Devoured by Flame

There are times wherein we cannot hear the voices of the Gods. Perhaps you know how to listen, perhaps you have built the shrine, and yet, nothing seems to be working. Perhaps you have found yourself in the midst of a struggling time and the last thing you want to do is listen for an inner voice. 

I have spoken about deity communication and what that can look like but I’ve yet to speak on what happens when you are unable to hear the voices of the Gods.

There are many reasons why this could be happening and not all of them I am going to cover in this post. I’ve already touched on dissociation and feelings of moral failure but in this post I will speak on why Gods may not always respond. 

It is important to note that just because you want to reach a Deity, it does not mean that They will reach back. Just because you give an offering, built a shrine and have prayed to Them does not mean They are going to give you the time of day. This doesn’t always mean that They don’t like you, nor does it have anything to do with who you are as a person, either. 

Not all humans are compatible with all Deities and not all Deities are compatible with all humans.

If you are trying to fit a square block into a circle hole, you’ll end up forcing something that doesn’t fit entirely into a space that isn’t meant to have that contained. So if you are wanting to work with a Deity that does not have the kind of energy that goes well with yours, it may be even more difficult to hear Their voice let alone try and get Them to pay more attention to you. 

This means that not all Deities will work well with humans who have differing values and energetic ties. Most Deities will only want to work with humans who will pay attention to Them and will balance out the energy well. If the Deity knows that another Deity is working with that devotee, it is likely They will come across as distant and not imposing. It isn’t because They don’t want to work with you but rather, They feel as if They are taking away from your work with another Deity. 

This goes to show that polytheism does not mean that you have to have a relationship with every Deity in a pantheon to prove your worth as a polytheist. It isn’t a game of Pokémon in which you must collect them all to win. The most prized and sacred relationships are those between a human and a Deity that human is compatible with.

How do you know if you are compatible?

It will be obvious. It will give you a sense of completion when you find whichever Deity it is and a sense of self that no one else will. This kind of relationship is easy to have and is built on trust, love, respect, and intimacy. This does not mean you will get married or become the priest of that deity or oath or anything like that. You do not need to do any of those things to be claimed by the Deity who is most compatible with you. 

You will find that the more you get in touch with yourself, the easier it is for Them to find you. You will grow to know Them as a result of knowing yourself. 

A good example of knowing when a Deity is right for you is likely that your whole life, you’ve had an intense knowing and attraction for who that Deity is. It isn’t going to be obvious for some people right off the bat, but when you do eventually open yourself up to find Them, you will know deep within that They are the ones that are the most important. 

This also isn’t a patron Deity as that connotes that They sponsor something – this is different. This is more along the lines of what the Norse call fulltruí. Fulltruí means god-friend. It is a special relationship that a Deity can have with a human in such a way that They relate to you well. It is a deep, intimate, and passionate connection and typically due to the fact that They have been close to you your whole life.

If you haven’t found that Deity yet, it isn’t uncommon for you to not know Who that would be. Not all Deities have been interested in pursuing humans as much as They may have back in the early days. This isn’t uncommon to have a Deity you are compatible with and have Them not respond to offerings or attempts to communicate. 

So why does this matter, then? Isn’t it kind of useless to pursue a relationship with a Deity?

Just because a Deity is hands off with a person does not mean that They will never speak to them. Some Deities – like Loki for example – will go out of Their way to be obvious and be a part of the household because that is part of Their nature. Others will be distant and perhaps less interested in the pursuit of a relationship. This doesn’t mean that They don’t care for humans – They do. This just means that They, like humans, have Their own kinds of issues regarding humans that They find to be difficult to get past. Deities have Their own traumas, Their own experiences, and Their own troubles that typically have nothing to do with who you are as a person but rather what the millennia that has preceded this time has done to the connection between the Divine and humans.

We do not live in a world that is conducive to the Divine and having intimate relationships due to the culture we live in and the Western ideas of individualism. We do not tend to care very much for what the Divine have to say and that is no fault of our own individual selves but rather what we have been led to believe is more important. 

The Gods are selfish and have Their own needs, desires, and wants and would otherwise have Their own authority in describing to you what that is but have not been able to do so in a very long time.

Instead, we tend to believe that what They want has an influence of Christian ideals, occult techniques, and cult dynamics that have pervaded the Western idea of religion. We think They should be kept separate from us and away. We think that They shouldn’t want to be with humans because They are too important. That couldn’t be further from the truth. But most people are not ready to believe that is the case and would sooner believe themselves unworthy and unfit to have a Divine relationship.

So really, it is a circle of issues when it comes to why a Deity might not be interested in pursuing someone. It isn’t that They are uninterested but rather not wishing to spend time trying to understand the complex realms of humanity that have made it so unbearably difficult to reach us. 

That is why I am writing from the standpoint of understanding both sides of why things work rather than just what we need to do to reach out. It is much more complex than giving offerings, praying, and making a shrine – it is opening a doorway in which the Divine can walk through and be heard in a way They likely have not been in millennia.

The point is, don’t get discouraged if you are yet to find a Deity that is compatible with you. It is likely you already have. It is likely the first one you thought to reach out to that you have felt the most passionate about reaching is highly compatible with you. Humans do not get these ideas in a vacuum – the longing comes from both sides. 

If you have felt pulled to reach a Deity, it is highly likely They are the ones reaching back to you. Those who say otherwise don’t understand the dynamics of why Deities even do that in the first place. The pull is natural – not artificially produced because you have a weird obsession or are all too passionate about it. Don’t gaslight yourself out of that intense feeling – pursue it and see where it lands you.