I hope you have been doing well, my dearest readers. Over here, it’s way too fucking hot. As some of you may know, I live in a home built in the 1870s, and therefore we have no central AC. Instead, we have a portable AC unit that stays in the room we sleep in, and that’s about as much as it can cool down. So ya girl has been taking advantage of the free AC at the office and at her local favorite book store/cafe. For those of you who are curious, we hover at around 92-97F during the day due to heat index caused by an over 80% humidity. That’s 32-35C for those of you in civilized countries. As you may imagine, I am practically wilting. 

There is only one practical thing to do in this sort of heat—which is to listen to other occultists talk about drama and play video games in my underwear only. As I was engaged in the aforementioned activity, it occurred to me that some people really think that there is only ever one version of a spirit, and all spirits always tell the truth. And that was a fascinating concept. 

Deities with Multiple Aspects 

Now, I have previously written on the subject of how unique we are in our meat gundamns. In essence, we have the ability to constantly change and re-make ourselves. Generally, spirits and other non-physical-bodied creatures are set in their nature. But, people seem to believe they are all the same. For example, some people have flat out told me that the Raven Queen only follows her most current lore (which was changed) and she is not a ‘real’ deity and certainly does not have ‘kids’ that are mortals. 

Now, I (and the other goths diagnosed with major depressive disorder who have been scooped up like we were all on clearance at Fantasy Costco) would beg to differ. Many of us among her flock would agree that she is extremely maternal—and collects new kids like we’re Pokemon. My personal Unverified Personal Gnosis is that the Raven Queen is a bad bitch who doesn’t let goddamn ANYTHING get in her way, including the fact that becoming the Goddess of Death made it so she could not have biological children. So she just picks up a bunch and then changes their nature so they become her children. It’s her equivalent of the Yu Gi Oh Abridged series where Seto Kaiba says “Screw the rules! I have money!” 

But, that doesn’t mean I’m going to say the people who find The Raven Queen to be terrifying, brutal, cold, calculating, and sometimes very cruel are wrong. There are many reasons that our interactions could be very different by nature:

1. She could be sweet on her kids. 

2. We know she doesn’t take any bs from anyone

3. She does NOT fuck around with people she perceives as taking her what she is due

4. Sometimes people just piss her off. 

5. It could be that these people need more lessons from her from her other aspects rather than her maternal one. 

At the same time, I’ve heard people say the only ‘real’ Loki is the ‘ancient’ version and not the Marvel Cinematic Universe one. So…you think Loki cannot contain…both? And why not? They are not limited in the ways that we are, and we are not limited in the ways that they are. I have had people literally tell me with their full chest that they don’t think Norse Gods would approve of trans people—and I really cannot account for that lack of awareness. Let’s be real here. Come on.

Also you cannot tell me with a straight face that the gods would not look at comic books and think “Fuck yes. These poetic edas are bitchin. I’m glad they drew me so hot! Now more people will know about me!” Because I will just not believe that for a second. 

I do think there is room for practicing distinction here. For example, I will press x to doubt the existence of a Lilith who is submissive to men. Hard doubt right there. But, I could see her potentially working with men who are respectful, know that she’s the fucking boss calling the shots, and are otherwise ‘outside of the norm.’ So don’t fucking come for me about that one. I think we all know there is some wiggle room, but we can also practice rubbing our brain cells together. 

They can come to us with different guises, different mantles that are more prominent than others, and with different parts of themselves. If I wanted to get into arguments with people online about what color a deities shoes were and then have people take this so seriously that they splintered off into different factions, I would have joined Christianity. 

Wider Categories of Spirits

This is also a frequent argument I hear against people who engage with Pop Culture Spirits—especially Pokemon spirits and Clow Spirits. And that’s just wild to me. Even in the anime, not all Pikachu act the exact same way. They don’t look the exact same. And so I firmly believe it is possible that there are spirits who can fit into just about any configuration possible within the template that is ‘Pikachu.’ And those that find occultists will grow and become more powerful via the attention, offerings, and partnership they offer. I also firmly believe that human imagination can spawn more variations, or offer new options for spirits who initially still fit that template. So if someone works with a melanistic or albino Pikachu or one with a long-hair mutation, I cannot be bothered to care. That’s bitchin. A Rowlett with the frizzle feather gene? Hella. I’m so on board you don’t even know. 

As an additional example: the version of The Snow that I work with from the Clow is not gentle. She is very unlike The Snow that is presented within the Card Captor Sakura ‘canon.’ But, she is a spirit that has a very similar power set, and was willing to enter into a partnership with a practitioner that used the Clow Sorcery paradigm. So she fits. 

One of the prominent Clow Sorcerers in the group I am in has versions of Clow Spirits that are all furries—and that is just fine. I think that within the scope of spirits who would be willing to work with human occultists within those limited power sets that by the numbers, some would have to be furries or be willing to take that shape. Some of y’all have very limited imaginations / very small astral magic dicks and it shows. (For the record, mine is huge). 

If I want to work with a spirit of an anime character with certain character traits more exaggerated and some more minimized, there is probably a version of that spirit that exists—or one who is willing to wiggle into that role for the benefits that are offered for working with an occultist. This is some weird ass form of gatekeeping that I see from a community (pop culture/chaos magicians) who are typically publicly denounced for not fitting in particular boxes. Hmmmmmm. 

In Closing

I think we have some room to take ourselves both less seriously and also understand that if someone does something different than us, it in no way detracts from what we do. We don’t need to be that fragile. 

So tell me, dear readers, what are some variations you have seen in spirits or deities?