My Patron Gods

What purpose do they hold

For most Pagans their Patron God is not some far off entity. This is a being that they have a strong personal relationship with. This is who they call upon when doing rituals and spells, if they practice magic within their beliefs. A Patron God provides guidance and support as they grow and develop in their own spiritual and religious practice.

In my family, our Patron God is Herne. He has been with me since around 1998 and has stuck with me even as I was telling him to “bugger off” and go away during my own times of crisis. Herne used to speak to me a lot before I married, but during the marriage mostly spoke through my husband. When I separated from my husband in 2012, Herne once again began appearing to me, and let me know quite clearly that He was still very much my Patron God.

My Patron Goddess had been Modron from about 1998 until recent years. She arrived in a time when I was starting to focus more on my role in life as a mother and finding myself ready to be a wife. In recent years, while Modron had still part of my life, She did not have as strong a presence as a Patron Deity. And now, I realise that she is no longer here.

I am not without a Patron Goddess though. I have needed the inner strength of a warrior in recent years, and for this reason Brigid has stepped up to take Her place as a Patron Goddess.

How do I know when a God is my Patron?

To be real honest, I don’t know how to express this in words. It’s a knowing deep in your heart. It’s lots of discussion and negotiating. It’s listening to the signs, that don’t always come in words that we can hear.

Telling you the ways in which different Gods have made themselves known to me may help.

Herne, I have detailed this elsewhere, came to me through dreams and by possessing my body during a formal ritual and energy raising. Most recently, He let me know that He was still a part of my life and He wanted me to honour him by sitting on my head while I was doing shamanic journey work and while I was receiving energy healing from others. I felt a physical pressure of someone pressing on my head and shoulders. When I asked another person, who sees things, what he saw on my head, he described a rather large man with horns growing out of His head. Ahhhhh.

Turns out Herne knew I was doing a daily devotional with Brigid and wanted the same for Himself.

These following Goddesses were not Patrons but they did come to me at times in my life when I needed Their energy.

Lilith came to me through smell. I kept smelling cinnamon everywhere! In places that I knew no cinnamon could be found. She came when I was discovering my womanhood and sexuality.

Blodeuwedd also came to me through scent. But this time, it was people around me who kept smelling wild flowers. She came as well when I was exploring my own sexuality.

Kali made Herself known in a somewhat more direct manner. Until I actually acknowledged that She was there, I couldn’t open a book or a magazine without seeing mention of Her. Later, when I asked for a greater understanding of Her nature through my dreaming, She sent a dream to me in which I caused my son to be killed and brought back to life, over and over again.

Lesson learned. I knew a great deal more of Her nature. I also learned to be careful of what and I ask for things.

She came to me when I was working in the critical care setting as a nurse and frequently cared for people who were dying and their families.

Modron came to me when I was embracing my role as a mother and a wife. I first learned of her presence when I received my 3rd degree initiation within a Wiccan coven. Through Her I was given the craft name, Maedrona, and in exploring the meaning of this name I came to know Her.

Brigid is now with me as I embrace my self as an independent woman and warrior. She made Herself known to me through web sites and internet forums. Like with Kali, every time I read something or went to a web site I came across mention of Brigid and Flame keeping. It is Brigid who encouraged me to cover my hair when I needed that protection. And Brigid who told me I no longer it.

It is also Brigid who showed me very clearly that I am not helpless, I am a warrior. And I can stand on my own.

My Patron Gods today

Brigid and Herne are very much a part of my life today. I still don’t worship them, but I do honour them regularly. Herne gets a shot of whisky and Brigid gets a drink of water. I also speak to Them when I am doing journey work and through the Amulets. But most often, my talks with them happen when I am engaged in mundane tasks around the house.

Do you have a Patron God? Do you have another type relationship with a God or Goddess? How did you come to know who It was?

What’s in a Name?

Names have power. From the first name our parents bestowed upon us at our birth, to the nicknames (good and bad) we

acquired in school, to the names we have given or taken for ourselves. Each had its own power, if we allowed it, to shape and define who we were at the time.

I remember when I was in junior high school, way back at the tender age of 12, I decided that I didn’t want to be called Nancy any more. Nancy wasn’t a nice name in my mind. I wanted to be called Lynn. That was my middle name. Lynn to me spoke of sophistication and a grownup-ness that I wanted desperately to have.

Of course, my efforts to get people to call my Lynn fell on deaf ears and I went back to being Nancy within a couple of weeks.

Nancy I was and Nancy I remained until I packed up and moved from Kansas to London. Here, my name was shortened to Nan by friends and my new family. Well, my parents-in-law still called me Nancy but that’s okay.

Nan is a name that fits me now. Nan is what some children here call their grandmother and as I am now at an age where I am old enough to have grandchildren, or at least my eldest son is at an age where he is old enough to make me a grandmother though he is not quite ready otherwise. But my hair is turning (turned?) grey, my face holds a few more lines, and I am entering the crone stage of life. Nan is a good name to hold.

I have other names, and titles. Some given to me by others, some earned through study and effort. Some positive, some negative. Some I have chosen to take on as my own, some I have rejected. Some hold no power any longer. A relative addressing me as Nancy Lynn as a child would have caused trembles of fear. “What have I done wrong?” Yet when a relative addressed me in this way a few years ago, it merely caused me to laugh at her assumption that Nan the adult would respond in the same way that Nancy the child had done.

An integral part of some Pagan practices is that of taking on a “craft name” when one is initiated into a tradition, or initiated themselves as a solitary practitioner. For some, this name is secret and is only shared within ritual circle. For others, this name becomes their identity both within ritual and without. Some have gone so far, when they take on a ritual name or undergo a major transformation which includes taking a new name, to have their birth name legally changed.

In my early solitary practices I discovered and gave myself a craft name. Then when I was part of a coven in the Blue Star tradition, I was given craft names at my dedication and initiation ceremonies. The last craft name I received was given tome when I received my third degree initiation and hived away.

That name was Maedrona and it heralded the arrival of  Modron as my Patron goddess. I’ve had and used this name in ritual since 1998.

In recent years, Modron has taken a step back and is no longer my Patron Goddess. Fitting when you consider that she is a Mother Goddess and while I still have children my fertile years are past. I am moving into my croning time.

It may be that as I move more fully into this new power and new time of life a new craft name will reveal itself to me. For now though, you can call me Nan.