Raven's Reflections: Deities

Deities: For a Good Time Call...

Among Neopagans in general and Wiccans in particular there is a tendency to like making things simple and easy. Simplified rituals, simple chants, a belief that anything published is valid, and grocery lists of associations for various deities. There are websites now that will list a series of deities, give a superficial amount of information regarding each, some situations to call on this deity, and maybe a handful of correspondences. These lists treat the gods themselves as tools in a box, to be brought out when needed and thrown back just as readily, and not as entities with personalities, thoughts, and minds of their own.

A website like this contains a name, a purpose, and maybe some contact information (the associations). An analogous situation would be writing for a good time call Jenny at 867-5309 on the bathroom wall (with apologies to Tommy Tutone). Fix all your problems in love! Call Frigg today! Having trouble with an ex who won't leave you alone? Macha is just a phone call away!

It is simply a matter of respect: there is more to the deity than a sphere of influence, a power day, and an elemental association or what can be read in a DJ Conway or Barbara Walker book. These kinds of sources do not even make good starting points because they are too bowdlerized and superficial and almost never provide resources for more information. This is tremendously disrespectful to both the deity and to those who follow that deity and who take their path seriously.

Some have issue with the idea that these lists provide a poor starting point. They claim that someone who is interested in a specific deity or pantheon will investigate further, and that the information is only meant as a launching point. There are three points that apply to most of these sites that I believe belie that assertion:

If a site wishes to provide a good starting point for understanding a pantheon or set of pantheons, it should provide a set of good references and links from which the student can learn more and investigate further; it should present an idea of the character and personality of the deities beyond basic archetypes and a bowdlerized legend that twists the character of the deity; and a list should not include phrasing to the effect of [insert deity] can be called for [these problems].

Using that information as a starting point it is possible to get more of a feel for a pantheon and for the members of that pantheon, just as a starting point to help get a feel for what might be interesting to the individual practitioner. This is why including references is important: After seeing a bit of what is out there, references can then help the person who wants to know more branch out and actually learn about the culture, the pantheon, and the deities that comprise that pantheon.

It should be noted that some, particularly among the Ásatrúar, believe that a set of deities should only be followed within the context of the religion that they come from. Like most Wiccans, I do not accept this concept for a variety of reasons that are beyond the scope of this essay, however, I also believe that the other extreme of treating the gods as cardboard cut-outs is also flawed in implementation and far less respectful. In this, my view is that so long as the practitioner remains respectful, puts real effort into understanding and researching the deity, and does not try to declare their particular method of worship as the one true way it doesn't matter what their specific religious background is (though their religion might have something different to say, e.g., Christianity does not exactly allow for the worship of Þórr). Of course, coming from a Wiccan background, I am also biased in that any pantheon I choose is part of a foreign religion.

Finding a Deity, Doing the Research

Having gone through all of that, the question remains: How does one find deities to bring into a personal pantheon? There has been a lot of discussion as to what not to use, but what should be used and what are some good first steps?

Daven says a great deal about choosing deities who will work together, the importance of Will, how the gods behave, and on how to bring a deity, having found it, into your personal pantheon. He says it far better than I could, and I will try not to repeat what he said here. Here I am going to focus on the question: If grocery lists are disrespectful and unreliable, how to go about identifying the deities that call to you?

The easiest way seems to be to find a pantheon that you like for one reason or another. It can be either a cultural or genetic heritage, because you always loved these stories growing up, or just from being particularly drawn to it. If unable to find such, shopping around and picking up reading from several different pantheons may be in order.

Regardless if the process has been narrowed down to a single pantheon yet, the next step is to find books and resources--a trip to the library is in order. Good sources for book lists tend to be modern recreationist religions, who are generally very careful about researching the religions that inspired them, and university presses, but even these are prone to errors, biases, and problems. Read primary sources, secondary sources, and anything else on the topic. There are three areas in particular to focus on:

That having been said, do not turn down information just because it seems out of focus with what you are looking for at the moment. As Delaunay puts it in Jaqueline Carey's excellent book Kushiel's Dart: All knowledge is worth having. There is no telling what might be useful later.

Once the pantheon has been studied, a more in-depth study can be carried out on individual deities that speak to you in some way. Now comes the time to learn everything you can about those specific deities you felt most drawn to. Chances are very good that you have already started this process both subconsciously and consciously in what you have been reading, and there is nothing wrong with this--these are deities you are looking to develop a long term relationship with, and if you are not particularly drawn to fertility gods and goddesses, you are not going to spend as much time studying them as a group as those you are more interested in. Still, you should not just skim the passages relating to the fertility deities, but reading extra about those who you want to work with personally is to be expected.

After this, the time has come to actually develop a relationship with the deity, which is another topic altogether. Those interested should check out the Other Articles section at the bottom of this essay.

Conclusion

It needs to be emphasized that research is just a small first step, but it is an important first step that is too often overlooked, especially among Wiccans. We, as a community, should be embracing research and scholarship in addition to independent study of nature and modern magical practices. Our cataloging of deities needs to be done with enough information to make a good research aide, not simply a table of correspondences and a few basic facts.

The deities exist as more than archetypes or symbols in our mind, and if we treat them with respect, then they are likely to return the favor.