Deities of Service and Tutelage (was Matron/Non-Binary/Patron/Tutelary Deity (partial DRAFT)

NB - some of the links in this updated definition are to locations within the document I wrote this for. Over time I will try to correct those links  

I have adopted the term Deities of Service and Tutelage rather than Matron/Non-Binary/Patron/Tutelary Deity as the new term is both  

1. more precise - especially about the fact of some of this matter being about being in service to a greater cause, rather than the spiritually immature and bypassing attitude of too many people (especially those who think perusing list of Deity attributes is like perusing a travel brochure or a menu) have that Deities are to serve us; and  

1. more spiritual as it is inclusive and reflects the fact that neither gender nor sex are a binary.  

On the point of being in service, see also “Patron (Tutelary) Deities in Modern Paganism”, by John Beckett on the Under the Ancient Oaks blog, and also the “Correllian Book of the Dead”    

 

It is possible for someone to form a particular connection with one Deity that is stronger or more prominent than connection to other Deities (unless one is monotheistic, but this blog is not written around those sorts of views - which too often lead, in my experience, to intolerance). This is often portrayed in modern teachings as a form of friendship, but it is much deeper than that - and even that aspect may be abused by the incarnate persons, in my experience. Furthermore, sometimes this relationship may involve little that one would necessarily consider friendly in the modern sense. 

To elaborate on that, first, let's consider the word 'Patron'. In this context, it means someone who is able to, and does provide, assistance. That assistance could be protection, teaching, skills, etc. 

However, it is a two way street. In much the same way that a friend who is neglected or taken advantage of in the mundane world will eventually no longer be a friend, a Patron, Matron, or Non-binary Deity is someone who one should actively seek to cultivate a relationship with – being mindful that it is not a relationship of equals (as is the case with friendships), but more a case of teacher and student, or team leader and team member, or organisation officer or committee member and organisation ordinary member. In the case of a Patron, Matron, or Non-binary Deity, in the interests of showing proper gratitude and a fair and balanced relationship, that will also involve the person being benefitted, the incarnate person, doing work for, or giving energy or other gifts to (when I light a candle to request something from a Deity, I light two in reverence to give more than I take), the Patron, Matron, or Non-binary Deity.  

As an example, consider my Patron Deity Týr. The service I provide to Him is working for social justice; the benefits I receive include courage, strength, perception and protection. If I consider my Matron Deity the Morríghan, the service I provide is assistance with spirit rescue; the benefits I receive are assistance with opportunities and skills for me to accomplish this life task, a clearer aura, and increased personal strength (including nonphysical sensing).  

These are fairly comfortable relationships, as my and the respective Deity's aims coincide. But heed this! I have never chosen any of my Matron/Patron/Non-binary Deities! THEY chose me - or, rather, they CLAIMED me. Richard Bach once wrote something along the lines that a book is an idea that smashes its way through a wall, gently seizes you, and says it will not let go until it has been written. Matron/Patron/Non-binary Deities, in my experience, are like that.  

I didn't read a list of Deities' attributes, as if I was reviewing a set of job applications, and then grandly decide "you'll do - you can serve me and do my bidding". No, 

EVERY 

SINGLE 

PATRON DEITY 

I HAVE 

EXPECTS ME 

TO SERVE THEM 

If you've read through a list of Deities and their characteristics to 'choose' a Matron/Patron/Non-binary Deity that you most like, you may not actually have a Matron/Patron/Non-binary relationship, no matter how much sucking up you do. If you just expect the Deity to do your bidding without ANY 'sucking up', you are kidding yourself - you have NOTHING … except possibly a growing spiritual DEBT.  

The relationship with Matron/Patron/Non-binary Deities can be more difficult - for instance the work I do for Yinepu (who most people refer to by His Greek name, Anubis) is, as with the Morríghan (multiple Deities for one issue indicates it is a major issue for you and the world, and thus requires the additional resources – much as a physical army may need two, not one, divisions for an attack, or cleaning after a function may three three people, not two – it is NOT disrespectful or presuming that knowledge is flawed, but knows that knowledge of different entities can be complementary – see Links regarding serving multiple Deities), spirit rescue. Often this is enjoyable or at least rewarding, but at times it is difficult, challenging, exhausting work - especially so when I was learning. The work I do for Bast, the work where I am seeking to protect cats against human cruelty, can be extremely upsetting … but also extremely rewarding when I am able to befriend cats relatively easily. 

