From: jaybird@netcom.com (Jaybird) Subject: Re: Pan and other (male) gods Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 21:41:49 GMT The Goddess has gotten a lot of "press" lately because She has been (persecuted/invisible/pushed underground/take your pick) since the rise of several aggressive, patriarchal religious groups. One of the stated reasons that the Fellowship of Isis is _not_ the "Fellowship of Isis and Osiris" is the sense of making a political statement that "the God has had his day". Not all of us _agree_ with that, but they do have a point concerning the aforenamed patriarchal God. I am a priestess of Herne, and work with Osiris, Geb, and Bel for various ritual purposes. I find that I _need_ the balance of male and female energies, not excluding either one or setting one above the other, but that doesn't work for everyone. The Gods I work with are strongly life- and worth-affirming, which I find particularly attractive. When I need to affirm my Self as one of the Earth's creatures, and learn to center and exist in my body, I invoke Bast and Herne. (Yes, I know that they are different pantheons, but they really *do* seem to get along well, at least with me.) When I need to draw on powers of discernement, particularly in healing, counseling, and magickal work, I invoke Isis and Osiris. Osiris as Lord of Life, Death, and Rebirth and Judge of the Dead really helps adjust my point of view! When I need to gain strength in my search for wisdom, or to support various works, I invoke Nuit and Geb. Geb, the Egyptian "Earth-Father", supports all growing things, even as his lady shelters us all in her arms. When I am doing creative or healing work, I often invoke Brighid and Bel. Bel, a Celtic Sun god and symbol of the lifeforce, helps me channel energies where they need to go. I work with other Gods when I need to draw on the essences that they seem to symbolize for me. I like to see the resurgence of the "gentle" God, the masculine principle that nurtures rather than represses. And I hope to see more discussion of Him in alt.pagan in the future. Jaybird Card-carrying member of L.O.O.P. === From: markbr@radian.com (mark) Subject: Re: Pan and other (male) gods Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 22:24:14 GMT [Quoting Mr Hatcher.] I'd like to hear some, also. I'm comfortable with the Goddess, but not quite sure about the God - I even have some trouble with that word, what with *all* the baggage that *Big G* Ghod carries with it. Also, for me, I don't seem to feel a lot for the most popular Gods (like Pan). They just *don't* speak to me, like, oh, maybe Hermes, or a smith.... Btw, my Lady is, correspondingly, more comfortable with the God, rather than the Goddess.... mark === From: jraynor@minerva.cis.yale.edu (John Raynor (GD 1998)) Subject: Re: Pan and other (male) gods Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 01:53:55 GMT Bronwyn S. Beistle (bbeistle@mail.sas.upenn.edu) wrote: > When I was a Christian the aspect of God that made the most sense to > me was the Holy Spirit, and in some weird way that's still > true. Forms are somewhat difficult for me--but especially parental > forms. Hard for me to conceive of a mother-goddess--or any goddess > really--and when I conceive of a father-god it's an unutterably > nasty image. Interesting...when I think about the divine Trinity, I find it rather difficult to take either the "Son" or the "Holy Spirit" very seriously, which undoubtedly explains why I do not find Christianity particularly attractive. Of the three Persons of the Trinity, the "Father" is really the only one which I think of when somebody says the word "God" - but I don't really think that the title of "Father" fits particularly well, at least for me. I prefer to compare the relationship to that of a stern (but basically just) lord and his servant, or a slightly militant king and one of his soldiers. It's not a relationship defined by "love" or even "friendship" - God, for me at least, is just far too alien to be "loved," or even to be "friends" with. Duty, respect, and (yes!) a hint of fear are much closer to the heart of it for me. I can't say I take the gender of deities particularly seriously. Gender and reproduction are, as far as I'm concerned, just accidents of biology, rather than basic cosmological principles. When I try to strip away all the obviously anthropomorphic trappings and veils (like much of the material in the previous paragraph), I suppose I reduce my notion of "God" to a "big black box" - being finite, and mortal, I have no idea how (or even why) it does what it chooses to do, but since it's the biggest, and thus at least potentially the nastiest, black box around, I figure that jumping if it happens to whisper "frog" in my direction would be sensible. Fortunately, it seems to be content to remain silent. No, it's not a particularly "Pagan" way of looking at the divine sphere (nor Christian, for that matter) and I sincerely apologize if people regard this as a waste of bandwidth... - J. Raynor