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

PANTHEON

Home
Pagan
Character References for the Gods

Character References for the Gods

Last updated on: February 13, 2016 at 10:24 pm by Star Foster

Character References for the Gods 2016-02-13T22:24:38-04:00 Star Foster

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.

I make it a rule not to write under the influence, but tonight I am making an exception.

I have had a religious problem, over 10 years old, and lately it came to a head. A God who I have been reluctant to acknowledge has wanted my worship since, oh, about 2003. But I had what I felt were good reasons to mistrust this God, and some of the devotees of this particular Deity did not help me feel at ease.

I think this is a problem many polytheists have: while not every God you seek out accepts you, it is also true you may not want a relationship with every God that expresses interest in you.

Over the past few months circumstances made me consider this God’s interest in me anew, and I was at a loss. My heart was full of mistrust and doubt, and yet also the nagging feeling that there was something here well worth exploring.

So as a polytheist who believes in having personal relationships with sentient, individual Gods of unique personality and character, I did the only thing that made sense: I looked for a character reference.

I found a friend I respected and trusted who worshipped said God, and asked their opinion of the God in question.

My friend didn’t try to sell me on the God. They provided some context for where some mistrust might come from in the larger polytheist community, stated their own respect for the God with simple, brief eloquence, and provided a modern story of the God’s relationship with devotees.

Here’s the thing, all the historical records, blogs, books, and public rituals would have done little to persuade me to enter into a relationship with this God. All the bling, workshops, popularity, and big names in polytheism/ paganismwouldn’t have moved me to seek out this God or open up to Them. It took a personal reference from someone I trusted to push me to leap past my own doubt and make that connection.

I just completed a long, rather intense ritual to acquaint myself with this God, during which more homebrew than I am used to was consumed, and among the many thoughts racing through my head are these:

Can we offer a good reference for the Gods we worship?

Do we live our lives in such a manner that our opinions of the Gods are considered worthy?

When asked, can we give good testimony of the Gods we worship?

Do we live our lives in such a manner that we can give worthy references of our fellow humans to the Gods?

I wish I could answer affirmative to the above questions for myself, but I don’t think I can. Not yet. It is something to work towards.

Previous Post

January 26, 2016

Living: This Is Religion, Too

Next Post

February 20, 2016 Teach Me To Be Religious

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category alexandrian asatru astrology ATW Audio books btw ceremonial magick chaos classics community conversion cosmology dianic discordian druid dvd eclectic equinox ethics family feri festivals film Fully Inclusive Events gardnerian gender issues glbt heathen hellenismos history humor initiation interfaith magick meditation Military movies music mysticism myth networking news Open Thread Pagan Pagan 101 Paganism passings polytheism Polytheistic Religion polytheology praxis Reading List religio romana review ritual sabbats santeria service solstice symbols tools values wicca witchcraft

Select a Month July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 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

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the father of King Solomon?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jonathan Saul David Samuel