PuppyGirlDen
This will serve as a space to talk about various ideas and thougths around pagan practice
- Values and Worship
Values and Worship
Keep in mind this comes from someone who's worship is centered around Hel
One proposition that I can't shake out of my mind is the following
"One must keep to the Values of a deity in order for worship to be congruent"
I'll organize this in the following:
- Proposition
- Biases
One must keep to the Values of a deity in order for worship to be congruent
What does this proposition mean?
To answer that, we must first ask HOW a deity may be treated in worship
This, to me, has a clear answer. I must treat the Gods as honored guests.
As to what this means, well, that changes from person to person. Ask yourself
What would I do if I were to recieve someone whom I consider and honored guest.
To me, it's also quite clear. Treat them well, offer them tea, alcohol or food, show them music and movies.
So if we follow this, We will be treating a deity in the same way.
I would begin a prayer, to invite a deity to join me
Then I would offer them a drink, a meal.
If it's something like a tea session that I'm offering, I would usually just drink tea and listen to music.
If it's something like a cocktail or just a drink I'd pour it for them and also listen to music, or work on my music or editing
I have not offered meals (or parts of meals) so I'm not sure how I'd handle this.
I would show them music, or a movie, or just about anything I find intresting that I think they would find intresting
Then I thank them for the company and time, and then the prayer is over.
Quite esay!
One line of thought lingering from my mormon past is that I must have a reason, and be worthy of worship.
this is at least in my opinion, not only false, but damaging.
In my worhsip of hel, in the begining, I was almost scared to pray. Not because I thought the Goddes Hel would be malicious
But because I thought she just had better things to do, I mean. She has to manage a whole ass afterlife;
She doesn't have time to hang out with a random loser like me.
This was the logic that kept me from praying to her for SO long.
It was my partner that broke me out of that loop. as she put it "The Gods are timeless." and this was great at expanding my worship.
I saw that attributing some of the same aspects as Elohim to a Goddes like Hel, "hurt" my relationship with her.
("hurt" as in. interfered) I realized that Hel, as a timeless being, had as much time to "manage a whole ass afterlife"
And hang out for tea time with me.
Now that we have established a HOW we must try to answer What the original proposition means.
What is "Value"
Value, I'm describing as the good qualities that we may associate with the Gods
Or the themes and ideas that their myths communicate to us, and that we interpret.
as an example, one could say that Loki is a deity who embodies the values of truth, keeping ones promises, owning up to our own mistakes. etc.
If this is the case, then one can reasonably argue that a valid proposition may be to embody these values in our life
In order to keep reciprocity with this deity, and in order for them to accept our invitations (prayers)
I'll pose an exaple.
Imagine yourself recieving an invitation to a house, where you will be treated as an honored guest.
Now imagine your first experience with this invitation was great.
They served you your favorite drink, the conversation brough about topics you were knowledgeable on
And they wer amicable towards your requests.
Now you recieve a second invitation, you accept, thiking of the great time you had as an honored guest this first time
As you enter the house, you hear LLM generated music, you see copies of Mein Kampf littered around the living room.
You're offered drinks you cannot stomach, and the conversation turns to how great war and genocide is.
You leave, and days later, you recieve another invitation to this house. Now, would you accept?
Perhaps... It could be reasonable that it was nothing but a "rough patch" for your hosts
However, you find the same things as last time. The same awful books and conversations, the same horrid music playing.
It's not likely you'd accept a fourth invitation to this house.
Now, to extrapolate this to the experience a deity may have with you as a host, and them as an honored guest?
If you invite Loki to be your honored guest, but regularly break promises, Lie, you don't own your mistakes.
You are generally unhelpful and hateful towards other different than yourself.
Would then Loki, as a guest, accept another invitation from you, as a host?
I think it's reasonable to assume that Loki would NOT accept said invitation.
this does not mean that a mistake "prohibits" the worship of a deity
mistakes are bound to happen, we are human. We are not perfect.
But it is in how we assume both the consequences, and the action that we call a mistake.
Is it a mistake to be racist? absolutely.
Is it an "Honest" Mistake. Maybe in some circumstances.
Are you absolved by the consequences of this mistake just because you did not know better? Not at all.
What this shows, is that we are neither innocent nor absolved of the moral and natural implications of our mistakes.