This can get even more difficult if your Matron/Patron/Non-binary Deity is not so easily anthropomorphised into a human image ... (for some more thoughts on that, see Anthropomorphising)  

In the old days, my impression is that, often, it was the quality of one's relationship with a Deity that mattered more than whether or not that Deity's attributes best suit the goal you have. That meant, establish a good, healthy relationship with a Deity, and ask that Deity to intercede with others if need be, rather than being so arrogant as to presume that all Deities exist to serve your whims. They have tasks and work as well, you should know :  anything they can do for you is a minor - miniscule - matter for them, not something of pressing importance. (For more o the topic of service, see Some thoughts on being in service.)  

There can also be changes in all this - see Developments (i.e., changes) in my Deities of Tutelage and Service 

 

Links regarding serving multiple Deities  

• Theurgic binding: or, “S#!t just got real”, by Morpheus Ravenna, about the consequences of making a commitment to a or several Deity/Deities, which includes several links to responses to her article. Those links that I liked follow; 
• Holy Work and Two Lies of Religion, by John Beckett, which has a similar theme.  

 

Other reference links  

• The Only Choice, by Dver (I might have to check in there again, actually); 
• The Sighted and The Blind, by Rhyd Wildermuth; and 
• the clear logic and thinking of Responses to Theurgic Binding, by Ember (I will have to call in there again, as well, particularly as she also is working on a glossary). 

 

Anthropomorphising  

I'd like to touch on the advantages and dangers of anthropomorphising powers .  

Now, in general, most of what I've come across on the notion of anthropomorphising powers (e.g., viewing the wind as something created by a being blowing air around, and giving a name to something frightening or uncontrollable [such as volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunami, or tornadoes] ) is critical of that concept.  

Such criticism includes points such as: it belittles the power being treated that way. (If you want to know more about such views, I suggest you try John Beckett's blog "Under the Ancient Oaks" [I haven't done a search as it keeps trying to permanently disable my ad blocker, which I find presumptuous, invasive and offensive, and consider a major security and privacy risk to boot, so I do not bother with such sites] .)   

Those points are worth considering, in my opinion, but anthropomorphising powers can also be a potential advantage - if it is part of a time-phased development of someone's ability to interact with, appreciate, or understand that power.  

This example is not quite the same, but as a child I used to have nightmares about dinosaurs (specifically, being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex) after I saw Disney's "Fantasia" (the brooms going out of control during the "sorcerer's apprentice" segment wasn't much fun either). The nightmares eased as I grew, but I was always uncomfortable about carnivorous dinosaurs ... until I saw "Jurassic Park". Oddly enough, the description of the science was more reassuring to me than the "scary" scenes were upsetting. I made myself go and see it a few times, and now, while I certainly would avoid a T. rex (or the modern  version of dinosaur), I no longer have a strange fear of them. (I won't describe that fear as irrational: somewhere there was some meaning or significance [to be a little facetious, given the view in some shamanic groups that power  animals are those that kill you {which applies to my power animals Wolf and - I kid you not - Giraffe [the family associations of Giraffe are particularly significant for me], but not the others}, perhaps the T. rex is a power animal of mine ... ] .)   

Let's consider another film from that era: the Steven Spielberg film "Jaws". While I was annoyed at my visceral reaction to the music score, and the next few times I was on a Sailfish(the Australian one) I kept my feet out of the water, I didn't develop a strong fear of sharks, but I did seek information and develop a wary respect for them.  

In the first example, getting an "inside insight" enabled me to see through my fears of a nightmarish - to me - creature and come to a more balanced understanding, including an understanding of its role in the ecology of the world of their time - and its rarity (a recent article suggested that the peak number of T rex's at any one time may have been 20,000 globally). In the second, my introduction was through a combination of "inside insight" and a graphic warning of their dangers, which led me to a balanced understanding of them, including the role they play in the ecology of today's oceans.  

Now, for another example, let's consider storms - particularly, thunderstorms. For most of my life, I've loved storms - I felt the exultation of being in powerful winds, and love sailing in rough weather (I was always more successful sailing competitively in gales than on moderate or light wind days). However, I know the dangers:   as a teenager I was often used, because of my ability in rough weather, to help others who were not as well suited to rough weather sailing;   I read about the devastation of Cyclone  Tracey in Darwin;   and,   through research for a history assignment, I found out about the devastation caused in Mackay by a cyclone in 1918(which actually changed the path of the Pioneer River). Subsequently, I was given ways to calculate the effect of wind on structures while studying engineering at Uni, and my concerns were made more specific (in particular, understrength buildings - and I was concerned to discover that the area that was wiped out in Mackay is now being built in again ... ). In addition, reading "Heavy Weather Sailing" by Adlard Coles, "Once is Enough" and similar books also gave me more specific concerns about rough weather sailing - on top of all the rough weather experience, which includes all the rescue work I have done. (I also went out before a national championship race and handled the strong winds fairly easily, which led to race organisers underestimating my ability because I was so young, starting the race - and seeing most of us  wiped out [ironically, including me, but that was because we ran into some jellyfish that were densely packed enough to capsize the boat rather than problems with the wind.) My understanding and appreciation have both matured as I have, and, when I came across Thor, I came across a way to personalise (i.e., anthropomorphise) my interactions with storms.  

