Hronsdlensel
New Member
Let me first warn you this is a long one. I don't mean to be so verbose, but this profoundly upset my entire notion of my spirituality, and if I'm to do any justice to my search, I need to describe all I saw.
Having always been a logical person, I never really subscribed to the notion of a god or gods, though the idea was appealing, because I could never find any evidence of them whatsoever. However...
I had a vision nigh on a month ago. It wasn't your usual sort of vision (if there is such a thing; it was at least not stereotypical); I was in my philosophy class, thinking about the topic of the day (the ethics of euthanasia, cheerily enough), when into my mind burst the image of a clearing in the forest near where I was raised that I had always loved. The clearing lies in a nearly circular depression in the hills, meaning that three sides of the depression were walled with dirt. In the center of the depression was a statue of a beautiful woman, holding her finger to her smiling lips, wearing a cloak of dusky obsidian. In her other hand was a pomegranate. She stood on a pedestal of dark stone, inscribed with characters of languages either unknown or long dead. At the base of the pedestal was a silver bowl, filled to the brim with clear, clean water.
I knew immediately that this was a shrine to the goddess of secrecy and hidden desires. I knew that whenever the water in the bowl evaporated to nothing, a ritual must be done to fill the bowl again so as to maintain the favor of the goddess. One must strip nude and place in the empty bowl an offering of a secret, the more personal and terrifying to reveal, the more powerful. One must then light the secret aflame and induce such pain, either physical or emotional, that one cries. Gathering your tears, one must then bury the ashes of the secret at the base of the shrine and wash the silver bowl in clear, flowing water. Filling the bowl with water, one pours the tears into the water, or cries directly into it, and replaces it at the goddess's feet. The ritual is then complete, and one may then cloth oneself and depart.
I thought I was just daydreaming, that this vivid image was nothing. But for a month it's eaten at me, as though there IS such a shrine in my childhood forest, as though I'm late for the ritual. I know this was a view of the goddess who owns my soul, but I have no name for her, and I wouldn't know how to make a shrine without knowing who to devote it to. Please, if you know of any goddess like this, of any ritual that fits this description, let me know. I've found my deity, and am only too eager to begin my devotions.
Having always been a logical person, I never really subscribed to the notion of a god or gods, though the idea was appealing, because I could never find any evidence of them whatsoever. However...
I had a vision nigh on a month ago. It wasn't your usual sort of vision (if there is such a thing; it was at least not stereotypical); I was in my philosophy class, thinking about the topic of the day (the ethics of euthanasia, cheerily enough), when into my mind burst the image of a clearing in the forest near where I was raised that I had always loved. The clearing lies in a nearly circular depression in the hills, meaning that three sides of the depression were walled with dirt. In the center of the depression was a statue of a beautiful woman, holding her finger to her smiling lips, wearing a cloak of dusky obsidian. In her other hand was a pomegranate. She stood on a pedestal of dark stone, inscribed with characters of languages either unknown or long dead. At the base of the pedestal was a silver bowl, filled to the brim with clear, clean water.
I knew immediately that this was a shrine to the goddess of secrecy and hidden desires. I knew that whenever the water in the bowl evaporated to nothing, a ritual must be done to fill the bowl again so as to maintain the favor of the goddess. One must strip nude and place in the empty bowl an offering of a secret, the more personal and terrifying to reveal, the more powerful. One must then light the secret aflame and induce such pain, either physical or emotional, that one cries. Gathering your tears, one must then bury the ashes of the secret at the base of the shrine and wash the silver bowl in clear, flowing water. Filling the bowl with water, one pours the tears into the water, or cries directly into it, and replaces it at the goddess's feet. The ritual is then complete, and one may then cloth oneself and depart.
I thought I was just daydreaming, that this vivid image was nothing. But for a month it's eaten at me, as though there IS such a shrine in my childhood forest, as though I'm late for the ritual. I know this was a view of the goddess who owns my soul, but I have no name for her, and I wouldn't know how to make a shrine without knowing who to devote it to. Please, if you know of any goddess like this, of any ritual that fits this description, let me know. I've found my deity, and am only too eager to begin my devotions.
