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haptalaonConcept: in the lore, we see the devil is eager to collect souls like a greedy child with Pokemon cards. Gotta catch them all!
We could develop an alternative model of the witch as the devil's chosen. Stories about relationships which are nurturing and about affirmative consent and cherishing or even just teamwork, rather than ones in which the devil is merely acquisitive.
Stories in which he won't take literally anyone he can get - a trawl-fisher of souls - but in which he is choosy, in which anyone can offer but not everyone is accepted.
(Something something about how religion compensates for things we don't have in our mundane lives something something abandonment issues something something loneliness.)
I've thought a lot in the past about patron relationships in Paganism. The core of all my thoughts is power - who has it, what do they do to get it. So my approach to patron relationships has always been: the people with a powerful patron are awfully keen to tell us all about it, and it sets up an expectation that one is "supposed" to wait to be approached like a girl going to prom.
This has guided me to create a different model, one where not-being-chosen-by-a-patron ALSO has a cool mythology, ALSO makes you feel special. In this model, : witchcraft as freedom, because no god chooses us, we are active participants in our faith, and the idea of choosing someone to work with and then going to ask them is not a second best for the unwanted, but a powerful expression of what witchcraft is. Deity relationships where the relationship is not (necessarily) an Angry Father and Humble Supplicant, but which you can build with a Power in all sorts of ways to match your needs and theirs. This model is, I think, still a really good one - mostly because it's not good to have only one route talked about as the most special/magical/significant, in a community with so many pathways to the divine.
There's that quote about the way you do one thing being the way you do everything; the fears and problems in your mortal relationships inevitably come through in your divine ones too. You know, I have this same sense of loss and unhappiness with friends and partners, that they are merely tolerating my presence and I'm just sort of - lucky to be allowed to be around them. And then in my divine relationships, that I'm a tiny flesh creature calling out to deaf ears, my words being carried away on the wind, but I serve all the same because a one-sided devotion is pretty standard in my daily life, and why would anyone see any value in me...? Let alone something infinite.
Without getting too egotistical about it, I think I also need to practice comfort in my divine relationships - what if, what if, it's not as simple as making a business transaction, but offering a thing and having someone accept it in part because they want you. You're not just a bottled soul in the endless vaults, you're one of the Devil's chosen.
It's a comforting thought. It fulfils a mortal need.
We could develop an alternative model of the witch as the devil's chosen. Stories about relationships which are nurturing and about affirmative consent and cherishing or even just teamwork, rather than ones in which the devil is merely acquisitive.
Stories in which he won't take literally anyone he can get - a trawl-fisher of souls - but in which he is choosy, in which anyone can offer but not everyone is accepted.
(Something something about how religion compensates for things we don't have in our mundane lives something something abandonment issues something something loneliness.)
I've thought a lot in the past about patron relationships in Paganism. The core of all my thoughts is power - who has it, what do they do to get it. So my approach to patron relationships has always been: the people with a powerful patron are awfully keen to tell us all about it, and it sets up an expectation that one is "supposed" to wait to be approached like a girl going to prom.
This has guided me to create a different model, one where not-being-chosen-by-a-patron ALSO has a cool mythology, ALSO makes you feel special. In this model, : witchcraft as freedom, because no god chooses us, we are active participants in our faith, and the idea of choosing someone to work with and then going to ask them is not a second best for the unwanted, but a powerful expression of what witchcraft is. Deity relationships where the relationship is not (necessarily) an Angry Father and Humble Supplicant, but which you can build with a Power in all sorts of ways to match your needs and theirs. This model is, I think, still a really good one - mostly because it's not good to have only one route talked about as the most special/magical/significant, in a community with so many pathways to the divine.
There's that quote about the way you do one thing being the way you do everything; the fears and problems in your mortal relationships inevitably come through in your divine ones too. You know, I have this same sense of loss and unhappiness with friends and partners, that they are merely tolerating my presence and I'm just sort of - lucky to be allowed to be around them. And then in my divine relationships, that I'm a tiny flesh creature calling out to deaf ears, my words being carried away on the wind, but I serve all the same because a one-sided devotion is pretty standard in my daily life, and why would anyone see any value in me...? Let alone something infinite.
Without getting too egotistical about it, I think I also need to practice comfort in my divine relationships - what if, what if, it's not as simple as making a business transaction, but offering a thing and having someone accept it in part because they want you. You're not just a bottled soul in the endless vaults, you're one of the Devil's chosen.
It's a comforting thought. It fulfils a mortal need.
