Skryclad: Clothed In Visions

Observations of the light and the dark of what is, was, and might be in the Pagan community's expansion and evolution.

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Which Voices?

The God/dess/es do not care about your rice krispies nor are their messages to be found in the snap, crackle, and pop. I have had what I believe to be genuine communication with the beings that I consider to be Deities and have experienced a number of forms of divine embodiment, or divine possession if you prefer. As such I do believe and have personal experiences that deepen the belief that the Great Ones do directly affect our lives. However, I regularly encounter people who report a chatty, friendly, rapport with the God/dess/es that they work with and/or worship. I have puzzled about this and in many cases it seems very sincere, but I doubt that beings whose scale of perception and consciousness are large enough to be considered Deities engage in small talk. I will warrant that this may simply be a limitation of my imagination and sensibilities, but I have another thought. 

 

I talk to my dogs, and like so many other doting dog lovers, I also talk for them. There is real communication between us, but there is also much that I add for my own benefit. Many humans are prone to anthropomorphizing pretty much anything as a way of bridging the gap between what we are and what is different from ourselves. This is actually a very sound and useful strategy as a starting point, so long as we remain aware that it is not the end of the process. The same is true when we theanthroposize, when we ascribe human emotions and thought patterns to a God/dess. Once again a good beginning point but one that requires heightened vigilance. This is complicated by the fact that many in this culture have a religion of origin that encouraged the idea of a personal relationship with God. Upon making the transition to some form of Paganism, this concept of personal relationship often remains relatively unchanged and unexamined. This can create another overlay of expectations that interfere with true communication with the Divine. I do believe that we each have a personal concept of the Divine and a personal way in which we relate to the Divine. Accordingly, I do suggest that a full and extensive re-examination of the parameters of human and Divine interactions is a good idea when we move to a new faith.

 

While it is probable that the Great Ones make efforts to interact with us in ways that are accommodations to our size and scale and nature, I believe most of the adjustment occurs at our end. You can imagine that we are like radio receivers and that the Divine communications are like the signal upon the aethers. It is the radio receiver that must adjust itself to match the signal. The signal, for its part, must only be in the range of what is possible for the receiver to detect and accept. Allow me to expand this comparison a little bit more. We are really more like advanced multiband radio receivers. Part of the trick is in determining whether we have tuned into the local AM station or have dialed in the shortwave station from the other side of the world or perhaps the other side of the universe.The reason I think this is a matter of concern is that there is the potential for some rather bad outcomes when we confuse the message from a small and local source with one from a more expansive realm.

 

There are entire books written on the topic of communication with spirits or with Deities. There are also solid and lengthy apprenticeships for those that wish to engage in this sort of work. That said, here is one of the first tests that I apply to a communication to see how large or from how far way the source of the communication may be. I ask myself what is the scale of the conversation and communication. If it is about my day-to-day activities and affairs, then it is likely to come from a source that is very close. Perhaps the source is some other part of myself. Or perhaps from some smaller or more local being than a Deity. Another test that I apply is a bit harder to describe. I try to determine if there is a sense of vastness, grandeur, or alien otherness. Some part of me must feel a sense of awe if I am to believe that it is a God/dess. By the way, there is a lot of wise and useful information that comes from beings that are far less than Deities. Part of how I discern how to use information comes from my best guess of the source of the information. Of course if you work with a particular God or Goddess regularly, there will be their imprint in your energy, a small representation of them within you. Sometimes this is the source of the information as mediated by your higher self.

 

When we work with the invisible, it is vital that we also make our own process as transparent as possible. If we don’t, there is the risk that the old bumper sticker that says “I do whatever my rice krispies tell me to do” will actually be the truth.

 

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Ivo Domínguez, Jr. is a visionary, and a practitioner of a variety of esoteric disciplines who has been active in Wicca and the Pagan community since 1978. He serves as one of the Elders of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, a Wiccan syncretic tradition that draws inspiration from Astrology, Qabala, the Western Magickal Tradition and the folk religions of Europe. He is the author of Keys to Perception: A Practical Guide to Psychic Development, Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans, Casting Sacred Space: The Core Of All Magickal Work; Spirit Speak: Knowing and Understanding Spirit Guides, Ancestors, Ghosts, Angels, and the Divine; Beneath the Skins with other books in the pipeline as well.

Comments

  • Diana Todd
    Diana Todd Monday, 12 November 2012

    “I do whatever my rice krispies tell me to do” Is humorous, but it is also unsettling for how true it is for some. Discernment is greatly needed, not just in the pagan community but also needed in the wider culture.

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