How did you find your Patron?

[Esiris]

Morgandria

That's a similar kind of patronage to certain saints overlooking members of certain professions, or areas, or illnesses, etc. They're patrons of a particular thing that may apply to many, rather than the more personal patronage that can occur.

3nodding But there are those kinds of relationships between people too- kind of like confirmation saints.  

[MercurialInK]

Uh yeah. Funny story, actually. Um. I picked the wrong goddess. Let me explain: My chosen patron is Hathor, Egyptian goddess of stars and of the sky, of motherhood, and of bloodlust and love of life.

For a long time, I had this dream of a mother holding a baby. And I could see reflected in the mother's eyes all the universe laid out before me. I thought I was dreaming of Arianrhod, a Celtic goddess I once read about. The first night I had accepted this, I dreamed again of the mother and the baby and the stars...
But then the child began to grow, and tilled a field. And when he was done, he poured red beer over the ground (worshipers of Hathor often poured red beer on the ground, as she is said to have once gone on a rampage, killing hundreds of people, and the only way to get her to stop was to pour red beer on the ground to make her sleep).

I always acknowledge Arianrhod in my prayers, but the warrior and leader in Hathor speaks to me more than the feminism of Arianrhod. Her balanced role as both mother and warrior speaks to my love of the pure balance of the universe, and so I ultimately chose her, as she chose me. I just hope neither goddess was offended by my mix up.  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

MercurialInK

Uh yeah. Funny story, actually. Um. I picked the wrong goddess. Let me explain: My chosen patron is Hathor, Egyptian goddess of stars and of the sky, of motherhood, and of bloodlust and love of life.

For a long time, I had this dream of a mother holding a baby. And I could see reflected in the mother's eyes all the universe laid out before me. I thought I was dreaming of Arianrhod, a Celtic goddess I once read about. The first night I had accepted this, I dreamed again of the mother and the baby and the stars...
But then the child began to grow, and tilled a field. And when he was done, he poured red beer over the ground (worshipers of Hathor often poured red beer on the ground, as she is said to have once gone on a rampage, killing hundreds of people, and the only way to get her to stop was to pour red beer on the ground to make her sleep).

I always acknowledge Arianrhod in my prayers, but the warrior and leader in Hathor speaks to me more than the feminism of Arianrhod. Her balanced role as both mother and warrior speaks to my love of the pure balance of the universe, and so I ultimately chose her, as she chose me. I just hope neither goddess was offended by my mix up.

I'm curious as to where you got your information on Hathor.  

[MercurialInK]

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

I'm curious as to where you got your information on Hathor.

If you want more information on her, there are some good websites I can steer you to...

This ancient mesopotamian poem depicts the story of Hathor with the beer (its a translation from Carnegie Mellon University, and a lovely story):
http://www.qatar.cmu.edu/~breilly2/world/Seven Evils, Nile and Hathor.htm

Wikipedia has a comprehensive examination of her traits, though I assume if you're asking, you probably already googled around a bit and found the page anyway... xD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor#Relationships.2C_associations.2C_images_and_symbols

This is a nice article about her transition as a goddess of destruction to one of beauty, spirituality, dance, and art:
http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/hathor.html

There are a few books I could recommend, if you're seriously curious as well. Just let me know. ;D

I just realized that you probably meant where did I originally get my information on her. Did you mean that? Um... wasn't sure. But back when I was figuring out the crazy dreams, I had a teacher who was obsessed with the nile delta.
Seriously, I mean OBSESSED. She spent a year of European History teaching NOTHING but the fertile crescent and the surrounding areas, and the different religions born there. xD Out textbook had a lot of random asides about different gods, and Hathor's was one of the big ones written up in there. When I realized the match up of traits, I began scouring the library to find out more about her, and I felt this gravitational pull towards her. It was like having a crush on someone, kind of. You know? Like you see them, and at first you don't know what it is that makes you want to go up to them. And then you realize its the quirk of their smile, or the way their hair falls, or the little twitch of their hand, you know?  

[Morgandria]

MercurialInK

Uh yeah. Funny story, actually. Um. I picked the wrong goddess. Let me explain: My chosen patron is Hathor, Egyptian goddess of stars and of the sky, of motherhood, and of bloodlust and love of life.

For a long time, I had this dream of a mother holding a baby. And I could see reflected in the mother's eyes all the universe laid out before me. I thought I was dreaming of Arianrhod, a Celtic goddess I once read about. The first night I had accepted this, I dreamed again of the mother and the baby and the stars...
But then the child began to grow, and tilled a field. And when he was done, he poured red beer over the ground (worshipers of Hathor often poured red beer on the ground, as she is said to have once gone on a rampage, killing hundreds of people, and the only way to get her to stop was to pour red beer on the ground to make her sleep).

