Although, being a Gnostic, I tend to think of there being one highest god (The Alien God, the Plemora, whatever you wish to call it) I still do pray and work with a variety of gods. I can't say I'm quite sure what these gods exactly are (entities formed from the collective unconsciousness?), I still find them very fascinating. Sometimes I like to think of them as frequencies or wavelenghts, and every individual can tune into them, to some extent.
In a way, I like to think of the pantheon of gods I worship as some sort of super-team, each member having their own sort of super-power(s). Being a dork I tend to look to things like comics and such to inform my technique. Now, when Commissioner Gordan in "Batman" had a problem too big to face on his own he evoked Batman by launching a giant sigil into the sky (the bat logo, in this case). In real life when I'm faced with a problem too big for me to face alone I visualize myself casting off this beam of light into the sky with the appropriate sigil/mandala/image to inform a particular god/goddess that I'm in need of their talents. In return for these favors I supply them with worship, prayer, devotion, and earthly things.
In my bedroom I've recently converted one of my bookshelves into sort of a shrine/occult power station. This shrine was created for the harvesting of otherworldy energies and as a place of worship for gods of my pantheon... A miniature church, you could call it. On the floor of the shelf I placed objects that were meant to represent sigils of the god/goddess (kind of like the sigil gallery of The Endless in "The Sandman"). For example, I have a statue of Bast, a little Ganesh "monster-in-my-pocket" toy perched atop a Lego alter, various pictures of the gods, etc. Sometimes when I wish to speak to these gods and give them the grandness they deserve I place a Lego version of myself before the God I wish to speak to and carry on a conversation in this manner.
Brief comments on my working relationship with some of these entities:
PAN
One of the first gods who caught my attention. When I was a child I loved reading about Greek mythology and Pan was a favorite. Years later reading the writings of William S. Burroughs my interest was revived in him. I don't have a statue of Pan so instead I represent him with a pan flute I purchased many years ago. Truth be told, ever since a bizarre invocation I haven't worked with him in awhile, mainly because I'm not sure what to even offer him... What do you give to the God that is everything?
GANESH
Ganesh has always been a fave. Not only is he the destroyer of obstacles but he's also the god of scribes and writing, so every Sunday I leave an offering of sweets on his alter. I then eat the previous weeks sweets, imagining a bit of Ganesh's powers having been inserted in them via bathing in his radient glow. I do this to help my writing.
BAST
Another god who I'm still trying to figure out what I can best offer her, I like Bast a lot and spend alot of time thinking of her. To remind myself of her many aspects behind the Bast statue I've posted two pictures: One is a panel of how she appeared in "Sandman", while the other is a picture of Tinker, the vicious technologically enhanced battle cat from GM's new "We3" series. On one hand Bast is the protector of cats and fun-loving, but she can also be seen as the ruthless, warrior-like protector of the Pharoahs. Someone you want to have on your side, in other words.
ERIS
I like discordianism to a small extent and Eris has always had a fascination to me. About a week or so after building my shrine and decorating it I got into a car accident. Either Eris wanted to throw a bit of chaos into my life, or she was having a diva-like fit that I had neglected to include her in the shrine. I've actually been working with her quite a bit recently, as I try to become less of a control freak.
HYPNOS
Greek god of sleep, whenever I'm having trouble sleeping I'll call on Hypnos for help.
MACHA
Another greek god, I mainly like Macha because I like crows. I don't call on her very often because I haven't found much information on her, but I've had some very odd experiences with crows.
THE FABULOUS MR. MEANINGLESS
Serving the same function as to me as Black Eagle did to Zos, the Fab Mr. Meaningless is an oracle and (I think) one of Eris' children. Another chaos aspect. I've been trying to assimilate him into myself as of recently.
Besides these gods my shrine is also decorated with photos of real-life people who have attained mythic-like status in my eyes, at least: Dali, WSB, and various others.
What I'm trying to do now is see how these relationships develop and I'm also trying to learn how to speak their language... You know, I'm not into all that astral stuff so the way in which they communicate to me is very subtle at times. I always have to be paying attention to try to figure out when they're trying to get in touch with me. |
And he seems to like her just fine.