For Discussion: Worship

[qos]

What does "worship" mean to you?

How/why is it -- or is it not -- important to your path?

What does "worship" look like as a practice?

Comments

[wyldlingspirit.livejournal.com]

This made me realize... I don't worship the Morrígu. I try to stay on Her good side. I come closer to worshiping Lú even though I don't serve Him. I haven't figured out if this is part of the problem or a reflection of it.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

I've found the responses on this thread very interesting. To me, probably coming out of my Christian background, "worship" implies the reverence and praise one offers a deity, simply for the sake of praise. I suppose that could translate to "staying on hir good side" in some cases. . . But that doesn't resonate with what I perceive of you or The Morrigu. I don't "worship" Ereshkigal, even though I serve Her, respect Her, and even love Her.

[blessed-harlot.livejournal.com]

It's very important to me. Whether alone or in community, planned or impromptu, worship has a common element for me. That's the intersection of accessing deep wonder in some aspect of the world around me/us, and deep awareness of the relationship that is possible for me/us to have with the creator. It's an experience of both a relationship, and the gifts that pour out of that other entity in the relationship.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. . . This resonates with my own oldest ideas about worship, but it's been so long since I've done anything that I would recognize as worship that I'd lost track.

[uncledark.livejournal.com]

Worship is the maintenance of an intimate relationsip with Diety. It's using the parts of the brain that do relationships with flesh-and-blood people to apprehend the Universe.

The place of worship has waxed and waned in my life. At times, it's been all that's kept me going. Other times, it's an afterthought, something I do to keep my foot in the door with the gods.

Most of the time, it consists of prayer and libation, usually first thing in the morning. There is also informal prayer, whenever the mood strikes me.

Dionysos, the god to whom I have been devoted the past ten years, is a kind of mentor to me. That is, the relationship is one of advice and guidance, rather than one of vassal to lord or beloved to lover.

This practice of worship has been important to me. It's been the core and anchor of my spiritual work for ten years. From my god, I recieve a gentle love and guidance free of harsh judgement.

He says to me the things I ought to say to myself, but cannot believe, hearing them from my own lips.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

The short answer is, worship feels to me like doing what I believe my deity wants me to be doing. Hestia wants the house looked after, I worship with Hestia when I putter and put away and fold laundry and sweep the floors. Hermes really enjoyed a meandering drive I took today, and he LOVES my iPhone map application. =) Artemis likes when I take good care of my physical body. She wants me to do more yoga and take more hikes in the hills. (hell, _I_ want to do those things) You can guess what Aphrodite likes, heh heh heh. Athena likes when I take care of my peeps, take care of the network, my polis. Demeter... wants a garden and a baby. I'm not quite there yet, obviously.

The practice varies but always wants focus and presence in the task at hand. It's about living, not existing, to quote someone I read recently. Moment-to-moment, accomplishing tasks that are worthy of me and of Them.

Today I think there are undines and gnomes in my house, and that they aren't happy with me/us/the house. I need to think about this, and realize what I need to do to get right with them.

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing.

Worship

[purplevenus.livejournal.com]

I thought about this for quite some time, only to find that worship, is something I don't do. I "work with", my role a priestess is just as important as Their role as Deity.
Worship to me is something you do to someone you don't expect to interact with. Christian churches, esp. invite one to worship...now you can't touch the altar, you only sit, listen, and respond in rote and given manners, to me, this is worship. Maybe I can't divorce it from "from afar".
Worship smacks me as non-reciprocal, and I tend to think of my Gods a "family", esp. since the only way I begin to work with a deity is if they convince me to fall in love with them.

Re: Worship

[shadowandstar.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing. That non-reciprocal element seems to be key to the idea of "worship."

I guess for me the non-reciprocal element is contextualized within a larger very reciprocal relationship. It's a time taken to focus on the deity without immediate expectation of reward or response, while trusting that there will be a response, if that makes sense? Kind of like giving a lover a massage, knowing it will be appreciated and reciprocated in some way, but not expecting them to jump up and do so right away.

Re: Worship

[purplevenus.livejournal.com]

I see...where your reciprocity lies...in my case, when I have been to "worship" (ie Services) I never felt deity present, so it felt more like I was leaving a massage in his mailbox, which he might/might not get to.
In your case above, getting to touch deity to mesh your energy with theirs is still an exchange.
Worship implies an absence to me.
I give offerings because I wish for the deity to be happy as well as look kindly upon me.
It may just be a word trigger, and my activities may "look" like worship to the average person.