Can You Believe in Certain God/desses or All of Them?

[lunabloodrose]

I have a kind of dumb question. Do you have to believe in a certain Goddess or God or can you believe in all of them? Like let's say your doing a love spell, can you call to Aphrodite for help? I am just wondering any input would be nice.

[loona wynd]

I have a kind of dumb question. Do you have to believe in a certain Goddess or God or can you believe in all of them? Like let's say your doing a love spell, can you call to Aphrodite for help? I am just wondering any input would be nice.

Well if you believe in all Gods and Goddesses it goes to say you could pray to or ask help of any God or Goddess associated with the task at hand. In your example you mentioned Aphrodite for love. You could also call on Freya, or basically any other God or Goddess associated with love for the work. So if you work with a specific pantheon it may be best to work within them for the rest of the work as well. If you don't work with a specific pantheon you can work with basically any one associated with any needs you have. Does that answer your question?

[lunabloodrose]

I think so. So basically what your saying is that if I call to one Goddess or God for like love to use them in all my "love" needs. So if I was going to pray to the Greek Goddesses and Gods. I would only pray to them right?

[loona wynd]

I think so. So basically what your saying is that if I call to one Goddess or God for like love to use them in all my "love" needs. So if I was going to pray to the Greek Goddesses and Gods. I would only pray to them right?

That's the idea. That way you can really build a relationship with the pantheon you are working with. By focusing only on Greek Gods for example for a few years you can build strong relationships with them before looking at other deities. I find that Greek typically leads to Roman and Egyptian. This makse sense as historically these cultures traded and interacted. They have found temples in Egypt that house Egyptian, Roman, and Greek Gods all associated together.

[lunabloodrose]

Thank you. you are always a big help

[loona wynd]

Thank you. you are always a big help

I'm glad to be of help.

If for example however you don't have a specific pantheon you want to work with you could just also do a general prayer and petition to Gods and Goddesses of Love (as in the example you have given). This will allow basically any God or spirit to answer your call for aid. You never know who is going to show up. This also allows you more freedom in how to word the prayer as some cultures had a very specific format for how they wanted prayers, rituals and offerings done.

I am not a big fan of praying to multiple named deities at a time from different pantheons. However I have found often that when I am in a very hard time opening myself up to the assistance of any Gods in any pantheon is helpful. Sometimes when I have been in need of great healing I have prayed in general for healing and then also prayed to and listed a few named Gods of different pantheons for healing. Of course in this situation I was completely lost and just needed help and assistance from any one. To this day I still don't know which God if any answered. I just know I got what I asked for and have been working hard on the issues ever since.

In the end it is up to you to choose how you want to initiate contact and develop relationships with deities. Though I would advise you at least introduce yourself to a God or spirit before you call on their help with a spell or ritual. If you just start by calling on them for aid the relationship might not develop that strongly. I'm not saying they wont help, but I'm also not saying that they will continue to respond to magic requests without a spiritual bond as well.

[Xiao Rong]

Just edited the title to be more clear about what the topic is, since I think it's an FAQ.

[lunabloodrose]

Thanks!!! I understand what your saying.

[Kat]

This will allow basically any God or spirit to answer your call for aid. You never know who is going to show up. This also allows you more freedom in how to word the prayer

U mean it's best to word it generally instead of a specific god/ess?

[loona wynd]

This will allow basically any God or spirit to answer your call for aid. You never know who is going to show up. This also allows you more freedom in how to word the prayer

U mean it's best to word it generally instead of a specific god/ess?

If you don't have a specific God or Goddess you are working with or think might be helpful than yes. Sometimes just opening up for help in general to whoever is willing to help you is a good idea. There may be Gods and spirits out there who want to work with you that you haven't heard of or contacted before. So by being general in times of great need can be very beneficial to your spiritual growth.

