The following is a post I wrote for another, more personal, blog of mine. I have reread the post, and while it does come off a bit 'ranty', my feelings on the subject have not changed. So here I present to you the original entry that was published January 28th, 2015.
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"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
I've wanted to write this post for a while so my readers can understand where I come from when I work with divinity. This is my own personal Theology. I didn't "create it"; it is and always has been my own Truth.
When one studies the Qabalah, they read about the four worlds: Atziluth, the World of Emanation, of pure divinity; Briah, the World of Creation, where the archetypes do dwell; Yetzirah, the World of Formation, ("Yetsirah" as in "making" is as opposed to "Beriah" as in "Creating": actually taking whatever matter that was created in the "Beriah" and shaping it into the basic elements); and finally Assiah, the World of Action.
According to Carl Jung, human beings have collective unconscious. It is through this collective unconscious that humans throughout the ages have accessed the same archetypes of Briah and brought them into the world of Yetzirah, for use in Assiah.
Think about it: we all have access to the same Briatic world. "Briah is a level above that at which most people operate but – a very important point! – it is the natural level of the awakened or fulfilled human being. Awakening unto Briah is the spiritual destiny of every person, the Next Step of humanity, and the goal of spiritual initiation. One who has attained this is called an Adept." - source unknown.
Through observing the natural world, through ritual, meditation, prayer, and petitions, ancient peoples tapped into the Briatic World and found the archetypes: The Mother, The Wise Old Man, The Crafts Person, The Warrior, etc. Depending on the needs, desires, experiences, geographical locations, struggles, etc., shaped how these ancient people brought these archetypes down from the Briatic World, the World of Creation, to Yetzirah, the World of Formation.
This explains why when one looks across cultures, similar deities appear. The Wise Man appears as Odin, Zeus, Christ, Thoth, and others. The Mother appears as Frigg, Demeter, The Virgin Mary, Mut, and others. However, as any Pagan knows, things are not so simple.
We humans are complicated creatures. The archetypes appear in our selves in varying forms and intensities.
A childless woman will never fully understand the Mother archetype; that archetype plays a smaller role in her life. A woman may have been pregnant yet never been able to carry one to full term, or have experienced still birth. Or, a woman may have adopted another woman's children as her own, unable to get pregnant herself. These are the complexities of human life, and our gods, the Theoi especially, have been shaped to reflect this.
To continue on with the Mother archetype, Demeter searched Heaven and Earth, and then the Underworld for Kore (Persephone) when she was abducted by Hades. She is the personification of the loving Mother, endlessly devoted to her child, where as Hera on the other hand, although she is a mother to many gods and wife to Zeus (Father of the Gods), she is maternally indifferent. Artemis is a virgin goddess and yet she assists women in childbirth.
Therefore, in connecting with the archetypes in Briah, and reflecting our own human tendencies, struggles, and experiences from Assiah onto these archetypes, humans created/formed the egregores of the deities in Yetzirah. They were given names, realms of power, characteristics, and stories/myths. Through regular worship, devotion and working with these egregores they took on a "life" of their own. We fed them energy and they were able to grow and take form. As time went on, they strengthened. They became independently active astral beings.
The power of the Theoi is very real. The myths tell us they they have been known to get involved in mortal life. They take sides, have preferences, and show favouritism. They are interested in our lives because we ultimately created them, and without our continued worship, devotion and active involvement, the gods sort of slip into an inactive state. The egregores are well established and can be tapped into again, however. That is why once "dead religions" can be brought back to life. This is also the reason why I am such a stickler for tradition:
When one works with a Pantheon, it is imperative to take into account the original practitioners. These are the people who created these gods and goddesses and they did so very specifically. No deity was created haphazardly. There was a deep purpose and meaning; each God filled a void or explained the human condition. It irritates me to no end when modern pagans grab a god or goddess at random and try to attach attributes which do not fit into the creation of said deity. If you want to do such a thing - then create your own, new deity! Do not undo and disrespect the work, the time, the energy, the worship, the prayers, the petitions, the rituals, the ceremonies, and the sacrifices of the ancient peoples. These gods were a reflection of themselves and their lives.
Because we are all human beings living the human condition, deities can be called on to assist us in modern times. Zeus is still a wise man, full of lust, life and male sexual desire. Yet, the human species has evolved and it is no longer acceptable to have a God who goes around disguising himself and sleeping with a million mortals. This needs to be addressed with Zeus. It should be made clear in our works with Zeus that this type of behaviour is unacceptable and if he wants your devotion, which they do, he needs to take into account modern life and changes.
A friend of mine believes that the gods have changed along side humans. That she cannot imagine working with a "stagnant" deity. In my mind, the Theoi are not stagnant, per se; they represent archetypes which are "set in stone", yet they are the Yetziraic creations of said archetypes so they can be manipulated. It is up to us to communicate with the Theoi and let them know what we need them for.
The Theoi can "change" or "grow" in a sense. Take Hekate: she has become a popular go-to goddess for most modern Pagans. Because of Euripides' play Medea, in which Medea is portrayed as a witch whom is a priestess of Hekate, and Hekate being Persephone's companion in the underworld, modern Pagans have taken the Maiden Goddess of the Crossroads and transformed her into a Crone (sometimes Triple Aspect) Goddess of Witchcraft, Magic, Necromancy, and the After Life.
So many people have done just this, for so long, that Hekate has begun to take on that role. No doubt, there is some truth behind the stories. Hekate did have associations with the underworld, although not to the extent that modern Pagans now attribute. The question is: is this wrong?
I personally believe that for the Theoi to remain relevant today that some adjustments need to be made. It is not a far stretch to attach Hekate to Necromancy since she did escort Demeter into Hades in search for Kore, and was Persephone's companion. The problem I have is when someone asks Hekate for help with matters involving love. There is no evidence that the ancient Hellenics associated Hekate with love; that was Aphordite's turf. So why, oh why, do modern Pagans try to place associations where they do not exist?
As I mentioned in a previous post, the Hellenic Pantheon is a unit, like a puzzle, and each deity is a puzzle piece. You cannot work with one or a few and get the whole picture. They are each aspects of different archetypes of the human condition. To become a full human being, we must acknowledge all aspects of ourselves, and not favour a few.
This, once again, is my own Theology. This is how I make sense of things, how I believe them to be. If I can think of anything else to add to this theory I will add it at another time as a *note*. As we evolve our ideas change. Nothing is really set in stone.
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