Full Circle?
Sep. 18th, 2023 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brenainnIt’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything here. The last year has actually been quite the wild ride for me. This has been the case in multiple areas of my life, and I now seem to have come full circle in some respects. I'll discuss some of that briefly.
Just a few years ago, I had finished reading JMG’s book, “A World Full of Gods,” as well as Steven Dillon’s “The Case for Polytheism.” This is what convinced me, initially, that polytheism was likely true, and I adapted accordingly. Ongoing experiences with many diverse divine beings have confirmed my initial conclusion. That’s all well and good. But as time progressed, I gradually slipped away from any semblance of Catholicism, and have had quite a few meaningful encounters with other deities. I also had to admit that, up to my initial embrace of polytheism as well as thereafter, I was one of those folks that had received very little in the way of meaningful responses from the Christian deity.
It was as though the Holy Trinity just wasn’t listening, or perhaps had no interest in me. That started to change a few months ago, after I had more or less completely abandoned Catholicism. At first, it was mostly little things. Synchronicities and the like. But finally, a malevolent spiritual presence that has plagued me for quite a well (but had left me alone for about a year) came back with a vengeance. I turned to some traditional Catholic and Orthodox prayers for exorcism and deliverance from evil, and sure enough, these prayers worked. The presence is gone, and this time, I can sense that its departure is likely permanent. And so the last few months has seen me coming back to the heterodox but orthopraxic approach that I began when first becoming a polytheist, and I’m working on developing a henotheistic Catholic practice.
Maybe I’m just an oddball? I don’t know. But I’m in a good place now, spiritually and materially, and I’m not complaining.
Just a few years ago, I had finished reading JMG’s book, “A World Full of Gods,” as well as Steven Dillon’s “The Case for Polytheism.” This is what convinced me, initially, that polytheism was likely true, and I adapted accordingly. Ongoing experiences with many diverse divine beings have confirmed my initial conclusion. That’s all well and good. But as time progressed, I gradually slipped away from any semblance of Catholicism, and have had quite a few meaningful encounters with other deities. I also had to admit that, up to my initial embrace of polytheism as well as thereafter, I was one of those folks that had received very little in the way of meaningful responses from the Christian deity.
It was as though the Holy Trinity just wasn’t listening, or perhaps had no interest in me. That started to change a few months ago, after I had more or less completely abandoned Catholicism. At first, it was mostly little things. Synchronicities and the like. But finally, a malevolent spiritual presence that has plagued me for quite a well (but had left me alone for about a year) came back with a vengeance. I turned to some traditional Catholic and Orthodox prayers for exorcism and deliverance from evil, and sure enough, these prayers worked. The presence is gone, and this time, I can sense that its departure is likely permanent. And so the last few months has seen me coming back to the heterodox but orthopraxic approach that I began when first becoming a polytheist, and I’m working on developing a henotheistic Catholic practice.
Maybe I’m just an oddball? I don’t know. But I’m in a good place now, spiritually and materially, and I’m not complaining.
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Date: 2023-09-19 10:38 am (UTC)My sense is that the soul must descend fully into "the World" before it can ever begin the path of return, and that takes many different forms. For some, it's a dalliance with unfriendly spirits. Not for nothing does Dante have to first become lost in the dark woods and then escorted, by a friendly pagan, no less, through the inferno before he can begin his return.
Axé and all blessings to you on your path.
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Date: 2023-09-19 02:16 pm (UTC)