A question for pagans and people who summon spirits to obtain things?

Question

I know some people believe in the gods from ancient civilizations. I am not exactly sure how you pray or summon them But what I want to know is are your gods fickle? And if they are how do you stay on their good side? Would they turn on you? How would you "protect" yourself? I am really curious and that is why I am asking.

Sorry if this question sounds disrespectful I don't mean it to be. I am very curious. How did you learn about your gods? What drew you to them?

Hildulf thank you for your honesty. I have read about other gods / goddess. I have a relative who is heavily into the Viking gods / goddesses. I have read their stories and it does seem like some of them can be provoked. I have tried to understand what provokes them. I am not "working" with them. I have just read up on them. In some ways the stories will seem so innocent and it will incur the anger of a god or grab the attention of another god who wants to mess with the favors that the 1st god bestowed. It seems like toying with humans who are at their mercy. I can tell you I am not familiar with the Egyptian gods so I do not know if they have merucrial moods. However I do know more about the Greek and Roman gods / goddesses. I appreciated the responses and have enjoyed reading all of them.

Answer 1

I do not "summon" the Gods.

I invite Them to join me in my rites. Honestly... do you think They are servants to be ordered about? (And to clarify another point, I honor the Gods -- I do not cower before Them. My Gods prefere to see me on my feet, like an adult, not on my knees like a slave.)

And I do not invite Them to join me to "obtain" things from them by issuing commands. If They bless my rites, They do so of their own accord. I can ask for Their help, but that does not guarantee that it will be given.

My Gods are not fickle. They are steadfast and consistant in Their actions according to Their natures. That said, relating to the God/desses that are generally beneficial is a relatively easy matter; They tend be to forgiving of errors and open to communication and appeals for help. Relating to someone like the Morrigan, who is a "darker" Goddess, means proceeding carefully and offering Her due respect and honor. If I displease Her, She is likely to refuse me Her favor, or worse, to make Her displeasure felt by "queering" my workings. The only "protection" I can practice is to approach Her only when necessary, to treat Her respectfully, and to make the terms of our interaction (and the limits of our interaction) clear at my end.

Hope this helps.

EDITED TO ADD: Here are a couple of sample invocations, from a handfasting that I performed in September. Please keep in mind that there are as many ways to invite the Gods to join us in our rites as there are Pagans to write the invocations.

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Hail, Adonis!
Magnificent Lord of desire
Great God whose potency is creation’s fire
Sun King, in your strength and virility
With your brilliant divinity
Join with us this handfasting to bless
A couple bound by love and tenderness.
Hail, Great God, Hail and Welcome!

Hail, Aphrodite!
Glorious Lady of desire
Great Goddess who kindles passion’s hot fire
Moon Queen who rules felicity
Whose wisdom knows love’s mystery
Come to us to witness this rite
Where lovers have chosen this day to unite.
Hail, Great Goddess, Hail and Welcome!

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And this is how we bid Them farewell:

The magic is wrought, the rite is done.
Oh Lady of the Moon, Lord of the Sun,
Great Goddess and God, farewell to Thee
We give thanks for your presence. Blessed be.

Answer 2

My magical practices and religious practices are largely separate. I do not summon spirits to obtain things, nor do I summon my gods: I invite them. Whether they even show up is their choice, just as its their choice whether they answer a prayer.

Perhaps it would help to remember that while we generally do not see our gods as all knowing, all powerful, we do still see them as GODS. They are beings far, far greater than us, beings deserving of our respect, honor and/or worship.

I do not see my particular gods as fickle, but they certainly do not do everything I hope they will. I follow them, not the other way around, and if they want things to go a certain way they have a greater understanding than I and I should, perhaps, try and learn something from the experience. They see the much larger scheme of things.

If a god was truly working against me, there would be nothing I could do. Again, they are gods. That's part of being a god. But if they are doing things that hamper me in some way, I do not believe it is generally because they are specifically spiteing me - it just happens that in the larger scheme of things, this is the way things need to go. So I learn and I make do with the circumstances handed to me.

Answer 3

Hehe, don't worry, I know you don't mean to offend :)

I cannot speak for other Pagan denominations, or even other people who are Kemetic [Ancient Egyptian] Pagan as am I.
But in my experience, the gods [Netjeru] are not fickle. My experience with them has been nothing but warm and inviting. When I pray to them, I feel....home. I feel salvation the way Christians do when they pray.

