Do The Gods Really Talk To Us?

Last updated on: November 16, 2010 at 8:56 am by Star Foster

Do The Gods Really Talk To Us? 2010-11-16T08:56:50-04:00 Star Foster

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Patheos’ What Do I Really Believe series wants to know if we hear messages from all that is Divine? What do you think? P. Sufenas Virius Lupus and K.C. Hulsman are among the Pagan responses on the main page but several other Pagans responded to the question.

“Highway to Hel” columnist Galina Krasskova writes:

Ah, of course the Gods talk to us. I think a better question would be “Do we ever really listen.”? The Gods never stopped talking to Their people. It was we who turned away from Them, who abandoned our ancestral traditions, our ancestral faiths, our ancestral Gods for convenience, expediency, out of fear, and a thousand other insufficient reasons. Now, we are burdened with the task of picking up those broken threads, of restoring, reviving, rebuilding, recreating those traditions. The Gods are there. They’ve always been there and They’re willing to meet us half way. All it takes is a heart and mind willing to embrace the grace of sacred vulnerability, to open oneself up willingly to a readiness to connect. That’s the hard part. That’s the terrifying part. That’s what we’re just not taught to do.

I come from a tradition that over the past ten years has seen many, many people make that connection: mystics, spirit-workers, godslaves, shamans, and the average jane or joe who embraces interiority of practice and reaches out for something more than static figures described in books (my tradition has a staunch reliance on medieval texts). It’s a beautiful thing when that connection to the Gods and to the ancestors too is made. It can transform one’s life. It’s also met with tremendous hostility by the very traditions that need to nurture these connections the most. The problem isn’t whether or not the Gods speak to us. The problem is that too many of us don’t WANT to listen.

Kathy Nance will have a column launching soon on Patheos, and had this to say on the subject:

First, I do believe that the Divine speaks to us. Probably more often than we hear Him or Her.I’m using “Divine” very loosely here. I believe that guidance isn’t limited to messages from God/dess. I believe we can hear from Gods, ancestors, angels, nature spirits, our own higher natures, and most likely some beings with whom I’m not familiar. Who speaks, and whether we hear, depends on our awareness.

How we get the message also varies. I wish it were as easy as a being appearing before me and issuing a clearly-worded message: “Kathy! Quit your boring job! Here’s the winning lotto numbers that will enable you to move to Maui and write novels!”

So far, this has not happened.

Instead, it’s more of an inner knowing when presented with the correct path—as well as arriving at the correct place to pick up the message. For example, a few years ago I was working in market research. It was dull and didn’t pay well. But the bottom had dropped out of the local writing market, so there I was. Until the day one of my compatriots came in a bit late and confessed she’d been working that morning at her own business cleaning luxury apartments. For which she was paid more than double what we were making to interview law enforcement officials about their computer needs.

I felt my stomach knot with excitement. I knew the next thing had arrived—but I spent a couple months researching the business and building a customer base before I turned in my resignation.

Gods send us messages, ’tis true. But They also trust us to use our own intelligence and judgment about carrying them out.

Shauna Aura Precourt, who recently wrote the great article regarding financially supporting Pagan organizations, also weighed in on the question:

I believe that Gods, Goddesses, Angels, Nature Spirits, the greater Divine, speak to us in different ways. I have had messages through dreams and visions that transformed my life. These moments of ecstatic, mystic communion with a Goddess are the foundation of my calling to serve spiritual community. These were not messages with words, but visions and dreams, and a profound sense of the critical importance of this work.

I am more a Pantheist than a Polytheist—I believe that there are different Gods, Goddesses, Spirits, Angels, but they are a part of a greater holistic divine. And we are a part of that divine too. I believe that the work of spiritual seeking is to connect to that inner divine, to become our best, most excellent selves.

I don’t believe that Gods/the Divine reach down their hand to change our lives. I do believe that they will send us messages, especially when we need a message of encouragement. Occasionally I believe that messages from the greater divine, or specific deities, can come through in the form of words—either the whispers in the back of our minds, or oracled through people like oracles and mystics.

I believe messages can be physical signs. A night of fervent prayer to the Goddess Freyja, burning roses and honey in offering, left the rune Uruz—Strength–inscribed in the ashes. For me, this was a clear message that the Gods cared about me, and that I would get through that terrible time.

As for me? Well, if I didn’t believe the Gods speak to us I wouldn’t be here.The Gods know I’d rather calculate sales tax and balance accounts. The Gods speak to me, and if I’m not listening they simply speak louder. Like a Harry Potter “Howler” at times.

What do YOU think?

P. Sufenas Virius Lupus

Pagan

Shauna Aura Precourt

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