Happy 5th Anniversary

Happy 5th Anniversary May 6, 2014

Patheos turned five years old yesterday. Though I was still too sick to post then, I’m taking some time today to comment on how grateful I am to be able to blog here. My audience has been much larger than it would have been if I had stuck to my own little WordPress blog, and blogging here has encouraged me to become more professional and polished. It’s made me think about what I’m writing about and how to write about it, how to convey what the gods want me to say.

Of course, at times I fall way off the mark, which is to be expected. All that means is getting up and trying again.

It was suggest we link to our most popular posts here on Patheos in celebration of the five year anniversary. My most popular posts here, however, are far from my favorite or best work. (Which is how these things go.) So, instead, I’ll be linking to my five favorite posts that I’ve written here on Dalliances with Deities.

5. The Face of a God

…for a long time I was frustrated. I wanted to see his face. I wanted to know him.

One day I did, and I couldn’t quite come back from that.

4. The Divine Victim

I’m sure there are people out there who will take issue with my calling a god a victim. After all, some circles of Pagandom think that victim mentality is worse than actually victimizing another person (which is rather telling, isn’t it).

3. Fear is Not the Goal

When I began working with the Ophelia, it was all fear and all stress all the time. I remember asking what she wanted from me, that she was putting me through so much. What did she want, that she was dragging me so low.

2. Monstrosity + Human Superiority

It is when we approach the gods and spirits from a human-centric perspective that we so easily label them monstrous, frightening, or ugly. Many claim that faeries don’t have empathy, which I don’t think is true at all – they aren’t always empathic to humans.

1. Getting It Wrong

My gods come before my ego. My path has a healthy amount of pride, but the gods are first for me. I jumped ahead and misunderstood the stories and even misunderstood the fundamental nature of one of my gods. I’m probably going to do that again.

 


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