Does ethnicity matter when choosing a Pantheon?

QUESTION  -Hi, I love your blog. I'm pretty new to paganism myself (approx. 6 months on/off) and I've been reading around the pagan blogsphere for a while. One of the questions I've had has to do with deity/gods. I don't know how much you yourself work with deities but if you could answer this for me it'd be much appreciated. I've heard stories of certain people working with certain gods and then getting rejected/not really paid attention to and they say its because of their ethnicity. Like certain people with no slavic/viking blood trying to work with the Norse pantheon and getting rejected. Is this true, does your ethnicity have anything to do with which Gods you can work with. I've been looking towards maybe starting a relationship with deities of the Egyptian pantheon but I myself am Hispanic, would a similar thing happen to myself?  


ANSWER I think this question has two definite elements to it – firstly what other people
think and secondly what the Gods think. To tackle the issue of other people first, yes there is a certain amount of elitism with regard to some people being a little "precious" with regard to their own ethnic Gods. But the spirituality of the individual is a personal thing and I'd personally question why anybody would allow the opinions of other people to inflence their own actual or future relationship with the Gods. When it comes to your relationship with the Gods the input and certainly the criticism of other people becomes largely irrelevant. We don't choose our Gods by a logical process we choose them by our intuition of what feels right to us. Nobody has the right to interfere in the very personal choice of what type of worship feels right to any individual.

I think its important to consider what a pantheon actually is. Ultimately no human has empircal knowledge of the true nature of the Gods so every God ever worshipped can only ever be an interpretation of the actuality that lies beyond human comprehension. A pantheon is the vision of the Gods that works best for you. It can never be an absolute as we are simply not capable of grasping the true nature of any God. So if you feel an affinity with the Egyptian Gods, chances are that natural inclination will work better for you than trying to force yourself to work with the Gods recognised by your own nationality who you may not have that natural connection with. 

I'd also consider the fact that many Pagans embrace the idea of reincarnation so I do wonder if affinity with a foreign pantheon may indicate a belief established in a previous life. Its easy to see how a spiritual connection may last through every incarnation. So you may not be Egyptian in this lifetime but it is certainly possible that you were in a previous life .And in my view that suggests not only have you every right to become closer to the Egyptian pantheon but also that you are very likely to be accepted by the Gods of that pantheon. Time to the Gods is different to the time of humans and your specific Hispanic incarnation will be irrelevant to them in comparison with your innate spirituality which has remained consistent through your lifetimes.

The Gods don't mind what structure or choice of symbolism you choose to enhance your connection with them. Like I say a pantheon really just a shortcut to interpretation. What matters is that whatever you choose feels right to you. So yes, go ahead, embrace the path of your intuition and step forward to make your connection with the Gods to whom you feel called. Your sincere efforts will be welcomed.

Image http://www.deviantart.com/art/Valhalla-251067342

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