Weekly Linkage

In general, we prefer our gods to be things of the distant or quickly fading past (whether we ‘believe in’ them or not)… To start talking about the Jesus who heals your cousin’s opiate addiction, the Lakshmi who welcomes you to the hospital during an out-of-body experience, or the Astarte (who not only bowed to Allah, but) who feels more clear and present than you expected to encounter in an ‘applied transpersonal psychology’ exercise contradicts not only the rational, post-theist school of thought in today’s dominant culture, but its theology-by-the-book foil as well. When and why did we leave the time period where gods spoke to people and informed our practice of religion? Who decided we’re finished writing the book of acceptable theology, and who gave them that right?

Pat Mosley, ‘Our Gods Are Still Speaking‘ at Divine Multiplicity

Also on Divine Multiplicity, two posts by Kyaza: one on deity-human relationship types and another on pagan taxonomies.

Merri-Todd Webster, one of the Magistrates of the Naos Antinoou (and a writer), posted some lovely stories up on Archive of Our Own: The Forest God and Bride of the Forest God.

On her blog ‘a Sunflower Moon‘, Sarai posted some prompts for connecting to deities. I thought they provide good stepping stones and meditation ideas for newcomers to any form of Paganism.

On her blog Kallisti, Kaye, a Hellenic polytheist, wrote a sort of review for Iamblichus’ On the Mysteries. I always enjoy reading book recommendations (to figure out what I want to read or buy next), and I especially liked how Kaye related her experience with the text.

You may not have heard of Andrew Chumbley, but his impact on Modern Witchcraft over the last 20 years has been extraordinary. Much of the current rise in “Traditional Witchcraft” can be traced in no small part to the work of Chumbley, who spent years documenting magickal techniques and practices, most notably his own Sabbatic Tradition. Chumbley wasn’t a Christian, but if he used the text written about above in his magickal work, he was most certainly influenced by Christianity. And in the world of Traditional Witchcraft such influences are common, not outliers. (And Chumbley is also majorly responsible for the boom in high quality Witchcraft books from speciality publishers.)

Jason Mankey, ‘Why Can’t There Be Christian Witches?

…I’m not sure deities need us to speak for them. They are goddesses and gods after all, with more power than you or I. If they were truly angry about how they were being portrayed and worshipped I have to assume they’d stop that sort of worship, or set up counter-points to it. I find it funny that those who often speak the loudest about “the gods having agency” are the same ones who often wish to limit that agency.

Jason Mankey, ‘We All Just Speak for Ourselves: Absolutes in Deity and Witchcraft