I’ve been reading an advance reader copy of Pagan Roots by Yvonne Aburrow.¹ One of the things Yvonne covers in the book is a list of terms and concepts that they believe (and I concur with them) that we Pagans should reclaim from how they’re used in Christianity. One of the words they talk about is “worship,” which Yvonne also covered in their “Reclaiming Pagan Words” series on YouTube:

To briefly summarize, Yvonne points out that “worship” originally meant something akin to “the state of being worthy.” It was later when it became about an act in relation to deities. Yvonne notes that this understanding of the word came after many of the pagan religions of Europe had already been supplanted. However, they suggest that we might see the act of worship as “giving honor to that which is most worthy.” It think that’s a pretty good definition,² but I think that begs the question:

Are our deities³ worthy? What makes them worthy?

Back in 2022, I posted a video to TikTok⁴ in which I asked that first question point blank. To be honest, I can think of deities that — assuming they’re anything like how certain followers of those deities describe them — I do not think are worthy of my honor or worship. Instead, I think they are worthy of my contempt at best and my fierce opposition at worst. After all, I don’t even think my own deities are entirely above criticism, as I think I made fairly clear last week. I think that giving ourselves the freedom to interrogate whether our deities are actually worthy of even our time — let alone our praise and honor — is a powerful tool for making sure we don’t fall into the trap of authoritarian religion.

But even if we have a sense that yes, our deities are worthy of our honor, I think it’s beneficial to explore our reasons for coming to that conclusion. After all, I think doing so provides great insights into ourselves, our values, and what we hope to get out of our relationship(s) with our deities. After all, I should hope that we’re honoring our deities and establishing relationships with hem for more (and better) reasons than the fact that we’re expected to and/or we’re trying to avoid getting punished for not doing so.

So tell me, dear reader. Who do you honor? Why do you find them worthy of your honor?

Post History: I wrote, proofread, and finalized this post on August 18, 2024.

Footnotes

1. It was was a great honor to be invited to be an advance reader for this book and I want to once more thank Yvonne for the opportunity. I look forward to promoting it and talking about it at great length when it’s released. ↩︎
2. I might quibble a bit at the “most worthy part,” but I think that would be a lively discussion during pub theology rather than a more serious battle or a potential schism. ↩︎
3. I’ll note that I’m writing this blog post from my perspective as a polytheist. However, I think the principle is applicable to any other understanding of the Divine and/or the numinous. ↩︎
4. Apparently, WordPress seems to have issues saving blog posts that have TIkToks embedded in them. That’s annoying. I guess you’ll have to click through to see the video instead. ↩︎