| Deities Some people mix deities from different pantheons in their workings...whilst I used to have deities from both Greek and Celtic pantheons, I have found lately that I am using exclusively Celtic deities. My personal opinion is, if you can make it work, fine, but be very careful who you mix (see "Gilligan's Rite in my Pagan Humour section for a tongue-in-cheek look at what can happen! ;) ) However I do have VERY strong opinions on working with deities you don't work with on a regular basis....DON'T. This IMO is dangerous...if you are working with say, a Celtic pantheon, and suddenly decide one day to work with a deity from a different pantheon that you have never worked with before, you are just setting yourself up for disaster. Unless you KNOW how that deity works and what kind of repercussions you are setting yourself up for by calling on them, don't do it! Otherwise, that deity is just as likely to go "who the hell are YOU?" when you call on them for a working, and you could end up in all sorts of trouble. One example of this that I have seen firsthand is a young man who was new to witchcraft and had been working with Greek deities. For one ritual he decided it would be more appropriate to call on Lilith to help him with his working (I might add here that the nature of his working was a little doubtful to say the least - he wanted revenge on someone for something). This young man had almost no knowledge of Lilith herself, other than what he had read of her on the Internet...he had never worked with her before but thought that as she is not exactly friendly, she would be appropriate. This was three years ago...this man is STILL paying for his folly in invoking Lilith without fully understanding what he was getting into. I want to also add here that no matter who you choose to work with as a deity, you should NEVER do any form of working without first casting a proper circle and making sure you are adequately protected... I have also seen countless cases of "wannabes" who think they can work magick without bothering with all the "fancy stuff" of casting circles, and let me tell you it isn't pretty. It worries me the number of people who actually hold this opinion...but the reason that casting a circle is included in most rituals I have seen is a damn good one - it means you are creating a set area in which your magick will be worked, and it is a "safe zone" - if you don't cast a full circle before you work, you are basically leaving yourself open to almost anything as a result. It is in YOUR best interests to protect yourself (and spare anyone else the repercussions of your workings if they go wrong) by casting a circle. Anyone who says they can work magick without some form of protection like a circle is IMO a complete idiot who knows NOTHING about what they are dealing with, and probably deserves any kickback they get from doing this. |