polytheism?

[marymom]

I have been looking at Druidic/ecclectic/Pagan ideas for almost 3 years now, I also work/play locally with some really cool Christians...(not any polytheistic minded people that I know face to face) I even bring in a class to recovering women about spirituality (with the christian minister)-we work with Unity materials and are using the QUEST book if anyone is familiar.
Im starting to think Im crazy but the one God one power thing is so NOT resonating with me anymore...I have been dismissed by several when bringing it up lately as , "same God different faces" thing... which is what I thought I believed but...I just am not feeling it right now, it doesnt feel right, and I dont understand my own thoughts even, ...now what? I know the christian God, I use the christian God, I us eMary,Christ, Pan, Hecate ,Isis, and some other deities I can see but dont know the names of, I am also drawn to Kali and Helena, oh and Diana
I am confused and bothered now when I see these people talking about how open and fearless they are with their one God religeon but they totally dismiss my ideas.
I do not totally dismiss theirs, I am not saying Im right, theyre wrong, Im saying
eeeeeeeeeeeek
IM SO CONFUSED
IF seeing is not believing but believing is seeing, then...
all this is whatever I want it to be...right?
feedback please.

[khrisday]

Arduinna,
Can you speak to this?

[Arduinna]

Hi Khris :-)

And hi Mary Mom :-)

All this is whatever I want it to be right?

Depends on who you ask. I'm not totally sure what the question is. I think part of your question is regarding "are all Gods/Goddess just faces or facets of The One". That really is up to personal interpretation until you are told otherwise by a deity. I know I started out just using the titles Lord and Lady because I came from a long stint with atheism between my other religions. And it just worked for me then. Then I started working with one particular diety. I've since been shown/told that they are not faces of the ALL. They are each distinct. But that is my personal relationship, not something that I hold anyone else to.

What do you mean when you say you "use" Hekate, Isis ect??
Are you meaning during ritual? If you are invoking them in circle are they getting along with each other?

It is frustrating to have your ideas dismissed. I understand that your not saying your right and their wrong. Not everyone allows that each person has their way to find.

I know it can be confusing. ((HUGS)) to you.

[DaryLLL]

Just read a quote. All gods and goddesses are tributaries of the main river. My interpretation: Maybe you are far up a tributary and can't see the big river. Maybe you are on the shore of the big river, but can't see across it, or into it's depths. Of course, the tributaries are all enjoyable, and meaningful, beautiful and treacherous on their own. You should and have to, play in them, swim in them, wash your babies in them, have picnics alongside the banks of them, drink from them, and water your garden with their waters. Perhaps one day, you will pick a tributary, but only you will know the right one to pick. Then you may build a raft and take it downstream, eventually to reach the one great river. Only if and when you are ready. It's a big trip.

Does that make it seem any less confusing?

[marymom]

hiya Arduinna, I noted my worduse of "use" also, and let it go because thats what I felt like using...(there it is again, use use use)...Im not sure, Im being pretty emotional right now...my teens are really knawing at me...
I dont invoke them in circles together -I feel I have manifested , at different times, different elements of them tho~ ie a personal relationship? I grew up praying on many different paths "using" Christ, mother mary(my alltime fav still) , and the Christian Godhead, using prayers and also just ...talking like kneeling and talking...now in prayer I mighht ask the help of AShera or Diana or even still the Christian God but...they just dont feel like the same...
'Im beginning to feel like Im too upset about the kids right now to discuss this sanely and so I think Ill just go cry, gawd Im sounding pathetic, lol, Im sorry but my sweet teens are really in need of some prayers and support from the Gods and Godesses right now so, send some this way if you have any extra, thanks~ m

[Arduinna]

I'm sorry that things are so hard for you right now. If you want your welcome to join us in the manifesting circle thread in the personal growth folder. We all work on manifesting our desires.

I agree with your feeling that they aren't all the same. Just go with whatever feels right for you.

