Communicating with the Gods
Here we touch upon yet another controversial subject within Heathen mysticism.
There are folks who will tell you that if a person reports to actually be speaking with the Gods (as in, not just at Them, but with Them replying in some way), it is a sign of mental illness and not real.
These claims may in some be justified. I personally think we live in a society that tends to overdiagnose (and overmedicate) problems and pathologize everything. I have indeed known some folks who believed they were in communion with God who were so heavenly-minded they were no earthly good, and did not take care of themselves and others as a result. I would say yet again rather than it being a case of sanity v. insanity, it is a case of functioning v. non-functioning. People can believe all manner of odd things and unless they are putting themselves or someone else in danger, I won’t immediately dismiss it as outright mental illness. That doesn’t mean I accept anything and everything at face value, either, and in some cases where things seem a bit “off” it may be personal projection of issues or it may be an entity impersonating a God. These things can and do happen, also.
But, some people being clearly bugfucknuts, or projecting, or being contacted by sockpuppets, does not negate the fact that some of us do communicate with the Gods. And I think some of the wariness towards this phenomenon comes with saying it’s all “talking with the Gods”. While that still may be true of some people, when the Gods choose to communicate with us or get our attention in some way it is not always going to be with the big booming obvious voice.
Most of my communion with the Gods is non-verbal. I am a visual thinker, and communicating verbally actually seems “forced” to me (yes, I say this even as a prolific writer). I’ve learned to adapt with using text, but am not so good about speech. While I am good with using text to convey opinions or ideas, I am not so good at using text to describe experiences or feelings, and it becomes very difficult to use text to describe visual/tactile, non-verbal communication with the Gods. That being said, I’ve found I’ve had to record my experiences somehow, for reality checks and posterity.
But, not all of my communication with the Gods is non-verbal. Sometimes, They will speak, although I’ve found They only do this if They want me to have no mistake about what is being said.
My communion with the Gods seems to be specific incidences that fall into one of five categories:
1. MEDITATIVE VISION
This typically happens when I am meditating, whether with music or without. During this time a Deity, usually Frey, will manifest. Both myself and my partner have experienced His presence as being very warm, with the room getting strangely brighter, and the air feeling like it is gently throbbing or humming. Most of my meditative experiences with Frey are visual and tactile, with either no verbalization or very little. I literally feel His embrace and His touch. Sometimes He will show me things, including projects He wants me to work on, or highly symbolic imagery (landscapes, plant and animal life).
To a lesser degree, if I am doing an activity where it’s easy to achieve a meditative state, usually through doing highly repetitive motions (doing dishes, for example, or gardening), I find that I will be “observed” by my house-wight or land-spirits, and if I press the issue, I will usually get some sort of communication (again, not necessarily verbal). Thus far, everything I receive makes sense, and is not just random bursts of noise (as would be experienced by someone with classic schizophrenic symptoms).
2. PRECOGNITIVE DREAM
The most clear and direct line of the Gods verbally communicating with me, happens when I am asleep. I cannot count how many times I have woken up between 3-4 AM with Their words running through the back of my mind, needing to be written down for future reference.
Almost every time They have done this, Their words have been advising me of future events. The first time I recall this happening was back in January of 2000 when I had a dream about an open-air temple - a shrine in a stone circle - and Woden appeared in a blue flame and told me, “It is my will for you to go to a new land.” I didn’t understand what He meant, and when I asked Him, He kept telling me “Southwest”. (Sure enough, 6 years later, I moved from the Northeast to the Southwestern US.)
As a continuation of that theme, at Yule 2005, I was feeling really burned out after some experiences I’d had. I felt like I let down my Gods, among other things. That night I dreamed of ascending steps, and at the top awaited Frey and Freya, who told me within a year’s time I would be living in a different part of the country with my life-partner, and after that I would be writing some things to “feed the people”. I was told I would find a religious community eventually, and it would be rewarding but also inspire fear and even hatred in some others, and I had to stay strong. ‘Nuff said there…
3. SYNCHRONICITIES
Out of all of the above, these could be dismissed by critics and skeptics as “just coincidence”, although it’s hard to dismiss it once it hits a certain number of coincidences.
One of the things that happens to me is what I call “music bombing”. This usually involves either a song coming on the radio or a stereo being “accidentally” activated, to play a song where the lyrics are uncannily accurate of the Deity’s feelings about a situation I’m in. Sometimes, a song coming into my head for no reason, that I haven’t heard or thought about in years, with total recall of the lyrics, which are very persistent. This is almost always precognitive.
Other incidences of synchronicity have included (but are not limited to) seeing ING and FRO (or ING and GRD) on license plates of cars in lanes next to each other on the road (or combinations of NJD and ERC, SIF and TOR, WOD and FRG); having books fall on me that turn out to be on a subject I need to look at (this was not just the one time in the bookstore in 1995, no siree); finding things randomly such as statuary perfect for different Deities, that was not created with Them in mind but nonetheless is evocative of Them (most notably with Gerda and Eostre); seeing billboards or other signs with uncannily accurate messages to sum up what needs to be done in a situation (this also happens to me all the time with fortune cookies).
Again, once in awhile can easily be dismissed as coincidence, but when it happens all the time it’s generally harder to explain away.
4. “TELL MY STORY”
This is when a Deity will persistently show up and ask that a part of Their Lore, hinted at by the Eddas/Sagas or lost altogether, is told through me. I will go into a trance state to connect with the Deity and do something akin to automatic writing to get Their story written out, which is then shown to selective others to see if it corroborates or not. (Thus far, all of these have had corroboration.)
5. NATURAL PHENOMENON
This happens usually if I’m taking a nature walk, or I’m out in a place of nature doing a faining, for example, the beach.
In the first instance, I often see “signs” such as bluebirds or baby animals, or sometimes corvids or predatory animals like coyotes (which deliver some type of message, whether of hope or of need for protection, etc), and sometimes rune-like carvings in tree trunks or rocks. This is often a form of indirect guidance on a current situation. Sometimes it is an omen after a ritual or magical working was done recently, for good or for ill.
In the second instance, I’ve been surprised with waves crashing over me with full force when I pour my offerings in the ocean, or laying an offering on the ground for animals (especially crows/ravens) to come right over and nibble at it. This is usually a sign of whether or not an offering is accepted.
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So, there you have it. All of these are what I would consider communication from the Gods or other Holy Ones, but not all of them are instances of being verbal communication. When a person realizes they are having a lot of mystical experiences and inclinations and could call themselves a mystic, it pays to recognize the subtle details as shifts and currents in the Web of Wyrd. Caveat emptor: obviously sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence, and it can be insulting to assume the Gods have nothing better to do with Their holy time than continually chat with us or drop clues on our heads. Yet, They do it sometimes, for companionship with Their friends and often to work through us, for the Wyrd of Middle-Earth. And these are some ways it can be done.
Hope that helps!
Source:
Svartesól
July 20, 2009
Communicating with the Gods
Vanic thoughts - http://svartesol.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/communicating-with-the-gods/