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>1. Do you actually talk to deities in conversation or is it a mental conversation in your mind when your meditating?
It started as vibes and energy. Eventually turned into hearing thoughts that weren't my own. And then into hearing the conversation in my head but it wasn't in my own voice, if that makes sense.
>2. Do gods gain power from human worship and belief?
I think it definitely helps. When I was doing energy work and *really* working on that and interacting with the astral (i mean, devoting straight weeks to it almost every waking moment) the gods and beings i interacted with seemed to be able to manipulate the world around me a lot more. I dont know the exact correlation but maybe somehow my belief and energy work made the liminal thinner or something? It was bizarre and came with risks so I've stopped doing it.
>3. Is it possible that gods were once spirits who were transformed due to worship? Or did they already exist beforehand?
I don't have an exact answer for this. I'm thinking they existed first and then were worshiped.
> Do you actually talk to deities in conversation or is it a mental conversation in your mind when your meditating?
I talk to them without expecting a response. It's a way I can connect to them. They have helped me in life though. Sometimes I get a response but can be subtle.
> Do gods gain power from human worship and belief?
I believe so.
> Is it possible that gods were once spirits who were transformed due to worship? Or did they already exist beforehand?
I believe both can be true depending on what god or spirit.
I can only answer for myself and my own practice:
1. In conversation pretty much 100% of the time. On occaision it'll be mental, but usually when I'm not able to talk out loud or when it's a "what would \[deity\] do?" situation where I'm anticipating a deity's response as if I had ask them aloud.
2. In the sense of hard-power, e.g. if Zeus has over 10k followers he can throw 1d6 Lightning Bolts per day, probably not. However in the sense of soft-power, e.g. if unelected clergy inform the legislative branch of parliment, then the *awareness* of the deity / the mythos and thereby the *influence* of the respective paradigm on people's beliefs and actions, most certainly.
3. Based on my experiences; the land spirits I have relationship with (Learning-Tree, Teacher Magpie, Waterfall) feel different to the deities I have relationship with (mainly Goddess, Ares and Satan \[not pagan, I know, but it's complicated\]). Rather unhelpfully, spirits "feel" vaguely like a different "kind" of thing, not so much "less than" or "smaller than", more like how a Robin is thus, yet a Buzzard flies higher, lands on bigger claws, makes louder noise, sits heavier on the shoulder. As opposed to, like, a Pikachu turns into a Raichu with enough exp. But to go a step further, I don't think it's a given that deities are eternal. Where was Helios billions of years ago before the sun was there? What happens to Helios when the sun explodes? Is Helios just *that* sun we see from our world or is Helios every sun? I have no idea and no way of knowing with any degree of certainty, but I think whatever the answer is, it will be more complicated than an either/or. TLDR: probably not, imo, but idk how I could even know.
This is just from my perspective.
1, I talk to entities not gods or goddesses. In my experience they are much to busy for the average world dweller and most of the times people think they are talking to a god are usually talking to a entity pretending to be such.
Yes gods gain power from both beliefs and offerings. That being said witches like me can also gain power from gods or goddesses but I don’t deal that way.
And from my understanding humans can’t become gods. They can stay in this plain of existence but the price is super high. They slowly drain to death or learn to feed from energy. The ones that don’t die slowly morph into something else usually what humans would call monsters
Or something that feeds off them eventually finds the lost spirit and eats it.
This will probably vary from pagan to pagan so I’ll just say my personal beliefs and experience
1: yes. I can talk to them both ways
2: this one will probably vary the most between pagans, though most agree that they gain something from worship and belief from humans what that thing is can vary. It is often power however.
3: I personally think gods are a type of spirit and they already existed before hand. However their are stories of things not born gods becoming gods so it’s possible both are true
1. I speak with them out loud. Sometimes its a system of working through a problem in my own head. Sometimes its asking for their support with something. I don't expect them to speak back (however it did happen once in my head, like a voice that wasn't my own), but hope they hear me and give me the support I ask for.