Sending much peace and tranquility

[khrisday]

Daryl, I like your river analogy

[marymom]

I am seeing the rivers and tributaries being an analogy of the "one God different faces" ideology which is a valid view but as I mentioned ...just isnt the way it feels right now to me, but maybe Im just in a pissy hissy
It does feel better being validated lol,(thanks Arduinna) I am very uncomfortable being emotionally needy like this UGH
ahhhh well I think Im heading over to manifest my desires ahhh thanks for the URL pointer

[frodo]

i believe in many gods. rather than seeing tributaries off a river, i sort of look at it as the "big god/dess" as the collective consciousness or combined manifestations of multiple gods. diana and bride and tara and freya are all part of the big god/dess, but they are also goddesses in their own right. there are gods within gods, but each is separate and unique. not god-faces or god-fragments, but gods as microcosms of big god. many gods.

perhaps on friday nights they all get together and go bowling.

i think this is why the unitarian thing never quite jived with me. there may be many paths, going in the same direction, and they may all even be going to the same place, but i think it's arrogant to say that all the paths are the _same_ path. each is its own experience.

i don't do montheism very well, either.

blessings

[Meiri]

The "all Goddesses/Gods are the facets of ONE" concept really gets under the skins of the polytheists I know elsewhere online. They wouldn't much like the tributaries idea either I dare say.

To them all the Goddesses and Gods are Beings in their own right and have culturally specific ways of being properly honored. This is not to say that others can't make a relationship with one of these deities, just that it's up to the deity if/how they will respond.

More later, MIL here.

[DaryLLL]

I guess I'm not a good polytheist. I have a strong calling for balance and harmony, and unity beyond any duality. I value God as much as Goddess, and the yin yang is my most favorite symbol. Altho, since I am in this incarnation a woman, I wear a triquetra.

How do all your god/desses get along Meiri? Or anyone else. Do they represent different parts of your own psychological makeup, or are they outside you? Do you have phases when one is more relevant to what you are going thru, then another week or month, you honor another one? Do you honor them seasonally (yule for holly and oak kings, Beltane for the scared marriage) or is it again, more a personal choice as you go thru life's changes?

Sorry if any of these questions come across as disrespectful or goofy. i am just honestly curious.

[Arduinna]

Darylll,

I just want to say that the all are one idea, doesn't bother me personally. To each their own. It isn't what I've come to understand, but I refuse to point fingers and say anyone else has got it wrong. So I don't think your not a good polytheist. I've come across "my way is the real truth" people in all religions and paganism has their fair share too unfortunately.

[Meiri]

I should have made clear that I am not a polytheist. I am a pantheist-I think it's all a physical manifestation of Divinity.

I have no problem with others seeing Goddesses and God as distinct individual Beings. In fact sometimes I envy the relationships they seem to have with their Gods.

But it's just not in me, at least not yet. I suppose if Cerridwen clunked me on the head I'd listen up well.

The tributary concept doesn't particularly bother me either. I was only pointing out that there are some really bothered by what they term the Ubergoddess concept and that saying theirs, whom they know well and honor in culturally specific ways, are only facets of The ONE is a big problem for them.

I think the main thing is to be clear in one's statements that x, y, or z is your belief, rather than making statements that "This is the way the world works and your beliefs are just part of my beliefs but you can't see that....."

I think we've been pretty good about that here.

[karen ann]

I am a Druid Ovate (reconstructionist is how many classify me; I don't love the term myself) and am a full-blown polytheist. I was raised Wiccan so have seen a lot of the pagan in-fighting about all aspects of one divine vs. all aspects of one male & one female (i.e. 2) divine vs. all a physical manifestation of one divine vs. distinct and separate and equally divine vs, distinct and separate and unequally divine. This is IMHO is why so many pagans are solitary practising these days; because "pagan" encompasses so many very different concepts and world views, it can be frustrating trying to find others with similar enough beliefs to worship together for any length of time.

Having seen all this growing up, I think, has taught me more tolerance and pateince to those with a different path from mine as well as for those struggling to find a path. Most of the pagans I've known IRL were raised Christian and have brought some of the hubris from their upbringing with regards to the nature of the divine. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) most of the pagans I've met on line don't share this flaw.

I'm not sure what kind of feedback you're looking for. If you want validation that hard polytheism is an acceptable belief system, only you can answer that for yourself. On the path to spiritual peace, the only "no that's wrong" you should listen to is the one in your own head.