#sir-celestyn

Personally, I like the idea of a future without religion for humanity, so I could have lived without Sisko being the Emissary of the Prophets and all that jazz - particularly towards the end of the series, with one of the Prophets actually being his mother and his ascension to the Celestial Temple, etc.  Even though it wasn’t my cup of tea, I think they had handled it well until then.  But I don’t hate it.  It’s just meh.

Whoops, my bad, I meant CHS. Sorry, I’ve been running on low sleep lately. It’s Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies.

Here is the link to the main page: https://chs.harvard.edu/

Here is where I usually hang out on their page: http://www.chs-fellows.org/

This page includes books that they have online: https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/1166?menuId=139

I’m also subscribed to their email list which is a blessing and a curse. It means I know when they update but they tend to send out individual emails for every single article which can be a bit...much.

But in addition to the articles they sometimes have videos of conferences they do where researchers get together and discuss papers and digs they’ve done!

(P2) they didn’t really give me more than that to go off of….well I still have problems with people, and with court cards!! I ended up getting diagnosed with autism a few months ago…which explains why I’m not so great with people. So how the heck can I relate with these court cards!? If I get them I just stare blankly. I can describe the rote meaning of the card but I can’t do more than that with it. It’s hard to interpret… is there anything you can recommend?

Yes, absolutely! There’s a variety of approaches to the court cards that don’t require a “people” based approach. You can approach them through their elements plus their numerology, their title’s approach to the element, their elemental mixtures, and even a zodiacal approach.  This got long so under a readmore it goes.

The first two questions tie together for me: When picking a tarot deck, one ought to pick one that speaks to them already right frpm the get-go. This tends to make for immediate connections and understandings. Thus, no, I don’t recommend newbs pick a RW or RWS clone deck unless said deck speaks to them. Obviously, one shouldn’t restrict themselves from getting a deck that doesn’t speak to them because they want to own it and most of the time you can work to understand a deck you lack an immediate connection with. But if one’s seeking immediate results, I’ve noticed the decks that speak to me right off the bat are easier than ones that I liked just for aesthetic reasons. As such, I highly recommend newbs go with their heart and gut not just “well it’s a RW clone so it must be beginner friendly.” Every deck is beginner friendly to the right beginners and every deck is complicated to the right people.

Or of misinterpreting the cards or the message and insulting or offending my gods with it. I know it's probably an area where I could completely use UPG but...I like seeing how other people do things, feel about things, to figure it out for myself.

Alright, so, I’m going to address these in sections

Is it just introspection or divination? Is a God always sending me a message/divination or is it just me talking to myself? Is it magic?

I don’t know if this will help you on what to believe or not but in my experience, tarot is a mixture of all of these. No, you aren’t always receiving a divine message from a deity. Sometime, it’s just introspection. Sometimes it’s just a way to help explore your subconscious by examining your own mind and associations. But other times, yes, a spirit or bigger entity can speak through the cards. This is where discernment comes into play. Generally speaking, I think you’ll find that in the high 90-percentile of times, you’re just picking up on your own fatelines and thoughts and not getting anything from a deity unless you actively address a deity or request them to speak to you through the cards. Even then, you might not get a deity directly and instead get a messenger of theirs. I’ve had that happen before. I’ve even had it happen for a paid client on my tarot store. So it’s really a "sometimes” answer to each of these options. It’s up to you as the diviner to be able to discern which it is. I won’t lie, it’s not easy to tell always. It takes practice. But in my experience, this is how it’s gone and i have enough of what feels like solid evidence to back up my beliefs in it at least personally. I dunno is that helps you or not.

I'd love to feel like I had a line of communication with the gods through it, but I'm scared of it being "all in my head Or of misinterpreting the cards or the message and insulting or offending my gods with it.

So, I know we have differing religions here but I think as a general rule what I’m going to say will still apply. The gods know we mess up. They know and accept that about us. In most traditions, the gods mess up too. So they understand that we’re going to mess things up from time to time, especially when it comes to communication because it’s such a vague art. Even with divinatory aid, things can be super hazy. (Heck, divination can make things more hazy.)  So the likelihood of you “mishearing” something? Is pretty high. Therefore, the chances of them getting upset? Are pretty low. My advice when it comes to divine communication has always been to ask if it’s potentially harmful to believe what was heard/do what was ordered etc. If there’s no harm then there’s little to worry about. What’s the harm in thinking a god wants something specific offered to them? An offering is an offering; as long as it isn’t disrespectful they’re likely gonna be stoked. An advisement for self care is still self care and therefore good for you. Encouragement still makes you feel more confident which is good even if it didn’t actually come from a divine source, it’s still helping you. Now being ordered to make a massive life change that could potentially screw you over? that’s where you want to say hold on, is this legitimate? Is it really them? Because you could get hurt and obeying just because you think it’s a god and not thinking it through fully would be foolish. 

