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<\/a>Mysticism is an important experiential practice for many people.\u00a0 In several Pagan traditions we believe that we can communicate directly with the Divine.\u00a0 We have different beliefs about the nature and origin of these Powers, and the information we receive varies.\u00a0 Heathen v\u00f6lva breathe the fumes of wormwood and mugwort and speak the words of Wyrd.\u00a0 Druid ovates sink into trances and speak the guidance of the ancient gods.\u00a0 Many Greek pantheists incubate dreams or seek the wisdom of Apollo.\u00a0 Shamanic traditions both ancient and modern use drumming, dancing and entheogens to travel the spirit realm and bring out its insights or heal the body and spirit.\u00a0 And modern Witches and Wiccan\/ates draw down the moon and the sun so that we can talk directly to our deities.\u00a0 There is a firmly divided camp between the skeptics and the believers.\u00a0 What is this phenomenon?\u00a0 Where does it come from?\u00a0 How much does it have in common with the mystical experiences of St. John of the Cross<\/a> and Hildegard of Bingen<\/a>, Mohammed, or even the trance channeling of Jane Roberts<\/a>?<\/p>\n Some Pagans believe that we are communicating directly with actual, tangible deities.\u00a0 To them, these beings are as real as you or I, with clearly-defined roles, powers, and personalities.\u00a0 In their belief, drawing down Hecate and serving as a cheval<\/em> for Erzuli means that they are speaking and interacting directly with a personality that is independent and separate from us.\u00a0 These Pagans choose to serve individual gods or goddesses directly.\u00a0 They have consciously chosen to aspire to Valhalla or be remembered in Hades.\u00a0 To accept this belief accepts the literal existence of other deities and beings as well.\u00a0 Perhaps St. John really was talking to Jehovah and Joan of Arc really did hear the voices of angels; or perhaps not, as many Pagans who hold this view seem to believe that any religion that holds to some sort of \u201cOvergod\u201d who is greater than all other gods is false, but all the different cultural pantheons are true and real.<\/p>\n The Pagans who believe in literal gods can be strangely inconsistent when it comes to New Age matters.\u00a0 Some believe in the existence of the entity \u201cSeth<\/a>\u201d or \u201cAbraham<\/a>\u201d and the ghosts of their ancestors; some don\u2019t, and those who don\u2019t tend to be divided as to whether or not malicious entities who claim to be these beings are deluding us, or whether those who channel them are crazy or outright charlatans.\u00a0 Often for these Pagans, there is a literal Truth.\u00a0 For example, there is only one proper way to worship Hecate, and portraying Her differently in ritual or an image is \u201cwrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Pagans believe that we are speaking with egregors<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 An egregor is a thought-form, given a semblance of life and identity by the power of belief.\u00a0 Herne exists because we believe He does, and He has certain powers and qualities because we believe that He does.\u00a0 In this way, we create the gods as much as They create us.<\/p>\n By extension, we may also create elementals to do our will.\u00a0 Angels and demons also exist because we believe they do, and so to many (but not all!) who hold this belief, they can only affect us if we believe they can.\u00a0 Thus, the Christian God exists because so many people believe in Him.\u00a0 This is why it\u2019s so hard to affect the Christian status quo with magick.<\/p>\n Those who believe this often trust that to the channelers, \u201cSeth\u201d and \u201cAbraham\u201d are quite real; but they might question the existence of ghosts and ancestor-spirits, believing them to be the constructs of memory rather than the actual spirits of the departed.<\/p>\n Some Pagans take a view that is colored by modern Jungian psychology, and they believe that the deities are archetypes.\u00a0 That is, gods are symbolic constructs that ultimately come from the human psyche, drawn from either the universal human experience or from a particular cultural experience.\u00a0 The deities, then, are names and personifications given to these symbols so that people can interact with Them on a human level.\u00a0 Aphrodite, for example, becomes a personification of Love, Sex and Relationships; Kali becomes a personification of the powers of Creation and Destruction.\u00a0 From the point of view of these Pagans, channeled New Age entities are either silly or a sign of schizophrenia, and ghosts are wistful thinking.<\/p>\n Some Pagans believe that the gods are merely aspects of ourselves.\u00a0 In the same way that archetypes are personifications of ideas and themes, we give personalities to internal feelings and thoughts, so that we can interact with them in a construct.\u00a0 They differ from those who belief in archetypes in that archetypes might be manifestations of a shared human consciousness; while these Pagans believe that the gods are entirely created in our own individual imaginations.