Taking a look at deities

Q&A
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Hey there, Maggie Mae here. :wave:

I took a gamble (like I do) and reached out to someone I don’t know to get an impression on which deity (or deities in this case) might have touched my life. I have no fault in their interpretation, but I am still firmly in the Questioning Camp. :camping:

They named three deities to whom my life could be close: Brigid, Eostre, and Hel(a). To me, the divide between, and harmony of, life and death resonates, but I would like to do my own digging when it comes to actually, ahem, knocking on heaven’s (or Helheim’s :yum:) door.

What divination practices do you recommend for gauging a deity’s interest? Should I prepare an offering before addressing them? (I feel like that’s only polite, but I could be wrong: I am not a deity :joy:) How do you vet your deities? This is less of a “tell me so I don’t have to research” and more of a curiosity thing. :thinking:

I’m inclined to reading tarot (or asking my SO to read for me and then doing emotional labor as payment (he has a Thoth deck, it’s very judgy if I don’t pay back)), but I am still a novice in that department.

Thoughts?

Edit note: Grammar! :sob:

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Tarot is good, seeing signs is good too. Here’s a link to how Loki and I connected.
Loki to invite in or no? :warning: Alcohol is mentioned in this post
And now Baron Samedi has reached out. Him I had verified by a spirit priestess as is the custom. That experience is here:
Dead And Breakfast Virtual Witch Bar/Cafe :warning: Alcohol
Post no: 183 but I also had a very clear dream from him.

I personally don’t make an offering until I’m ready in my heart to actually work with a deity, but that’s just me. I still haven’t made a full offering to the Baron yet, a bit of cake yes but not a proper one yet, but I will.

There’s a great tarot spread too

Hope this helps. Have fun. They’re all lovely in their different ways. :heartpulse:

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Thank you for responding and sharing your insights/experiences! :star_struck: I cannot wait to do a deeper dive on these threads you shared to really learn from them. :heart:

Ooh, I did not see this tarot spread earlier. I’ll have to try it out! (Like, now-like. I’m going to go grab my deck!! Expect updates!)

I guess when it comes to offerings… I have a very instinctive need to give something, even if it’s symbolic in nature. Maybe it’s the ex-Protestant in me. Maybe it’s something akin to bringing flowers to a first-date. Is it old-fashioned? Or is it a good gesture? That might also depend on the deity in question.

I’m very (read: very) wary of the signs I have seen so far, as I have witnessed Eshu twice in the past month, and I don’t feel entitled to his support and labor. He could be communicating on behalf of someone else (like he does), and I’ll likely offer something up to him because, again, not entitled to his support at all, but definitely indebted to any help/message rendered.

TL;DR: divine relationships are complex.

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I’m not familiar with Eshu, but I understand your hesitation, I felt the same with Baron Samedi as I’m not a voodoo practitioner, hence why I had him verified in a reading for me. Deities are very independent beasties (I call them all beasties as a term of endearment :green_heart:), and I’ve learnt they kinda do their own thing. That doesn’t mean, if they choose you, you have to say yes. You can say no, and that’s ok. Sometimes a certain deity will come to you when you need help in a particular way or time, then they’ll leave. I’ve been helped by The Morrigan for shadow work, but she didn’t stay. Currently I’m working with demons, Lucifer, and Baron Samedi, but mainly Loki. :heartpulse:

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Heheh! That sounds wonderful, honestly. And I can totally get that, deities being independent. I want to be able to work with a lot of deities, to be entirely truthful, and I’m hoping that my experience with sacrament and theology can help, instead of hindering. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

The funny thing is, I used to think I was going to have to branch into Enochian and High Ritual magick in order to mesh my old beliefs with my new outlook. I might still dip a toe in, but I no longer feel tied down to old practices, so it’s kind of a moot point.

Which is, you know, very nice. Very freeing. Positive overall.

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It’ll be a beautiful journey. And it’s interesting how many scriptures are used in magic. The book of psalms is used alot in hoodoo. I used to be Christian, and though I’ve left the church and it’s teachings, there are still gems in that ole bible of mine that I hold onto. :green_heart:

Maybe keep a journal or a grimoire just for deity stuff and note down everything, it can help keep track. Looking forward to sharing your journey and who you connect with. :green_heart:

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Okay, this was fun, enlightening, and at the same time, utterly confusing. Let’s break this down in real-time.

deity reading
deity reading4032×3024 2.15 MB

YOU WILL NOTICE ALL OF THE FIRE ON MY KITCHEN TABLE. Ahem.

The Deity: Knight of Wands inverted. The opposite of your Don Quixote, the humble (yet troubled) hero: tilting at windmills with extreme prejudice. Angry, impulsive, and reckless. Lower end of the court sliding scale, definitely feeling divine hero rather than god energy. Masculine, creative.