The only thing I advise for Pagans is to GET TO KNOW the gods before praying to them or even doing spells [I, myself, am not really into spell work; prayer is sufficient]. It seems a bit shady to read about a deity on Wikipedia, discover they're a love god, and then pray to them for a boyfriend.
It's like asking a stranger for money, isn't it?
And yet, I've seen it done.

In the Kemetic Pantheon, there are literally hundreds of gods. There is a good chance I will not know them all by the time I die, but my goal is to get to know as many of them as possible, and to know them well before I ask any favors :)

I hope that helps.

Answer 4

Interesting question.

I am a Traditional Witch ( a witch who is not a wiccan), and many trad witches do not belief in gods/goddesses as real entites, but more as symbols or allegories of certain male/female aspects of nature much like early humans did.

But many do. We do not "summon" and they are not "fickle" necessarily, although you should be specific in prayers, spells, etc. We invite her/him/them to us, they know who we are, and they are always there when we need them. I do not ascribe to any deity in particular, but I do believe in a higher self/higher power. Not exactly traditional, but that's one of the wonderful things about Witchcraft--take what works for you, ditch what doesn't.

As far as protecting myself, I don't communicate with negative energies, curse people, and try to do no harm. To do these things is actually dangerous, because we believe in Retribution--what you do comes back on you an indefinite number of times.

Hope I anwered your question.

Answer 5

I don't use the gods to obtain things. Usually I ask them to help in situations, or simply call them into circle for celebration of sabbats and esbats (our religious days). I wouldn't say the gods are fickle, but you had better be very specific about what you want when you are asking for their help. They tend to have a sense of humor... my husband has had encounters (for lack of a better word) with some of the darker gods. He approaches them with respect and reverence, because he's experienced them firsthand and knows better than to ask for frivolous things. There is a saying: if the gods want to punish you, they will grant you your wish. Protecting yourself can be done in various ways; either through part of the wording of the spell, or in some kind of cleansing/shielding beforehand.

Answer 6

Fickle?
Odin is fickle...

Thor is resolute.
Tyr is resolute.
Heimdallr is resolute.
Baldr is resolute.
Freyja is resolute.
Freyr is resolute.
Njordhr is resolute.
Ran is resolute (and quite vengeful when she doesn't get her offerings).

Loki is.... Loki.

Are the Gods fickle? Enh... Only a couple of them. And I don't deal much with them, anyway.

As for summoning? Nuh uh, buddy. Not this boy.
Been down that route, they showed up JUST to show me what that kind of arrogance buys.

I will invite them to any feast, blot, or sumbel... but I will never EVER again "summon" them.

The Gods are my literal ancestors. My literal kinfolk. They called to me, and invited me back into the family.
But make no mistake... they aren't us, and we aren't them. We are OF them, but they are not of us.

A comparison would be... we're like a tiny fleck of a spark that flies off of a burning cigarette, as compared to them, they are more akin to a billion giant suns burning in one mass of energy.

They're beyond even that... but you get the gist, I hope.

Answer 7

I dont summon spirits
I open myself to communicate ... they communicate only if they wish to
they have as much free will as we do and we cant make them do anything that they dont wish to
there is nothing to obtain from them either ... except perhaps a little wisdom
I have worked with spirit for years now and have never had any that have been in the least bit negative
and I dont feel the need to protect myself , I believe that like attracts like ... and I would attract spirit that is similar in nature to myself

Answer 8

My gods and goddesses that I follow are those of the egyptian belief. And I have learned over the past few years that my gods and goddesses are not some god /goddess that you view from afar. They are my friends, my sisters/borthers, my Fathers/mothers, and my teachers. And they are by far something to fear.

Answer 9

I don't prescribe to a particular deity,everything is a balance,mother earth,father sky etc,I use what i suppose you could descibe as" the will and the word" to ask for what I need,I don't ask for money or material things as that is not what it is intended for..so I believe...
If when I was younger I say visited a country that had a particular deity,say Wotan or Freya I would pay my respects but that was really as far as it went for me..
As for protection,I consciously gather my loved ones who have passed over and are still around to watch my back,I used to be heavily into crowley but I realised as was just being young foolish and negative,truly a terrible man was he and I no longer view his work with any credulity....

Answer 10

Ok I do NOT summon a god. I do not CALL a god. I INVITE my gods. They are my Elder Kin, my family, my ancestors. My gods are not evil. Why would they turn on me? They're my family. LOL I do nothing to protect myself. If you don't trust your gods you have NO business honoring them. Period.

edit: Oh trust me. If the gods want you to hear them, you will. :) They very much found me. Blood calls.