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‘

First, Averill posted headcanons for bird associations for the Otherfaith gods and spirits. A whole lot are listed, so definitely check it out!

Next, an informative review of Kirk Thomas’ Sacred Gifts: Reciprocity and the Gods. After reading that I spent some time just reading through various posts on Marc’s blog, finding a lot to be considered and contemplated there.

… I feel that the whole “so inclusive that we denigrate every view point” is one of the biggest failings that the whole “community” has.

Marc, Why I Stay Pagan from 2013 (emphasis added)

If you believed in multiple and independent deities, well, you were wrong.  You were corrected.  The gods were all facets of one universal source, not independent entities.  The same people who said that belief didn’t matter, and that Paganism was focused on action, were the first to cast aspersions were you to go beyond the pale of indoctrinated theology and believe – truly believe – in multiple gods.  
And it’s funny because in my twenty years, that really hasn’t changed.

Marc, The Realization of Polytheism from 2017

Funnily enough, this is a link to…a bigger compilation of links. ‘Electronic Faeries’ has tons of links to various websites, Facebook pages, and more around the net, all focused on fairies. Absolutely worthwhile for those looking to explore into fairies deeper!

Seao Helrune has a post about ‘spiritual junk’. Here’s a quote I found intriguing.

…the junk can become the point, and therein lies a trap that I think a lot of people fall into (but hardly ever discuss). Unless it’s an item stipulated by a spirit as a condition of conjuration (and potentially pacting) that spirit, or ingredients for something like a hoodoo hand, if ever you find yourself thinking that you can’t do something magically without a certain item or that you need that thing to *fix* your practice, then you may have a problem. This is especially the case if that magical thing you think you can’t do without that thing is actually down to the application of a basic skill.

Seo Helrune, Spiritual Junk from 2017

Morgan Daimler brings author recommendations in ‘Top 5 Favorite Witchcraft Authors‘.

Lastly, there is an upcoming online convention for Loki called Lokifest. You can find out more about it here; it will be occurring in August, so if you want to attend sign up soon!

My emotions do feel like a poison. They sicken and rot, and they boil and bubble over — and with nowhere to go — they corrode.

Averill, ‘A Work in Progress’

Yvonne Aburrow has a list of books to help introduce kids to Pagan world-views and values. They also wrote a (short) post about polytheism in Wicca. (There’s also this post, ‘Towards an inclusive Wiccan theology‘ that may be of interest to people.)

The simplest prayers are often the loudest. Lighting a candle and sitting in silence can be a powerful prayer to support your focused intent. Perching in the prow of a boat and smiling into the sea spray sounds like a lovely way to honor and commune with any number of water deities. The point is, feeling into the true meaning of the action, both for you and your devotional target.
I think prayer is especially meaningful when it is consistent.

Grace E, ‘Grace Notes: Prayer’

In one of the groups I am a part of a member linked to a post on prayer in the ‘digital age’.

… what I learned was that God wasn’t the one who needed my prayers. It was I who needed them more.

Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, ‘How prayer helped me detox from the internet’

I stumbled over Ryan Smith’s blog (which I had somehow missed) and wanted to link to two of the posts I read this week, but I recommend checking out the other posts on his blog as well! First up is ‘Guides, Not Gatekeepers‘, about leadership and clergy roles, and the second is ‘Mysticism and Personal Practice’.

As linked in one of my groups was this amazing Tree of Contemplative Practices. The image is below, but I recommend checking out the webpage it is from – their version of the tree has information for each of the practices listed.