Tag Archives: pagan theology

Magic/Magick, Religion, Witchcraft

Musings on significance and meaning

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“What is the significance of…”

“What does it mean when…”

Over the years, I’ve seen many questions that begin with each of those phrases. This is not surprising. It is a well established fact that many humans have an innate tendency to find significance, meaning, and even patterns where there actually are none. There’s even a term for this.

To give a more concrete example, I’d like to share something I posted on social media yesterday:

I’m reminded that a lot of people don’t realize that our calendar is entirely arbitrary. It’s useful, but arbitrary. So it makes it interesting to me when people try to find meaning in it. Things like “there are two blue moons this year! What does it mean?!” It means that an entirely arbitrary calendar lined up with the lunar cycles in a mildly peculiar way.

There’s nothing wrong with looking for significance or meaning, either. However, often there is neither until we imbue something with our own meaning and significance. This seems to be something some people don’t realize and maybe even be uncomfortable with. They seem to think that some external source — perhaps even some sort of authority — must declare that meaning and significance. Or maybe they’d prefer that such meaning and significance be an inherent property of the universe.

As someone who sees witchcraft as the act of creation (literally making us co-creators of the world we live in and are further building), I welcome the idea that we tend to imbue events and things with meaning and significance. It is essentially part of the creation process, where we imprint our own view of significance and meaning on the world around us, both as individuals and collectively. In fact, I’d say it’s an important part of defining and envisioning the kind of world we want to both create and live in.

Paganism, Witchcraft

The Human-Deity Divide: A ResponsE

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Image of Freyja standing with spear and shield in front of her cart.
Freya by Johannes Gehrts. Public domain image.

Earlier this week, I ran across Patheos blogger Astrea’s critique of the “Inner Goddess” movement. I agreed with a great deal of her criticisms, though I found myself disagreeing with some of her theological statements. As a fellow polytheist with different views on the human-deity divide, I would like to explore those statements and why I disagree with them.

I believe we have Divine essence within us.

While I may not believe I have a literal deity inside of me, I do believe that there is Divine essence within me. This is because like everyone and everything else, I am part of the One Eternal Reality. Furthermore, it is this Divine essence within me that allows me to reach out to Divinity and connect with it. I cover this in more detail in my first podcast episode.

Also, in my craft practice, that Divine essence within me is what allows me to shape wyrd and become a co-creator with the deities. My whole ability to work magic is predicated on this.

My deities aren’t perfect.

Astrea’s theology seems to elevate gods to a sort of superhuman perfection, which is not how I view my deities at all. She is right that my deities don’t need to use the bathroom. But they are sexual beings. And they can age. There’s a whole myth about it happening, even.

Also, my deities often seem subject to many of the same failings as humans. They can allow their anger to get the better of them. They can be outsmarted and even tricked.

This doesn’t lessen them or make them any less worthy of my respect. It just means that I approach them more soberly and with a little less than total awe. That brings me to my next point.

My deities are close and approachable.

I read Astrea’s descriptions of deities and they seem lofty, abstract, and difficult to approach. My deities are much more earthy than that. They don’t glow. I think Freyja would find the idea of glowing a bit silly, to be honest.

The myths of my deities are rife with them coming to the human world and interacting with humans regularly. They seem to relish that contact. And none of those myths mention the deities glowing or being aloof around their human hosts and companions.

The myths themselves stomp all over the human-deity divide.

In one myth, the god Heimdall gives birth to humans. In other myths and legends, humans seem to ascend to the status of being a deity. This suggests to me that the human-deity divide is not that great. It certainly isn’t insurmountable.

Conclusion

I think that Astrea’s criticisms of the “Inner Godddess movement” are valid and spot on. However, her theology on the nature of the deities and humans differs greatly from my own. Which is fair, and I appreciate her post, as it allows me to explore those differences. Doing so gives me a greater understanding of my own views.