This happens almost on a yearly basis. I have been working with certain deities for a few years and things go well for the most part. I have been working with Freya on deepening my ancestral connections, specifically Disir. I pray to Sigyn almost every day for compassion and patience.
Thor seems to be interested in my physical and mental health. I feel pushes from Him to eat more salads and keep up my physical activity.
But Loki has been tough. I've been waffling lately. It happens more than I'd like it to. Not my faith in Him, but my doubt that the messages I am receiving actually come from Him. I have this anxiety about being duped and it is really distressing at times.
Last time this happened was almost a year ago and I think I wrote about it. I reached out to a reader for a blind reading and it was a disaster. Thank goodness for friends to help me out. I've been feeling this doubt creeping in again. There has been a bit of talk about "discernment" in the groups I am in and I wish I wasn't so susceptible sometimes to certain suggestions. I am naturally skeptic so faith in general in things that I can't see or put my finger on are a stretch to begin with. When I am encouraged to be skeptical it taps into my natural tendency and things get cynical.
And so I have to start googling "How do you know. . ." and consider another blind reading. This time I may contact a well reputed reader, one I have bought magickal supplies from before. Or perhaps I'll look at a local reader that Angela knows. It might be better to do it in person. Not sure at this point.
I did my own reading this afternoon and it seemed to confirm the relationship dynamics that were at play here. The messages matched the pattern of how things have been going and the future influences and outcomes were positive for the most part. It seems to say that I have to stay the course and make sure I am doing things in proper order and in a proper way in order to determine a good harvest.
Funny Ingwaz and Jera have been appearing around me quite a bit as well. This just reinforces the rune reading. But I can't get a straight answer from the pendulum. But that might just be me because I barely use it.
I won't make the mistake of getting a reading from an unkown like last time. I guess I"ll look into local readers first. Just really need someone outside of myself calming me down. I am too afraid my mind will twist the reading and see what I want to see. Like ignoring the fact that certain cards are reversed, especially major arcana cards.
The messages aren't negative or abusive. It's very loving and supporting which is what makes it easy to accept. It's just different from the kinds of things others seem to be getting sometimes. I wonder how much is my mind and fantasy or wishful thinking. I have never had this level of connection before. It's weird to have practiced paganism and worshipped old gods for over 20 years and then have things change suddenly like this.
In the past I could feel presences but they were subtle, gentle, and didn't come often. The Norse Pantheon seems very loud and in your face. I have felt tingles, heat, pressure, and really strong emotions in connection to them. This is completely new to my experiences and it shakes me a bit so I have to wonder, Is there a spirit messing with me, masquerading and feeding my fantasies so it can feed off of my emotional energy like a vampire? Or is this shit real and I need to adjust and get used to it?
It's going to take me some time to investigate and marinate in these questions.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Devaluation of the Goddess (Freya)
https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/DevaluationofIrishGoddess.pdf?token=AWzObK-9i4_xBrzUB8eeXe_nwWAMJfomNQzVWAZI1l2Sd0XCdA_zpN1ZzzGDXzygECK6Wdb6SlUtUh8ebHIBgcg1yl-0aSC5qncYAaIOFEcHXiyG__pLe5_BZEcZEebIezTj2MFCbJY1VKW64XqR30pIhtPBGq4kCtjF6sm-mXtYcA
This is a well developed Master's Thesis on the demotion of the goddess Morrighan. The table that describes the states of demotion could be applied to any goddesses whose history we know of.
The stages of the demotion of Anu start with her as a Sovereign goddess connected to water and rivers. Then she becomes a land and fertility goddess during the times of agriculture. The she is splintered into numerous goddesses, many holding power over specific aspects of society and life. Specialization. Warfare became more common for numerous reasons, protecting territory, warring over resources and women. The Iron Age was a military time. This is when the warrior aspect of the Morrighan developed. It was a moral demotion to tie her to the suffering and death of wars. She is parallel with the Valkyries in this. About 1500 years ago she became associated with the Banshee, those who wail and warn of death. The church saw these as ghosts. Most recently only fractions of her former Great Goddess self have survived the conversion: Brigid as a saint specifically.
We can apply something similar to Freya.