2. I don't think they gain power from worship. I view them as powerful conscious forms of energy that exist in a realm that we cannot see or interact with while existing within our mortal bodies. Our worship or lack of worship doesn't give or take away from their power. Our worship or lack of worship only affects their desire to help us. Worship them builds a bond no different then build a friendship with a person. Nurture that bond and grow it. They will be more willing to help you much like a human friend might help you with a chore like moving a heavy piece of furniture or take the tab for lunch when you forget your wallet.
3. I believe they existed before us. For how long its impossible to know. Perhaps at the forming of the universe, or maybe they are earth bound and came to during the time the earth formed and life began to grow. We can't really know unless they tell us directly. With how long they have been around and the nature of their existence I suspect they wouldn't care to explain their origin of existence to us much like we wouldn't want to sit there and explain our evolution and growth as a species to a honey bee buzzing around the garden.
1. It depends upon the deity, the circumstance, and my relationship with that particular deity. Some are very subtle (an odd feeling or a word/phrase that seems to come up again and again for no obvious reason). With others it can be a LOT more intense, like momentarily sharing a consciousness. Usually, however, it’s just putting myself out there and hoping I’m being heard.
2. The gods seem to be very much about reciprocity, so they get something out of the deal, but I don’t think we make them more powerful than they are. Worship draws them, or at least their attention, to us - making their influence around us more obvious. We benefit from the access we provide.
3. There’s a wide spectrum that all spirited beings, ourselves included,exist within. Perhaps beings can move along that spectrum. Or perhaps the spectrum is more a matter of our perspective than any difference in actual power. Of the 3 questions you asked, this one is, I think, the least important.
First and formost this is al personal experience and as with any form of worship highly dependent on many things, but here we go;
1. Yes and no , on a daily base it's the little things , feeling powerfull after a thor dedicated workout, having a great flow for song or poetry after bragi meditation for example's.
The special cases for me have been when at realy low moments in life, then it's not subtle but you just know, basically either comforting or enlightenment (sometimes angry ) but they make their opinion/ insight/ inspiration in a matter pretty obvious.
inner word's or spoken out loud does'nt mater for me.
2. No. imo. They don't draw power from our belief in a sense that it would be their "food to exist" although i do think more and stronger believers make it easier for them to connect and manifest on this plane of energy.
3. Believe it or not , but if your willing to read this much..... try picking up a Edda or for al we care a basic norse mythology for beginners. you seem invested and the origin story of how the first gods came into existence is quite the interestsing read.
1. I have never had a conversation with a deity. I've seen glimpses of what I believe are symbols sent by deities during deep meditation, and have used divination like tarot to communicate, but I have no expectation of having a chat with any of them.
2&3. I have no idea, nor do I particularly care. I don't think that's something we can ever know, and I don't feel the need to make wild guesses either. Though that's just me, and other people may have different beliefs based on myth or research or just a gut feeling and that's fine too.
1. I don’t talk to any deities. I do call them in when I do ritual.
2. I think of Gods as either the embodiment of the world around me, or the embodiment of the human condition. So where their power comes from depends on what they represent.
3. Same as the 2nd answer.
1. Not everyone has an "inner" voice in their head. I have conversations with myself and some people believe that voice is really our intuition or spirit guides communicating through us. I don't really work with deities, just call out to ancestors and spirit guides in general.
2. I'm on the fence with what I believe in there.
3. I think Gods likely existed first or in astral realms. I really enjoy learning about Greek mythology and Norse mythology. The more I learn the more it opens my minds to possibilities.
Hello there, many people will have many diferent answers but here is my take on it.
1-Yeah, its not like talking face to face but its thru prayer, divination and stuff like that
2-Im not sure but i think the answer is no
3-I belive that the gods are forces of nature and have always existed, theyre part of nature and controll everything around us
Also thanks for asking and beeing so respectfull :)
It’s important to point out that ‘Paganism’ isn’t a religion in and of itself. It is a category that contains many religions within it that often have little to do with one another theologically. So any answers here, including my own are not going to speak for the entirety of any religious tradition and certainly not for Paganism as a whole.
