when I say the shema...

[starfrosting]

As I draw closer to יהוה through Jewish practices, I can't help but examine my relation to the other manifestations of divinity in my life. On some basic cellular level I don't feel a conflict: the visions of G-d Herself expressed in Judaism as All-That-Is align with my Witchy knowledge of the Star Goddess as one poetic way of naming and experiencing that vastness. All "other" Gods are really not so other, born out of the womb of El Rachaman as far as I can see, "local," Earthly manifestations of divinity as revealed in human community. Even the biblical images of Adonai Eloheinu as a jealous tribal God, simultaneously and supposedly All-That-Is, take place on that level. Why is that tribal (local, specific) God to be identified as a legitimate face of יהוה above all others?

This is hard to put into words though because on some level I don't want to subsume the multiplicity of Gods and spirits to The One. Ultimately, sure, everything emanates/emerges/comes spinning out of Ein Sof Aur, but the worlds are too multi-layered to be evacuated of all the divinities and spirits saturating the spaces between.

Comments

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I basically have exactly this problem in conceptualizing how my personal experiences line up with other people's religious experiences: I can absolutely believe that "YHVH" and "Holy Mother" are both true names for God, but then what about all those *other* guys? The "aspects" explanation doesn't ring true to me. I wonder about the archangels in the Kabbalah and whether that helps...or maybe those other gods just aren't part of people's experience. That seems fair enough; there are dozens of gods I don't personally experience, and it's just as well. There's only so much altar space to go around ;-)

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

Right. They are distinct personalities, distinct beings with specific histories and preferences and...I can't totally figure it. Because there are specific gods who I know, and seem just as real as the All-That-Is divinity revealed through Jewish tradition. It's almost like a perspectival thing for me--- not that the gods are aspects of The One, but that there's different layers through which different divinities become sensible...

I don't know, it's been a long day and I could puzzle over this forever (probably will.) I just got back from a Torah study group too so everything's abuzz.

It's good to hear from you, as always ;)
-Oli

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Well, so there are all kinds of other ways in which we acknowledge different....like, layers or strata of beings-without-bodies, even when the inhabitants of those various layers may not acknowledge each other! So maybe it's just an issue of labeling. Exactly who is a god, anyway? :)

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

Yes, and to what extent does spatial, numerical, substance-based logic fit the divine?

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

*handwave!*

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

Ms. S?

[taxishoes.livejournal.com]

I basically have exactly this problem in conceptualizing how my personal experiences line up with other people's religious experiences

I just wanted to say that I agree with this sentence.

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

Say more!

[magnolienbaum.livejournal.com]

i guess the way i've made peace with monotheism for me is that i'm not interested in talking about a god-who-is-god-for-everyone; i'm interested in talking about the god-who-is-god-for-me-and-the-people-who-are-talking-to-and-about-that-god. i do have a feeling of unity about the universe, and i don't particularly think it matters if all deities are distinct or the same or facets of something similar or what; i think what matters is finding ways to access divinity and connection, building community and ritual and tradition, and working towards the world to come.

interestingly, also, i'm always capitvated by this line in genesis, the one where they eat the fruit and god is PISSED bc "now they will become more like us." - the US is really interesting, and i think there are many many many ways it complicates ideas of monotheism even w/in judaism.

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful and useful to remember. I still wrestle with a lot of it because the manifestations of divinity I experience aren't all bound to/captured/touched by Judaism and it gets complicated, especially as I start to read Torah more, etc.

And yes, the "us" thing is super interesting. I actually just bought a chumash for the first time and the translation I'm using (Kaplan's Living Torah) talks about the "us" (which might have actually been a different 'us' than the one you're citing) as "G-d and the angels" or something like that. I wasn't terribly convinced, but who knows.