Worshipping a god or goddess in fact is paying homage to the great
shining light at the core of your being. You acknowledge that there is
more than everyday reality and honor it.
The various godheads are different 'gestalts', energy beings, or facets
of the whole you in a pure and exalted form. The gods are your
transcendent friends, helping you to develop latent characteristics and
qualities in yourself. Through meeting and worshipping the gods you
absorb and work with their specific type of energy. Thus you bring this
form of energy/reality into your consciousness and make it part of your
being.
This is the base of astro-drama, being a combination of astrology and
drama, in which you tune into the energies of the planet-spirits and
behave like them. And feeling the Saturn inside, or acting like bold Mars
for a woman, can be quite a revelation.
Wearing a mask is another form of experiencing a different personality
within you and taking on its special powers.
A god or goddess can never be defined by one specific form; the form is a
symbolical representation and a personal perception of the greater
reality behind it. Eventually the collective unconsciousness creates an
image we all have somehow agreed on. And so we know Venus as a beautiful
young woman with round forms, Cernunnos as a real guy with the large
horns of a deer, and Holy Mary as innocent devotion surrounded by an aura
of white light and standing on a crescent moon. But do they really look
like this?
"Every man and every woman is a star", Aleister Crowley said. The gods
and goddesses are rays of light of the one star that is All: the great
God/Goddess, the Life Force itself, often personified by Nature, Heaven
and Earth, or Sun and Moon. But also these big representations can be no
more than shallow depictions of the truth behind it.
Some years ago I really astounded my rational self by intuitively buying
religious objects, and purchasing flowers and gemstones as offerings for
my new buddha statue. Until then I'd believed that religion was something
internally, and that occupation with pictures of deities was superfluous
nonsense. And here I found myself, burning candles on an altar in
devotion! I sincerely questioned my mental sanity. Then suddenly I
realized that I did not worship some outer god, but through paying loving
attention to a deity, I was honoring the god and goddess within.
Therefore I know that it can be very useful to create a small altar in
your sacred space, to promote the communication between your self and
your Self, or the conversation with your Holy Guardian Angel as magicians
would say.
