Ways the Gods have 'shown' themselves to you...

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Permalink Reply by Capricorn on August 10, 2008 at 5:28pm

In other words, they make themselves known by their presence.

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Permalink Reply by Todd on August 12, 2008 at 2:04pm

Very briefly, in Vodou, the god(desse)s show up via "spirit visitation" or "possession", which in essence is basically a form of drawing down or aspecting. At a ceremony on the last saturday of this past May, I received visitations from Papa Legba (guardian of the crossroads), Maitre Agwe (Lord of the Sea) and Gede (spirit of death and fertility). I was not fully conscious during these visitations, and afterwards I was seriously drained, but the appearance of the Lwa at ceremony assured us of their blessings.

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Permalink Reply by Crescent on August 28, 2008 at 11:49am

She throws cats at me...literally. I have learned to never say "I want kittens" out loud. They appear.
I hear answers to questions that I'm fairly certain I never would have thought of myself.

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Permalink Reply by Bad Tim on September 12, 2008 at 1:20am

cernunnos was dropping hints at me all my life, and i finally realized when i went on a guided meditation to meet my spirit guide. none other than the horned one himself showed up, and he has manifested to me a few times since then. he doesn't speak, at least not in words i've learned to hear yet, but he nudges me along. he appears when i'm doing something good, like once when he walked out of the woods as a stag during a requiem. when he is evoked in ritual is the only time i feel the energy of a ritual.

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Permalink Reply by Todd on September 12, 2008 at 11:06am

I've had very similar experiences with the Horned One*. And sometimes I do get cryptic messages from him.

*Just a quick note on my tradition: Cernunnos corresponds more or less with St. Cornély of Breton tradition and/or Papa Bois, the "Father of the Woods" of Trinidadian tradition, who is not to be confused with Gran Bois (the Treebeard-like "Grandfather of the Woods" in Haitian tradition), even though they are quite similar in some ways. Also, Cernunnos/Papa Bois has often been known to remind me on more than one occasion that he is not bound by the Haitian rules or reglement, and therefore I need not stand on ceremony in that respect as far as he is concerned.

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Permalink Reply by Bad Tim on September 12, 2008 at 11:55am

for me, cernunnos is the male principle. he is the same archetype as the hindu shiva.

a lot of people say he's a god of this and that, but for me he is THE god; all masculine qualities, gifts, and responsibilities. [one of my pet peeves: he is said to be a god of wealth because he wears a torque or carries a bag of coins, but according to my UPG, these are only material symbols of his fertility aspect.] for me, he is the eternal boy in every man and the father, teacher, and sacrifice we must all strive toward.

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Permalink Reply by Todd on September 12, 2008 at 12:34pm

In Vedic/Hindu terms, I tend to think particularly in terms of Shiva Pashupati.

Good point BTW about the torque and and coin bag being connected with fertility and/or abundance rather than simple material wealth per se.

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Permalink Reply by Capricorn on September 12, 2008 at 12:40pm

for me, cernunnos is the male principle. he is the same archetype as the hindu shiva.

Same archetype, but quite notably, different god.. as anyone who has called upon either of them knows! LOL But yes, they do possess a very kindred energy current. Shiva is also known through some texts as the Lord of Animals.

Namaste!

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Permalink Reply by Todd on September 12, 2008 at 12:56pm

This is one of my favorite images of Lord Shiva (with thanks to Lord Coyote).

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Permalink Reply by Capricorn on September 12, 2008 at 6:27pm

Quite interesting indeed! I have a friend who is Saiva Hindu (But interestingly enough has a lot of NeoPagan influence, where as I am NeoPagan with Hindu influence)....... and he is a fan of a musical artist named Nina Hagen. A few years back Nina Hagen ha an album cover in which she herself portrayed Kali Ma. It was very well done.

Namaste and Blessed be!

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Permalink Reply by Todd on September 12, 2008 at 1:15pm

Good point about not making simplistic equations between different deity forms. I tend to speak of similar deities likewise as sharing a "kindred energy current", or sharing ashe, as we say in my tradition.

One of my own personal pet peeves is the naive and rather facile syncretism that is often found in the Neo-Pagan community. Not that I'm opposed to syncretism per se, but in cases when practitioners haven't done their homework before conflating deity forms, the results can be somewhat disrespectful at best and at worse can lead to disaterous results.

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Permalink Reply by Capricorn on September 12, 2008 at 6:32pm

Here's an interesting article. Not saying at the moment I agree or disagree with everything the author has to say, however, I do agree with a fair amount of it, especially how he views the individuality of deity.

One thing is for sure, the article is very well written and thought out.

http://www.cauldronfarm.com/asphodel/articles/fundementalist.html

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