Well, when it comes to talking to deities, it can be kind of daunting. A lot of people tend to think that they have nothing to say or maintain that they don’t know what to say. Here are some handy tips that I’ve used to work on my relationships with my gods (and they seem to work well for me, so maybe they’ll work well for you).
1. Introduce yourself.
Whenever you are starting a new relationship, you have to introduce yourself to the person. They may have been “told” about you, in glimpses and parts, from others, but they don’t really know who you are. A name; a Tumblr acct; a favorite hang out… They know parts about you, but they don’t really know anything about you.
In my opinion, it’s the same with the gods. They know about you for whatever reason - they’ve been watching you; they’ve been hearing about you from other devotees; etc - but they still don’t know you. Some people think that gods are omnipotent and omniscient; I don’t hold with this. But even if they are both of those things, it makes us, as humans, far more comfortable to feel a modicum of control over something so new, exciting, and frightening. So, thus introductions.
Think of it as the quintessential moment of shaking hands with someone new and saying, “Hi! My name is _______________.” That’s precisely what I recommend when getting started with the gods.
2. Talk about yourself.
When you’re sitting down over a cup of coffee, getting to know someone knew, the two (or more!) talk about yourselves. You discuss what sort of things you may have in common; what things you like; maybe even talk about mutual friends; possibly even mention how much you [might] hate broccoli. (I like broccoli, by the way, but I didn’t for years.) When you meet someone knew, you talk about yourselves so that each of you can get a baseline as to who the person is in front of you and whether or not friendship is even something to consider.
Again, in my opinion, it’s really not so different when it comes to the gods. There are going to be things about you that you want to tell them and things about you that you’re a little leery to tell them. In either case, it’s always best to just talk about who you are, why you’re there, what you think about all of this, and just generally set up a good framework for where you want to head with this.
Name dropping! You may name drop with regular ole humans you’re getting to know; why not do the same thing with the gods? If you want to talk to Bast, name drop shadowstep-of-bast and felis-paecrantrix and see what happens. Hell, name drop other Kemetics you know that, perhaps by the very awesomeness that is themselves, the gods are aware of. If you can name drop to get into places in the human realm, why not try it with some gods?
3. Talk about your goals.
What’s the whole point in you reaching out to this particular deity? I think it’s good to establish some form of boundary when it comes to the gods, especially as early as you can. I’ve come to find that they’re not always really good at the “respect boundaries” thing, but it’s always a good idea to be up front about why you are reaching out to them and what you hope to achieve.
I would be as specific as possible, by the way, when discussing what you aim to achieve. The gods, in my experience, are really fucking fond of “misinterpreting” what you mean by what you say. The more drawn out, the more specific, and the more intent you are on whatever it is you hope to achieve, the better things can end up for you. Plus, it’s an excellent practice of heka by being as specific and intent as you can when it comes to what you goals are.
4. Talk a lot.
I’m not sure if anyone has noticed but I tend to ramble a lot. None of the plethora of gods in my arsenal are safe from this tendency, either. When I’m on a roll, I am on a roll. I just go on and on about whatever it is that’s in my head at that moment in time and go. Sometimes, I get feelings or twinges in response, but a lot of time, I get a whole lot of nothing. I have to simply trust that they’re listening or maybe not really listening (since I do go on) but at least are mildly entertained in whatever is in my head at that moment.
I kind of thing that rambling to the gods is rather helpful because, sooner or later, you’ll get to the damned point. I am one of those people who will not get to the point (obviously) and end up going on about inconsequential things before I do finally get to the fucking point. Whatever the point in said rambles may be, the point tends to, usually, be very painful and/or intense. I figure, and this is probably not accurate in any context but one can dream, that by sweetening them up with whatever nonsense I’m spouting on about, they’ll be so damn grateful that I finally got to the point that they’ll do something about it.
I’m not sure if that’s particularly worked out for me, in all honesty.
But the point in rambling on about whatever also services a second purpose: it does a good job in showing the gods who you are and what you are about. By rambling on about whatever - your day, the weather, your angst, the clothes you’re wearing, etc. - they’re doing a better job of getting to know you than a simple introduction and a list of goals can entail.
5. Don’t get discouraged.
As I said, I don’t always know if the gods are listening. I will, sometimes, use divination in a better attempt to get a bead on whatever it is I’m on about, but mostly, I tend to pay attention to them when I am doing mechanical work, like driving or washing the dishes. So, I don’t always have the time to pull out a stack of cards in an effort to figure out if they’re really listening.
And in all honesty, I don’t know if their listening to whatever I’m blathering on about really matters, to me, or whether it should matter to you. The point is that we, as devotees or prospective devotees, are seeking out the gods’ company for our own reasons. And whether or not they’re paying particular attention is kind of a moot point. I don’t think many people go into a relationship with the gods with the idea of having a direct line to the divine, but in an effort to feel less alone and lost in the turbulent seas of life.
Maybe I’m wrong and I’m just pushing my own thoughts and feels, especially regarding the hows and whys I started all this, onto others. It’s possible and I don’t doubt that may be part of it. But in my experience, a lot of people turn to the gods less for having a divine friendship and more because they want to feel connected to the divine. Friendship and connection are kind of the same, but not really. A friendship implies eating popcorn while watching romcoms together or plotting out evil against whatever ex-significant other deserves it. A connection implies just feeling like you aren’t alone.
6. Ignore other people.
Someone, somewhere, is going to have some damned opinion about what you do with your gods. It’s none of their concern, even if they push their oversized and completely asshole nose into it. All that matters is what you feel when you’re communicating with your deities. Always remember: opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got one and some people think theirs smells like roses, but in reality, they all smell like shit.
7. Have fun.
Seriously. Have fun. Don’t be dour and uptight. Have fun. If the gods didn’t want us to have fun, they wouldn’t have allowed the invention, in my opinion, of such incredibly fun things like sex toys, beer, and jokes. Obviously, they like a bit of good fun themselves and I think they probably would very much like people to pull the giant sticks out of their bums long enough to have fun.
So, have fun.
satsekhem
