Hello, dear readers!
The equinox has passed, which means that I am into the second quarter of my personal theme of the year. I have shared a little bit of detail about my work in the first quarter in the Discord associated with my Patreon (if you support my Patreon, you have the option of also joining the discord server through that, by linking your Discord and Patreon accounts), for those who may be interested. For this second quarter, however, I probably won't share as much in the way of specifics.
Deity relationships are quite personal, and I have found so far that I am most comfortable talking about them with folks who I am close to in community, and not so much on the general internet. I am someone who has various circles of community - followers online who I might not know at all; Patreon supporters who I have a chance to get to know a little more personally through more regular chatting, but still might not know well; community in my tradition, who I work with regularly online or in person and know quite well; and close friends. As such, there are different groups of people with whom I share different things. As this is a general internet space, I will stick to general practice, as I always have.
I wanted to share here the list of associations I've come up with for myself to work toward figuring out or creating for myself with each deity. I may not check every box for each one, but this has been a fun way for me to explore these relationships. When we search online we might commonly find information about deities such as the animals, plants, food and beverages, and areas of influence associated with each one. Some of the things on my list are those types of things, and others go beyond that. I can look up some of these things online as a starting point, but there is also the step of actually utilizing them, or, or finding substitutions and alternatives where the info online might not work for my personal practice and what I have available.
Associations I am working toward for each Deity:
- colors
- numbers
- plants
- culinary plants that I can incorporate into food and drink
- plants for scents that I can burn or offer in other ways
- animals, if applicable
- crystals (because I happen to have them)
- weather patterns
- Element (Air, Fire, Water, Earth... they're all Spirit!)
- Tarot card(s)
- music
- tools and materials
Admittedly that list doesn't look very long when it's typed out like this, but it's longer than it was when I started! There might also be things I'm forgetting, and other things I'm sure will be added over time.
Some things came up for me last quarter without my actually seeking them out, such as colors, and one that I didn't have on my initial list... weather! People have favorite weather patterns, so why wouldn't Deities and other spirits? I hadn't thought of it before, but it came up. Along with that, maybe there is a certain Element, or combination of Elements, that feels more like their energy than others. Thinking of what Tarot card or cards come to mind for me with each Deity is something I thought of and put on my list months ago, but I haven't actually sat down to explore that just yet, so that is still an idea for future practice. But many of the rest of these have begun to come up one way or another.
For music, I mentioned in my previous post that I'm writing chants or songs for each if I hadn't already, but with this I mean just, what kind of music do they like? What style? What instruments? This can of course inform songs that I write or play for them, but also just what other music might I listen to in day to day life that they'd also enjoy. Or maybe songs with specific lyrics that remind me of them.
And for tools I mean "traditional" tools of the Craft - are there ones I have that they seem to like more? That can inform how I design rituals and offerings for them in the future. And similarly, materials - do they prefer things that are made of certain materials? Maybe for example they want a beverage in a cup as an offering. The beverage is one factor, but then there is the vessel. Glass? Metal? Wood? Ceramic? What about a certain color?
Now, of course we don't NEED to get that specific. Any cup will do, in this example. This is more just for additional understanding of them, different ways to feel into their energy current. It is always okay, and necessary in my opinion, to negotiate anything that seems to come to you by way of request from spirits. Maybe they WANT a fancy wooden goblet but I don't have one, nor the ability to make one, nor funds to obtain one. So something else I have will have to do. That is totally fine. Knowing that they like wood, however, can still tell me something about them. And if I then am able to find (or make) wooden things for them, cool!
That's my update for this stage!
At the solstice in June, I will be very occupied with Witchy community things, so I will likely not get around to updating in any way for a while after that, as I have done this time. The equinox was a full month ago at this point, and I'm only just getting to typing up a post. Expect similarly for the rest of this year, as I am doing the practices quarterly and then taking time to let the transitions flow, thoughts simmer, lessons integrate, and so on. Hopefully I will have some other blog posts to write in the meantime, but at the very least you'll hear from me again in approximately three months, sometime after the solstice!
Blessings~
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