Welcome to Gaia! ::

I have posted this in other places but I would like to do so here as well to get your impressions of it.

My patron Goddess is Bast. I made it a point to ask Bast for some kind of vision the other night before I went to bed. I have had so few spiritual experiences in my life that I wanted to at least give this a try.

I didn't see Bast as she normally appears to me but I did "see" two things that were odd.

I was in and out of the state before sleep and suddenly I had one of those "jerked awake" moments and for a split second I thought I saw some golden flaming text on my wall to the left of where my recently acquired Bast picture is sitting waiting for a frame. It was only there for a fraction of a second and I couldn't make out anything it said as I didn't have time. What I saw was a small paragraph of a very swirling kind of text. Similar to that elvish script from lord of the rings movies. It was golden and flaming and in some form of calligraphy. Unfortunately I have no idea what it said because it was gone so fast. This left me with a WTF feeling but I quickly passed it off as my eyes playing tricks.

A few moments later I rolled over to sleep again and saw an image in my mind. It wasn't something I was thinking of or creating myself it just appeared there for a moment. It was a wild looking woman. Kind of Elven like. I could tell she was naked but I could only see her back and face. She had long scraggly black hair and some kind of tattoo on her back. The tattoo appeared to be some intricate pattern of lines. I think she had a head band and very pointed ears and very light colored eyes almost like she was blind but I don't want to say that she was. I didn't see any wings but I wont say she didn't have any. She was very wild looking. I never heard of Bast appearing in a form like this, and I know it wasn't just the thoughts of a lonely man wishing there was a woman like that next to him. This literally just popped in my head fully formed with no assistance from me.

I did some research on this kind of female image the following day and I am pretty sure it was Artemis appearing to me. Artemis is sometimes associated with Bast. What really blew me away was I found out that Artemis is sometimes known as Cynthia and Cynthia is the name that I long ago gave to the female half of my spiritual side. This is something I can explain further if anyone is interested.

I know some of you will think this is silly and crazy and all that but all of these things seem to add up to each other, and I am very skeptical of stuff like this, but I can't deny these things happened last night.

I think my request was answered that night even if I didn't think it was when all this happened.

Its difficult to explain why I am pretty sure it was Artemis. I have had signs from her before I just didn't realize it at the time. I got an odd gift of a stag figure once that was just out of the blue. The stag is one of her signs. Also my feminine half I have always referred to as Cynthia and that is one of her other names. I never knew that until a few days ago. Also I just got the impression it was her. I have no way of explaining that. I am sure you know what I mean when you just know something like this. I really don't know what else to tell you here. I have a few male friends who are followers of Artemis as well. So it's not unheard of for her to have male followers.

I have a deep almost worship level respect for women and though I don't deny I have a sexual attraction to them as well I think Artemis might be responding to my respect of them, while Bast is responding to the sexual feelings. I don't want to speak for them of course but its just the feeling I get when I think about it.

Your right to have doubts about it and of course I have some as well, but a large part of the spiritual world is faith. I believe if I am wrong about Artemis as long as I show her the proper respect she will let me know.

I'm confused. You said this was a conclusion you came to based on research, and now you're saying it's something you're taking on faith. There's nothing wrong with faith. Faith is great, but it's best to check this sort of thing.

How do you know the stag figure is related to this experience? Why is your other name relevant, or anything other than a coincidence? Sure, it's interesting, but I wouldn't place too much weight on it at this point.

There are reasons not to trust just "having a feeling". There are people who get these feelings and then end up worshipping entities that are totally different from the gods or goddesses these people assume they are. For example, the "Hekate is a Crone" brigade. Hekate is not a crone; she is clearly represented as a maiden figure in images. There are people who worship a figure they think is The Morrigan, but maintain she is not dangerous or violent at all and that she is a loving mother figure; that everything else is propaganda from the Christians. This happens all the time. So, it's always wise to research things in-depth and hold them up against our experiences.

What do we know of Artemis? She is a maiden, a patroness of childbirth and young women. She is a huntress. She kills people with her arrows that displease her in mythology. She doesn't like being seen naked by men. (Their intentions don't seem to be too relevant.)

Have you looked at Artemis's page on Theoi? I'm having a browse of it now. Apparently her priests and priestesses all took vows of chastity, severely punished if broken. On the up side, we know she had male priests now!

Out of interest, what leads you to believe this goddess is Greek? Dilwica is a Slavic goddess of hunting. Hastseoltoi is a North American goddess of hunting. Medzoijima is Lithuanian. Achimi is African. And that's if the entity in question is definitely a goddess of hunting specifically, rather than a wild sort of goddess with patronage elsewhere.

But Bast is your patron?

There is quite a big difference between having a patron god and having a favorite neutral

Er, you realize that this is how Pagan gods were demonised, right?
"Oh our Christian bias tells us that gods that aren't YHVH are Satan or in league with Satan so therefore they must really be Satan!"
So sure, texts are open to interpretations and biases...doesn't mean those interpretations and biases are right or helpful.

I don't either.
I tend to look at what the surviving lore has to say, personally.

Right. Because ascribing habits and traits to her that run totally counter to what is known about her really bolsters her up.

But why are you such a speshul snoflayk that Artemis would contradict herself just to appear to you?


