Day Seven: Patronage & Other Deeper Relationships

Frankly, I think pagans put too much emphasis on devotion and patron deities. As I mentioned "yesterday", I think it's perfectly fine to have more informal relationships with deities, as long as you're respectful in all of your dealings with them.

That being said, I do think being devoted to a deity (or having a patron, but that's not really part of my practice as a reconstructionist) can be fulfilling. I'd say it typically does require a lot of dedication, but it does follow the same basic rules. As long as you follow through on what you set out to do, that is fine. In my experience, Skadi and Apollon are relatively forgiving, as long as I don't explicitly make promises I cannot keep.

I do generally advise against devoting yourself to a deity though. While it has been fulfilling for me, I do not think I was aware of what it really meant when I made that decision. I was also learning about paganism at that awkward period where pagan spaces were just starting to become less Wicca-centric (though this is arguably still an issue), but many reconstructionist types still haven't fully sorted out what things they do are from Wicca, which are based on historical practices and which are modern developments. So, the main thing was "yeah, every pagan has a specific deity that is their matron/patron. I am listing my main God and Goddess in my bio." and that's just kind of what the meta was. It is a coincidence that I'm dedicated to a god and goddess though, they happened years apart.

There are different "levels" of devotion, but I feel like a lot of pagan spaces are very black and white with it. Either you barely worship a god at all OR you are dedicated to them and spend a significant amount of time worshiping them in particular. I feel the book "Dedicant Devotee Priesst" by Stephanie Woodfield gives a good overview of these:

• Devotion: Specific focus, but with "no strings attached". There are no oaths or anything you have to follow, but you have spent time building a relationship with this deity.
• Dedication: Includes the above, but there is also some sort of promise made to the deity and, less commonly, some sort of prohibition. I rarely see prohibitions, but I do know a common one is that people who are dedicated to Aphrodite often avoid pork. Dedication (and devotion) are between you and the deity.
• Priesthood: Basically all of the above, but now you have to also engage with the community and teach others about the deity/your tradition, organize rituals, et cetera.

I know when I was more active in pagan spaces on social media, it felt like dedication was the expectation and priesthood was what most people aspired to. I have opinions on priesthood that I feel like might be a little unpopular, but I'll save that for day 25.