Welcome to Gaia! ::

Has anyone else ever come to a point in their lives when it was necessary to change deities, or you felt as if it was time to change deities?

I ask because I have been practicing for a very long time now, and when I started out, Artemis was my goddess. I worked with her for a very long time, and then about a year ago, I had some strange feelings and meditated for a long time, and came to the conclusion that for some unknown reason, I need to take a break from magic.

So I took a step back, and was very surprised when I started to get the feeling that I need to start again, since it had been so long. I meditated and talked it with a friend, and I really felt as if I had learned all I could from Artemis. As if she had served me well when I needed her, but someone else was waiting for me. Thus began a long research project and much more meditation, and I have been chosen by the Erinyes. (and if anyone has personal experience with them, I would love to know more about it).

Anyways, has anyone else had an experience like this?

I could not agree more. We are subjects to the Gods. They are not here to be our celestial mummys and daddys.
I know for a fact that some Gods couldn't give a flying fudge about me because I haven't made myself worthy of them yet. They wouldn't give me the time of day.

As Sanguina put it (so well) Their influence can wane. The whole "lets pick a patron deity" thing makes no sense because it is not up to us to "pick" a God. The God will pick us if it is right that they should do so. They'll accept us and teach us if They want to but there's no obligation.

I'm sorry if the wording was wrong, of course I know that the gods do not serve us. I apologize for any confusion, and will strive to make myself clearer in the future.

How long is long?

Paganism found me when I was 12 and I turn 22 in 22 days (big fan of numbers), so almost 10 years.

Magic or ritual? They are separate. One can practice magic with out religion and one can worship deities with out magic.

I guess I have never practiced one without the other. I've always been solitary, and it's always seemed better together. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your question?

Who are the Erinyes?

The Erinyes are three goddesses (Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto) and are better known by their Roman names, Furiae or Dirae. You've probably heard to them refereed to as the Furies, which I tend to not like purely on the principle that if you translate their original names, none mean "Fury". It's just the modern English word taken from Furiae... sorry for the random tangent.

They have many different stories of how they were made, most popular being that they came from the blood of Ouranos when he was castrated by Kronos. They are also said to be the daughters of Nyx or Hades and Persephone.

They dealt closely with punishing those who committed crimes against family. Ie, matricide, patricide, adultery, etc.

And I completely agree with how Sanguina put it, I don't feel as if I chose the Erinyes. Honestly, I've always liked the Olympians, and tended to not think about the others (bad of me, I know, but at least I'm honest). It feels like I've been chosen.

For me there is magic and there is my religion. Sometimes they intertwine but others not so much. You can practice religion with out magic, and magic with out religion. So did you stop both or just magic?

When put that way, I stopped magic. I continued to pay tribute to Artemis, but tended to just meditate on full moons, not have rituals.

How did you come across finding information on them?

My favorite source that I have found is this. I like it because it backs up what it says with writings from the period. I have a text book from a Greek Mythology class I took in college that I remember having alot about them in it, but I can't find it. I think it's in storage at my inlaws' house. I'll be looking for that in the near future.

Ok.. so why are you drawn to these deities?

I honestly don't know. I had the feeling that I needed to look at other gods and goddesses, I made a really big list of all of them (I included Artemis as well), and then meditated. As soon as I wrote "Erinyes", I was drawn to the word, but I wanted to be really really sure, so I meditated over the entire list. I only knew a little bit about them before I began my research, but it just feels right. As weird and crazy as it sounds, I can feel them touching me. I don't know for what purpose yet (been meditating on it alot). I figure that as soon as I need to know I will.

What olympians were you working with aside from Artemis?

I never really worked with any besides her, I just tended to acknowledge them more. Does that make sense? I don't really know how to put it.

I see. What did these tributes contain if you dont mind sharing?

Nothing complex really. I didn't want a big ritual, so I would just meditate and focus my energy on her and do my best to just be and connect. It was really more about the moment for me and just acknowledging my appreciation for her. When I did rituals I would include things like food and drink as well as maybe something small that I had made for her. I never could do anything bigger since I was living in a house where anything pagan was forbidden.

What will worshiping them entail?

I really wished that I knew. I'm still shuffling through pages of myths surrounding them and trying to get an idea everything that they were, since most greek gods tended to serve multiple purposes, I want to make sure that I completely understand them. This is a process that I feel will take time, but I'm willing to go slow just to make sure that I don't miss something important. Hopefully somewhere along the way I'll come to find what worshiping them entails and what they expect of me. I just have to be patient.

