david hobbs
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God Forms.I have visited covens who use Egyptian Gods as their main deities.
I find that a bit odd living in this country or perhaps I am missing a point or two somwhere.
I would have thought that working as a witch you would need connection as close as possible to the land that you live in.
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Bravo
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It is the connection to your self. If you believe the land gives that then great, if you believe that Egyptian deities give that then also great. At the end of the day it comes from within.
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Waffle King
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Egyptian Civilization is practially the first recorded Human civilization so maybe thats why the covens adopted Egyptian Gods?
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Raymond
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I understand your point Mr. Hobbs. I just bought a book called 'The Isle of Many Gods' which is about all the different gods that were worshipped or honoured in the British Isles up until the general acceptance of Christianity in our green and pleasant land.
It's true that in days gone by British pagans would most probably have just to just a handful of local gods and goddesses for life, however nowadays pagans are quite happy to be a little more diverse with which god/dess they work with.
You have to remember also that paganism isn't liek other religions. There isn't the 'one size fits all' approach to god.
This month you may feel like working particularly closley with the Goddess Epona and so you will dedicate your alter to her. Next month you may feel differently and want to work with Venus and so dedicate your alter to her.
Some pagans do stick with just the same few and the people you know who work with Egyptian gods have obviously found they have a kinship and gain results by working with Ra, Isis, Bast and other gods of the Egyptian pantheon.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks that I've noticed with people new to the craft is the idea that even though there are literally thousands of gods and goddesses, there is only one god and one goddess.
Think of it like a mirror ball. A mirror ball is made up of lots of little mirrors and each mirror reflects a similar but different image, yet there is still just one mirror ball.
The same analogy applies to pagan gods.
In my time I have worked with gods and goddesses from many and varied panteons, Freya (Nordic), Holda (Germanic), Pan (Greek) and Kwanyin (Japanese), yet all of them are of the same god and goddess I honour all the time.
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david hobbs
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I suppose that it poses the question.
Why do we need God's ?
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meiah
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Doesn't the mirrorball analogy answer that?
We have different facets, faces, stages of our lives. I am not the same NOW as I was yesterday / last week / last year.
What fitted the "me" that I beleived myself to be then, may not fit the "me" as I see myself now.
As such, would the same face of God fit me now?
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Waffle King
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| david hobbs wrote: | | Why do we need God's ? |
for the same reason Sheep need a Shepard and the sky needs stars 
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Raymond
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| Waffle King wrote: | | for the same reason Sheep need a Shepard |
Not at all WK - not in paganism anyway.
Mr. Hobbs asks why do we need Gods? Well, in paganism we view the Gods and Goddesses as very much a 'two-way' street.
While we thank them for giving all we have and knowing that we would be nothing without them, we also are aware that they too would be nothing without us.
Without us honouring them and keeping them alive what would they be?
The relationship between a pagan and his/her God/dess is more of a friendship rather than a master/slave one.
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meiah
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Are God's external to us, or are they the personification of that which we see to be greater than us, a link to the unexplained / what we are striving towards?
Am not putting this very well.
I guess what I mean is, are Gods / Goddesses the personification of the spiritually ideal self? Seen as such to make that accessible to us?
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evergreen
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I don't think any God expects slaves - that is religion and certainly a human trait
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david hobbs
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Perhaps when we create a God form we create the thing that in turn creates us.
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Raymond
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One thing that is generally accepted in paganism is man created god in his own image, not the other way around as is the case put around by some other belief systems.
God is a force. It's neither male nor female, young or old, black or white. It's something we couldn't (and shouldn't) understand.
It's the spark of life. The big bang. The fertile seed. It's the gassses and atoms that reacted to one another that bought about the first stirrings of life to the cold empty universe that triggered the cosmic chain reaction that brings us to where we are today.
Look in any science book about the origins of the universe and the information you will find is quite correct. But that information doesn't satisify our souls. It doesn't ring our romantic, spiritual bell.
So we create personalities to give to this creative force. Names, faces, stories, exciting and romantic adventures to apply to cold, hard science.
The science appeals to our heads and the romance appeals to our hearts.
We create these 'god forms' to help make it easier for us to approach and relate to this cosmic energy that would otherwise be completely unapproachable to us.
It doesn't matter what you call this energy, or what name you prefer to give it or how (or even IF) you conduct rituals and ceremonies to worship and honour it.
By having a relationship with this force is to tap into it's power.
We wire-up our homes to tap onto the power of gas and electricity so why not wire up our souls and lives to tap into a much higher and far more creative energy?
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Sia
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[quote="Waffle King
for the same reason Sheep need a Shepard and the sky needs stars [/quote]
What WK said is 2way, a sheep needs a Shepard to protect them and Shepard needs the sheep, there would be no stars without the sky and no sky without the sky
We need Gods, because we have to believe in something, life is too confusing , people need something to look up to and wonder and have comfort in , I think 
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Raymond
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| Sia wrote: | | people need something to look up to and wonder and have comfort in , I think |
SOME people need those things. Co-dependant people with little self esteem I would imagine.
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Sia
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You are difficult are you, I did mean people in general
I myself don't believe in god, however ive always been interested
in "peoples" need from the start to believe in one god or another
Also in this day and age of technology and understanding of our world, were the first generations to really question the existence of God, looking back at all other cultures through time religion and total belief in God or Gods was the norm
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Samjaza
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Its an understandable problem, why should us anglo saxons look to the egyptians?
If its looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is one.
As a personal choice I wanted an aspect that represented justice (libra) etc. Ma-at fitted, wether it was egyptian or Incan or whatever, as a focus it worked.
In saying that i met a group of unsavoury feminists that adored the Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet, a vicious lion headed beast that ruthlessly butchered men, much to the feminists delight. Strange one that. Why worship a tyrant that is jealous and destroys, might as well bow down to jeohvah eh? 
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david hobbs
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Funny you should say that.
My last coven leader was into Sekky and she fancied herself as a ruler of men and a total feminist.
To let you into a bit of a secret and just between you and me she used to grab my nuts under the table at any given opportunity.
Silly moo.
Thought I would share.
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Raymond
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| david hobbs wrote: | | My last coven leader was into Sekky and she fancied herself as a ruler of men and a total feminist. |
High Priestess Syndrome. It's a fatal disease.
Feminism works until they need some work doing around the house.
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david hobbs
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I think the same can be said for priests as well, minus the point about the job's around the house.
I think the grandest of them all are the born again Merlins.
It's so easy to let a few unusual experiences make you believe that you are special amongst men.
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meiah
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Gosh, they are missing out!!! I love DIY. Am useless at it, but I have Polyfilla
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david hobbs
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Don't worry counciling is easily available these days
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Raymond
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| david hobbs wrote: | | I think the same can be said for priests as well |
Ooooh I don't know Mr. Hobbs. They talk about the male ego but the female ego can be just as bad.
I have seen some High Priestesses really go off the boil after a year or two in the job.
The Priests tend to get a little arrogant but the Priestesses really do take thier positions to a very strange place.
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