However, it is only through the bettering of our character, and the pursuit of ammending the consequences of our mistakes
That we may improve ourselves as hosts for the Gods we chose to worhsip.
this may be leaning much towards Stoicsm, but I believe it is an important thing to discuss.
Specially around worship within "Heathenry" or "Paganism"
Worship is not Artemis won't help you with a hunt if you didn't bring a bow.
Njordr won't fare good winds if you didn't prepare your vessel properly.
Hel won't grant you peace if you never accept the cosmic reality of your being.
Sobek won't protect your fields if you never took action agaisnt floods.
Should it not follow that If we want our worship, to be congruent to the deity we are worshipping, that our lives
Must be in accordance to their Values?
Hel and Her Values
Of course, any and all interpretations of these are personal, and reconstructionist.
If Hel is the Goddess of the Underworld, I see her role as caretaker and "manager" of the dead.
She cares for the souls of those who are gone, providing peace and a place for another stage of our existence in the cosmos.
One that is peaceful and restful.
Is it reasonable to think, that a deity with this role would have values such as safety and Peace.
Values that center care for the old both in things and humans, Values that show great respect for those loved ones who are gone
Or simply those who are dead, and deserving of our admiration?
I would say those are Values Hel strongly represent. Therefore, I, as a worshipper of Hel. Choose to be a good host to her
By keeping these Values in sight as I take action in my life.
I fix old audio equipment and instruments.
I choose to listen to music in vinyl records and MiniDisc almost exclusively.
I strive, try and hopefully in at least a small ammount succed at proving a safe space for loved ones, and those who are simply around me.
It is through this practice that I can be a good host for Hel.
This does not mean that if I listen to music on a streaming service I will no longer be a good host
This only means that the intent of my actions must be aligned with these Values, only as a personal requirement and NOT a divine one.
No God may require anything from you. Only you can require anything from yourself. THIS SHOULD BE THE MAIN FOCUS OF SELF IMPROVEMENT
So. with this dialectic clear. Is it then a reasonable proposition to say that One must keep to the Values of a deity in order for worship to be congruent?
Invitations to other Gods
This is the crux of my proposition.
If I were to invite Odin as an honored guest, this logic follows that I, in order to be a good host;
must then, through personal requirement, embody the values of this deity.
I must then embody the values I see in Odin's myth. Things like pursuit of knowledge, and wisdom.
To teach what I can when it may better others. And that rejecting these would make me a bad Host to Odin.
It must be true also given this logic, that by not clearly defining these Values, that must be interpreted through
Exploration of the myth, would make me a bad host as well, after all, If I invite you into my home
But never bothered finding out anything about you, how could I prepare to be a good host to you?
Must we, as Pagans, then always research the Gods we would like to invite into our worship? I would tend to agree with this.
What if our interpretation of a value is simply not something we can reasonably follow?
If a pagan's interpretation of Loki, may be a deity that loudly declares who they are with great
disregard to the consequences of such. They announce that they are that they are.
however, this Pagan is still closeted, through no fault of their own. Is it still right for them to invite Loki as an honored guest?
This is the question my proposition seeks to put forward.
If your answer is "this is fine, because Loki may be sympathetic to this Pagan's situation"
Then I would ask how much "bending" or "leeway" should our interpretations of the deity's values is acceptable?
I must also be clear. I don't think theres a correct, or incorrect answer. there's no one way to worship, nor one right way to worship a deity.
This is just a proposition that I like to examine.
Just a question that seeks to further our understanding of our own practice.
Biases and Faults
It must be said that a lot of this logic may be based on a still lingering logic from christianity and mormonism.
Elohim (the name of "God" In the mormon cult) REQUIRES from you that you keep his, and only his values at heart.
Elohim requires you to abide by HIS laws in order to be even worthy of worshipping him.
A logic I no longer believe, but that may still be present in this proposition I've put forward here...
I think I also find it faulty that I may be attributing too much humanization to the Gods.
It could also be the case that this is only a case of reconstruction;
And that this is only an issue for me, that I have decided this is my approach to worship
And of course, I don't seek to force anyone to worship this way.
I must also say that I am neither a scholar, nor an expert on anything pretending to this topic, so the entire logical basis for this argument may be flawed
In such a way that the proposition itself is born out of ignorace, and disregard for any material reality.
Again, This is just a question that seeks to further our own understanding of the practice we choose to... practice.
Asking "Why" will always be at the center of any improvement of the self and the world