{"id":1259,"date":"2017-07-10T06:35:18","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T20:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?p=1259"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:30:51","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:30:51","slug":"four-gods-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2017\/07\/four-gods-important.html","title":{"rendered":"The Four Gods Who Are Most Important to Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Our channel manager here at Patheos Pagan, Jason Mankey, suggested a weekly theme for July.\u00a0 Last week was the theme of how we found Paganism \u2013 or how we found the path we are currently on.\u00a0 This weeks theme is the question of which deities, or other higher power, are most important to us and how we came to find these beings.<\/p>\n

\"The
\u201cCouncil of the Gods\u201d in Galleria Borghese (Rome)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hekate<\/h2>\n

Everyone who has ever read my blog is surely aware of my relationship with Hekate<\/a>.\u00a0 As a polytheist I worship and honour many deities, but if I had to choose only one deity to communicate with for the rest of my life \u2013 Hekate is the one I would choose.\u00a0 Indeed, I wouldn\u2019t even have to choose, it\u2019s the inevitable outcome.\u00a0 I have before, and sometimes still do, come kind of close to being a henotheist \u2013 belief in many\/all deities but focus on only one of Them.<\/p>\n

I have discussed how I discovered Her before<\/a>, a couple of times now<\/a>, so won\u2019t go too deep here.\u00a0 Suffice to say, Hekate is one I have known before I ever knew Her name, or anything about the Hellenic Gods.\u00a0 It was encountering Her name in a book, and feeling a shock of recognition and more, that put me on the path to where I am now as a Hekatean Hellene and Hearth Witch.<\/p>\n

But, even if I do come close to henotheism sometimes \u2013 I don\u2019t actually cross the line.\u00a0 I honour and worship many deities, and Hekate is the main one.\u00a0 But there are others who are, for lack of a better word, my favourites and thus get more of my thoughts, energies, studies, time, offerings etc than all the other Gods.<\/p>\n

Hermes<\/h2>\n

This is kind of frustrating to be honest, because I don\u2019t remember when or how I first encountered Hermes \u2013 but I know that I did.\u00a0 It\u2019s like He wasn\u2019t there one day, then the next day He was there.\u00a0 But weirder, it wasn\u2019t a \u201csuddenly there\u201d type of thing, but more, He was there and it felt like He\u2019d always been there \u2013 even though I know He wasn\u2019t!<\/p>\n

I believe it wasn\u2019t until my mid to late teens when I started to pay special attention to Hermes, to pray to Him, learn about Him and offer to Him.\u00a0 At first my encounters with Him were almost entirely alongside Hekate \u2013 I would offer or pray to Him as a partner of Hers, rather than on His own behalf.\u00a0 So I wonder if that is how it came about in the first place.<\/p>\n

Over time this changed, and I began to also communicate with Him without involving Hekate at all.\u00a0 Now, I offer to Him on a regular basis and He holds a place on my shrine.<\/p>\n

Prometheus<\/h2>\n

My discovery of Prometheus happened last year, unexpectedly and surprisingly \u2013 and I can remember it all quite well.\u00a0 I have even written about it in part, but to recap what I wrote about \u2013 I began writing about animal sacrifice<\/a>, which includes Prometheus of course.\u00a0 After that I began to notice many references to Him in various places and ways, most notably was a particular grouping of posts on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0 I also had a very odd dream that was partially in reference to Him.<\/p>\n

I have actually had several dreams about Him, usually at times when it\u2019s been quite a while since I wrote or read about Him at all \u2013 so it\u2019s not just everyday life carrying over to my dreams.\u00a0 The first one though was the most memorable, even if it doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u00a0 I dreamt I was standing in a room with a bunch of other people who I couldn\u2019t quite see properly.\u00a0 In an adjoining room someone was giving birth, I could see through the door that the room was filled with fire.\u00a0 Like, maybe the person giving birth was actually made of fire \u2013 or perhaps they were giving birth to fire.\u00a0 Either way it was full of fire.\u00a0 One of the hazy people in, I guess it was a waiting room, with me turned to me and said, \u201cIt\u2019s Prometheus.\u00a0 Prometheus is being born now.\u201d<\/p>\n

And\u2026 I cannot remember the rest of the dream (couldn\u2019t even the day after it happened).\u00a0 Now of course it makes no sense, He is not the son of fire nor was He born of or as fire.\u00a0 But as the bringer of fire, it kind of does make sense \u2013 when He was born, fire was as well, from a human point of view that is.\u00a0 Because without Him, we wouldn\u2019t have fire.<\/p>\n

That was the first time Prometheus communicated with me.\u00a0 You could say it was just a dream, but I know the difference between normal dreams and those dreams \u2013 I should after so long having them with Hekate.\u00a0 It was not a normal dream.\u00a0 Besides, it was followed with other dreams, other signs, other occurrences and other encounters, as well as multiple people telling me that Prometheus was trying to get my attention.<\/p>\n

Number Four<\/h2>\n

There is also one other who is very important to me, but for a very different reason and in a very different way than the others.\u00a0 He is important to me because of how I do not worship Him.\u00a0 His absence from my practice is an integral part of my practice.<\/p>\n

He is the one I never contact, never offer to (except in rituals to groups of deities), never dedicate rituals to, have no icons or idols of in my home or on my shrines or even on my computer.\u00a0 A deity who I avoid as much as possible and who has agreed to avoid me (though I wonder if He is actually doing so).<\/p>\n

And no, sorry, I am not going to explain this one fully.\u00a0 At least not today \u2013 I may go into it in a separate blog post one day though.\u00a0 Maybe.<\/p>\n

Several More<\/h2>\n

Hekate, Hermes and Prometheus are the three Gods who are most important to me for numerous reasons, mostly personal.\u00a0 They are also the ones who happen to communicate with me most often.\u00a0 But there are other Gods who are important to me in a less personal way, and many of Them haven\u2019t ever communicated with me (or not that I have noticed anyway). They still play an important part in my practice and life, for numerous reasons, some of which aren\u2019t easily defined beyond a feeling.<\/p>\n

These others are Hephaistos, Artemis, Hestia, Zeus Ktesios, Melinoe, Haides, Demeter, Persephone, Nyx, Asteria and Poseidon.<\/p>\n

So, there are three who are super important to me. There is one who is just as important in a very different way.\u00a0 And then there are the many who are important to me for sometimes obscure and even stupid reasons (Nyx for example, because I really like the night time).\u00a0 However it came to be, whatever the reason \u2013 the Gods who are part of my regular practice have become very important parts of my life. \u00a0And I am sure there are still more to come.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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