MEETING THE GODDESSES AND GODS
Someday I will learn not to read other people's thoughts on the nature of spirituality, the Gods and Goddesses, and just what we're here to do. I suspect that day is a long time off yet. In the meantime, occasional bits and pieces will continue to trigger the evolution of my thoughts on what the Gods and Goddesses are and why they choose to interact with us.My working theory of the Gods and Goddesses, until now, has been that they exist on another plane of existence from us. Our realms are separated by what is commonly referred to as The Veil. AT CERTAIN TIMES OF THE YEAR, MOST NOTABLY SAMHAIN AND BELTAINE, the Veil thins enough for travel between the realms with relative ease. On other days, humans and the Gods and Goddesses work together to bring each other across the Veil.
In their realm, I believe the Gods and Goddesses to be much like us. They have limitations that we don't when we travel there. On that side, we are much like Gods and Goddesses. Just as when they travel here through their connections to us, they have fewer limitations on their abilities than we do in our own existence. I'm not overly keen on the idea that the Gods and Goddesses are somehow better than us or more powerful than us. I don't believe that they are. Different from us, certainly, but not better.
So...what's the new part? Well...I've been in conversation with followers of a Feri Tradition, and I've been running into some interesting ideas. Ones that are, to a degree, complimentary to my own beliefs. At the same time, it's also challenging them and making them evolve.
It's very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we're lesser than the Gods and Goddesses are. The vast majority of Americans have been brought up to think that God is something greater than we are and that we should worship that. What if that's wrong? What if *WE* are the Gods and Goddesses themselves, not victims, not playthings, not toys for them to pick up and put down like chess pieces? How would that change the outlook we have on who we are?
Let's stop here for a moment and take a look at my theory on the Gods and Goddesses and combine the two ideas. If the Gods and Goddesses exist in another plane of existence from us...and if we are the Gods and Goddesses, how do we go from this plane to the next? I would like to suggest that we, as humans, evolve into what we call Gods and Goddesses. Part of that evolution is the process from moving from this plane to the next. Once we get there, we can start to engage in the symbiotic relationship that brings the Gods and Goddesses to this plane and takes us to their realm.
Because I believe that what we are talking about when we speak of working with the Gods and Goddesses is TRULY A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR ANCESTORS, those who have become Gods and Goddesses or are in the process of becoming Gods and Goddesses. If that's the case, what is the key to making the transition from one state of being to the other?
I think that the key is to be found within the concept of Feri's Black Heart of Innocence and in the Dahomean proverb that it spawned from: "How beautiful is the black lascivious purity in the hearts of children and wild animals..." If we look at both children and animals, they have several characteristics that we, as humans, have lost that I believe must be regained in order to obtain the purity of focus that we sometimes see within our Gods and Goddesses.
First, there is the pure instinct of animals in the wild. There is no morality in what they do, they simply act as they are created to act. To eat, predators must kill prey. To survive into the next generation, they must pass on their genes by finding a receptive partner. There is no ethical question regarding whether their actions are right or wrong. They simply do what it is that is in their nature to do.
Second, we have lost the innocence and imagination of the child as we've grown up. We are expected to outgrow the fantasies of our childhood for the more sophisticated world of deceit and appearances. We couldn't possibly run through the rain for the sheer joy of feeling it run over our bodies. Nor could we dress up in clothing meant for the "other" sex because it might make people think we are strange or different. No more do the unicorns dance in our dreams or the dragons fly through the night to take us away into worlds that exist only in the mind of a child.
These two elements, I believe, are key in finding our way back into the realm of the Gods and Goddesses, to becoming Gods and Goddesses ourselves. Until we can exist in that space where instinct is what drives us and imagination is what inspires us, we cannot achieve the key elements that it takes to become what we are meant to be. What a world it would be if we were able to dance with the Gods and Goddesses in a form fully equal to what they have become.
True children of both the Goddesses and Gods.Anima and Animus courtesy of Esta Weiss, Pagan and Proud of It Art
Source: spellscasting.blogspot.com