[loona wynd]

I should be clear. I am an omnitheist. I believe in all Gods. So I believe that if you open yourself up to basically any God you can be accepted by any Gods and it opens you to basically any one to answer.

[seidkonacat]

I have a kind of dumb question. Do you have to believe in a certain Goddess or God or can you believe in all of them? Like let's say your doing a love spell, can you call to Aphrodite for help? I am just wondering any input would be nice.

Honestly, that's one of the least dub questions I can think of for a beginner. It's a legitimate query with complicated, conflicting answers. It all depends on what type of pagan you are, what path you choose to follow. Some prefer to stay within certain pantheons, others work with a wider variety of gods and goddesses. You just have to find your own place on the spectrum.

[SnowCat]

I tend to work with Egyptian and Norse deities. They have called me, and continue to be present in my life. It seems to be a good fit for me. Others might choose to be more or less specific about their deities. It's definitely not like the Trinity taught by the Catholic Church.

Frosty

[loona wynd]

Honestly, that's one of the least dub questions I can think of for a beginner. It's a legitimate query with complicated, conflicting answers. It all depends on what type of pagan you are, what path you choose to follow. Some prefer to stay within certain pantheons, others work with a wider variety of gods and goddesses. You just have to find your own place on the spectrum.

I agree. I have worshiped Greek deities. I have worshiped Norse deities. I have worshiped an unnamed universal god and Goddess. I have experienced too many different deities to not believe they are all real and unique individuals.

I have met most of these different deities by trying rituals from the reconstruction religions. I've tried Hellenic style rituals when I worked with and worshiped Greek Gods. That was an interesting experience it was both strange and familiar at the same time. Then I went back to basic non descriptive religious witchcraft rituals. Then I did some Norse rituals which were really interesting.

As I look over my views of cosmology and the soul I can see how each path and each God experience has shaped my views and mysteries in the world. This is one of the reasons I advocate looking at reconpaths when wanting to learn about and worship deities. Most of the Gods found worshiped in various forms of Wicca had wonderful rituals that existed prior to Wicca. Combining these experiences can help you gain a fuller understanding of those Gods.

Does that make any sense?

I can list a few known recon paths...

[seidkonacat]

Honestly, that's one of the least dub questions I can think of for a beginner. It's a legitimate query with complicated, conflicting answers. It all depends on what type of pagan you are, what path you choose to follow. Some prefer to stay within certain pantheons, others work with a wider variety of gods and goddesses. You just have to find your own place on the spectrum.

I agree. I have worshiped Greek deities. I have worshiped Norse deities. I have worshiped an unnamed universal god and Goddess. I have experienced too many different deities to not believe they are all real and unique individuals.

I have met most of these different deities by trying rituals from the reconstruction religions. I've tried Hellenic style rituals when I worked with and worshiped Greek Gods. That was an interesting experience it was both strange and familiar at the same time. Then I went back to basic non descriptive religious witchcraft rituals. Then I did some Norse rituals which were really interesting.

As I look over my views of cosmology and the soul I can see how each path and each God experience has shaped my views and mysteries in the world. This is one of the reasons I advocate looking at reconpaths when wanting to learn about and worship deities. Most of the Gods found worshiped in various forms of Wicca had wonderful rituals that existed prior to Wicca. Combining these experiences can help you gain a fuller understanding of those Gods.

Does that make any sense?

I can list a few known recon paths...

I think it makes perfect sense, and I would love to see those links. I definitely consider myself a reconstructive pagan, though I follow more than one tradition. I mainly worship the Norse deities myself, particularly Saga. I also worship Roman and Etruscan deities for my father's side of the family (he's Italian, my mother Irish and French--of Normandy descent.) I love learning how ancient cultures worshiped.

I'm still unsure on the question of whether or not there is a universal god or goddess. My viewpoint is mostly polytheistic--every pantheon existing more-or-less independently. However, the more I read, the more I learn, and I won't go so far as to completely discount pantheism. There are some strong arguments in its favor.