Despite whether the deity is a male or female it is always still a "patron". There is no such thing as a "patroness". You could technically call it a "matron" but at that point, you are just going down a very lonely road. No one will understand what you are talking about.
Many deities do cross cultures but will often prefer interaction through the one(s) that the connection to them runs through. Some believe that this connection is created through bloodline (ancestry). But due to the mass amount of travel and mixing of blood in the past few thousand years, many are finding that this is not such a simple answer. Some individuals are lucky enough to experience vivid past life or genetic memories that helps them to connect the godly presence in their life and how it came to be. Others still, find it necessary to seek out a seer, priest, priestess, or (enter your highly experienced wise mystical man/woman title here).
Some people come from a faithless or "soul searching" life and their patron influences their life in such a way that leads them to a revelation. Others are born into a very strict society that has one religion and their godly influence must work with what it has. This may not always fit into the paradigm of the local faith, and their peers tend to be suspicious. Many a poor soul has been killed or ostracized over having a strong connection with a patron and being too outspoken about it.
What is the purpose of such a connection?
Some cultures believe that select people have a divine purpose in life while others believe that everyone has the capability to obtain such a purpose. Many religions have a teacher or main deity that people model after in hopes of attaining spiritual ascension. In many New Age and Occult circles this "divine purpose" has become a more self orientated focus that they like to call "The Great Work". Crowley referred to this as "do as thou will" as the idea that we all have a purpose that we must find and pursue no matter what anyone else thinks.
I am of the faithless crowd, although Nature is my religion if you count that. My Lady has been with me since childhood and as I explained in another thread, I gave my oath to her at 13. I'm going to share something now that is very personal. If you wish to deride it, that is your choice, but you won't just be pissing me off. You will be insulting a deity.
My Lady has described it to me like this. Everyone exists within a certain sphere of existence. Sometimes they overlap as we interact with others, but for the most part, we feel a pull to only those within our own. (she demonstrated this by literally showing me bubble like invisible forcefields that covered vast areas and stretched further than I could see) These spheres are not of energy but intelligence and this intelligence is what we call gods. Therefore I am within her and she is all around me and in many of the people that I am drawn to spend my time with. I am like her in many ways because I am a part of her. It isn't that she created me but that we became one upon initiation many existences ago. In this way the sphere is a collective consciousness and in connecting to it, I can tap into the knowledge and understanding that resides within it. This is a very intimate connection and is not taken lightly. This is why she identified as the Morrigu, who is actually more than one woman, many of which were historical Queens. She explained to me that She is identified in people and then those people, much like the Pharoahs of Egypt, became viewed as the living deity. This doesn't mean that anyone is less or more divine but that they all have the capability of tapping into it if they seriously work toward doing so. This is a concept loosely seen quite a lot in Hinduism, Buddhism, and even Egyptian mythology, as the weight of your soul determines if you gain an akh or mixing of the gods' life force (immortality). I did a lot of research of religions AFTER I was taught by My Lady in hopes that somebody had a better instruction manual with less confusion.
So why embrace having a patron? It's just one way to what some call "enlightenment". Your patron is your pathway to becoming like them. But it isn't that you become a god it is that you become apart of them, an extension, a part of the collective consciousness that is them. The more minds within their sphere, the greater influence they have. How far into that pathway determines how much of them you have accepted and how much they have influenced your life. How closely does your life reflect them?
For me, My Lady is a goddess of both Life and Death, War and Love. She is a duality of oneness. She is illusion and prophecy, magic, sensuality yet motherhood, and strength throughout. She chooses who wins and who loses, lives or dies because She is Fata...fate, just as the "Fates, Morai, or Weird Sisters"). I have given her my life. She can take it away any day or time if it is her will. I listen to her but I stand up for my heart if it contradicts her requests, because that is what she wants of me. I bow to no one but death when it takes me.
But patrons are not for the faint of heart if you are truly serious. They will derail and rebuild you. Who I am and what I wanted in life has changed dramatically.
With that, I leave you with the words of Morrigan as the Prophetess. May her will always manifest.
"Peace up to Heaven. Heaven down to Earth. Earth beneath Heaven. Strength in each. Summer in Winter. Peace up to Heaven."
I would love for all of you to share here your beliefs and relationships with your patrons. I hope that this thread will be filled with knowledge and beautiful stories.
I ask that this be a respectful thread and not an argumentative one--A place where we can discuss our experiences like we used to on EM.
