Deity exchange

[featherynscale]

Spent an hour in the Borders' parking lot last night talking to Caroline about every damned thing. Unfortunately, a)it was cold and b)I stood with my hips locked for most of the conversation, which means that I'm stil in pain this morning about the whole thing.

Not that it wasn't worth it. Conversations with Caroline generally are. As it happens, we've discovered that the Quetzalcoatl Girls are trading goddesses. Caroline got Hathor from H., I got Oshun from Caroline, presumably saffronhare got Eris from me... I think that means that kittenpants is due Andraste, and H. might get... well, I'm not sure. Athena, maybe, or Hestia... or Shiva/Shakti. Fun for all.

myrsine posted her translation of a poem about trading saints the other day - I should post it up here from her, but the thrust of it was that all the parishes sent their saints out to other parishes, saying that they were owed favors from the saints, and that if the Blessed Ones didn't keep their end of the bargain, they'd all have to walk home. I think this goes the other way around though - I think if we don't keep faith, we will be the ones who have to walk home, if we can get there.

Caroline re-affirmed for me her statement on finding the right path... "If it scares you, you're on the right road. And if you're on the right road, and you're scared, then you just have to keep walking, because if you stand still when you're frightened, you will be accosted."

So I must be on the right road (a right road, anyway). I'm really not used to functioning on the feminine side of things, and the whole emotional realm is fairly foreign territory, and the whole thing scares the bejeezus out of me. But it's a toolset that I need to acquire, or I'm incomplete. Useful androgyny requires skills from both sides. Adding to my (hopefully productive) discomfort, Caroline offered to give me a white dress.

Not to mention, there's that thing with the chickens.

Comments

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I think you're onto something, with your Deity Transference Theory, but it may even be plural.

Exhibit 1: I think I've gotten both Aset and Eris -- there's a fun combination.
Exhibit 2: In almost any given conversation, H. will complain of my "wretched gods." They've driven her to study Judaism, last time she and I spoke.

And when was it that Lugh became one of your heroes? Was that ante-Q or post-Q? Even better, I think hanging around Via is somehow making Hera the Charmer pay more attention to me...

The Abbey is an odd place to live. I can't even get my footing, much less figure out what path I'm on. Is this what we started saying "yes" to in August? Well, now I'm rambling. Bunny out.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Hrm... on further reflection, I also seem to have picked up Bast, but she has not made much demand on me. No Olympians seem to be knocking on my mental door as of yet, though there are those I have great respect for and would welcome.

Lugh doesn't figure into the exchange, at least not from my end - he's an old love, sort of first, last, and always. (As is Eris. I often wonder how they get along, those two...)

[zylch.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't blame me -- I pay her honor in my daily devotions as I do all the Olympians, but other than that Hera and I have next to nothing to do with each other. Besides, I haven't noticed anyone new hanging around over here.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Not blaming you at all. But simply being around you gets me thinking about Hellenic [practice] and the pantheon...and then I start drawing attention to myself. I'm not on the lookout for a new patron or anything, but I suspect they (meaning Aset and Eris and Hera) are amused by me.

More thoughts on "productive discomfort"

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

So...been doing my Prometheus Rising reading, and it struck me that this "productive discomfort" may lead to some dramatic changes. I don't know what makes me more nervous -- the immediate discomfort of the struggle, or the implication that a lot, or everything, is likely to change on the other side of this...whatever-it-is.

For what it's worth, I think I'm floundering.

Re: More thoughts on "productive discomfort"

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Someone at Gaia has a bumper sticker which reads "Change is inevitable; Struggle is optional". And who the hell wants to fight for stagnation anyway?

Re: More thoughts on "productive discomfort"

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

I've seen it, but go back and forth about whether it's advocating well-chosen struggle or graceful flexibility. I mean, is the idea to find something worth struggling for? Or is it to work with the change and therefore not waste energy on struggle? Heavens grant me the grace to discern the difference...

I don't know. I'm not making much sense to myself.

Re: More thoughts on "productive discomfort"

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Both well-chosen struggle, and graceful flexibility, I think. Not all things change at the same rate, nor should every opportunity for change necessarily be taken. But you're a mom - you know about picking your battles.

Re: More thoughts on "productive discomfort"

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

Picking my battles? I would say I've learned a lot of hard lessons about *not* picking battles, but I don't think I've yet transformed that into any particular wisdom about which battles I *do* want to pick. And we all know what a strength my "graceful flexibility" is.

I must have missed that class in the hospital after the births of all three girls. Or maybe it's a shot?

Pillar of Mercy, give me strength.