\u00a0 Therefore, if we want to believe in SpongeBob Squarepants<\/a>, for us, SpongeBob Squarepants becomes a useful internal construct that delivers messages we need from our own subconscious minds.\u00a0 Channeled entities, then, have just as much \u201creality\u201d as any other manifestation of the psyche, and ghosts are constructs we use to remember our loved ones and come to terms with our grief.<\/p>\n As I wrote about in a previous column<\/a>, one of the beautiful things about Paganism is that we don\u2019t have to choose.\u00a0 Contradictory truths can be equally true.\u00a0 Most of the Pagans I know hold combinations of these beliefs; though I have rarely seen the literalists and the psychology advocates intersect.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t done so before, you might want to consider these differing points of view and decide for yourself where it is that you fall.\u00a0 For instance, I believe in egregors, formed from our collective archetypical consciousness, which then have real manifestations who can interact with us and each other.\u00a0 We create the gods, so that They can create us.\u00a0 They are beyond the limits of space and time because we believe that They are, and so They can do what we cannot \u2013 and They really can do it!\u00a0 But just because this is what I believe, doesn\u2019t mean that it is more or less valid than any other belief; it just works for me.<\/p>\n What you believe about the nature of the gods has a direct bearing on your interaction with Them.\u00a0 How seriously do you take Them?\u00a0 When someone claims to be interacting with the Divine, through a vision, through intuitive insight or through possession-trance, when do you believe Them, and when do you doubt?\u00a0 If you had a dream that Cerridwen came to you and warned you not to go to work the next day, how likely are you to stay home?\u00a0 If a Voodoo Mambo is being ridden by Erzuli and Erzuli tells you that She wants you to quit your job and become a witch doctor, how likely are you to accept that as a vocation?\u00a0 Have you ever seen what you believe to be a god who looked as solid and real as you or I?\u00a0 (I have!) \u00a0\u00a0How do you react?<\/p>\n Above all, I think it important to keep in mind a few things about the gods, regardless of your belief in Their natures and origins.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say that the gods really are literal beings who actually exist.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say that They choose us specifically for holy tasks.\u00a0 Why have you, specifically, been chosen?\u00a0 Is it because you are special and wonderful and unique? (Of course you are, just like everyone else!)\u00a0 Or is it because They, having personalities as we do, have realized that you and They share a common interest?<\/p>\n I have felt this kind of hand on my life only a few times.\u00a0 One is what led me to take my name \u2013 I am a daughter of Diana, Queen of the Witches, Who answered my prayer when I was a little girl and gave me a goddess to believe in and who aided my magick and my self-empowerment.\u00a0 In return She asked me to teach Witchcraft to the masses and liberate the oppressed.\u00a0 I am glad to do this.\u00a0 I share Her goals.\u00a0 And I think She knew it when She first came to me as I prayed to the moon at the age of ten; though of course, I didn\u2019t know it at the time.<\/p>\n Some people call that \u201csynchronicity,\u201d or \u201cguidance from your Higher Self.\u201d\u00a0 They say that things fall into place when you follow it.\u00a0 But understand it for what it is.\u00a0 The gods, like us, probably have ulterior motives. \u00a0Sometimes, They have a sense of humor<\/a>. \u00a0They want us to do these things because it\u2019s something They are interested in.\u00a0 They might be willing to sacrifice you to the Greater Good.\u00a0 Remember, one of Odin\u2019s epithets is \u201cbetrayer of warriors\u201d because if you are a great warrior, He is likely to take you for Valhalla when you least expect it.\u00a0 By all means if you believe in a cause and wish to make that choice because you believe it is good, do so!\u00a0 But go into it with your eyes open.\u00a0 Blind faith and self-sacrifice is usually a Christian ethic.\u00a0 You should be getting something out of the relationship too, be it empowerment, love, or comfort.<\/p>\n Another thing to keep in mind, especially when you ask the gods for help, especially in magick, is that real or not, the gods are not physical.\u00a0 They do not have bodies.\u00a0 Generally, that means They do not understand that you have to eat, you have to have a roof over your head, and you have limited time in which to accomplish things because you are mortal.\u00a0 They do not understand these limitations, and unless you have developed a co-creative relationship with Them, you may find it difficult to negotiate.\u00a0 Because I know that They don\u2019t understand, I think it\u2019s perfectly okay to tell Them \u201cNo!\u201d if They ask you to do something you\u2019re just not capable of.\u00a0 And I think it\u2019s okay to ask Them to hurry things along as well if the need is great.