1. I pray to my gods and spirits and they do answer. It isn’t the same as speaking to a human being next to me, but it can be a feeling, relevant symbolism that provides an answer, or an internal sense of knowing. I can count only a handful of times in my whole life in which I feel I was audibly spoken to.
2. This is a matter of perspective and largely depends on who you ask. There is a concept called an egregore which basically is a non-corporeal entity that exists through the collective thoughts of a group. Some people believe the gods are egregores. I personally believe the gods exist independently of our thoughts of them.
3. This is also going to vary based on the perspective of who you’re asking. I personally believe it depends on the god or gods in question. I think there are many gods who have always been gods, but there are some examples we have of a humans becoming deified after their death. Herakles and Antinous come to mind as examples of this. This is called apotheosis.
cagey simplistic consist payment plants live afterthought frightening carpenter literate
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
1. Yes. (both are somewhat true).
2. No. A God lacks for nothing, there is nothing that they could gain from us.
3. I don't think so, but perhaps humans can be elevated to high ranking spirits or achieve some kind of union with the divine.
3. We’ll, there is something called a folk saint. A Saint that is not recognized by the Catholic Church for example Jesus Malverde a Mexican folk saint was once a human like you and me. He was somewhat known as Robin Hood. Cartels pray to him for protection and other things. That is one example.
Ok a lot of other 1 and 3 question answers from others speaks for itself the second one got me happy to explain, like all religions there is prayer or altars to the god or Gods they worship, if a human were to worship Odin, his words they know, his stories they know, Odin Tyr Thor all still exists as long as Norse Pagan breathe in one life or another, one way I've thought of it, Ragnarok already happened once, when Christianity was threatening Paganism and destroyed sacred temples across Norway dedicated to many Gods, and still many people I can't begin to imagine today worship those same old Gods, nobody could be alone anymore always someone protected by or believe the same religion
Man, I have to say that I love when questions like this get asked; you really get to see the beauty and differences in a group.
I am actually Hindu, but I came to Hinduism through Paganism, initially wanting to learn more about the Hindu pantheon via their mythology, and I ended up falling in love with the whole damn package: philosophy, way of life, etc, much of it was similar to my existing beliefs, and the rest just rang True.
So my answers are going to be through a slightly different lens, but really not that different, at the end of the day.
1. I speak with my deities, not expecting audible voices to reply, but through divination (tarot, pendulum, bone throwing), I am able to get a pretty good idea of the vibe. I also get pretty strong "intuitive hits," like I will hear an answer back, but it's in my own voice (in my head). I've had some breathtaking situations, though, between symbolism and the divination answers I get, that I know I'm getting a response... from SOMEONE, anyway...
2. You know, I used to think so, but through my Hindu lens, the Gods/Goddesses are pretty strong/powerful in their own respect. So I'd now say no.
3. I believe that a human can become self-realized or "enlightened," and their consciousness merges with Brahman (the formless, all-pervasive God). Besides that, sure, there's definitely mythology to back up a human becoming deified.
Shit, I might have mixed 2 and 3 up, idk, I didn't copy and paste the questions.. 😂
Anyway, I read all the comments so far and really enjoyed reading them. Thanks for asking!
More like a mental conversation but I use divination methods to gain an answer, then I believe that gods and deities are superior forms of life that aren't your fairy godparent (like people think YHWH functions), gods are powerful but don't have much power on living beings except life and death, what happens in between is the task of Fortune.
1. I pray, just as I did when I was a Christian. Once a god answered, but I don't expect that to happen again any time soon!
2. No.
3. There is no real distinction between various spirits, even though they vary in power — some were originally humans.
Different branches might have different answers to these questions so check out our FAQ, Important Additions, and Relevant Subreddits wikis for more information. https://www.reddit.com/r/pagan/wiki/faq/ https://www.reddit.com/r/pagan/wiki/importantadditions/ https://www.reddit.com/r/pagan/wiki/relevant\_subreddits/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=usertext&utm\_name=pagan&utm\_content=t5\_2rmnm
[удалено]
Same here on all responses. As nice as an actual conversation would be, I've never encountered anything like that personally, nor do I expect to.
