Welcome

Most pagans these days look to "big names" in terms of Divinity. It's natural - most of us come from more conventional faith systems, which focus on The End All, Be All when it comes to that sort of thing.

Pre-Christian faith systems, however, were often far, far more nuanced. The "big names" were big because knowledge of them often spanned multiple communities. The vast majority of cultures, however, also held to "smaller" gods. Individual tribal gods, for instance, the gods of natural geographical features, household gods and a family line or clan's ancestors.

One of the things that training in British Traditional Witchcraft has given me is an appreciation of and fascination with these "small gods." Gerald Gardner touched on the fact that the deities of BTW are tribal gods. We don't pretend they are all-powerful or all-encompassing. Indeed, they are very much the kinds of gods well-known in old paganism: "belonging" to a single tribe (in this case, the Wica), their names and rites kept secret from outsiders.

They aren't seen as omnipotent entities. They are treated as our friends and close confidants in many ways. We don't ask them to do things for us - we do them ourselves (though we may ask them for their help in doing so). We don't talk about the "destiny" or "purpose" our gods have for us, any more than we talk about those that our friends have for us. Our gods want us to be happy - not by their definition of happy, but by ours. They'll help make that happen (just as those close to us will). Moreover, they need us, just as we need them.

This dynamic, then, has sharpened my perspective in a lot of ways. When we moved into our current home, we knew it would be a covenstead. As time has passed, we've sought to interact with our household and local gods - particularly the Diana Biformis who acts as the goddess of our covenstead (but not our coven).

This blog, then, is about the evolution of our interactions with these small gods. Creation of liturgy, recording experiences and understandings, and generally keeping a place where we can record this information for posterity's sake.

I'm not going to pretend that it's likely to be of any interest save to myself, my housemates, and maybe a handful of others. But for those who're interested - welcome.