Traits and Characteristics: SO MUCH FIRE. Besides that, let’s start at the beginning.

Eight of Wands: (I got goosebumps when I pulled this card, which may or may not mean anything.) Important news, movement, rapid decision-making. Changes. Big Energy. I usually associate this card with messenger deities, which, as I write this, I go OH GOD, ESHU’S BACK IN THE BUILDING

Four of Wands, inverted: A conflict, close to home. Interpersonal disharmony. Chaos. Alternatively: personal harmony at the expense of those above. Interesting but no more clear.

Three of Wands, inverted: Delays to progress, which immediately makes me think that there’s a conflict with the 8 I pulled earlier. But what if there isn’t? Four of Wands claims chaos and disharmony. Maybe, in the chaos, there is balance? This could also be frustration, even more angry energy

Strength, inverted: Gotta say, it always makes my skin crawl pulling Major Arcana. Like, what great upheaval am I facing today? :joy: Anyway: self-doubt, fear, anger. More angy, more problems? Jealousy and depression? Interesting.

Signs and Symbols: What even.

Five of Pentacles: Poverty. Isolation, even. Lacking, or the perception of lacking. I am brought back to the word jealousy, although not in the proper form: rather as the commonly used definition as a stand-in for envy. But onto more tangibles: Coins? Beggars? The lame and ill? The establishment as absentee figures in the lives of the less fortunate?

The Hermit, inverted: Loneliness. I would normally say, being at peace with loneliness, but this is an Angy God(dess). Definitely does not appreciate their solitude.

Connection to Me: Of course it’s an air card.

Two of Swords: Weirdly enough, I am not surprised. Not being able to see clearly and there being hidden information.

–

So, I could absolutely use some criticism. My mind is being torn in different directions, from Prometheus to the fictional representation of the Devil in Christian literature. Although, they could be one and the same, the one who was ultimately punished for bringing their gift of wisdom to mankind.

Help! :sob:

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Hecate works with me since birth

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To me, it almost sounds like Hades. Or possibly even Hephaestus. But I’m really being pulled towards Hades with your cards.

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I probably don’t have much advice to offer on finding their deity as Artemis had been there from the start and called to me. Though to be fair it did take me many (many) years to see this, but once I did, it was so obvious, I don’t know how I missed it all those years. :woman_facepalming: So I’m not a great example of How To :laughing:

For me it came down to what are my life-long interests, what calls to me daily, what strikes awe in me, what things do I see over and over again? Looking at these things combined put the puzzle pieces together finally.

I do work with Hekate during the darker months of the year and have an affinity for Bast, Isis, The Morrigan and Ganesh and work with them on occasion.

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Funny you said that I was thinking the same when I read over the tarot reading interpretation!

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Well maybe he is the one then. I kept thinking Hades but then Hephaestus popped in my head out of the blue. Since that’s what you were thinking too, maybe?

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I just meditate on their sigils and name and research as much as I can on them. And not take everything so literally helps. Then learning not to question your intuition is helpful. Fully grounding prior is number one IMO

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It also helps not to compare your experience with other people’s experiences as they tend to be different. As for an offering you could offer the incense u light during the session as an offering.

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I’m going to link in @MeganB as she helped with my cards. Excited for you :sparkling_heart:

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Thank you all for your replies! I apologize for not replying earlier: I have a limitation on my forum account that disallows too many replies and I am just a loquacious little guy. :no_mouth:

So, here we go.

@Mystique & @Artemisia : it’s wild you should say Hephaestus, because that was one of my knee-jerk reactions, especially to the defining first card. Like, great big “I am not Ares, gosh darn it” energy. :joy: It would explain a lot, especially how we have similar interests in creation and technology.

@Devenne Such good advice. I am going to spend my lunch break today diving deeper. I had to stop yesterday because I got a very serious headache deep into researching one potential answer. :confounded:

@tracyS Thank you! I appreciate your pinging someone you trust. :blush:

My SO had a funny the other day. I started to draw lines between the symbolism and who it could represent, and I stumbled upon Hekate (lantern, liminal spaces, pentacles). And we both looked at the angry energy of the reading as well as the 5 of Pentacles and he said “I mean, angry pentacles are absolutely a good indicator for Hekate” and I just :rofl:

So, I know you said not to take it so literally, but the first thing I thought of was how much gosh darn fire there was everywhere. I feel like that might be important, if it’s so prominent; definitely gives a ton of weight to the Hephaestus theory. I’ll start digging on his mythos first.

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I mean it doesn’t always apply but it’s good to keep in mind especially when reading research

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I’m still a bit sick :tired_face: but I’m reading through this and will come to help soon!

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Hope you feel better soon :gift_heart:

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Oh, wishing swift recovery to you! Sorry to hear you are ill. :heart:

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