No it does. I used to feel drawn to Poesidon and Pan as well as Apollo, Artemis, and Selene as well as Helios. I no longer activly worship any of them. I have felt drawn to explore other paths, and I am exploring Asatru.

Was it a hard transition for you to change pantheons? (I've heard of Asatru, I think, but just can't seem to place it). Did your style of worship dramatically change when you started to explore other deities?

Were the offerings done in any specific manner?

No. Much of how I practice now stems from the fact that when I started I was having to hide everything I did and any tools I used. So I've formed the habit of doing what I could in the quickest way possible (so that if I had to stop quickly I had to). Therefore there really hasn't been a solid pattern to anything that I've done, but it seems to work for me.

Is it ever possible to completely understand a deity?

Most likely not. I guess the best you can do is try you're best.

Have you looked into any variation of Greek reconstruction?

No, would you mind elaborating?

Asatru is Nordic reconstruction. It is about the reconstruction of the worship of the Norse/Germanic Gods. This is what we believe my ancestry to be.

Okay, I understand. My husband is of Norse decent, and was taught druidism by his grandfather. It had been passed down through the generations, and he's the last in the line to learn it. So if we don't have a child, it ends with him. I find the whole thing a little sad.

I now try my best to worship deities in culturally appropriate ways. So worshiping a Greek deity is different than worshiping a Nordic deity which is different than worshiping the trinitiy of deities I worship in the Temple Tradition.

I would love to learn the Greek tradition of worship. I've always done things my way because I've never had anyone around to teach me otherwise. The few times that I have met with other pagans in RL, they seemed to be more interested in practices that I had never heard of. Not to say that they were wrong, just that it was very different from what I had experienced. There is a group that meets locally in a few weeks that I was planning on attending, maybe I can find someone there who can teach me. I always like learning new things.

Would you prefer that sort of setting?

I don't have to hide anything I do anymore, but I do prefer just doing what feels right regardless of what anyone else would do.

Hellenic reconstruction is Greek reconstruction. They try to recreate the Greek religion as best they can in today's world.

I've been researching Hellenic Reconstruction today, and thus far all I can find is general worship, and nothing on the Erinyes specifically. There are ones for the Olympians, but I haven't found the minor deities yet. What I will probably end up doing is combining what I know about the Erinyes and the general worship and create my own. Oh, I did find somewhere that they were offered milk and honey mixed in water, but never wine. Unfortunately, the site I found that on had no reference to where they got that info.

Wait what? Druidry was celtic not Norse. Also the druids don't exist.

I know that Druids are Celtic. I also know that my husband is both of Nordic decent and a druid. I would be kinda scared to tell him that druids don't exist. The things I've seen him do with energy are very impressive. He's blown fuses in the house more than once. The existence of druids really isn't a topic I want to discuss. It's more of a topic for him, not me, since I'm not druid and have never looked into it myself.

An interesting side note: We bought two rats about 6 months ago, both from a breeder, both babies, both healthy. We named the light one Freya and the dark one Artemis. Right around the time when I was starting to think that a different god had an interest in me, Artemis died. None of the other rats (6 of them) were sick, she had no wounds. It just looked like she fell asleep and didn't wake up. I hadn't thought about there being a connection until now. I don't believe in coincidences.

A family tradition of magic is wonderful. I hope it works out. Have you thought of adopting a child? In some traditions adopting a child is just the same as giving birth to the child.

I am adopted, and I would never adopt a kid. Way too many psychological issues that I had to work through, and am still working through. As far as I know, I can have children. He just doesn't want any and I do. We're talking about it.

It's not that difficult, if you dont mind learning Greek. I found the few websites IO have read on it to be very useful. I also have to read some more books on the subject. I do want to study it more. I'd like to encorporate Hellenic worship with the Worship of the Aesir as well.

I could probably learn greek if I had the time... I just don't. I'm hoping that someone at the pagan meeting I'm going to on next Wednesday will have experience with it and I can talk to them.

what sort of practices would those be?

Honestly, this was over a year ago and off the top of my head I can't remember too many specifics. Just people saying that they were doing big things with magic that sounded highly doubtful, plus, I'm pretty good at reading energy and auras, and the stuff that they were claiming to have done alone didn't seem plausible with the amount of energy they had. I suppose that they could have had a really really big store of it some where or had help, but knowing the people, it's doubtful.