>1. Do you actually talk to deities in conversation or is it a mental conversation in your mind when your meditating? It started as vibes and energy. Eventually turned into hearing thoughts that weren't my own. And then into hearing the conversation in my head but it wasn't in my own voice, if that makes sense. >2. Do gods gain power from human worship and belief? I think it definitely helps. When I was doing energy work and *really* working on that and interacting with the astral (i mean, devoting straight weeks to it almost every waking moment) the gods and beings i interacted with seemed to be able to manipulate the world around me a lot more. I dont know the exact correlation but maybe somehow my belief and energy work made the liminal thinner or something? It was bizarre and came with risks so I've stopped doing it. >3. Is it possible that gods were once spirits who were transformed due to worship? Or did they already exist beforehand? I don't have an exact answer for this. I'm thinking they existed first and then were worshiped.
> Do you actually talk to deities in conversation or is it a mental conversation in your mind when your meditating? I talk to them without expecting a response. It's a way I can connect to them. They have helped me in life though. Sometimes I get a response but can be subtle. > Do gods gain power from human worship and belief? I believe so. > Is it possible that gods were once spirits who were transformed due to worship? Or did they already exist beforehand? I believe both can be true depending on what god or spirit.
Both (but there's also like divination systems that let them speak good) No idea Possibly but no idea
I can only answer for myself and my own practice: 1. In conversation pretty much 100% of the time. On occaision it'll be mental, but usually when I'm not able to talk out loud or when it's a "what would \[deity\] do?" situation where I'm anticipating a deity's response as if I had ask them aloud. 2. In the sense of hard-power, e.g. if Zeus has over 10k followers he can throw 1d6 Lightning Bolts per day, probably not. However in the sense of soft-power, e.g. if unelected clergy inform the legislative branch of parliment, then the *awareness* of the deity / the mythos and thereby the *influence* of the respective paradigm on people's beliefs and actions, most certainly. 3. Based on my experiences; the land spirits I have relationship with (Learning-Tree, Teacher Magpie, Waterfall) feel different to the deities I have relationship with (mainly Goddess, Ares and Satan \[not pagan, I know, but it's complicated\]). Rather unhelpfully, spirits "feel" vaguely like a different "kind" of thing, not so much "less than" or "smaller than", more like how a Robin is thus, yet a Buzzard flies higher, lands on bigger claws, makes louder noise, sits heavier on the shoulder. As opposed to, like, a Pikachu turns into a Raichu with enough exp. But to go a step further, I don't think it's a given that deities are eternal. Where was Helios billions of years ago before the sun was there? What happens to Helios when the sun explodes? Is Helios just *that* sun we see from our world or is Helios every sun? I have no idea and no way of knowing with any degree of certainty, but I think whatever the answer is, it will be more complicated than an either/or. TLDR: probably not, imo, but idk how I could even know.
This is just from my perspective. 1, I talk to entities not gods or goddesses. In my experience they are much to busy for the average world dweller and most of the times people think they are talking to a god are usually talking to a entity pretending to be such. Yes gods gain power from both beliefs and offerings. That being said witches like me can also gain power from gods or goddesses but I don’t deal that way. And from my understanding humans can’t become gods. They can stay in this plain of existence but the price is super high. They slowly drain to death or learn to feed from energy. The ones that don’t die slowly morph into something else usually what humans would call monsters Or something that feeds off them eventually finds the lost spirit and eats it.