The Vanir are agricultural gods, at least at the time when they came in contact with the Aesir. Njord, her father is associated with the ocean and harbors. Frey, her brother is associated with grain. Freya was a sovereign goddess who over saw the land. It is possible she was also associated with rivers, but currently I have only UPG for this, and not lore to base it on. Her role was fertility and reproduction. When the two cultures of the Aesir and the Vanir went to war, she took on her warrior aspect either during the conflict or right after. It is from this that we get her mythology of taking half of the slain into her hall. As well as her connection to the Valkyries who associated with manipulation the outcome of battles and taking the souls of the slain. I don't know of any associations for her with spirits of the dead other than her connection to the Disir, the honored female dead. Her worship is said to have lasted longer than any other cult.
The current incarnation of her is as a goddess of love/lust. The current demotion that she is experiencing in the heathen community today is that of a sex object for the male gaze, or male desire. It is something that is disturbing to many women in the heathen community for multiple reasons.
For one, she is a goddess, and for people to objectify her for their own selfish pleasure is an insult to her power. Secondly, we come from a culture where women's sexuality is shamed. Snorri used words like slut and whore for her repeatedly, or implied it. There is a danger of this shame attaching itself to her because of our own cultural biases. And then there is the demonization of goddesses. Associating her with war is a violent thing, and could be twisted to say that she brings death and suffering to others. Her association with the dead can be twisted into necromancy. I don't see evidence of this currently but it has happened to other goddesses.
My hope is the research, archeology, and the revival of old faiths will help deter these dangers. We can build back up the true and original meanings of these goddesses, restore our understanding of their powers to what it once was, and avoid the pitfalls that the conversion brought upon them and the people that worshipped them. Of course, in the case of the Holy Roman Empire, the demotion of these goddesses to either ghosts, demons, or servants of Mary, was very much done intentionally.
This is a well developed Master's Thesis on the demotion of the goddess Morrighan. The table that describes the states of demotion could be applied to any goddesses whose history we know of.
The stages of the demotion of Anu start with her as a Sovereign goddess connected to water and rivers. Then she becomes a land and fertility goddess during the times of agriculture. The she is splintered into numerous goddesses, many holding power over specific aspects of society and life. Specialization. Warfare became more common for numerous reasons, protecting territory, warring over resources and women. The Iron Age was a military time. This is when the warrior aspect of the Morrighan developed. It was a moral demotion to tie her to the suffering and death of wars. She is parallel with the Valkyries in this. About 1500 years ago she became associated with the Banshee, those who wail and warn of death. The church saw these as ghosts. Most recently only fractions of her former Great Goddess self have survived the conversion: Brigid as a saint specifically.
We can apply something similar to Freya.
The Vanir are agricultural gods, at least at the time when they came in contact with the Aesir. Njord, her father is associated with the ocean and harbors. Frey, her brother is associated with grain. Freya was a sovereign goddess who over saw the land. It is possible she was also associated with rivers, but currently I have only UPG for this, and not lore to base it on. Her role was fertility and reproduction. When the two cultures of the Aesir and the Vanir went to war, she took on her warrior aspect either during the conflict or right after. It is from this that we get her mythology of taking half of the slain into her hall. As well as her connection to the Valkyries who associated with manipulation the outcome of battles and taking the souls of the slain. I don't know of any associations for her with spirits of the dead other than her connection to the Disir, the honored female dead. Her worship is said to have lasted longer than any other cult.
The current incarnation of her is as a goddess of love/lust. The current demotion that she is experiencing in the heathen community today is that of a sex object for the male gaze, or male desire. It is something that is disturbing to many women in the heathen community for multiple reasons.
For one, she is a goddess, and for people to objectify her for their own selfish pleasure is an insult to her power. Secondly, we come from a culture where women's sexuality is shamed. Snorri used words like slut and whore for her repeatedly, or implied it. There is a danger of this shame attaching itself to her because of our own cultural biases. And then there is the demonization of goddesses. Associating her with war is a violent thing, and could be twisted to say that she brings death and suffering to others. Her association with the dead can be twisted into necromancy. I don't see evidence of this currently but it has happened to other goddesses.
My hope is the research, archeology, and the revival of old faiths will help deter these dangers. We can build back up the true and original meanings of these goddesses, restore our understanding of their powers to what it once was, and avoid the pitfalls that the conversion brought upon them and the people that worshipped them. Of course, in the case of the Holy Roman Empire, the demotion of these goddesses to either ghosts, demons, or servants of Mary, was very much done intentionally.
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