As for it being in your head, I’ve had that thought a lot. What if this is all in my head? I know people at this for longer than I have with a lot more reasons to believe who still ask themselves that question. So there is no definitive answer on how to help. My way? I back it up with little things, coincidences way too good to be true for instance, adding up over time. Tons of divination backed up by outside divination done ‘blindly’. But I still don’t know for sure and I’ll admit that. Admitting that you don’t know for sure helps keep you grounded and cautious and that’s a good thing. It’s good to question yourself a bit and question your faith and why you believe. It often ends up making your faith stronger over time. 

So tumblr ate part one. > >” I am so sorry this keeps happening

But yes, there’s a /ton/ of Christian influence on the decks, especially if one is getting a traditional deck like the RW, RWS, or the like. Look no further than the Wheel of Fortune which commonly depicts a man, bull, eagle, and lion reading books. That imagery is straight from the Bible. These four represent the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And hell, the Hierophant is sometimes just called the Pope. Oh and don’t get me started on Judgement.

I think for animal cards it really depends. The Cat’s Eye and Mystical Cats Tarot both give really great and easy to understand images if one is familiar with cat behavior, especially the Cat’s Eye Tarot. If you’re a cat person like I am, I recommend it pretty highly. It was designed by a veterinarian and so very true to real life cats. The Mystical Cats is a little less focused on the theme of accurately depicting cat behavior but it still very accurately depicts it and in some cases does so quite entertainingly, moreso than the more literal Cat’s Eye deck. They’re the only two animal type decks I’ve any input on but it’s definitely one approach to avoiding Christian imagery and the like.

Sure thing! In the long post I gave this basic description of the demiurge::

The deity at the center of the henad we worship functions as what the Neoplatonists call a “demiurge”. The demiurge is what the One of Neoplatonism throws out and all existence is sent out and organized by the demiurge. Essentially, the center of our practice functions as a demiurge organizing our practice around it and through it.

For those just coming into this discussion, a ‘henad’ means a unity of gods. A unity of gods in its absolute most basic definition can be thought of as a group of gods. More accurately, a henad conveys the idea that these gods are in some way interconnected on a fundamental level. They remain individuals but they are still unified on their fundamental level. This unity is what allows for things like syncretization and mythic role-swapping and overlap to happen, basically. 

So for us, henads are the groups of gods we interact with. Some of them will be entire pantheons whereas others will  be smaller groups. Some will be solidly of one pantheon; others will be mixed. Due to the concept of gods being perfect (here in the mathematical sense of containing all items in a set), they are able to unify across pantheons. (However, again, they still remain individuals with cultural significance and this is in no way an excuse to go “this closed culture god is unified with Zeus so Imma worship this closed culture god”. It merely explains how we can have so many gods with similar roles and powers as well as how syncretization or squishing of gods is possible.) In these henads, we naturally end up having something at the center that the rest of the henad gather around and extend from. This center is the demiurge. This is the deity who acts as a director for our practice and organizes the way our practice is laid out.

I think the best way for me to really illustrate the concept of the demiurge is to demonstrate through my own practice so that’s what I’m going to do. (One reason I liked this essay personally is it gave me words for the way I ended up structuring my religious practice. So my practice makes for a good example.)

My practice is focused entirely around the trollish jotnar of Norse mythology. For me, this makes up my henad of gods. To make a list of the ones I really have some working with we would have Angrboda, Surtr, Jormungandr, Skoll, Hati, Fenrir, Hel, Nidhoggr, Hraesvelgr, Eggsther, and Ymir. Typically, my practice has been centered all around Angrboda. She would be the demiurge. Around her the rest go to the periphery of my practice to some degree. Some are naturally closer than others but they’re not the center like she is. As the demiurge, she naturally directs how my practice is organized and focused. I have noted to myself how my practice, even when I’m learning about one of her kids, I almost always end up coming back to also learning about her in the process. She is the center and acts like both northern star and black hole, guiding me forward but simultaneously drawing me back to her. 

However, this topic is /poly/centric polytheism. This means that the center and thus the demiurge can change and for me for now it has. Angrboda has left me for a while and put Surtr in charge. So now, he is the demiurge of my practice and the director of my spiritual shenanigans. 

As demiurge of my practice Angrboda has me focused on monstrosity and nonhumanity but in my service to her I also have a strong humanitarian task of helping the ‘monstrous’ and othered. That’s one way she directs my practice. However under Surtr as demiurge, while in the ways Angrboda is nonhuman he’s far more human, he has me focused much more on throwing off chains humanity has placed on me and wants me to focus on becoming more monstrous and comfortable in my otherness. They shape my life and practice in noticeably different ways.

My practice also serves to illustrate how by worshiping and focusing on the one I am also worshiping the rest. I was just remarking to friends last night how by getting to know Surtr I was also learning about Angrboda more. By exploring my relationship with him I was also able to explore my relationship with her and learn more about both at the same time.