But if, at any one stage, I had said "this is how I am on this power" (whether dinosaurs, sharks, or storms), "and that is how it must always be", then I would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle, as I would have blocked myself from further growth. And note that the growth often did not change what I "liked", it often gave that "liking" a depth and maturity that enhanced it, even as I appreciated also the dangers and the changes (which can be unsettling / uncomfortable or devastating) associated with those powers.  

 

Some thoughts on being in service  

The best way I can approach this is, in my opinion, with a quote from "Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth" by Stuart Holroyd (Pub. Corgi, 1979; ISBN 10: 0552109975, ISBN 13: 9780552109970):  

"If we must go in for psychological speculation - which we must if only because everyone else will, rather than accept the story at its face value - it would, I think, be subtler and more apposite to think of these three not as seeking the satisfaction of exercising power but rather that of being exercised by it. The sense of being in service to a cause, of having a personal destiny bound up with the destiny of something greater and more significant than self, is surely an under-acknowledged component of the motivation of much extraordinary behaviour." (Chapter Two)  

 

Developments (i.e., changes) in my Deities of Tutelage and Service  

The following is from https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2021/04/post-no-1838-matronpatron-deities.html 

Now, one of my most prominent Patron Deities has been, for many years, Týr(or Tiwaz) - the Deity of community service and acting for the greater good, as Týr does in the story of the wolf Fenrir(also referred to as Fenris-wolf), when Týr puts his sword hand in Fenrir's mouth to gain Fenrir's trust while the other Æsir Deities bind the wolf. Of course, when Fenrir discovers that he is being bound, he bites off the sword hand of the most accomplished sword fighter amongst the Deities, so the Deity also has an association of personal sacrifice for the greater good.   

However, through my day job I came across someone (at another company) who appears to also have been a devotee of Týr - but focuses on the business benefits that Týr apparently also has. The clash of our values - community service vs. material gain for self - was strong, and I found the discordance of values, the dissonant experience of that person's relationship with Tyr, and our personality clash so unpleasant it has left me with some disquiet in my relationship with Týr (along the lines of "how could you?" - which reflects my limited understanding of that Deity).  

In some ways, this is a little like those idiot journalists who use an acronym for a West Asian violent extremist group that is also the Greek name for the Egyptian Goddess Aset - it has made using the most commonly known name of this Goddess With a Thousand Names impossible, just as the thugs who took over Germany in the 30s and dragged the world into World War Two have made using a sacred symbol of divinity and spirituality shared by several Indian religions impossible. (There are also mundane examples of this blow to "good" associations - such as child abuse victims who cannot go into the places they were abused in [such as churches if they were abused in a church, or all banks if they were abused in a bank, or all schools if they were abused in a school [which is still a problem for me] .)  

I am still doing the sort of work I was doing, but without the same strength of connection to Týr - which does have a noticeable effect.  

There have been other changes in recent years as well, such as my being claimed by The  Morríghan - which, although I have no awareness of being devoured by her, was quite as terrifying as being claimed by my Power Animals Wolf and Giraffe.  

It is possible to say no to a Matron/Patron Deity, or to negotiate the terms of service/work, which is something John Beckett also covers. I did that with The Morríghan.  

I speculated, a little, about whether another Deity would take on a role or personal (i.e., to me) prominence such as that which Týr used to have - not out of any desire for that to happen, as I do work with all of them (Gyhldeptis is still, for instance, the Matron Deity who is best at enabling me to do coordination, connection and community building work), but rather as an idle curiosity.  

I thought my spirit rescue work would possibly lead to the Opener of the Ways, Yinepu, taking on that role - or that my writing would lead to Djuti being in that role (my power animal Pegasus also helps with that work - and teaching), but I do much writing that I don't consider any change of status necessary (and those presences are extremely subtle, but pervasive), as is also the case with Bastet. I even speculated about Aset (who I did not recognise who she was for years, to my great embarrassment) or Athena.  

However, such relationships, as I alluded to above, are not about what I consider significant, but about what the Matron/Patron Deities consider significant.  

What has happened is that The Morríghan and the Egyptian Deity of Healing, Heru(generally known by His Greek name Horus, one of the Eyes of Ra [Sekhmet is the other] ), will jointly move into that sort of personal (again, to me) prominence.  

And life thus continues to be interesting, especially as I keep in mind that these names and mythologies are enabling me to approach and work effectively with what have also been described as very real, very powerful, non-physical energy sources/influences/agencies - and that there will inevitably be further changes through the existence of my Soul 😊 

 

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