentors. But the main point of the post was that there are serious dangers in giving your spiritual autonomy to someone else. Here’s a key quote:

Ultimately I think we must all become our own spiritual leaders … You don’t need any other human to mediate your spirituality. You can find everything you need yourself, if you look.

I’m in strong agreement with this post. My only caveat is that I see too many people who assume that “you don’t need any other human to mediate your spirituality” means “anything I come up with is good and right.” If it works for you, have at it – but don’t try to convince me that the Morrigan is a sex goddess.

I’m a public Pagan, a blogger, and a published author. People sometimes invest me with more authority than I have – and more than I want. Even when my writing takes the tone of a Pagan revival preacher, I try to be clear that these are my experiences and the conclusions I’ve drawn from them. If you find them helpful, I hope you’ll join me. If you don’t, I hope you find the path that calls to you. Different doesn’t mean wrong.

I do the same thing with other Pagans. If what you say makes sense I’ll give it serious consideration. If you convince me I’m wrong I’ll change my beliefs and practices – getting closer to “right” is more important than pretending I’m already there. And conversely, I don’t care who you are or how many books you’ve published – if I’m not convinced I’m not buying it.

Giving anyone spiritual authority is dangerous. But sometimes it’s necessary, and that’s what I want to talk about today.

Oracular religion

I sometimes describe myself as an ancestral, devotional, ecstatic, oracular, magical, public, Pagan polytheist. For this post, the key term is oracular – meaning the Gods speak to us. Sometimes They speak in signs and omens, sometimes in divination, sometimes through thoughts in your head that you know aren’t yours.

And sometimes a deity will take over a person and use their body to verbally deliver a message.

In most cases, these pronouncements are treated as UPG – unverified personal gnosis. They are authoritative only for the person who receives them. The rest of us are free to accept them, reject them, or hold them for further consideration as we see fit. That’s simple enough.

But the polytheist religions we are reconstructing – and in some cases, building from scratch – are not only a human endeavor. Our Gods are also participating in their construction. And many times what They have to say is intended for more than the person who serves as the oracle.

Now things get complicated.

Bound together by messages from our Gods

The English word “religion” comes from the Latin religare meaning “to bind together.” If we are building a religious tradition (as opposed to a magical tradition or an academic tradition) there must be something that binds us together. Typically those are common beliefs and/or common practices. For polytheists there is nothing more central than our Gods.

I am not saying that all polytheists practice an oracular religion – many do not. But for those of us who do, the messages we receive from our Gods are of tremendous importance. These messages are rarely concerned with trivial matters. They call us to action, usually with more than a bit of urgency. And they are frequently mysterious, requiring interpretation.

Some of them come through ourselves. But others come through other people – not random strangers on the internet, but people who are our co-religionists, our circle mates, and our friends.

How much authority do we give messages that come through other humans?

Getting it right is a terrifying obligation

I’ve stood in a circle where an oracle spoke on behalf of a deity. I’ve been the oracle. I’m not sure which one is scarier.

I’ve never felt threatened. But I’ve always known I was in the presence of something holy, of Someone bigger and stronger and wiser than me. It’s like floating down a raging river, caught up in Purpose and Will and Power, hoping you can get through the rapids without being smashed on the rocks.

And when you finally make it to the calmer waters, you try to remember as much as you can, and start figuring out what you’re supposed to do with it.

That’s how it’s supposed to work. For me, that’s how it usually works. But what if this is your first time hearing strange words coming out of your friend’s mouth? What if you’re still not sure how real the whole God-speaking thing is? What if you weren’t there, but someone says “Brighid had a message for you”?

How much do you trust the oracle to get it right?

Building an oracular framework

“Everybody just do their own thing” may work for some religions and spiritualities. It won’t work for oracular-driven polytheism. Someday I hope we’ll have oracular institutions that can develop best practices and teach them to beginners. For now, we need to develop an oracular framework.

This begins with a polytheist worldview: there are many Gods, who are external to humans, each with Their own sovereignty, agency, and will.

It means developing close devotional relationships with the deities who work with the group. If you want the Gods to talk to you, start by talking to Them.

It means studying Their lore, so we learn about Their personalities and characters and we can more readily recognize Their words when we hear them.

It means knowing ourselves, so we can more readily recognize thoughts and words that are not our own.

This post is not intended to be a how-to on oracular work and divine possession. That would require a book, or several books. But if we are going to accept the spiritual authority of oracular pronouncements – and I believe we must – we need an agreed-upon framework for their reception and interpretation.

Trust the oracle… or not

I am not a trusting person. I want evidence and reason. I want credible sources. I want a track record of getting it right.

[Note to any atheist readers: read Facts and Reason in Paganism – Avoiding Materialist Assumptions before commenting. Pay particular attention to the warning at the very end.]

This kind of trust is best developed in face to face workings. It’s one thing if you tell me “the Morrigan told me this.” It’s a very different thing if we’re both in the same circle and I hear the same voice delivering the same words.

When people have shown themselves to be knowledgeable about a particular deity and culture, and respectful of them, I give their words great credence. If Morgan Daimler tells me a Fairy Queen said this or that I’m going to believe it. If someone I just friended on Facebook says it, I’m going to be very skeptical.

The words of the oracle are authoritative – their interpretation is not

This is the truth of any religious experience: what happened, happened. You saw what you saw. You heard what you heard. The experience is 100% real. That’s the easy part, or at least it would be easy if our mainstream culture didn’t try to insist we made it all up because it breaks their model of reality.

The hard part is figuring out what it means.

So if I’m participating in an oracular ritual, and the Morrigan uses the voice of one of the participants to say “Tell him to do Brighid’s work before I come for him,” and it takes place within a framework that we’ve used successfully in the past, and I have no reason to question the ability or the integrity of the oracle, then those words are authoritative and I had better pay attention to them.

This isn’t a hypothetical case – it happened pretty much exactly this way in 2015. But the interpretation was still up to me. I interpreted it as saying I needed to finish what would become The Path of Paganism and I needed to do it quickly, and that if I didn’t there would be serious consequences.

And so I did.

Many times the Gods do not speak in words, especially when They’re speaking through omens and through divination. Instead, They speak in concepts, images, and feelings. Those are very difficult messages to relay. When I’m the messenger, I do my best to tell the whole truth (even when it’s unpleasant) but also to communicate my level of uncertainty with the words I’m using. In this case, it is the concept that is authoritative, not the words I use to express it.

Why we must accept the spiritual authority of oracles

Obviously, if you are not part of an oracular tradition, you have no obligation to accept the authority of any oracle or the messages they relay.

But in the case of a group (formal or informal) working with the same Gods and spirits in the same spiritual paradigm, the expectation that everyone will accept the received gnosis is strong. I think that’s necessary in order to build a tradition of ecstatic communion and communication between us and Them.

And at the same time, the problems Morgan Daimler warned us about in Be Your Own Spiritual Leader are real. We who are called to build or rebuild polytheist religions where the Gods actively speak to us must find a way to deal with these problems.

Build an oracular framework. Train oracles, particularly those who exhibit an aptitude for such work. Learn who you can trust, and when you do, trust their words.

Ultimately, you must decide what those words mean.

And when you decide, act on them like the holy mandates they are.

Foundations and Context

Previous Post

November 25, 2018

Exclusivist Religion Brings Death – Christian Missionary Killed Invading Isolated People

Next Post

November 29, 2018 Never Sell Them Your Soul

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

Who had Samson's hair cut?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Micah Delilah Medad Jezebel