Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whin'd. Harpier cries:- ‘tis time, ’tis time.
Monday, 17 December 2012
My Goddess Wants...
These two statements recently came up together on a facebook discussion:
"
I believe my Goddess wants me to be happy & kind to others.
Life is
full of problems, isn't the magic about overcoming them together?"
I'm afraid this left me somewhat gobsmacked. Really? What kind of person seriously believes this?
Let's break it down into the two separate statements - Firstly "My Goddess wants me to be happy and kind to others."
Gods and Goddesses have absolutely zero track record of this kind of behaviour. The normal 'wants' (as far as we can claim to know Their minds) is more about wanting you to be the best person you can be so that you may better serve Them. Your happiness is usually quite low on the list.
The way growth is achieved is more through trials and tribulations. Tests, obstacles, difficulties and personal challenges. It is only through adversity that we truly find out what we're capable of. How does being happy and kindfit into this?
These statements, it must be explained, came after this lady had told us off for not being nice to someone who was making grand claims and then refusing to back them up with anything. Side note: If you claim lineage or to be in a tradition, expect to get asked for validation. Normally anyone who refuses to validate their lineage is talking shit. Most frauds are harmless, attention-seeking drama queens but there is always the odd one or two who are a bit more dangerous than that. This is why they are questioned rather than the eyeroll and polite ignore that they would otherwise get.
Being kind and being nice are not the same thing.
I raised it for further discussion in the same group. The closest anyone came to suggesting a God or Goddess that may fit the bill was Quan Yin - that She wanted folks to attain enlightenment to minimise suffering. This isn't the same as being "happy and kind". Achieving enlightenment isn't normally an easy or passive road. The wisdom that points toward enlightenmentcomes from overcoming difficulty and learning the hard lessons that life presents. Real life that is, not the pretty pictures with lovely poems about wonderful positivity that abound on pagan groups and pages.
I call bullshit that this lady has had any kind of genuine communication with "her Goddess" at all. It smacks to me of a fantasy-based delusion about what she wants to hear.
Now to the second statement - "isn't the magic about overcoming them together?"
Magic is the art and science of creating change in accordance with will. That's it. Anything above or beyond that is purely personal and subjective. Magic is a tool used to achieve the ends you want. There is magic in a sunrise, in a newborn baby, in raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. But that's more a turn of phrase than "the magic" that is normally used in a specifically Pagan and Wiccan forum.
I have too much to do with my own life and magical practice to a) give a flying fuck for the opinions of random strangers on the internet and b) waste any of my time working to fix the problems of said random strangers.
This may sound rather selfish and I guess on some levels it is. But it's come from some of the wisdom I learned when I was more available to random strangers. The random strangers who would ring me up and take up hours and hours of my time with their "magical problems".This was my time with my children or partner. This was not something they paid me for or even (with one exception) appreciated at all. I tried and tried to get through to one chap and he wouldn't listen to a damn thing I told him. He'd twist what I said around to make it fit what he wanted to hear - even when I'd said the complete opposite. He didn't want me to help him, he wanted me to validate his interpretation of events. Another received the same advice from another public and available witch as he did from me, that didn't stop him, he went to several psychics and finally listened when he'd paid someone for their time and still got the same advice!
I've also had this behaviour from people who called themselves my friends. So yeah, to paraphrase a saying from Christianity - The Gods help those who help themselves.
Grow up and sort your own shit out.
Edited to Add:
A further discussion has led to some other comments that I think are worth adding to this post.
I'm not saying that being "happy and kind" and "having trials and tribulations" are mutually exclusive. Often the Gods have a different idea of what you need to be happy than you do - after overcoming the testings, you often find a different truer happiness than you previously expected.
I took the original meaning from the lady who said it to be as though the Gods were like your servants, existing to smooth obstacles from your path and make you comfortable in every way.
A further comment was made that a God/dess that didn't want your happiness wasn't one worth worshipping. I don't worship the Gods, I serve them. There is a difference!
"Service" (I believe) is indeed THE VERY HIGHEST form of "worship" one can engage in. E.g. One could potentially rise every day before dawn, spend an hour in pious "worship," and then go about their day treating everyone else with disrespect, condescension, and plain old selfishness. I offer a prayer known to me as The 11th Step Prayer (also & originally known as The Prayer of St. Francis): "Lord, make me a channel of thy peace--that where there is hatred, I may bring love--that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness--that where there is discord, I may bring harmony--that where there is error, I may bring truth--that where there is doubt, I may bring faith--that where there is despair, I may bring hope--that where there are shadows, I may bring light--that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted--to understand, than to be understood--to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life."
The way I see it is that my Gods already know how wonderful They are, They don't need me to fawn over Them, they'd rather see me doing Their work.
Service brings plenty of rewards, I rarely do any spell casting any more because I don't need to. I put it out there to Them and if it's justified, it seems to be taken care of. That doesn't mean I don't still have to work for it on a mundane level, but you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket!
The most recent example for me is I need money to publish a book I've been writing. I have decided to self-publish after seeing a friend get so upset and disheartened when she couldn't even title her own book or choose the font or the cover picture. I put it to my Gods that if this book is meant to be, I need the money for it. Within hours I had a payment from a website I write for that was more than I'd received from them in the last 2 years. A week later, I was accepted to write for another paying website.
My path is clear, writing is obviously what I'm meant to be doing and I now have two opportunities to earn the money to publish my book.
I think youre spot on and raise a good point with "Often the Gods have a different idea of what you need to be happy than you do - after overcoming the testings, you often find a different truer happiness than you previously expected. "
"Service" (I believe) is indeed THE VERY HIGHEST form of "worship" one can engage in.
ReplyDeleteE.g. One could potentially rise every day before dawn, spend an hour in pious "worship," and then go about their day treating everyone else with disrespect, condescension, and plain old selfishness.
I offer a prayer known to me as The 11th Step Prayer (also & originally known as The Prayer of St. Francis):
"Lord, make me a channel of thy peace--that where there is hatred, I may bring love--that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness--that where there is discord, I may bring harmony--that where there is error, I may bring truth--that where there is doubt, I may bring faith--that where there is despair, I may bring hope--that where there are shadows, I may bring light--that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted--to understand, than to be understood--to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life."
The way I see it is that my Gods already know how wonderful They are, They don't need me to fawn over Them, they'd rather see me doing Their work.
DeleteService brings plenty of rewards, I rarely do any spell casting any more because I don't need to. I put it out there to Them and if it's justified, it seems to be taken care of. That doesn't mean I don't still have to work for it on a mundane level, but you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket!
The most recent example for me is I need money to publish a book I've been writing. I have decided to self-publish after seeing a friend get so upset and disheartened when she couldn't even title her own book or choose the font or the cover picture. I put it to my Gods that if this book is meant to be, I need the money for it. Within hours I had a payment from a website I write for that was more than I'd received from them in the last 2 years. A week later, I was accepted to write for another paying website.
My path is clear, writing is obviously what I'm meant to be doing and I now have two opportunities to earn the money to publish my book.
I think youre spot on and raise a good point with
ReplyDelete"Often the Gods have a different idea of what you need to be happy than you do - after overcoming the testings, you often find a different truer happiness than you previously expected.
"