Pagan Blog Project 2013 - D is for Deity

Deity is defined as the nature or character of a god or God.  As a child I was raised Southern Baptist.  This is the typical fire and brimstone God.  There was no love that I can recall being taught here, only spare rod spoil the child.  I spent a few Sundays at the local Pentecostal church as well and found I really enjoyed the spiritual side of the church but speaking in tongues scared me. 

While hearing all this around me I hid in my school library reading and re-reading the nine books we had on Greek Mythology.  I loved the stories and thought, now these are Gods!

Being raised in a rural area, the local (richest) church sent out buses to pick up the poor children and bring them in.  I remember hearing the preacher say that I was poor because I was a sinner, and if I prayed enough, we’d have food.  I tried really hard to be good enough to be blessed, however my step father still molested me, my mother still ignored me and there was no God, for me.  Deities for me were nonexistent.

Towards the end of my life with my mother, I was about 14 or 15 and my church bus driver said to me as I was getting off the bus, “Tell you Daddy I’ll see him at the club tonight.”   That was when the Christian Deity died for me.  Here was a man, who was busing little kids back and forth to church, laid up in the bar with my abusive alcoholic stepfather.  One blessed with riches, the other not so much.

As an adult I found that seeing the sunrise and feeling the wind across my face had a calming effect on me.  Hearing the whoosh of the ocean and feeling the tides put me at peace.  Being in nature and looking at the world from a mythological prospective helped me find a place in my mind where I could finally be OK.  My mind drifts to Demeter and her sadness through the winter months. I see Aphrodite and Artemis showing women as virginal and strong but also as encompassing desire and beauty. 

This past year I've focused on one deity in particular.  Looking around me I found many correspondences to the Goddess Hecate.  Being the Goddess of the Witches as well as assorted other titles, I felt a deep connection.  As she speaks to me, I write, I sculpt and I create.  I picked up working with clay just a few months ago and have already been featured in e-Zines related to the Goddess.  I believe that when a deity selects you, that deity will speak through you.  Your art, your work and your day to day self will reflect that which lives inside you.

I like to say I have a relationship not a religion. My deity does not demand my submission instead delights in my companionship. I do not fall to the ground in worship but instead walk beside her. I bring offerings of incense and flowers, and offer energy to guide my travels. I do not call upon her to win a football game or for help with my car. She's much too busy to spend time doing the mundane workings of this world of which I am much more suited. I do not require your approval or ask your acceptance of my beliefs, I merely ask you that you leave me to my own without the need to ridicule.  You obey your God and I'll work in harmony with mine.

Namaste & Blessed Be

Sosanna

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