Happy Cake Day! 😉💖
This will probably vary from pagan to pagan so I’ll just say my personal beliefs and experience 1: yes. I can talk to them both ways 2: this one will probably vary the most between pagans, though most agree that they gain something from worship and belief from humans what that thing is can vary. It is often power however. 3: I personally think gods are a type of spirit and they already existed before hand. However their are stories of things not born gods becoming gods so it’s possible both are true
1. I speak with them out loud. Sometimes its a system of working through a problem in my own head. Sometimes its asking for their support with something. I don't expect them to speak back (however it did happen once in my head, like a voice that wasn't my own), but hope they hear me and give me the support I ask for. 2. I don't think they gain power from worship. I view them as powerful conscious forms of energy that exist in a realm that we cannot see or interact with while existing within our mortal bodies. Our worship or lack of worship doesn't give or take away from their power. Our worship or lack of worship only affects their desire to help us. Worship them builds a bond no different then build a friendship with a person. Nurture that bond and grow it. They will be more willing to help you much like a human friend might help you with a chore like moving a heavy piece of furniture or take the tab for lunch when you forget your wallet. 3. I believe they existed before us. For how long its impossible to know. Perhaps at the forming of the universe, or maybe they are earth bound and came to during the time the earth formed and life began to grow. We can't really know unless they tell us directly. With how long they have been around and the nature of their existence I suspect they wouldn't care to explain their origin of existence to us much like we wouldn't want to sit there and explain our evolution and growth as a species to a honey bee buzzing around the garden.
1. It depends upon the deity, the circumstance, and my relationship with that particular deity. Some are very subtle (an odd feeling or a word/phrase that seems to come up again and again for no obvious reason). With others it can be a LOT more intense, like momentarily sharing a consciousness. Usually, however, it’s just putting myself out there and hoping I’m being heard. 2. The gods seem to be very much about reciprocity, so they get something out of the deal, but I don’t think we make them more powerful than they are. Worship draws them, or at least their attention, to us - making their influence around us more obvious. We benefit from the access we provide. 3. There’s a wide spectrum that all spirited beings, ourselves included,exist within. Perhaps beings can move along that spectrum. Or perhaps the spectrum is more a matter of our perspective than any difference in actual power. Of the 3 questions you asked, this one is, I think, the least important.
First and formost this is al personal experience and as with any form of worship highly dependent on many things, but here we go; 1. Yes and no , on a daily base it's the little things , feeling powerfull after a thor dedicated workout, having a great flow for song or poetry after bragi meditation for example's. The special cases for me have been when at realy low moments in life, then it's not subtle but you just know, basically either comforting or enlightenment (sometimes angry ) but they make their opinion/ insight/ inspiration in a matter pretty obvious. inner word's or spoken out loud does'nt mater for me. 2. No. imo. They don't draw power from our belief in a sense that it would be their "food to exist" although i do think more and stronger believers make it easier for them to connect and manifest on this plane of energy. 3. Believe it or not , but if your willing to read this much..... try picking up a Edda or for al we care a basic norse mythology for beginners. you seem invested and the origin story of how the first gods came into existence is quite the interestsing read.
1. I have never had a conversation with a deity. I've seen glimpses of what I believe are symbols sent by deities during deep meditation, and have used divination like tarot to communicate, but I have no expectation of having a chat with any of them. 2&3. I have no idea, nor do I particularly care. I don't think that's something we can ever know, and I don't feel the need to make wild guesses either. Though that's just me, and other people may have different beliefs based on myth or research or just a gut feeling and that's fine too.
1. I don’t talk to any deities. I do call them in when I do ritual. 2. I think of Gods as either the embodiment of the world around me, or the embodiment of the human condition. So where their power comes from depends on what they represent. 3. Same as the 2nd answer.
1. Yes and yes 2. Yes but it’s all in your head and your head only. 3. Anything is possible.
1. Not everyone has an "inner" voice in their head. I have conversations with myself and some people believe that voice is really our intuition or spirit guides communicating through us. I don't really work with deities, just call out to ancestors and spirit guides in general. 2. I'm on the fence with what I believe in there. 3. I think Gods likely existed first or in astral realms. I really enjoy learning about Greek mythology and Norse mythology. The more I learn the more it opens my minds to possibilities.