\u00a0 It\u2019s not sacrilegious to parley.<\/p>\n I once read a book that was highly recommended to me by a friend of mine in the New Age movement.\u00a0 The author had channeled Gaia and was writing what she had channeled.\u00a0 I picked it up with interest.\u00a0 Gaia is a goddess (well, titan, actually) that I know; I\u2019ve worked with Her before.\u00a0 Much of it was exactly what we, as Pagans, would believe were the words of Gaia.\u00a0 But then there was a whole section about Atlantis, and the Mayan calendar, and a lot of other things I associate with the New Age that I don\u2019t personally take seriously.<\/p>\n How should we regard these sorts of situations?\u00a0 Most Pagans I know would immediately dismiss the whole book as garbage and the author as a nut or a liar.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n See, our gods are not physical.\u00a0 They are beyond space and time.\u00a0 They are also beyond language.\u00a0 If They are speaking through somebody in a divine communion, a drawing down or a possession trance, They have to use the hardware and the software provided.\u00a0 In other words, whether you believe the gods come from without or within, all such words spoken by the gods must go through a mortal filter first<\/em>.<\/p>\n A good trance channel, shaman, witch or cheval<\/em> does his or her best to be a good conduit.\u00a0 We try to make our bodies and our minds into fiber-optic cables, carrying the messages of Divinity as clearly and as undistorted as possible.\u00a0 But the fact is that there is always resistance to the signal<\/a>.\u00a0 There\u2019s always our own dross to deal with.\u00a0 So the moment a word is spoken, even if the Morrigan Herself is animating the mouth, the message is corrupted.\u00a0 It\u2019s like trying to interpret an omen.\u00a0 We do the best we can, but inevitably, even the best-intentioned message suffers in the translation.\u00a0 Often, our own agendas and feelings confuse the issue.<\/p>\n If you are the one drawing down, don\u2019t make the mistake of confusing yourself with the Goddess.\u00a0 You are a phone line or a DSL cable, not the chosen avatar of Inanna.\u00a0 You are merely the messenger.\u00a0 Do your best to get out of your own way and let divine words come through you, uncensored and unedited.\u00a0 Try not to let fear, ego, judgment or pride distort the signal, but understand that no matter what, it always will.\u00a0 Be as open to different interpretations as anyone else.<\/p>\n When your High Priestess draws down the moon, listen with love and respect to the Goddess, but use your own discernment in your understanding of the message.\u00a0 However, don\u2019t discount everything she says just because some of it doesn\u2019t ring true to you.\u00a0 Like everything in Paganism, take from it what is of value to you, even if you don\u2019t like it.\u00a0 Even a complete jerk or a complete moron can be divinely inspired.\u00a0 Don\u2019t discount the message just because you don\u2019t like or don\u2019t respect the person.<\/p>\n I heard a joke (or perhaps a parable) once that the Goddess decided that it was time to bring Her wisdom back into the world.\u00a0 She looked all over for women to be Her prophets \u2013 and realized that the world was so poisoned with patriarchy and male privilege that appointing women to the task would be impossible.\u00a0 So She chose men, but because She resented having to do so, She chose the weirdest, most arrogant men She could find.\u00a0 Well, we all know the founders of modern Wicca were hardly exemplary in their behavior, but the result was the resurgence of Paganism.<\/p>\n Next column: <\/strong><\/em>The Doers and the Don\u2019ters<\/em><\/p>\n Seekers and Guides<\/em>\u00a0is published on alternate Mondays. Follow it via\u00a0RSS<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0e-mail<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we ask the gods to speak through us and give us their wisdom, how much of what is said is from them, and how much comes from us? And how do we know the difference? Sable Aradia speculates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1343,"featured_media":5779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[330,604,617,374,187],"tags":[1056,1057,38,594,342,1059,25,26,1058,369,185,191,104,175],"class_list":["post-5744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-magick2","category-ritual-practice","category-seekers-and-guides","category-theology-ethics","tag-drawing-down-the-moon","tag-drawing-down-the-sun","tag-goddess","tag-gods","tag-magic","tag-oracles","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-prophecy","tag-teaching","tag-wicca","tag-wiccan","tag-witch","tag-witchcraft"],"yoast_head":"\nA Question of Theology<\/h2>\n
Literal Gods<\/h3>\n
Egregors<\/h3>\n
Archetypes<\/h3>\n
Manifestations of the Psyche<\/h3>\n
Yes, And<\/h2>\n
Implications of Faith<\/h2>\n
Using Our Discernment<\/h2>\n
The Gods Have Ulterior Motives<\/h3>\n
The Gods Have No Bodies<\/h3>\n
The Gods Have to Use Your Language to Be Understood<\/h3>\n
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