{"id":43,"date":"2012-06-17T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T05:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2012\/06\/deity-confusion.html"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:33:30","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:33:30","slug":"deity-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2012\/06\/deity-confusion.html","title":{"rendered":"Deity Confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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\"Deity<\/a><\/div>\n

As an Eclectic Pagan I will literally mix and match deities and beliefs from various cultures and civilisations with only a touch of second thoughts. \u00a0I know there are some who see this as a disgusting practice and disrespectful to the gods, but I am pretty much past the point where I care about whether my internal beliefs offend someone. \u00a0My eclectic practice does not mean I have no idea who each deity is. \u00a0I have done my studying and continue to do so. \u00a0I haven\u2019t read every myth that exists, probably never will, but I know more than some would assume.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Today I have been thinking about the way our deities are used. \u00a0When I say used, I mean in the way we use them in their correspondence to one another, to the planets, the days of the week and other such things.<\/div>\n
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Most of us know that the days of the week have been named after certain deities, mostly Norse deities but also one Roman and of course the sun and moon. \u00a0The planets too have been named after the Roman Gods. \u00a0We also know that certain deities from various cultures are seen as corrseponding with other similar deities from other cultures. \u00a0Brigid, Hestia and Vesta; Mars, Ares and Tiw; Aphrodite, Freya, Venus, Hathor and Inana.<\/div>\n
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We see these correspondences and we make some pretty big assumptions about them. \u00a0I wonder how many Pagans, especially newcomers and Eclectic Pagans, have actually studied these correspondences properly. \u00a0I am going to use the love goddesses as my example in this post.<\/div>\n
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We all know that the deities Aphrodite, Venus, Freya, Hathor and Inana all seemingly correspond with each other. \u00a0They are considered counterparts, some will even say they are simply different names for one goddess. \u00a0They all bear similarities to each other, namely the love and beauty aspects. \u00a0They are considered goddesses of fertility, marriage and even motherhood. \u00a0You can read any generic book on Paganism or Witchcraft and learn that these goddesses correspond with the day of Friday and the planet of Venus. \u00a0Their colours are usually pink and\/or green.<\/div>\n
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However if you dig deeper, this is incorrect.<\/div>\n
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Venus, Aphrodite, Inana and Hathor are said to be the goddesses of the planet Venus. \u00a0Freya however is not. \u00a0Freya is an Earth goddess to many people and the Norse goddess who is applied to the planet of Venus is in fact Sif. \u00a0I bet you have never heard her name in the same breath as Aphrodite.<\/div>\n
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Venus, Aphrodite and Freya are given to the day of Friday. \u00a0It was named after Freya after all. \u00a0Hathor however does not fit this day. \u00a0Why? \u00a0The Egyptians had a ten day long week! \u00a0We cannot actually apply the same things to their days of the week. \u00a0I can\u2019t say about Inana though.<\/div>\n
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What happens is pretty simple really. \u00a0We say these deities are almost exactly the same as each other, and since four of them correspond with the planet Venus, and at least three of them correspond with the day of Friday, then we must assume that they all fit Venus and Friday. \u00a0If we look at other ancient religions we\u2019ll also find goddesses who will correspond to the others and apply the planet and day to them as well, whether we should or not.<\/div>\n
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Whilst it doesn\u2019t matter too much to the Eclectic Pagan, I still think it is important to understand the differences, understand that just because some book applies a goddess to a planet, that doesn\u2019t make it so in the ancient cultures of that goddess. \u00a0Before we choose to \u201cuse\u201d our deities in certain ways, we should try to know how they were originally used. \u00a0We may choose to do things differently, but we should at least KNOW that we are doing it differently instead of thinking we are doing it the same as the ancients once did.<\/div>\n
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The same goes for every deity you come across and every correspondence given. \u00a0Colours, plants, symbols, seasons, months, lunar stage. \u00a0Everything you think you know about a deity may actually be an assumption made based on that\u00a0deity\u2019s\u00a0similarity to another deity and have nothing at all to do with the deity itself.<\/p>\n

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It works in another way as well. If you are not eclectic but are working with a single pantheon, say the Egyptian pantheon, you should make sure that it is okay to use the day of Friday in reference to Hathor. \u00a0Since our week cannot be compared to the Ancient Egyptian week, we cannot make the assumption that Friday is a good\u00a0correspondence\u00a0to Hathor. \u00a0Indeed, I would think that it wouldn\u2019t be right to use daily correspondence to deities at all when using the Egyptian gods, because our week cannot match theirs, cannot compare, we perhaps should not try to use our modern week and modern day names and types in Egyptian magic or religion.<\/div>\n
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Be careful of the assumptions you make in regards to deities and anything within religion and magic. \u00a0Just because it seems to be right and fitting, doesn\u2019t make it so. \u00a0Although I stand by what I always say, no matter how the ancients did it or how people do it today, if it works for you then who really cares? \u00a0Just be sure you don\u2019t spout something as truth when it may not actually be so. \u00a0Your truth perhaps it is, but not the truth according to history and mythology.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an Eclectic Pagan I will literally mix and match deities and beliefs from various cultures and civilisations with only a touch of second thoughts. \u00a0I know there are some who see this as a disgusting practice and disrespectful to the gods, but I am pretty much past the point where I care about whether […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,22,20],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-debates","tag-deities","tag-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nDeity Confusion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As an Eclectic Pagan I will literally mix and match deities and beliefs from various cultures and civilisations with only a touch of second thoughts. \u00a0I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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