Loke

[Joachim]

As a Norwegian I have a fasination with Loke which is actually the devil, I have a question about this.... the devil is the word lived backwards so considering that Is it not possible that the devil is the collective shadow of man?
anyway, my question is: As an aspiring God, is it possible for me to have a healing effect on the collective consciousness without actually meeting everyone?

thanks for reading

love Joachim

[Xiao Rong]

I'm very interested in Shadow work as well, and yes, I do believe that the Devil is the collective Shadow in a Christian paradigm -- by projecting all evil and unacceptable behaviors onto a single figure ("The Devil made me do it!"), one can ignore how those unacceptable qualities came from within and are often a natural part of the human condition (sexual desire in particular comes to mind). Although the Devil as Shadow really only applies in a Christian context -- Pagans, I think, have a different collective Shadow. I'm not sure what you mean by an "aspiring God", but yes, it is possible to begin bridging the gap between the Light and Shadow culturally, although it takes sustained effort and (more realistically) activist work -- any one individual can only have so much impact.

[Joachim]

Thanks for the repet:)
What I meant by aspiring God is that I believe God to be ones own rolemodel and I am seeking to realize mine, not the real God(nature)

[Sakura Blossom]

As Xiao said, I don't think most Pagans believe in the Devil in that aspect (or at all, for that matter. I've yet to meet one who does, so I could be mistaken!) and Loki/Loke/etc. is considered to be the Devil from a Christianized stand-point as well. In the original myths and legends, he wasn't considered 'evil' so much as he was causing difficulty for others. I'm just trying to better understand what you're asking, as you said you believe them to be one's role model. So are you saying you're trying to find the God/Goddess you are wanting/supposed to be working with?

[Xiao Rong]

Joachim, some traditions (e.g. Feri Witchcraft) view the soul as having a tripartite nature, which includes the Younger Self, the Talking Self, and the Godself. The Godself is the spark of the divine within every individual ... is that similar to what you're talking about?

[SnowCat]

Your initial post, Joachim, stood out to me both because of the biblical name, and because of what I perceived as a reference to mind control.

St. Joachim was, according to the bible, the husband of St. Anne, and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The aspiring to b ed a god and the reference to mind control, struck me as very Latter Day Saints. I studied that groups beliefs years ago, to learn more about my dad's side of the family.

So I guess I'm just wondering if you can elaborate a bit on those aspects.

Snow

[Joachim]

okay, Ill elaborate
I grew up in a religious context and was not until recent years able to find my own path.
I believe that the forces that rule seem to either by man/women/god/godess to belittle the paranormal nature of the being(self)... keep in mind that in Norway these subjects are not something one gets to choose oneself(religion) so mind control might be fitting, but luckily for me I love nature, and used to partake of some of here "fruits" which opened my mind to a better way of living rather then fallowing the christian god.

as for fallowing Gods, I think that if I have a God it is nature, I like talking to here and I have great fun with that, so what I meant by "realizing my rolemodel" was that I try to be the best me so I set a high standard, like a god, and in my case, actually Loke

Ill be honest Xiao Rong, I have no idea what the soul actually is, I have a vague feeling that there are parts of me that will live beyond death, but thats all, still what you talk about is very facinating, care to elaborate on the soul?

as for the mind control bit, I respect free will and would never try to manipulate someone in such a way...

Thanks for reading, have a nice day/night
...

[Xiao Rong]

Sure thing. I am not a Feri Witch, but Feri tradition holds that the soul has three parts: the Younger Self, the Talking Self, and the God Self. The Talking Self is what we're most familiar with on a day to day basis -- it talks, walks, makes decisions for us, tries to be logical and rational, etc. The Younger Self (also known as the Fetch) is the sort of primal, irrational self, which is more likely to understand myths, art, poetry, music, etc.; it operates on a subconscious level. So when we do ritual, that's the Talking Self attempting to communicate and access the Younger Self.

The third is the God Self, also known as the Personal God, Deeper Self, Higher Self, etc. This is the divine spark that resides within each of us. According to Feri tradition, this is the eternal part of our soul that survives beyond death, that directs us to our true calling, etc.

The trouble is that the three parts of the Soul have trouble connecting with each other (or perhaps in our society and culture we tend to overemphasize the Talking Self, to the detriment of the God Self and the Younger Self). So a central component of ritual is aligning all three Selves so that communication between them is clear and easy, and when that happens, you are at peace and also most powerful.

You can read more about it here. I wonder if that's what you're talking about, in terms of actualizing the God / God Self within you.

You might also be interested in archetypal theory, since you seem to have a clear idea of the kind of God Self you want to manifest -- Loki, for instance, is a classic example of the Trickster. Every archetype has its good and bad, though -- as you said, if you want to be the best you, you have to be aware of what kind of pitfalls any particular archetype might be prone to. I think one good resource is the archetypes based off the Greek pantheon, and the 12 types of Heroes. They don't mention Loke/Loki in particular, but I'm sure you can find ways in which he relates to these.

[SnowCat]

Going by Xiao's description, I'm about 90% fetch.

Snow♡

[Joachim]

wonderfull, this clears up a great deal of things for me, I see now that my younger self want to express itself in art, one question though, what about the inner child? is that the same as the talking self? and further more, am I my soul, or do I have one?
thanks

[Xiao Rong]

I think the Inner Child is more closely related to the Younger Self, not the Talking Self ... although I don't know -- "inner child" seems to be from a different framework altogether.

As for whether or not you are your soul or not, I can't say for certain. Alas, my knowledge of Feri tradition only goes so far!

[Joachim]

thanks Xiao Rong:)