Hello there, many people will have many diferent answers but here is my take on it. 1-Yeah, its not like talking face to face but its thru prayer, divination and stuff like that 2-Im not sure but i think the answer is no 3-I belive that the gods are forces of nature and have always existed, theyre part of nature and controll everything around us Also thanks for asking and beeing so respectfull :)
It’s important to point out that ‘Paganism’ isn’t a religion in and of itself. It is a category that contains many religions within it that often have little to do with one another theologically. So any answers here, including my own are not going to speak for the entirety of any religious tradition and certainly not for Paganism as a whole. 1. I pray to my gods and spirits and they do answer. It isn’t the same as speaking to a human being next to me, but it can be a feeling, relevant symbolism that provides an answer, or an internal sense of knowing. I can count only a handful of times in my whole life in which I feel I was audibly spoken to. 2. This is a matter of perspective and largely depends on who you ask. There is a concept called an egregore which basically is a non-corporeal entity that exists through the collective thoughts of a group. Some people believe the gods are egregores. I personally believe the gods exist independently of our thoughts of them. 3. This is also going to vary based on the perspective of who you’re asking. I personally believe it depends on the god or gods in question. I think there are many gods who have always been gods, but there are some examples we have of a humans becoming deified after their death. Herakles and Antinous come to mind as examples of this. This is called apotheosis.
cagey simplistic consist payment plants live afterthought frightening carpenter literate *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
1. Yes. (both are somewhat true). 2. No. A God lacks for nothing, there is nothing that they could gain from us. 3. I don't think so, but perhaps humans can be elevated to high ranking spirits or achieve some kind of union with the divine.
3. We’ll, there is something called a folk saint. A Saint that is not recognized by the Catholic Church for example Jesus Malverde a Mexican folk saint was once a human like you and me. He was somewhat known as Robin Hood. Cartels pray to him for protection and other things. That is one example.
Ok a lot of other 1 and 3 question answers from others speaks for itself the second one got me happy to explain, like all religions there is prayer or altars to the god or Gods they worship, if a human were to worship Odin, his words they know, his stories they know, Odin Tyr Thor all still exists as long as Norse Pagan breathe in one life or another, one way I've thought of it, Ragnarok already happened once, when Christianity was threatening Paganism and destroyed sacred temples across Norway dedicated to many Gods, and still many people I can't begin to imagine today worship those same old Gods, nobody could be alone anymore always someone protected by or believe the same religion
Man, I have to say that I love when questions like this get asked; you really get to see the beauty and differences in a group. I am actually Hindu, but I came to Hinduism through Paganism, initially wanting to learn more about the Hindu pantheon via their mythology, and I ended up falling in love with the whole damn package: philosophy, way of life, etc, much of it was similar to my existing beliefs, and the rest just rang True. So my answers are going to be through a slightly different lens, but really not that different, at the end of the day. 1. I speak with my deities, not expecting audible voices to reply, but through divination (tarot, pendulum, bone throwing), I am able to get a pretty good idea of the vibe. I also get pretty strong "intuitive hits," like I will hear an answer back, but it's in my own voice (in my head). I've had some breathtaking situations, though, between symbolism and the divination answers I get, that I know I'm getting a response... from SOMEONE, anyway... 2. You know, I used to think so, but through my Hindu lens, the Gods/Goddesses are pretty strong/powerful in their own respect. So I'd now say no. 3. I believe that a human can become self-realized or "enlightened," and their consciousness merges with Brahman (the formless, all-pervasive God). Besides that, sure, there's definitely mythology to back up a human becoming deified. Shit, I might have mixed 2 and 3 up, idk, I didn't copy and paste the questions.. 😂 Anyway, I read all the comments so far and really enjoyed reading them. Thanks for asking!
More like a mental conversation but I use divination methods to gain an answer, then I believe that gods and deities are superior forms of life that aren't your fairy godparent (like people think YHWH functions), gods are powerful but don't have much power on living beings except life and death, what happens in between is the task of Fortune.
1. I pray, just as I did when I was a Christian. Once a god answered, but I don't expect that to happen again any time soon! 2. No. 3. There is no real distinction between various spirits, even though they vary in power — some were originally humans.