As I grow more confident on my journey, feeling secure on my path, things keep occurring to me that really overwhelm my preconceived notions about religion and spirituality. Now knowing that worshiping a specific pantheon isn't required of me, I still maintained a semblance of one in practice. Specifically, my "hearth" goddess.
I was writing out different prayers to the various hearth goddesses in a small notebook to keep in the kitchen so I wouldn't have to keep bringing out my various Pagan prayer books when something very profound (to me anyway) hit me: do I need a specific hearth goddess and do I need a hearth goddess at all? I'll be honest that every time I have look at that altar I've only ever seen Hecate, and although I've had visitations from other goddesses on that altar from time to time, rarely has it ever been a "hearth" goddess. My relationships with the "hearth" goddesses have been tenuous at best. Finding that connection was never solid or permanent.
So I asked myself what the heck was I doing? Lighting the candle and incense on that altar has become a daily ritual with me although I never know just who the hearth goddess was supposed to be. Now it turns out that there never was a hearth goddess attached to that altar at all. The goddess I least expected, turns out she lives there.
When I think about it, it makes more sense to me that Hecate would be there. When I think of myself as a witch, I think of the kitchen as being more of a working room than my main altar because it has the tools in there I would utilize more often and more safely than I would in my bedroom. Or the living room, however that turns out from week to week. And I've always thought of Hecate as the goddess I would work magick with rather than any of the other gods.
So I continue to break free from those perceptions I've carried with me all my life. And even those new ones I've discovered since leaving my birth religion behind.
Since my sojourn with the Greeks, I have seen Hecate and Persephone as sisters in purpose although I couldn't really define what that purpose is. So it makes sense to me that instead of trying to stick to a paradigm of how the household used to be run or how it's perceived in neo-paganism today, I should view my home as I see it and how I should use it. While I still believe there are household gods that I need to show honor to, the hearth goddess just isn't dominant in my life.
Realizing this also brings Persephone up to a more prominent place on my main altar as well. And since I've always had a hard time with the Celtic/ish gods, I don't know why I've thought that this path would be dominated by them. I just have to stop thinking inside the box and let the gods come to me instead of trying to force them into a place on my altar and in my life.
Very liberating it is.
BB
I was writing out different prayers to the various hearth goddesses in a small notebook to keep in the kitchen so I wouldn't have to keep bringing out my various Pagan prayer books when something very profound (to me anyway) hit me: do I need a specific hearth goddess and do I need a hearth goddess at all? I'll be honest that every time I have look at that altar I've only ever seen Hecate, and although I've had visitations from other goddesses on that altar from time to time, rarely has it ever been a "hearth" goddess. My relationships with the "hearth" goddesses have been tenuous at best. Finding that connection was never solid or permanent.
So I asked myself what the heck was I doing? Lighting the candle and incense on that altar has become a daily ritual with me although I never know just who the hearth goddess was supposed to be. Now it turns out that there never was a hearth goddess attached to that altar at all. The goddess I least expected, turns out she lives there.
When I think about it, it makes more sense to me that Hecate would be there. When I think of myself as a witch, I think of the kitchen as being more of a working room than my main altar because it has the tools in there I would utilize more often and more safely than I would in my bedroom. Or the living room, however that turns out from week to week. And I've always thought of Hecate as the goddess I would work magick with rather than any of the other gods.
So I continue to break free from those perceptions I've carried with me all my life. And even those new ones I've discovered since leaving my birth religion behind.
Since my sojourn with the Greeks, I have seen Hecate and Persephone as sisters in purpose although I couldn't really define what that purpose is. So it makes sense to me that instead of trying to stick to a paradigm of how the household used to be run or how it's perceived in neo-paganism today, I should view my home as I see it and how I should use it. While I still believe there are household gods that I need to show honor to, the hearth goddess just isn't dominant in my life.
Realizing this also brings Persephone up to a more prominent place on my main altar as well. And since I've always had a hard time with the Celtic/ish gods, I don't know why I've thought that this path would be dominated by them. I just have to stop thinking inside the box and let the gods come to me instead of trying to force them into a place on my altar and in my life.
Very liberating it is.
BB
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