I would put forth that all actions toward serving one’s Gods (whichever They are, or however one perceives divinity) are steps along the path of enlightenment, as I believe that divinity wishes to help us along that path.

This would lead me to believe that the two of us are not very dissimilar in this respect. The difference is in how we perceive divinity. I wrote an article in August about different ways Pagans see divinity. From what I gather, you perceive Gods as metaphor of various aspects of ourselves, along with an essential unity in the universe, as in monism or panentheism.

If that assumption is correct, I can easily see your view on serving divinity.

Thanks for the interesting comments.

But I understand this as the smaller and more obvious interactions with fate in our lives.

Its a curious and long winded subject, and deserves to be so, and i will try my best to explain my veiw of it here…

I understand fate as you explained, in it being similar to the law of cause and effect.. the cause being our actions, thoughts and intended purpose, and the effect being ‘conceptual fate’ and/or consequencial result, that transforms as do we.

But I understand also that mankind has an ultimate purpose, and that is to transcend spiritually by experiencing a physical reality as just one of the many levels of reality mankind will ‘spiritually endure’. The earth plane is simply one of them. And with the ultimate goal of ascendance at the heart of every spirituality, be it through mysticism or occultism, it may almost suggest a common working towards a goal, on nearly every spiritual level.

That being said, I would suggest that my statement hints at the actuality that you may not be aware of what you were “effected”(what caused you) here on earth to do at this specific time and moment in accordance with the law of cause and effect and how it is a law that is prolonged and extends backwards into our anscetors generations and there actions, thoughts, and decisions. And with this better understanding of the interplay of the laws of cause and effect, your decisions, actions and thoughts will not always be incontrol of where your life leads you. Should your “effect” and anothers “effect” be intertwinded in this existance, or the next, due to the nature of the “effect”(think about the butterfly effect, and how anothers action in another time and place may effect you directly or in this case, indirectly.) part of the law, one could perceive that as fate, in the traditoinal and common sense of the term.

Fate may also be perceived as the phenomenon between a twin-flame and soul-mate, who’s love or friendship or even hatred towards each other is ‘conceived’ in every life lived… and so maybe seen veiwed in the traditional and common understanding of what fate means.

Fate can also be concepted through the understanding of reincarnation and karma, and the path to nirvana expressed through the mysticism of buddhism… And also the understanding of time and quatum physics, and how time is a continuum, regardless of our minimal concept of it.

It has many facets, and faces, and dynamics that allow it to express to us in many ways. But in the understanding of common spiritual growth, and the work towards it both by us as spiritual beings, and by the spiritual beings that transcended consciousnes, that work to influence and inspire man toward higher spiritually.

The actuality of it is, so many people are making decisions, taking actions and having thoughts that they all will eventually intertwine and become subject to the law of cause and effect.

Ultimately we are the gods and goddesses of our universes… crafting it for ourselves and others(this is where the actualization of the group-mind or consciousness becomes evident)… and such is the reason of the law of three and the then the law of “do as ye wilt”.

ElderCraftGuild

http://www.eldercraftguild.com

The Gods know what your will is. When you dedicate to serving a God or Goddess, you are not making yourself Their slave. They don’t ask you to do anything that is contradictory to your true will. Over time, however, your true will may change in alignment with the deities you serve. This is why it is important to choose which deity (if any) you serve.

Additionally, you always retain the right (and responsibility) to refuse any request that is not in accordance with your will. This is true for requests by other people and from deities.

Thanks for the comment.

Lady ElderCraft:

This is a good perspective. It is nice to hear from people with other perspectives.

I have a question about one of your statements. You wrote, “The path through deitic worship, is one that will lead you to embody and grow into what fate intends you to be.” What do you see the nature of fate is in this case? Is it something that is an inherent, impersonal force in the universe? Or do you see it as some aspect of ourselves? What do you think the source of fate is?

I tend to see fate as simply a series of impersonal consequences that result from our actions, inactions and choices. I get the sense you see it differently and would be interested in learning how you see it.

Thanks for such a thoughtful comment.

However, i would like to raise another P.O.V..

While the common understanding of deitic forces is thought of as something above us, without us, or in a higher dominion than us, I would like to interject this veiw.

Devotion to a deity and its attributions/personifications/expressions is a pratise of the ancient mage and wisewomen.

It is a higher initiation that is birthed to you by your inner knowing, and it is a time when your spirit has chosen to delve deeper into the ‘becomming of you’ and who you are borned to be… the ultimate goal of any occultic path…

“Become who you are born to be”.(think deeply about this)

The path through deitic worship, is one that will lead you to embody and grow into what fate intends you to be. As deities pass into, and out of our lives, we inherit the personifications of that deity, through the honor and worship of these forces within ourselves.

The lesson of deity is ultimate. It shows us our higher-selves and teaches us a higher consciousness that may NEVER EVER be abandoned regardless of any disallusion, lack of rationale, or disruptive emotion.(i.e;you are forever aware of your actions and their consequence)

The path of deity will find you working toward finding and awakening deity within yourself.

Deity, in the spiritual-mental sense, is our highest consciousness, embodied into examples. These examples are the beings we attribute the higher-consciousness to… the gods and goddesses of the worlds pantheons.

Each of them represent a facet of humanity and/or nature and how they are tightly interwoven in the web of life.

To understand deity, and to know deity within yourself, is to ultimately become deity, and personify your very own and unique deitic force.

ElderCraftGuild

http://www.eldercraftguild.com

Much to consider. Thank you truly for such a warm, wise and provocative post.

Thanks for the comment.