I'm going to go over one of the more curious things about working with the deities today. One of the big things that I've run into, is that different pantheons react very differently and expect very different things from worshipers.
With the ones that I work with, I've gotten very much used to the give-and-take sort of bond that you get from a teacher and student relationship. The gods show you what they want you to see, or teach you what they want you to know, and then watch as you adapt to it. But with all of their knowledge, I still have the autonomy and the expectation from the gods of challenging them in return and questioning that knowledge.
In my experience, the Celtic side and the Fomori are the same on this. There is an expectation that I'm not going to take everything at face value, even when face value is precisely what is right and what is needed. The Morrigan has a habit of doing this to the point where I only half-heartedly question what she reveals to me, because I know she's not going to pull punches or send a mixed message, it's just not her way of doing things. With the Fomori, their lessons come more in the form of "adapt or fail", and they usually leave me with a few choices, so it's more of an open-ended approach.
With the Rokkr, on the other hand, it's a little different. Their lessons are harsher and more sudden, and tend to force a questioning in the form of fight or flight. Fenrir especially likes to throw the instinctive reaction in my face as a sort of test, forcing me to choose between two options in a sense, because he already knows how I'm going to respond. Hela is much the same way, but in the sense that she sends me intentionally vague or overly direct signs, and expects me to sort out which ones need to be altered to make sense.
Loki is another matter entirely. When I'm given a sign by Loki, I never know what part of it to trust, so I question everything, which is ultimately the point with him. Loki has always played the role of the critical teacher, and expects critical thought in return. This usually leads me into a downward spiral of over-thinking and over-analyzing every bit of information involved. If I ever took one of Loki's signs at face value, I'd likely wind up suffering the consequences for months (and, nearly, have).
It all adds up to a very balanced relationship with my gods. I don't regard them as infallible, and they don't expect me to. They expect me to question them, they expect me to test them, and they while they expect me to show them a heavy amount of respect, they also expect me to have no hesitation in asserting myself when they intentionally give bad advice. I've grown very much accustomed to this, so when my meditations lead to me dealing with gods of pantheons that have different... shall we say, management styles... things get a bit interesting.
Of late, I've been dealing more and more with a select handful of deities from the Hellenic pantheon. I've dealt very little with them in the past, so it was a bit jarring to all of a sudden have this new set of personalities to deal with, especially given their way of interacting with worshipers. They actually expect worship, and intend to punish the sort of resistance I'm used to giving my own gods. Needless to say, this has lead to some friction in my meditative travels when a conflict of interest arises. It's an entirely different set of etiquette.
It's a huge adjustment to go from treating my own gods with a sense of camaraderie and equality, to having to treat strange gods with deference and humility (and leads to some rather entertaining conversations when my gods appear to me in other meditations and pick me apart for acting weak in front of the Greeks). It's just not a natural transition to make. I've had to re-train myself in many ways with some of them (those that I actually have respect for), but others... others still get the same treatment that mine get, except with the intention of confrontation.
Whether I want conflict or not, just as with some people, some gods just provoke that response. With my own gods, it's a sign of respect and kinship. With gods I have no association with, however, it takes on the form of sarcasm and condescending remarks, if not outright conflict. In meditation, I've grown used to feeling a sense of personal authority that I likely shouldn't have. It's a growing pain.
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