When we start out on this path, very few of us know just what or who we will encounter in our walk down the primrose path. However, most of us want to feel a connection to a divine energy in the form of a god or goddess. Many of us have an idea of which deity we want to associate with because we may have a pull towards a certain pantheon and maybe we can relate to the stories that we read about them.
When you are just starting out on this path, it is a good idea to investigate all the pantheons that you have an interest in. By far, the most common ones tend to be Celtic, Greco-Roman, and Nordic. Many people pick a pantheon that is in their ancestry and go from there.
Some people will investigate deities based upon what they think the deities aspect are based upon an interest they have. For example, if you are interested in shapeshifting, you may work with deities that are known for this like Ceridwen, Zeus, Odin, Loki and others too numerous to mention. If you are interested in working with herbs for their medicinal properties then you would look towards Bridget, Apollo or Vejovis.
So how does one begin to work with a deity? It's very simple really...you read their stories. There are at least a dozen or so books on any given pantheon on the bookshelves at any time. Reading their stories gives us great insight in to their personalities. Here is a bit of advice for you, the gods are written about by humans which means that they have very human characteristics about them. Some of them are petty and juvenile at times and at other times they will sacrifice themselves for the greater good or perform some other great character feat.
Once you have absorbed as much of their stories that you are able to, the next step is to meditate on their stories. Run the stories through your mind and then put yourself in their shoes. When you are in those situations, how would YOU react? do you get a sense of who they are? Can you understand their reasons for the particular course of action they took? why? why not? When you meditate about them do you find yourself connecting with their energy? (We will discuss more in Part II about why this is important)
To help you understand how this all fits together here is a little scenario for you to think about. Let's say you were invited to a dinner party. You are VERY excited about this because your favorite author is going to be there. Since you are besties with the host, you are hoping that since your host knows you are a HUGE fan of the author, they will sit you next to the guest of honor (your favorite author). To prepare for this great event and so that you don't sound insulting or ignorant, you go back and re-read all the books you have in your collection, you think of questions to ask about characters and plot lines. In short, you are ready to have a deep and meaningful conversation with this author. When you arrive you are indeed seated next to your favorite author! As is customary at these types of dinners, conversation starts out kind of stilted and awkward (I mean this is YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR!!!!!!!!!) but then the conversation starts to shift and you are able to ask some of the questions you thought of. The author turns to you and responds and surprises you by complimenting you on your choice of question and the conversation continues in this vein. You are connected now...you are having a wonderful back and forth dialogue offering merits and discussing points of views never before thought about.
As the dinner party winds down, you are excited that you had such a wonderful chance to discuss so many things with your favorite author. You learned so much about the back story of the characters in your favorite novels and you now understand, just a little bit, about how this authors mind works. As you are gathering your things and getting ready to leave, your favorite author pulls you aside and invites to you tea next week at their house. Of course you accept and with further great conversations, you find yourself, 20 years later, still learning about your favorite author and being blessed with a deeply rewarding friendship.
Learning to work with a deity is very much like that. It's not a one time thing but a development of a rewarding friendship that will last you a life time. We get to know them and they get to know us. So what happens when we don't take the time to get to know them ourselves but rely on others to feed us information or what if we just can't take the time or make the effort to get to know them? Well let's go back to our dinner party scenario. It's still your favorite author but you can't be bothered to dig a little deeper to be an interesting guest. You attend the dinner party and you are able to ask a couple of questions of note but for the most part conversation stays on the weather or the antics of some Hollywood entertainer. There is no connection at all. The next day you are asked to provide a person of note for a college roundtable discussion, the committee, having heard of your dinner party with this bestselling author asks you to try and get them to participate. You say...no problem, put them on the flyer, they will definitely be there. You reach out to their agents to secure their attendance and while they are initially non-committal, you assume they will show up because, well, you did sit next to them at the dinner party and you did talk to them. The day arrives and the agent calls you and send regrets, the author, due to a heavy schedule is unable to make it. Needless to say, people are unhappy and you are left wondering what happened...you thought you had a connection with them. Did you? You sat next to them, you read a few things about them, you asked a couple of questions but it wasn't enough to create a connection where one feels a sense of obligation to assist when asked.
Do you see the difference between the two people? One took time to learn all about their "deity" so that they could ask probing questions and anticipate how they would respond to certain questions. They were rewarded with further contact in order to deepen and strengthen the friendship. No doubt many favors were granted to the person who took the time to learn about them and talk to them.
The other person googled their 'deity", read their Wikipedia entry and felt that was enough. But it's not. In the end there was no connection and consequently the "deity" failed to show when requested.
No one likes to feel unimportant, not even the gods. When you do not put any time or effort in to creating a relationship with them, they will return the favor with heaps of silence and their non-presence in your life and in your rituals. By getting to know a deity...reading their stories, meditating with them, and eventually invoking them, you will be rewarded with a divine presence not only in your rituals but in your life as well.
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