Worship God from different religion?
So I was raised Catholic and been more or less agnostic since I could understand religion I've been following asatru for a little over a year now and this is certainly the religion for me only I have an issue I've recently become quite obsessed with the god ares from the hellenic religion I was wondering if I could still follow asatru and worship ares too? Or even follow both religions I'm curious as too your thoughts? ?
There's no problem with honoring gods other than the Aesir, or even holding multiple faiths, as long as the practices are kept separate. I believe 'blending' only waters down all blended elements, and is disrespectful to all faiths and deities involved. Just my opinion, the mileage of others may vary.
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I agree with Rick. It's okay to work with deities outside of your primary faith, but it takes a bit of careful managing. It's important to to either keep things very separate, or make sure that the deities involved are amenable to working together.Originally Posted by Gungnir
One thing you could do to help keep things separate is have multiple altars set up for the different deities, or just the different pantheons. They don't necessarily have to be completely huge done up things that take up entire walls or anything like that, each could be just a different part of a shelf.
Like if you get something like this you could use different sections for different mini altars
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Perhaps my opinion will be of little use here since my path does not include deity worship, but I'll have a crack at this.
Imagine you have a group of friends that you enjoy spending time with and respect, and then you have another group of friends that are very similar in the way that you interact with them, but very different in their core beliefs or mannerisms or customs. Perhaps one group harbors a practice that is considered taboo to the other group but that you personally do not take issue with. What would you do? Do you keep them completely separate from each other and visit these different groups in secret, as if the other did not exist? Sneaking around and lying to them by omission... Or would you politely explain to both that you enjoy their companies and would like to continue seeing both, though you don't expect them to become one big happy group and start hanging out together?
The second one, I hope. These are your gods, not your punishers or your rulers or your monarchs, and if you feel shackled to any of them so much that you do not feel able to pursue other spiritual guides then perhaps it is time to sever the bond with those who hold you back with unreasonable expectation of singularity of devotion.
The posts above seem to have the right idea. I would inform the original pantheon of your interest in pursuing outside spiritual education and ensure them that your reverence for them has not dwindled nor shall their sacred space become cluttered with your new interests.
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The interesting thing about most Neopagan faiths is that they are orthopraxic. The focus is one what you do rather than what you believe. So, practising multiple religions isn't necessarily contradictory. It is something that can also be seen in the socially complex forms of religion in the ancient world; different gods are venerated, even ones from foreign lands, but they each have their own cults: their own rituals and manners of being worshipped.
No there isn't anything wrong with it, but like what was previously mentioned, be sure to keep them separate. I know that in certain Heathen circles the use of human blood during ritual is acceptable, but Hellenism, regardless of which deity you are worshiping, it is strictly forbidden. You might also find some Hellenes less willing to accept the use of runes, spae, seidhr and galdr because to some they are superstitions or even hubris. Although that idea is more prevalent in reconstructionist circles than mainstream Hellenism.
From a historical perspective of both religions there once again is no problem. Hellenism and the Religio are notorious for having absorbed and many deities and spirits from different areas around the Mediterranean, Middle East and Northern Europe. In some cases they just simply conflated two beings into one (Zeus-Amon). However, both the Germanic, Hellenic and Roman faiths had a very interesting, almost animistic way of looking at deities. In the North, each tribe worshiped their own, slightly modified gods. So the Odin of the Saxons was not the Odin of the Danes nor the Odin of Lombards, but a unique god shaped by the experiences of that particular tribe. In Greece the best example would be Artemis. Artemis of Ephesus, with Her many breasts, was certainly not worshiped or seen in the same light as mainland Artemis. Finally, there are many Roman inscriptions to "the unknown god of this temple" found scattered throughout the Empire. I'm pointing all of these things out because it shows that despite having different native cultures, the typical mindset in the ancient world was that all deities and religions are inherently correct. Symmachus, a late 4th century senator, stated in a letter to the emperor fighting for the reinstatement of the Altar of Victory, "We gaze up at the same stars, the sky covers us all, the same universe encompasses us. What does it matter what practical system we adopt in our search for the truth. Not one avenue only can we arrive at so tremendous a secret."
For example, I worship multiple deities from several pantheons...but they are all water deities, representative of the *where* of where I live. Also, I'm not a hard polytheist or the a follower of any specific tradtion--I, quite literally, worship the "land" where I live--my bioregion (which, around here, is mostly water)...so it works quite easily.
“You have never answered but you did not need to. If I stand at the ocean I can hear you with your thousand voices. Sometimes you shout, hilarious laughter that taunts all questions. Other nights you are silent as death, a mirror in which the stars show themselves. Then I think you want to tell me something, but you never do. Of course I know I have written letters to no-one. But what if I find a trident tomorrow?" ~~Letters to Poseidon, Cees Nooteboom
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I always like to add to this the flipside... that just because two deities are from the same pantheon or culture does NOT mean that they get along. An example is in the Northern pantheons (of which there are technically three)... Loki and Heimdall are enemies, and Loki and Skadhi aren't particularly enamoured of each other either. Mixing deities of any kind takes care and consideration, whether they are of the same culture or not.
I am inclined to agree with the previous posts. Keep them separate but ultimately it is YOUR path and YOUR spirituality. I've always said that the definitions of my path are between me and the powers that be. If you plan on seriously exploring and adding another deity to your path, you should consult with your main deity before doing so. That's not to say though that every time you wish to evoke or acknowledge another deity that you should talk to your main deity. If for example, your doing something pertaining to love, attraction and/or sexuality and you want to evoke Aphrodite because that's her domain, then go ahead and do so, it's not a long term commitment, it's sorta a one-time because I need to thing.
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