Deity Work: Respect vs. Honor vs. Devotion
When deciding to add a religious component into your practice, there’s a lot of factors to consider.
What practices are closed to me?
What kind of relationship do I want to build with the Divine?
How do I practice a religion that most believe to be long gone?
Have I dealt with any negative experiences/beliefs/mindsets that may be hard to let go of from my old religious practices?
While all of these are important, I want to focus on a simple but crucial distinction within deity work- what it means to respect or honor a deity compared to devotion to a deity.
Respecting a deity is basically extending common courtesy towards Divine entities that you are not directly involved with. Speaking of them with respect and engaging in discussion of theological differences without deliberate contempt or ridicule.
Why? Well, for one, I think it’s a good idea not to antagonize a being I can’t even comprehend, even if I don’t believe in them. But primarily, it’s an extension of my respect towards those of different faiths. It’s important to note that respecting a deity doesn’t mean respecting people or organizations who use their faith as justification to harm others. It doesn’t mean agreeing or supporting every aspect of a religion’s theology.
My common courtesy does not extend to religious leaders within the Catholic church that have refused to apologize or take responsibility for the decades of abuse of Indigenous children.
If you live in the U.S. or Canada- go to this website and learn what Native land you’re living on. If you can, make a donation to a local or national Indigenous organization to start making a dent in these injustices.
Respect is simply having good manners. It’s how we want others to treat our deities, symbols, and traditions.
Honoring a deity is when you believe in a deity, you engage in practices with/for/associated with them but you do not have a personal commitment to a relationship with them.
For example, I honor all of the deities of the Hellenic pantheon. I might make offerings on days of significance or participate in specific festivals but I don’t have a dedicated altar space or have a committed practice of worship. And I also don’t honor all of the Hellenic deities in the same way or with the same frequency. I honor Artemis and Dionysus more than others because of personal connection.
I think it’s important for polytheistic pagans not to feel pressured into honoring every single deity within that pantheon. Setting aside the 12 Olympians, there are dozens of deities within the Hellenic pantheon. Learning and feeling confident enough to work with 1 deity is already challenging, so please be kind to yourself.
Devotion is making the commitment to a personal relationship with a deity. It takes a lot of time and emotional energy to devote yourself to a deity, lots of learning and understanding of them and their traditions.
There’s no framework for how to devote yourself or if you should become devoted to a deity. It’s a very personal journey and it’s impossible for anyone to tell you exactly what to do if you’re interested in a deity. I can offer advice about my experience with Apollo, but your experience with Him will be completely unique to you.
Devotion to a deity as a practice also looks very different. I have a dedicated altar, I pray, I make offerings and celebrate festivals. But if your relationship with a deity doesn’t include any of that? That is okay. Especially if you’re a solitary practitioner and learning on your own- the Divine are patient and understanding. We’re human and I really believe that the Divine prefer you at your most genuine rather than perfection. Especially if that fear of not being “good enough” is what’s keeping you from establishing that relationship in the first place.
I hope that helps clarify the differences. You can always send a message or an ask with questions on deity work or other witchy topics. Just know that with deity work in particular, it’s hard to get specific answers because of how personal that journey is.
How do you perform deity work? What’s something you love about your particular path or pantheon?
Brightest blessings! - Kate