From: jaybird@netcom.com (Jaybird)
Subject: Re: Pan and other (male) gods
Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 21:41:49 GMT

The Goddess has gotten a lot of "press" lately because She has been
(persecuted/invisible/pushed underground/take your pick) since the
rise of several aggressive, patriarchal religious groups.  One of the
stated reasons that the Fellowship of Isis is _not_ the "Fellowship of
Isis and Osiris" is the sense of making a political statement that
"the God has had his day".  Not all of us _agree_ with that, but they
do have a point concerning the aforenamed patriarchal God.

I am a priestess of Herne, and work with Osiris, Geb, and Bel for
various ritual purposes.  I find that I _need_ the balance of male and
female energies, not excluding either one or setting one above the
other, but that doesn't work for everyone.  The Gods I work with are
strongly life- and worth-affirming, which I find particularly
attractive.

When I need to affirm my Self as one of the Earth's creatures, and
learn to center and exist in my body, I invoke Bast and Herne.  (Yes,
I know that they are different pantheons, but they really *do* seem to
get along well, at least with me.)

When I need to draw on powers of discernement, particularly in
healing, counseling, and magickal work, I invoke Isis and Osiris.
Osiris as Lord of Life, Death, and Rebirth and Judge of the Dead
really helps adjust my point of view!

When I need to gain strength in my search for wisdom, or to support
various works, I invoke Nuit and Geb.  Geb, the Egyptian
"Earth-Father", supports all growing things, even as his lady shelters
us all in her arms.

When I am doing creative or healing work, I often invoke Brighid and
Bel.  Bel, a Celtic Sun god and symbol of the lifeforce, helps me
channel energies where they need to go.

I work with other Gods when I need to draw on the essences that they
seem to symbolize for me.

I like to see the resurgence of the "gentle" God, the masculine
principle that nurtures rather than represses.  And I hope to see more
discussion of Him in alt.pagan in the future.

Jaybird
Card-carrying member of L.O.O.P.
===

From: markbr@radian.com (mark)
Subject: Re: Pan and other (male) gods
Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 22:24:14 GMT

[Quoting Mr Hatcher.]

I'd like to hear some, also. I'm comfortable with the Goddess, but not
quite sure about the God - I even have some trouble with that word,
what with *all* the baggage that *Big G* Ghod carries with it.

Also, for me, I don't seem to feel a lot for the most popular Gods
(like Pan).  They just *don't* speak to me, like, oh, maybe Hermes, or
a smith....

Btw, my Lady is, correspondingly, more comfortable with the God,
rather than the Goddess....

	mark
===

From: jraynor@minerva.cis.yale.edu (John Raynor (GD 1998))
Subject: Re: Pan and other (male) gods
Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 01:53:55 GMT

Bronwyn S. Beistle (bbeistle@mail.sas.upenn.edu) wrote:
> When I was a Christian the aspect of God that made the most sense to
> me was the Holy Spirit, and in some weird way that's still
> true. Forms are somewhat difficult for me--but especially parental
> forms. Hard for me to conceive of a mother-goddess--or any goddess
> really--and when I conceive of a father-god it's an unutterably
> nasty image.

Interesting...when I think about the divine Trinity, I find it rather
difficult to take either the "Son" or the "Holy Spirit" very
seriously, which undoubtedly explains why I do not find Christianity
particularly attractive.  Of the three Persons of the Trinity, the
"Father" is really the only one which I think of when somebody says
the word "God" - but I don't really think that the title of "Father"
fits particularly well, at least for me.  I prefer to compare the
relationship to that of a stern (but basically just) lord and his
servant, or a slightly militant king and one of his soldiers.  It's
not a relationship defined by "love" or even "friendship" - God, for
me at least, is just far too alien to be "loved," or even to be
"friends" with.  Duty, respect, and (yes!) a hint of fear are much
closer to the heart of it for me.

I can't say I take the gender of deities particularly seriously.
Gender and reproduction are, as far as I'm concerned, just accidents
of biology, rather than basic cosmological principles.  When I try to
strip away all the obviously anthropomorphic trappings and veils (like
much of the material in the previous paragraph), I suppose I reduce my
notion of "God" to a "big black box" - being finite, and mortal, I
have no idea how (or even why) it does what it chooses to do, but
since it's the biggest, and thus at least potentially the nastiest,
black box around, I figure that jumping if it happens to whisper
"frog" in my direction would be sensible.  Fortunately, it seems to be
content to remain silent.

No, it's not a particularly "Pagan" way of looking at the divine sphere
(nor Christian, for that matter) and I sincerely apologize if people regard
this as a waste of bandwidth...

                                                - J. Raynor