{"id":12978,"date":"2016-10-18T17:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/?p=12978"},"modified":"2016-10-18T17:22:48","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T00:22:48","slug":"where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

We\u2019ve been speaking a lot about\u00a0living devotion; how we can engage the Gods as a part of our daily lives and integrating their desires and presence into the way we conduct our living. \u00a0We already live with a consciousness of the people and things closest to us, and shape our lives in tandem with them. \u00a0I\u2019ve been exploring these thoughts lately (this excellent article by Megan Mason<\/a> helped to bring some to the surface) and wondering. \u00a0The question that I keep coming back to in this is:<\/p>\n

Where do you begin and other things end?<\/p>\n

We claim that we are defined as human by our DNA, but\u00a0what we consider a human being is a composite creature. \u00a0Mitochondria\u00a0with their own genetic structure reside within our cells, providing the energy that we use to live. \u00a0Mites in the millions crawl over our skin, invisible but living vast life cycles unaware of anything about us but the vague climate of our existence. \u00a0Our guts are filled with bacteria, who we\u2019ve learned help us to digest food and can affect many of our bodies\u2019 other systems and functions. \u00a0We take in other lives, substance of other living things, and incorporate parts of them into ourselves.<\/p>\n

\"Mitochondria\"<\/p>\n

(Mitochondria. \u00a0These live\u00a0in<\/em> your cells. \u00a0Courtesy of Wikipedia<\/a>.)<\/h6>\n

Where do you begin and other people end?<\/p>\n

Other human beings surround us. \u00a0We share air with them; with every breath you may be inhaling the substance\u00a0of any one of the other billions of humans that have lives on this planet. \u00a0We share food and drink with them, and in doing so share some of our substance, share some of our microbes, and some of our\u00a0essence. \u00a0We make love and in it exchange physical contact, fluids, heat, chemicals, thoughts, dreams, desires.\u00a0We talk with other humans beings and their words and deeds change us as we witness them and react, either imitating or refusing to or simply learning and observing. \u00a0Each one of us is the sum of our Ancestors, and all those who affected them, and our contemporaries, and all that which affects them.<\/p>\n

\"baby<\/p>\n

(Image courtesy of Pixabay<\/a>)<\/h6>\n

Where do you begin and the Gods\u00a0end?<\/p>\n

Before a prepared shrine we sing the names and deeds of a God, calling for their attention. \u00a0We feel the warmth of their presence, the breath of their air, the exciting tingle or other signs that herald them. \u00a0We share with them our food and beverage\u00a0from the fields from which we eat and the wells from which we drink. \u00a0We give them incense and breathe the same air that it hangs in. \u00a0As we sing in praise of them we give them our breath, our emotion, the very vibrations that produce our words. \u00a0We give them parts of ourselves and they bless us. \u00a0They touch us and fill us with the ecstasy of the knowledge of them. \u00a0They reach in and change us or give us things. \u00a0They reach into the world around us and change it on our behalf.<\/p>\n

When you have felt a deep communion with a God, lost yourself in them \u2013 where do you end, and where do you begin? \u00a0Afterwards, when you feel whole and of a piece again, where do you end, where do you begin?<\/p>\n

Do we carry them within us afterwards, worlding them with our presence? \u00a0If parts of them reside within us, should we treat ourselves as we would something more holy? \u00a0Are our bodies truly temples to the ones we connect to deeply? \u00a0Do they then experience the world through us? \u00a0Is that why they protect us and wish to help us prosper; enlightened self-interest of a being who has part of themselves invested in you?<\/p>\n

Many of us who have grown close to a God feel them affecting our lives, our choices, our styles and aesthetics. \u00a0Is this because we are mindful of them and their preferences? \u00a0Because they ask us to quietly, without us really hearing, as they so often do? \u00a0Is this because we carry a piece of them in ourselves, just as we do pieces of every other being we interact with, and it colors us the way\u00a0our gut bacteria do?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve\u00a0seen people react in different ways to these thoughts. \u00a0There are those with no grounding or training or counterbalance or who simply have bad luck, who claim to be Gods themselves (and then proceed to act more foolishly than most Gods I\u2019d imagine do). \u00a0There are those who panic when they feel that closeness that isn\u2019t quite going away and seek to cleanse themselves of it\u00a0by engaging in habitual behavior and courting denial. \u00a0I\u2019ve also seen people become more responsible for themselves and their actions, and treat themselves as vessels for their Gods in a reverent way.<\/p>\n

\"woman<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of Pexels<\/a>)<\/h6>\n

\u201cNothing is \u2018just\u2019 anything.\u201d is a mantra that I\u2019ve used to walk myself out of some of the darkest places in my life. \u00a0Our reductive minds try to isolate things \u2013 humans, cultures, stories, Gods \u2013 when everything, in fact, blends together at the borders. \u00a0Like the layers of the atmosphere or ocean, there are no clearly demarcated lines; just fuzzy areas where one thing bleeds into another.<\/p>\n