I always acknowledge Arianrhod in my prayers, but the warrior and leader in Hathor speaks to me more than the feminism of Arianrhod. Her balanced role as both mother and warrior speaks to my love of the pure balance of the universe, and so I ultimately chose her, as she chose me. I just hope neither goddess was offended by my mix up.

I'm not so sure that's 'funny', as it seems like you jumped to a conclusion prematurely, and then maybe to another.

Hathor herself sprung forth from the drunken Sekhmet - not the other way around. Sekhmet's great vengeful wrath was unceasing; being satisfied only with ceaseless bloodshed, she was made drunk with the aforementioned red beer, and thus came forth Hathor. I've had experiences with these sisters before, through both ecstatic ritual work and invocation - and I percieve them as different, separate deities, not one being. One is generally not far from the other, but they aren't the same thing.

Hathor is a lady of joy, dance, love, motherhood, and music. If it had been me, I'd almost want to say that the emphasis on the stars and the baby have more to do with Isis, than Hathor. Since Isis herself was a later dynasty deity, her role overlapped Hathor's significantly. Older gods often were absorbed into newer ones, or replaced, as Egypt's dynasties changed over time. Local gods became royal gods became state gods, in endless cycles. Isis herself had more emphasis on both the night stars (which was why she was beloved of navigators and sailors), childbirth, and motherhood. Hathor's significant roles tend to be that of feasting, dancing, and pleasure - the arts of love. They are similar but focus on different areas or aspects of the fertility process.

I still can't understand how one 'chooses' their patron. It doesn't make sense to me, in the context of what having a patron implies.  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

MercurialInK

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

I'm curious as to where you got your information on Hathor.

If you want more information on her, there are some good websites I can steer you to...

This ancient mesopotamian poem depicts the story of Hathor with the beer (its a translation from Carnegie Mellon University, and a lovely story):
http://www.qatar.cmu.edu/~breilly2/world/Seven Evils, Nile and Hathor.htm

Wikipedia has a comprehensive examination of her traits, though I assume if you're asking, you probably already googled around a bit and found the page anyway... xD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor#Relationships.2C_associations.2C_images_and_symbols

This is a nice article about her transition as a goddess of destruction to one of beauty, spirituality, dance, and art:
http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/hathor.html

There are a few books I could recommend, if you're seriously curious as well. Just let me know. ;D

I just realized that you probably meant where did I originally get my information on her. Did you mean that? Um... wasn't sure. But back when I was figuring out the crazy dreams, I had a teacher who was obsessed with the nile delta.
Seriously, I mean OBSESSED. She spent a year of European History teaching NOTHING but the fertile crescent and the surrounding areas, and the different religions born there. xD Out textbook had a lot of random asides about different gods, and Hathor's was one of the big ones written up in there. When I realized the match up of traits, I began scouring the library to find out more about her, and I felt this gravitational pull towards her. It was like having a crush on someone, kind of. You know? Like you see them, and at first you don't know what it is that makes you want to go up to them. And then you realize its the quirk of their smile, or the way their hair falls, or the little twitch of their hand, you know?

Yes I was asking about the info you posted. Because I had never heard Her refered to as the sky and the stars. And even though I have heard about the story about the red wine they always refered to the bloodlust side as Sekhmet.  

[MercurialInK]

Morgandria

I'm not so sure that's 'funny', as it seems like you jumped to a conclusion prematurely, and then maybe to another.

Hathor herself sprung forth from the drunken Sekhmet - not the other way around. Sekhmet's great vengeful wrath was unceasing; being satisfied only with ceaseless bloodshed, she was made drunk with the aforementioned red beer, and thus came forth Hathor. I've had experiences with these sisters before, through both ecstatic ritual work and invocation - and I percieve them as different, separate deities, not one being. One is generally not far from the other, but they aren't the same thing.

Hathor is a lady of joy, dance, love, motherhood, and music. If it had been me, I'd almost want to say that the emphasis on the stars and the baby have more to do with Isis, than Hathor. Since Isis herself was a later dynasty deity, her role overlapped Hathor's significantly. Older gods often were absorbed into newer ones, or replaced, as Egypt's dynasties changed over time. Local gods became royal gods became state gods, in endless cycles. Isis herself had more emphasis on both the night stars (which was why she was beloved of navigators and sailors), childbirth, and motherhood. Hathor's significant roles tend to be that of feasting, dancing, and pleasure - the arts of love. They are similar but focus on different areas or aspects of the fertility process.

I still can't understand how one 'chooses' their patron. It doesn't make sense to me, in the context of what having a patron implies.

