Personal gods

Some of us here hold belief systems that include gods, or the use of them. It's not something we talk about at TOTJO very much though.

Although I am not a theist of any kind, I find gods useful aids for trying to embody qualities I seek. As you might have guessed from my profile picture, the main god that I look for inspiration in is the Egyptian god Set/Sutekh.

What gods do you follow?

I work with the archetypes Tyr and Azrael the closest. The other archetypes I work with are Thor, Green Tara, Kali, and Ganesha.

Being somewhat of an activist, Tyr helps with supporting justice for those who are unjustly treated. BLM, LGBTQ, and human trafficking are my main focuses. Azrael is my alert system when I am not taking care of my health, or when I need someone to point out when a real threat is coming my way. He also helped me overcome my unrealistic fear of death.

I am not a theist either, but I have felt the presence of all of the archetypes above in whatever form I associate them with. It can be odd sometimes, especially when I feel love from my heart towards Tyr, and true friendship towards the Azrael archetype. Perhaps I have come to terms with these aspects within myself enough to have these feelings. I'm not sure how that works.

I am not a theist either, but I have felt the presence of all of the archetypes above in whatever form I associate them with. It can be odd sometimes, especially when I feel love from my heart towards Tyr, and true friendship towards the Azrael archetype. Perhaps I have come to terms with these aspects within myself enough to have these feelings. I'm not sure how that works

I think I understand, I've felt similarly for Set. Sometimes I just decide that I'm going to believe even though I know I don't. It feels like it make sense in a way.

I suppose the divine aspects that most resonate for me are the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. I appreciate the sense of progress and cycle that they bring. Kwan Yin is important to me too, especially because of her trait of compassion. I'm keen on nature as well, and I sometimes feel drawn to and taught by a particular tree or animal or something. I tend to be fairly fluid with my personal gods, as I see it all as just varying faces of the one divine, but these are the ones that I've been drawn to for the past few years at least.

That is similar to how I see divine - facets of the same gem. Each facet a reflection of an aspect of life. The 'different' gods being based on culture. So the facets would be the fundamental archetypes, and the specific gods would be relevant for a specific culture.

dwagoonie wrote: That is similar to how I see divine - facets of the same gem. Each facet a reflection of an aspect of life. The 'different' gods being based on culture. So the facets would be the fundamental archetypes, and the specific gods would be relevant for a specific culture.

This reads similary to one definition of syncretism, which is basically that the gods of each culture are just the same gods with different names (although in our case it's archetype, rather than actual supernatural being).