I personally am not fond of the phrase “Working With” a deity, but today I’m using it to answer a common question: Can someone “work with” different deities, especially deities from different mythologies and cultures?
My answer: Under what context?
If someone:
- Belongs to a tradition where they are not to honor or connect with more than one deity, then no—they should not.
- Has made a promise to a deity to only honor that deity and no other—then again, they should not.
- Has received a sign from a specific deity that they should only honor that deity for a time—they they should not.
But there is no universal rule about working with deities across mythologies or cultures.
If you’re not beholden to the above, ask yourself:
Do the Deities have conflict in their mythologies?
The Greek gods Pan and Apollo are at odds with each other in several myths. If you are hoping to elicit both to your aid, I wouldn’t invite them to the same Circle as they’ll fight more than help. I would DEFINITELY not invite Zeus and Hera into the same ritual or ritual space…unless you WANT your life filled with marital strife!
If the deities work well together in their myths (e.g., Hekate and Demeter team up to find Persephone…and the Morrigan and the Dagda are not only life-partners or spouses, but partners during wartime as well), they would probably do well in a ritual or ritual space.
If the Deities never appear in any myths together, or if they’re from different mythologies, would you invite them to the same dinner party?
Let’s try a real-life example…
You are hosting a calm, collegiate dinner party and have invited a couple of respected colleagues, both of whom are music lovers. You might invite a good friend whom they don’t know, who happens to be an amateur, but very good, violinist. You might even invite your guitar teacher. That sounds like a lovely group! But you probably wouldn’t invite the college friend who, even though they’d lay down in traffic for you, is still known for secretly baking pot into the brownies or the cousin that, although they’re hilarious, are known for breaking out into loud political rants. That would make for an awkward dinner party.
You might, however, invite the latter two to your summer bacchanalia mead-drenched bonfire barbecue…but probably wouldn’t invite the former folk as they’d be awkward at best and wet blankets at worst.
Think about that when inviting different deities into a space.
Zeus might be a good one to call in when you are working on a spell to overthrow an oppressive force. He did with the Titans! The Morrigan might also be a good one to call upon for the same reasons. She is part of many myths in which she overthrows oppressive forces (like the Formorians, for example). But I would NOT recommend bringing Zeus and The Morrigan into the space ritual or Magickal space. Heck, I’m nervous even putting their names in the same paragraph!
Why? Zeus’s mythology is riddled with his disrespect towards and abuse of women and Goddesses. The Morrigan is well-known in her mythology for her destroying men and Gods who disrespect women and goddesses. Not only would that ritual go completely haywire…the Morrigan would likely return to knock around the person who summoned her into the space with Zeus!
Basically, if you invited those deities to the same dinner party, what kind of dinner party would it end up being? Would you be glad everyone came…or find yourself needing to call the fire department?
If having the two (or more!) at your proverbial dinner party would not bring you the kind of dinner party you want, you don’t want to bring them to the same ritual or Magickal space, either!
What would YOU add to this list?
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