Changing Deities

[SpiritTalker]

I've been a devotee of Kwan Yin since my earliest ventures into Paganism & have, er ... several statues & figurines around my house. My corner wall shrine has become a combination over the past 5 years of BV Mary in framed photos on the walls & Kwan Yin statues on the shelf itself.

So .. I just fell in love with an image of BVM &'child as Our Lady of the Candles from the Canary Islands. Just a chance meeting. I ordered what I thought was a small figurine & turned out to be a 9" statue. She wants to be on the shelf but the spread of her cloak will fill the corner shelf already occupied by a 12" ceramic statue of Kwan Yin.

Dilemma.

Mary wants to take over the corner, or that within me that personifies Her wants to switch.

So ... I lit a 4-hour tea light candle for Kwan Yin as I do daily, and set it before her, as I've done for 20+ years; then I sat down & put the matter before her as well. About 5 minutes later the candle went out.

Oo-ka-ay. Um. No breezes in here. The wick is fine. It's still Her candle as my offering. So i simply relighted it without hesitation. It burned fully like usual.

My gut feeling was Kwan Yin is graciously willing to step aside from the shelf. Her soul is evolved & there is only kindness. And this is a real test of if I believe all goddesses are one Goddess or not.

The synchronicity was undeniable. So I will be making a new shrine for Kwan Yin on the hutch amidst my crystals. Some serious logistical rearranging will be called for.

I didn't expect to be so emotionally moved by switching statues. Obviously i've put a lot of emotional angst into the present arrangement & didn't realize the ties I've created. Lesson #1 is recognize the links. I don't want to break them.

I'm wondering what this signifies is occurring in my spiritual self. My inner-eye sees meanings inside meanings in the OL Candelaria statue & she is very Pagan. The grapes & wheat in her dress (not the child's) of course crosses many beliefs of life as the Earth Mother as well as bearing the sacrifice. The statue blends concepts that my eye perceives &'feels immediately at home with. The star-studded blue cloak & crown speaks of the Primordial mother. The child is more than Jesus as life risen from death but is universal of the mythos of the life-in-death & death-in-life balance. They both hold candles as the inner light as shower-of-the-way. I fell deeply in love with this symbolism.

And I love & thank Kwan Yin for Her gracious kindness & blessing.

So why the heck am I sharing this? Well for one thing it's been a disturbing & illuminating little dilemma. The unexpected is so useful. And quite often there are posts from folks feeling called by one god-form and then later by another. And people mix & match freely but I wonder if we have the slightest idea what we are acting out from within our souls by these calling-experiences and what changes signify in our various realms of consciousness. I feel that when we get down to our deity concepts we are hitting close to the bone of who we are, what we stand for & our integrity as immortal beings. They are us at some level. The call is the invitation from within to reach & connect to the level that they occupy. The calling experience is recognized & accepted as valid. So I'll just make this a think piece because a candle went out when I'd asked a question. It's all one.

Edit. Jan 20th full moon & lunar eclipse tonight.

I felt this task needed to be done today as part of the full moon/eclipse energies. I've been happily working like a crazed woman relocating Kwan Yin's shrine with all Her statues, rearranging crystals (yikes!), setting up an ancestor shrine w/Ouija Board, fake skulls (named Scully & Mulder), a toad (named Clyde), a gazing crystal & placing OL o/t Candles in her niche with new candles of course. Everyone seems happy with their new places. Im liking it. Now what to do with the stuff that doesn't fit?!?

[Lenaleanna]

Absolutely love that you posted this SpiritTalker! I believe everything happens for a reason, and that experiences shared with others whether they are REALLY BIG or itsy bitsy "no biggie"... can be very helpful in many ways!!!
I had a similar/different experience a few years ago. Hestia has been "my" Goddess since the day I "chose" my name...(2001/2002)... but several years ago when our children started to leave the house and we were on our way to becoming empty nesters- I started feeling a pull in several directions... and I kind of felt "crazy". ... Actually, crazier than I already was...

Basically at the same time "life" was happening, I started feeling pulled by other paths... I didn't know why. In late Oct. 2011 an extreme tragedy happened in my life- my mother committed suicide. Of course Hestia provided comfort, security and the unconditional love I needed!!! Of course now as I'm typing this I'm thinking maybe they all were reaching out not to confuse me and make me choose, but to be there and help me when I needed it. (Hind sight...opps...)
In any case- I've stayed with a mixture now of several Deities but Hestia is always primary for me. Ironically ever since June 2018 when my father-in-law passed from congestive heart failure, and July when we had to put my beloved Labrador Retriever to sleep because of her seizures- something has been prompting me... Arggg!!!

So again, it was just a handful of months ago- like what? In October- November I had the whole idea of making this one certain back storage room upstairs in to my altar room... Yay!!! LOL... So it began... and now we are in January 2019... and everything seems the be calming down... and I feel like I'm again being called once again by other paths... Brigid has shown up in a few dreams, (so has Venus/Aphrodite but I think she was telling me something else- lol) But the Celtic path has been showing up EVERYWHERE to me... so I just feel a huge pull towards it than I did ever before. For years in the beginning of me practicing- I often felt "guilty" for even asking a different God or Goddess other than Hestia for anything... lol...

I am glad that you wrote about your experience, it really helped me confirm that Hestia has been getting me ready, but she made me who I am, she will always be there- but she really wants me to explore now, explore myself and fly like a butterfly!!! Or a free witch on her broom... of course spreading happiness ... lol!!!

Blessed Be~
Lena

[SpiritTalker]

Lena!

I had not seen this until today ... And Oh My. You've shared a deep understanding & (showing how these things time out) I'm reading it just when I'm dealing with trust issues. Thank you for sharing.

