The Nature of God Herself and the Universe

Originally taken from here, no artist credit at that site.
Pretty, no?

 In my theology, I embrace paradox- after all, I am a hard polytheist compared to most neo-Wiccans (who believe all goddesses are "the goddess" and all gods are "the god". Yet I believe that we (gods, humans, rocks, and everything) are All One. We are God Herself, having an individuated experience through us. Individuality is an illusion. In this, I find common ground with monotheists like Sufis, mystic Jews, Gnostics, and Unitarian Universalists.

"Universe, may every aspect of my being be converted to truth. May every cell fall into place and serve a higher plan. I no longer wish to be who I was. I wish to be who I am." -Marianne Williamson

This post I came across a few months ago really spoke to me and encouraged me to write a bit about what I believe about the divine. Hard work to do, really. Most gnosis I have of Them is experiential, so putting this information into words for others to grasp is a difficult task, so bear with me.

I personally see the individuated gods the ways I see humans- we are individuated so that the Star Goddess can experience life individually- which is foreign and novel to Her. She gets a corporeal experience with we humans, and a non-corporeal experience with gods (and other beings like them). She gets to experience all the wonderful manifestations through all of us- gender and sexuality, bodily and energetic life in its infinite manifestations, and so much more. In this way (among others) we are the gods' equals.

"You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop." -Rumi

Lucifer, Lord of Light.

The gods that I work closely with- Lilith, Lucifer, Ganesh, The King and Queen of Elphame*- all of them are very different from one another. They all have varying "flavors" energetically and have different roles to play and myriad lessons to impart. They are indeed individuals as much as I am one- separate from you and everyone else, dear reader. To think that all the myriad gods are one is correct and incorrect. They are actually One, but that One includes all goddesses and us, too.

To lump all "male" deity into one camp and all "female" into another creates yet another fiction (in addition to the fiction of individuation). It creates the fiction that the gods have gender. They don't. We choose to see them in specific ways because humans cannot help the clasification we do. We like categories and place everything into them. (Just ask any ceremonial magician, with those correspondance charts! I kid, I kid!)

Work with deity for me means experiencing them individually, getting to know them intimately. In this way, I can get close to Her- the All-There-Is, who is terrible and in many respects unknowable. It is the same with human relationships too. Living in peace with others and finding resolution is a religious act.

We experience mundane life as individuals and we experience others in this fashion, too. And that is part of the truth- but not the whole truth. The whole truth is that we are all Her, all connected and One. And at amazing, breathtaking, awe-inspiring times I can feel that. It's why I do magick and have ritual. It's why I partake of divine possession and entheogens. I can feel it when I have the best Sex. Sometimes that feeling is pleasant, but often the sensation is overwhelming and uncomfortable. So the individuation is a blessing and a gift to me as much as it is to Her, experiencing individuated life through me.

Lilith

In my tradition, we often work with a specific triad** of goddesses (who represent not just three moon phases, but yes, also that) and dyads of gods (we often call them divine twins). (We also have twinnings of gods and goddesses, 'cuz we roll like that.) Often novices who do not understand the theological underpinnings in the tradition see the twins as simple dualisms and conflate them with neo-Wiccan fertility pairings. I assure you, they are NOT. We have twins because as Rumi so beautifully put it, ""God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches you by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly - not one."

That's it for now. But if you have any comments or questions, I would love to hear them, either in the comments below or on the Facebook page!

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* and of course, I work with more than those, but those are the most common "go-to" beings.
**and where there are three, there are always four!