I agree with you. Honestly, I feel more of a connection with Hathor, but it could all be made up in my head. When I say I chose her its more... I feel like there's a connection there. I don't know. It seems like some people were much more concrete in the way their patrons spoke to them. But it feels like Hathor is my patron. But as you said, there's a lot of major overlap between the gods, as traits were shifted around, and gods renamed, and so on.

Personally, I think I'm a moron. =) It just felt right for me to connect the baby and the spilled beer to Hathor, because more than Isis, she embodies that changeover from destroyer to mother. But the emphasis on the child in the majority of the dreams might indeed indicate Isis.

Do you think there's any way to ultimately tell?  

[X-Yami-no-Ko-X]

MercurialInK

Do you think there's any way to ultimately tell?

Meditate and let Them come to you. For the longest time I thought I had some connection to Bast and She became a bit of an obsession from time to time. When I finally opened myself up Djehuty was the one that spoke to me. Not Bast.
I wouldn't call Djehuty my Patron because of what patronage means. But I am building a relationship with Him.

I think that's what Morg is getting at.  

[MercurialInK]

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

Meditate and let Them come to you. For the longest time I thought I had some connection to Bast and She became a bit of an obsession from time to time. When I finally opened myself up Djehuty was the one that spoke to me. Not Bast.
I wouldn't call Djehuty my Patron because of what patronage means. But I am building a relationship with Him.

I think that's what Morg is getting at.

That makes a lot of sense. I was extremely excited to find Hathor that I stopped trying to keep myself open to other possibilities. Perhaps its time to do so, just to be sure if nothing else, but to make sure my original conclusion wasn't totally crazy.
Its like when you're trying to define the universe using Quarks, and it kind of works, and you keep pushing and pushing trying to make it fit. And then you use electromagnetism and everything becomes easier again. =D  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

MercurialInK

X-Yami-no-Ko-X

Meditate and let Them come to you. For the longest time I thought I had some connection to Bast and She became a bit of an obsession from time to time. When I finally opened myself up Djehuty was the one that spoke to me. Not Bast.
I wouldn't call Djehuty my Patron because of what patronage means. But I am building a relationship with Him.

I think that's what Morg is getting at.

That makes a lot of sense. I was extremely excited to find Hathor that I stopped trying to keep myself open to other possibilities. Perhaps its time to do so, just to be sure if nothing else, but to make sure my original conclusion wasn't totally crazy.
Its like when you're trying to define the universe using Quarks, and it kind of works, and you keep pushing and pushing trying to make it fit. And then you use electromagnetism and everything becomes easier again. =D

Imo, just don't worry about the whole patronage idea. Just build relationships, and see where it takes you.  

[MercurialInK]

Sanguina Cruenta

Imo, just don't worry about the whole patronage idea. Just build relationships, and see where it takes you.

Thanks! Urg, you ever have those moments when you feel very certain of something, and then someone just says something that makes you feel like - holy crap the world is suddenly a mystery all over again-?
Its the best feeling in the world. =D  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

MercurialInK

Sanguina Cruenta

Imo, just don't worry about the whole patronage idea. Just build relationships, and see where it takes you.

Thanks! Urg, you ever have those moments when you feel very certain of something, and then someone just says something that makes you feel like - holy crap the world is suddenly a mystery all over again-?
Its the best feeling in the world. =D

Haha yup, I know what you mean wink  

[Bad Quality Serena]

[Is this too old to post in? I don't think so, since this forum's a bit slower than most, but eh. Thought I would ask.]

I haven't been chosen by anyone, and I'm kind of glad. I've already got a lot on my plate; I'm sure serving a deity would just make it harder to concentrate on myself.

I do love Selene though. She's my favorite Goddess.  

[Esiris]

Bad Quality Serena

[Is this too old to post in? I don't think so, since this forum's a bit slower than most, but eh. Thought I would ask.]

I haven't been chosen by anyone, and I'm kind of glad. I've already got a lot on my plate; I'm sure serving a deity would just make it harder to concentrate on myself.

I do love Selene though. She's my favorite Goddess.

Right now I'm the busiest person I know- and I still find time to study with the Coven. It doesn't have to be a bad thing.  

[Bad Quality Serena]

Esiris

Bad Quality Serena

[Is this too old to post in? I don't think so, since this forum's a bit slower than most, but eh. Thought I would ask.]

I haven't been chosen by anyone, and I'm kind of glad. I've already got a lot on my plate; I'm sure serving a deity would just make it harder to concentrate on myself.

I do love Selene though. She's my favorite Goddess.

Right now I'm the busiest person I know- and I still find time to study with the Coven. It doesn't have to be a bad thing.

No, it doesn't. It's just not for me.