Recently I have spent some time thinking about the Gods and trying to come to some conclusions about what is important and so over the next few weeks I will be posting the results of my prayers meditations and research. I would love to know what you think?
It is all a matter of perception
With the Big monotheistic religions there is an idea that God is all knowing, or to use the posh word omniscient. Pagans do not believe this about their Gods. Sometimes it may seem that the know everything and see everything but this is a skill based on some of their other attributes.
We know from the myths that the Gods live a long, long time. We know that the Gods have a greater vantage point to look at events from. They can see the bigger picture. They see all the interlocking threads which have been woven together to make an event come to pass. Tie this in with the experience they have then they can often say what will happen even before it does.
We humans have a similar skill. We are often able to see that our friends new relationship won’t last long before they do. This is because we know our friend, we know their past and we know more or less how they think and we can apply this knowledge and say with some degree of accuracy where this is going. OH if only we could do it for ourselves so well!!!!!!!!!!!
We would not claim omniscience and neither do the Gods it is a natural skill we all possess even though at times our friend may look at us as if we were Mystic Meg.........
So having this broader vantage point is a big help but it does have limitations..........
To explain the limitations let’s look at our own world. How many of us have pets. I myself have 10 dogs. Well when I am out walking with my little dogs they are always looking and chasing what is around my feet and even If I walk that way a million times they always seem to find something I would never see. Why because they have eyes which see things close the ground. They see the beetles and the lizards etc. I have eyes which are at about 5 feet 9 inches from the ground. I am seeing the bigger picture. I see across the field, I see places my dogs would never be able to see, until they arrive there.
In the words of Rolf Harris- Do you see what it is yet????????
Yes!!! The Gods are like us they see the bigger picture but in looking at that they sometimes miss what is going on at the lower level, unless like my dogs we draw their attention to it.
This is why we pray this is why we bring things to the attention of the Gods. This is indeed why they need us and one of the reasons they give us blessings. We are, truly in some respects, partners to the Gods we each play a part in the exchange of information.
Non pagans don’t seem to realise the depth of the relationship we have with the Gods. I have heard it said well pagans don’t need to believe anything. You just carry out a series of actions and your Gods give you. This so misses the point. Yes we don’t have to believe anything but what we do have to do is enter into a relationship. To share concerns and to be willing to accept the inconveniences of the Gods busting in at the most inopportune moments and demanding us do something. Maybe we don’t have a creed to recite and a list of things we must believe, but I don’t have this with my partner either. What I do have is a relationship and all that that means.