Spirit

[SnowCat]

I missed all of this until today. I have gone through multiple changes of deities. I feel all them in my life, but they have taken turns being prominent or in the background. I haven't spent a lot of time examining it, I've just gone along with it. I've been feeling the need to build an altar lately. Something I've never had. I'll have to see where this takes me

[barker]

I have been working with Ra (sun), Thoth (moon) and Hermes (earth) and it has been remarkable. I only worry that I am overbalancing these three. Being much the athiest I find it hard to believe in some gods, although Aphrodite and Hades are definately fine.

[.]

I always write "Ra" when making a Solar candle, it's so powerful. Where/how did you find that Thoth was with the Moon and Hermes with the Earth?

As for Hades, I've got his statue from Greece. At time I became worried and in doubt whether I should not rather dispose it. I wrote some protective signs all around his statue to make him work in a positive way. I was in doubt again... now it seems it is a rather clean magnetic force. How do you perceive his figure?

[barker]

My gut tells me Hades is not quite Wiccan, but however he can make you very normal. I like him, personally.

Re: Ra-Thoth-Hermes I suppose it is an Ancient Egypt connotation, reading into alchemy - a personal insight.

[Siona]

I always write "Ra" when making a Solar candle, it's so powerful. Where/how did you find that Thoth was with the Moon and Hermes with the Earth?

Thoth is a lunar deity, one of several lunar gods the Egyptian pantheon had. You can occasionally see him wearing his moon boat headdress. (Iah is the actual moon, as Aten was the actual sun, but other deities are tied to both.) Most detailed sources should mention his lunar aspect.

Hermes is a bit harder to place, imo, solely in one "area." He's a messenger. He has to go from the upper worlds (Mt Olympos), through the world of humans, and even into the underworld (Hermes Khthonios). He is of the earth, but he also links all.

As for Hades, I've got his statue from Greece. At time I became worried and in doubt whether I should not rather dispose it. I wrote some protective signs all around his statue to make him work in a positive way. I was in doubt again... now it seems it is a rather clean magnetic force. How do you perceive his figure?

Hades is not a negative figure. He doesn't cause death, nor bring it (that would be more Thanatos, spirit of non-violent death - but he is not necessarily a negative spirit, either), he simply rules over the underworld and the dead within it. He is Nekron Soter, savior of the dead. But another of his titles is Plouton, of wealth, who rules over the wealth hidden in the earth (in other words, minerals, gems, etc), as well as the fertile soils.

[barker]

Has anybody chosen Gaia? I have some (okay many) of her thoughts and feelings. Prehaps she is a God of love?

[Silas Nightfall]

I have a better question, born in part from my own research.

Why choose?

There are a lot of deities, each with their own specialties and domains. Why not get several statuettes and honor whichever ones are most connected with a particular spell or ritual?

[barker]

Yes I know, but I telepathicate with mine [voices with sense]... the correct word would be "work with" but a connection is supposed at both ends with, well, laws. What laws? Religious laws are active and valid in any beautiful experience... I believe that theory is called gnosis. Making ag-nosticism a letting go of such things.

Edit: Being an athiest the correct term for me and them is "myths," ie resonable named selves, with heroism. Hard to ignore the importance of it. Lore, also in athiesm is the magical result of the interactivity between all myths. Might of run into a brick wall here.

[Silas Nightfall]

The way I look at it is like this. All of them exist and are not myths. However, they aren’t necessarily separate entities either. We are all, individually and collectively, part and parcel of The One. Just like pushing a lump of clay onto a colander, it produces small protrusions on the either side, so too are we connected behind the veil. We all have masculine and feminine influences in our lives and have incorporated aspects of each within us (male and female is a biological term and not addressed here). My “Hecate”, for example, represents a certain part of myself and may be different from someone else’s “Hecate”. We are born of nature and nature is born of us. So I go with the One, the god and goddess first, as generalities, then honor any given representation when needed to help me focus.

[SpiritTalker]

Or by honoring any individual god-form all are honored. Six of one half dozen of the other.

[Silas Nightfall]

Exactly. I think too many witches, especially baby witches (of which I am) get too lost in the specifics.

[.]

Thoth is a lunar deity, one of several lunar gods the Egyptian pantheon had. You can occasionally see him wearing his moon boat headdress. (Iah is the actual moon, as Aten was the actual sun, but other deities are tied to both.) Most detailed sources should mention his lunar aspect.

Hades is not a negative figure. He doesn't cause death, nor bring it (that would be more Thanatos, spirit of non-violent death - but he is not necessarily a negative spirit, either), he simply rules over the underworld and the dead within it. He is Nekron Soter, savior of the dead. But another of his titles is Plouton, of wealth, who rules over the wealth hidden in the earth (in other words, minerals, gems, etc), as well as the fertile soils.

Thoth's Emerald tablets contain a lot of the Lunar sphere journeys so I guess it is logical to call him Luna-related. Yeah, my lore on Egypt ought to be better.

Hades, a Nekron? I dreamed of a train journey into a city called Necropolis. I thought is was about my sephira meditation into Binah, which would be a Saturnian sphere also related to death.

Other dream was about a man who claimed his domain of business was drugs, gambling and stolen wedding rings.
Stolen wedding rings, quite a poetry within a dream. Anyway considering my surroundings it would be only his statue relevant in a way to that world of mafia. I wonder though why would the man expose himself deliberately.
As he took Persephone into his realm he let her eat a piece of fruit she fancied, without telling her it would tie her to the realm forever. With a lot of the Otherworld contact I have trouble identifying the Underworld as the only realm of death.
Spirits of the Underworld tend to be highly deceitful I believe.