Personally, I would test her. I would challenge her. Feelings are nice, but I would want to ensure that the entity I'm interacting with is actually who s/he says s/he is.
There are quite a few entities out there that don't have humans' best interest at heart and have no problem ******** people. To go out there and assume that every astral being is going to give you a hug and a cookie is a bit naive.


Is this discussion not part of your path?


And again, what makes these particular followers so speshul that these gods will contradict everything just to appear?

It's also pretty arrogant to assume that a god will break their own rules and conventions just to give someone cosmic warm-fuzzies.

I would say that Christianity (for example) allowed for a ******** of personal interpretation.

That's a bit slippery.
What if murdering puppies and eating their eyes makes me happy and works for me and I'm a better person for it?


Why?

Of course. Considering the tiny bits of stories left about some of the gods, I would hope so.
However, there is a difference between dynamic and running totally opposite of things.

I don't tend to assume anything about gods. I know Sanguina doesn't either.
However, you still seem to be banking on the assumption that who you saw was Artemis and that she's willing to break all conventions just to appear to you.

Er, you can stop treating "mainstream" religion like a ******** insult now. It doesn't make you look cool or enlightened. It makes you look small-minded and easily taken in by the loud, obnoxious minority.

I don't understand what it is with ******** Pagans sometimes; half the time you cry about not being able to be public with your faith or how you're not treated on the same playing field as bigger faiths, then you turn around and treat the term "mainstream religion" like something horrible and turn your nose up at it. You can't have it both ways.

To my knowledge the Greeks associated Artimis with Bast and there were festivals held at Bast's sacred city in her honor.

I tend to think of this as an early example of pagans engaging in Cultural Appropriation.

I don't mean to say I completely disregard the myths. I see the myths as ways those Gods or Goddess chose to appear to certain people.

And believe me being someone who favors the Fae I know all about tricksters. That is why I am being very careful in my rituals and stuff when I try to call Artemis. Bast has been appearing to me long enough that I know it's her with relative certainty. As for Artemis its new and I am being careful. I do appreciate your concern though.

I did a ritual recently where I got the impression Artemis want's me to try to contact her during the crescent moon. Maybe I will have more answers then.



I kinda did say that several times.



You should be skeptical. Of course you should. But you also have to remember the mythos were also written by people, just like you and me. There is no reason to assume they are totally accurate either. Like I said they appear to each person differently and it is up to us to find out who they really are and their intentions.



Totally agree with you here. I asked this of Bast in the past and was satisfied with the answer and am in the process of doing so with Artemis.



Your right. My blanketing like that was wrong and I apologize for it.



Thanks and I will don't worry. Thank you for your comments I appreciate them and again I am sorry for what I implied with Christianity. I wont do that again.

Basically it is about a spiritual experience I had recently and discussing it. Some people are getting more passionate about it then others it seems.

Love the avatar btw

I can see where your coming from with this. For a lot of people their paths do work in tandem with other paths and so on and that is fine.

They way I see it is the God and Goddesses appear to everyone in the way that they chose to appear and often times those appearance are either similar or are interpreted as such. This isn't the case for everyone though.




I think I should word it more as what works for us rather then what we want. I never wanted Artemis (or whoever the huntress I saw was) to appear to me. I was perfectly fine with just Bast being my personal Goddess. I would like to know why I had that vision and am pursuing it. I don't have the answers yet.

I think we can all agree that our wants to play a part in this though. I mean if we are in a faith that is making us miserable and such then we should cast that faith out and look for a better one for us. Part if it should be what we want, but also part of it needs to be what is given to us as well.



I can agree with that sure. the truth is what it is. We wont always like what it is but it should be a tool used to make ourselves better. If it is instead making us miserable then it isn't the truth for us.



True that smile I think unless you do something malicious though they aren't going to swing that bat when you mess up. That is what your guilty conscious is for smile



Well that response is mainly anger from being insulted. If she had been more diplomatic I would have been so in my response. It is true I said some things I shouldn't have in my post. Like the stuff about mainstream religions, but I don't appreciate being called things like "speshul snoflayk" just because my beliefs happen to differ from someone elses. We should be above that kind of thing on here.


Getting back on the subject of Hekate as a maiden or a crone. I don't see why she cant appear as either or depending on who she is appearing too. Often times a deity had multiple visages. Zeus for example appeared in many different forms ranging from the awe inspiring thunder god to a cow. No one can explain why the Goddess or the God work the way they do, it's like trying to explain love--you can't. If Artemis and Bast choose to appear me in the way that I saw them there's a reason for it. Do I know what that reason is. No I don't it's not my place to guess their motives. And no, I am not saying I am right and all the other stories about them are wrong, nor am I ascribing a level of privilege to myself. The Gods and Goddess appear to EVERYONE in their own ways. I am not the special privileged person for having my own personal view of certain Goddesses. Everyone is that special privileged person. Only the Goddess or the God can tell you what is true about Herself. What is true for you, or rather what is the truth the God or Goddesses choses to show you, might not be true for anyone else. There is nothing wrong with Unverified personal gnosis. Every human is different. We all have different tastes, desires, fears, etc. I am sure the Gods and Goddesses are aware of this and act accordingly. The spiritual world is much more dynamic then anyone of us can possibly imagine.