I consider myself to be a Polytheistic Witch. I honor many Gods, well many Goddesses and a few Gods. I\u2019ve always been a believer in Female Deity. When I was small I would argue about it not being fair that the Christian god was a man, I felt left out. I knew that there were Gods that were female, but never could understand why they were forgotten. Later in my early 20s when I found the Occult and began studying the Esoteric, I was drawn to the Goddess path, though that never really fit either, I wanted to work with specific Goddesses, not one.<\/p>\n
When I refer to \u201cThe Goddess\u201d I don\u2019t mean one singular deity, rather I refer to a collection of Deity that are female. While I don\u2019t consider myself a Goddess worshiper in the traditional sense, I do worship many Goddesses. \u00a0<\/span>I believe that I formed this collection of individual Goddesses into a whole, because as a child this singular point was missing in my life and I considered the lack of female deity a singular thing and thus it translated over into my vocabulary as one thing missing, Goddesses. So in my writings if you see me refer to \u201cThe Goddess\u201d I mean, many or all Goddesses. While I make a point to be very clear, in my past writings as well as conversations with others I find myself using this phrase, and want to be very clear about what my beliefs are. It is taking a while, but I am reprograming my language to reflect my beliefs.<\/p>\n In addition, I don\u2019t really follow the belief that deity is just archetypes, though I do teach archetypes as part of the self<\/i> and even as individual goddesses who perhaps fit into a particular archetype and what we can learn from them in the manner. It is my belief that while they can fit into archetypes, they are all individual Deity with their own personality. While I do believe that there are some deity such as Aphrodite and Venus who are indeed the same deity with different cultural names, I don\u2019t believe that Aphrodite is the same as Oshun, just because they might be similar, they are clearly different goddesses. Same with Sulis and Minerva. While the Romans may have renamed Sulis, Sulis Minerva, Minerva is clearly a Roman Matron Goddess, and Sulis is clearly a deity of place, and can be considered both Genius Loci (spirit of place) and Deity all in one. While the melding of two cultures may have combine these goddesses I stand firm that they remain different and separate deities.<\/p>\n I firmly believe that archetypes can be worked with, especially when helping to identify a new deity\/spirit, and when we look at them in reference to our own soul and how one might be able to see parallels and learn lessons, but I FIRMLY believe that our Gods are so much more powerful and do exist outside the constructs of an archetypal framework. Our Deity, much like spirits are individuals, they have autonomy, and act in accordance with their own will.<\/p>\n So how does one worship many Gods? Well, with much practice, many shrines, a working altar, and much devotion. While I do tend to work with more female deity, due to being completely deprived of their existence as a child, I also honor the Masculine. I work with Deities such as Apollo and Belenos who represent the sun, the masculine, and in the case of Apollo, Oracular work. \u00a0<\/span>Belenos is honored in my Tradition\u2019s working as well as my workings with the energies of Avalon and Glastonbury. Gwyn ap Nudd is worked with as a contrast to the solar deity, he is a Psychopomp and lives in the fae realms of the earth with the entrance at the Glastonbury tor, so he is honored with my tradition in the darker half of the year, with spirit work, and all manners of issues concerning the Fae.<\/p>\n Yes, as you can see I am honoring many Gods, over several cultures. I happen to be a mix of European cultures, and have Roman, Welsh, Irish, British and Scot in my blood. I am \u00bd British and was raised as a Brit in America. I am drawn to the UK, the culture, customs and ancient history of my people. However, I am not limited to just the British Isles, I am connected to all of Europe through ancestry and find that I am dawn to their magical and esoteric practices. So this brings me to ancestral and sprit work. While I do honor many Gods, I also honor many ancestral and local spirits. Part of the training that I went through to learn how to be a witch and pass initiation was working with Ancestors of Place, Blood and Spirit. When I first began to learn about working with the ancestors I didn\u2019t appreciate it nearly as much as I do now. It wasn\u2019t until I began to teach my students, that they showed me the vast diversity of working with the ancestors. Many were not so interested or willing to learn about them, but many were very eager and wanted to find ways to work with them in their own practice. Through this we began to work with specific people of the past, groups or hives of ancestors such as \u201cAncestor Priestesses\u201d or \u201cThe Bone Ancestors\u201d which are groups of ancestors that have contacted us during the time we honor them. As a Priestess, and not having hundreds of generations to look back on, working with the spirits of women who have come before and taken a priestess or priestess like mantle has been really incredible, and very rewarding. However this might have to be a different blog post as what I have to say is long and vast and I want to cover some more about the Goddesses I work with!<\/p>\n Working with Goddesses was what really filled my heart when
\nI first found the pagan path. It was everything that was missing, and today
\nworking with them continues to be one of the most filling practices that I
\npractice within the esoteric umbrella. It all began when I was 15, Aphrodite
\nwas heavily present in my life. I was confused, raised in a Baptist home, and
\nso my obsession with her turned into my passion, I honored her in my writings,
\nand school projects and even dressed up as her for Halloween. She was ever
\npresent, like a silent friend following me around, steering me right and left
\nand igniting my sex drive like a match to a stack of dry newspapers. She then
\nbecame vocal and I began to listen. Later in my early 20\u2019s as a very young
\nmother, angry at my own, Gaia came to my life, she also followed me around
\nsilently, then she whispered, followed by more a little bit louder, then so
\nloud I had no choice but to listen, hear and follow. She was the one that
\nreally solidified my path, all the Occult and Esoteric practices along with my
\nPolytheistic worship.<\/p>\n