Or they would talk about getting help from gods/goddesses/magical beings, and I couldn't even begin to imagine what they were giving in return for this help, because it seemed like an awful lot to get without giving something pretty major in return. I don't believe that you get help from beings like faeries and dragons without an exchange. Seems to me that they would have better things to do than to help people get revenge on an ex.

Now I have met people who are really good sources of information, but I had to move from Florida to Cali, and I'm not in contact with them anymore. There is this awesome pagan store in Tampa and the owner is fantastic. I got some of my best stones and crystals from her (I'm big into stone and crystal magic).

Oh, one thing that I saw somewhere briefly mentioned alters to the Greek deities, but it seemed to be only for sacrifices. Do you know if there were other kinds, if they were permanent, and what would be on them daily? Or where to find info on stuff like that?

So much information to meditate on and I've been really sick, so I can't concentrate... It's been miserable.

I have a very long list of texts that I want to get, but the library doesn't have most of them (plus I'm battling them over late fees they want but I don't think I owe), and I looked up the prices and most are way out of my price range (hundreds of dollars worth of books). I went to borders, but between the history and religion sections (why are 90% of the religious books Christian??), I didn't see any on my list, nor did I find anything. I'll have to go back when I have more time and really dig in. Hopefully I'll find something good that is in my budget.

"Wow. Completely oposite of me. I want to adopt because I was adopted, and I understand the psychological issues. I'm going to school to be a therapist to help children and adults work on those issues. "

Meet my biological mother. We're so alike it's creepy, but in many ways, I'm much more mature than she is. I think she's emotionally stuck at 16/17 when she had me. I also had my adopted mother die when I was 13, so that could have something to do with it (who am I kidding, it totally does). Having been through more therapy than most people ever will, I've considered going into it professionally, I just don't know if I could handle it. Regardless, I just want to have my own kid. It would be very special to me. Partly, because I am currently the last of my genetic family. As far as we know (there are rumors of an aunt being pregnant, but most think she's lying... long story) I am the only female able to have kids.

I looked into learning Greek, but the closest college that teaches it is too far away (we'd have to move), and super expensive. So unless I learn on my own (which I might be able to do if I could afford the Rosetta Stone cd thingy), I will have to wait.

"So do you separate magic from religion? "

Personally, I tend to keep them together, but I understand that there are those who separate it, and those who practice magic but aren't religious. The way I choose to practice magic is I try make sure that everything I do wouldn't anger my deities. When I make a circle, I make it to please them, and the work I do in that circle is with them in mind. (And yeah, when I'm at home I do every little thing in a circle. My husband's and my energy clash, so we keep all magics very separate). The little stuff, like auras and energy just comes naturally to me, so I don't have to concentrate too hard or expend too much to just take a quick look. So in that sense, sometimes I'll practice magic outside of religion, but never for a charm, spell, or ritual. It just feels better for me when it's together.

That said, I rarely ask for help actually performing the spells, which is what those people were referring to. Um... an example... Say I want to put a protection spell in a crystal (something I do pretty often). I'll do it in a circle, and I'll acknowledge my deities beforehand and thank them later, but I don't ask for their help if I don't need it, and in this instance, I don't. I can do this by myself and I do. I don't like the people who say that they have some mystical force (deity, dragon, etc) constantly doing things for them to make super powerful amulets and such, when you would think that whatever was helping them would want something in return, and what if you can't deliver? I strongly believe that everything has a balance and needs to balance when you are done with what you are doing, and it seems to me that many of the people I met in those groups had no regard for any type of balance.

"Cool. Do they ship to you?"

We talked about it before we left, and she would ship to us. Problem is, I'm very hands on with the stones and crystals I buy, so I would want to be there and hand pick what I want. (She once had a bowl of stones that I really just wanted to take to the middle of nowhere and bury. I reached in and it felt like nothing was there. The shop assistant kept saying that they were real and natural, and I later found out from the owner that they were completely man made. I was really confused as to who would buy them. I guess they looked nice, but magic wise they were useless. At least for me).

What I need to do is gather some funds and order some incense from her. It's very affordable, and she hand makes all of it. Oh, and herbs. She has wonderful herbs and teas. Now I'm homesick... I miss it there. That little shop just had the best energy and was a great place to go when you needed to clear your head. I think I'll send her an email later.