Do you begin somewhere? \u00a0Somewhere outside of where the Gods end? \u00a0Is there a clear boundary, a defining line even for the hardest polytheists? \u00a0There are those that see them as manifestations of forces of nature, those that see them as powerful spirit beings, those that see them as shared dreams and ideals, and those that see them as distant Ancestors. \u00a0None of those interpretations show a sharp boundary, all of them lead to fuzzy lines and borders.<\/p>\n

I am a semsolid polytheist; I favor the concept of distinct identities for our Gods (mostly; there are polytheist models that do have gods syncretized, merged, or part of something greater and I won\u2019t discount them outright). \u00a0As I\u2019ve said before, I don\u2019t refer to every human I meet by my partner\u2019s name just because they happen to be one of my favorite humans; I extend the Gods the same courtesy. \u00a0Even so, I see where the lines between individual people blur and wonder. \u00a0In any case, I\u2019ve started to consider that in a way, we may be sacred to the Gods who love us and wonder how that might inform our lives.<\/p>\n

Do you hold deep devotion to a God? \u00a0Have they touched you or blessed you or your life? \u00a0Have you felt them speak within you? \u00a0Have you shared of yourself with them? \u00a0If you have then perhaps part of you is in them, and part of them is in you. \u00a0\u00a0How would you treat yourself and your life differently if you thought of it that way?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve been speaking a lot about\u00a0living devotion; how we can engage the Gods as a part of our daily lives and integrating their desires and presence into the way we conduct our living. \u00a0We already live with a consciousness of the people and things closest to us, and shape our lives in tandem with them. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2370,"featured_media":12983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-ladys-quill","category-theology-ethics","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhere Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We've been speaking a lot about\u00a0living devotion; how we can engage the Gods as a part of our daily lives and integrating their desires and presence into\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We've been speaking a lot about\u00a0living devotion; how we can engage the Gods as a part of our daily lives and integrating their desires and presence into\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Lady\u2019s Quill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-19T00:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-19T00:22:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/727\/2016\/10\/woman-holding-sun.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"225\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laine Mardollsdottir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laine Mardollsdottir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/\",\"name\":\"Where Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-19T00:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-19T00:22:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#\/schema\/person\/4b1ccce65c9eb8fb944febe028b9a7e0\"},\"description\":\"We've been speaking a lot about\u00a0living devotion; how we can engage the Gods as a part of our daily lives and integrating their desires and presence into\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Where Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/\",\"name\":\"The Lady\u2019s Quill\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#\/schema\/person\/4b1ccce65c9eb8fb944febe028b9a7e0\",\"name\":\"Laine Mardollsdottir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ea57fd0ea79fba96763e8d793197be9?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ea57fd0ea79fba96763e8d793197be9?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Laine Mardollsdottir\"},\"description\":\"Laine Mardollsdottir is from Western New York and has recently escaped its icy grasp and is dwelling happily in sunny San Diego.\u2002 She has been a member of several traditions and has acted as a clergyperson, spiritual guide, and seeress for various groups and communities and is a polytheist and a member of the Red Wood Vanatru tradition. Laine writes for pleasure (science fiction on her Empyrean Dreamsblog and other random fiction), for profit (as a custom content creator), for activism (in her columns in various LGBT publications), to discuss Pagan issues (on her blog here and Pagan Church Lady on WordPress), and because she has difficulty stopping.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/author\/ldelaney\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Where Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?","description":"We've been speaking a lot about\u00a0living devotion; how we can engage the Gods as a part of our daily lives and integrating their desires and presence into","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Where Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?","og_description":"We've been speaking a lot about\u00a0living devotion; how we can engage the Gods as a part of our daily lives and integrating their desires and presence into","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/","og_site_name":"The Lady\u2019s Quill","article_published_time":"2016-10-19T00:00:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-10-19T00:22:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":225,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/727\/2016\/10\/woman-holding-sun.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Laine Mardollsdottir","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Laine Mardollsdottir","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/","name":"Where Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-10-19T00:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-19T00:22:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#\/schema\/person\/4b1ccce65c9eb8fb944febe028b9a7e0"},"description":"We've been speaking a lot about\u00a0living devotion; how we can engage the Gods as a part of our daily lives and integrating their desires and presence into","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/2016\/10\/where-do-you-begin-where-do-the-gods-end\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Where Do You Begin? Where Do The Gods End?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/","name":"The Lady\u2019s Quill","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#\/schema\/person\/4b1ccce65c9eb8fb944febe028b9a7e0","name":"Laine Mardollsdottir","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ea57fd0ea79fba96763e8d793197be9?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8ea57fd0ea79fba96763e8d793197be9?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Laine Mardollsdottir"},"description":"Laine Mardollsdottir is from Western New York and has recently escaped its icy grasp and is dwelling happily in sunny San Diego.\u2002 She has been a member of several traditions and has acted as a clergyperson, spiritual guide, and seeress for various groups and communities and is a polytheist and a member of the Red Wood Vanatru tradition. Laine writes for pleasure (science fiction on her Empyrean Dreamsblog and other random fiction), for profit (as a custom content creator), for activism (in her columns in various LGBT publications), to discuss Pagan issues (on her blog here and Pagan Church Lady on WordPress), and because she has difficulty stopping.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/author\/ldelaney\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theladysquill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}