Serving the Gods or Suck it up, Buttercup

So here are my nine easy steps for survival as a God-servant/Godslave/etc.

1. Do not think that you can escape lawful service by fleeing to another Deity. I know of one person who attempted to flee Odin’s service by claiming patronage of the Morrigan….because She is so much easier to serve? Wtf?  I’ve known other people to try the same thing with various Deities and trust me on this: it never works out. Usually the two Deities end up negotiating terms of service between Themselves–and that *never* works out to the human’s comfort! Just man up and do what the Gods want from the beginning. It’s much easier if you’re working with Them, rather than struggling against.
2. This is difficult for those of us raised in contemporary society to comprehend but being taken into service by a Deity can occur non-consensually. Sometimes the matter of your compliance, your agreement, your comfort is utterly irrelevant. In cases like this one way or another you will serve. Whether it’s as a valued servant or as the bread that is ground between the Deity’s proverbial teeth because that’s all you’ve allowed yourself to be good for…well, that choice lies with you. I know which I’d choose. Make the most of the choices you’re given. Negotiating better terms of these contracts: that’s a privilege, not a right and there are Deities out there, who rarely if ever extend that privilege.
3. You don’t have to understand what’s happening. You don’t’ have to know what to do. You just have to trust the Deity in question. You will be given the tools you need, put in the situations that will hone skills, provided with guidance when necessary. This is a terrifying exercise in trust that goes well beyond the limits of commonly understood faith. It’s a powerful exercise in moral courage. Try to develop some.
4. The Gods are real. They are not manifestations of one’s unconscious. They are not archetypes. They are not imaginary beings. They are real. They have personalities, likes, dislikes, will. Oh boy do They have will! What’s more, They aren’t always nice. Not only can They act in ways that might be interpreted as non-consensual, They often do. Many people, even (perhaps most especially godslaves) struggle terribly with this potential for non-consensuality. This may not be the way it works for everyone, but there are Deities (like Odin) who won’t hesitate a moment to force Their will on those who are lawful prey to Them. Can one back out? Sure. But the price is often much greater and much worse than one is willing to pay. It’s not a matter of “safe, sane, consensual,” or of “risk aware consensual kink,” though I have found that BDSM terminology can be very helpful from a psychological standpoint in coming to comprehend the type of relationship one might find oneself in with one’s Gods. The psychology of ownership can be .. .a surprise, at least at first.
5. Putting metaphorical fingers in your ears and going ‘nah nah nah I can’t hear you’ does not work.
6. It’s not about *your* agenda; it’s about Theirs.
7. Own your shit, own your shit, own your shit even if it takes going into therapy.
8. We do not run the show. Don’t’ let anyone tell you differently.
9. Committed, ardent service is a beautiful, sacred thing. It raises us up. it makes us better people—you want to be all that you can truly be, well, this is the way to do it. Above all else: don’t forget to be grateful for everything that you  have in your life. What a joy it is to be called into the House of a God, even when it’s hard. Celebrate that.

May the Gods give us the blessings of humility and grace, that we may not get in our own way, or Theirs.