Taking stock...

So, I have been at this point in the star for some time, and part of me wants to move on, but, I still am not sure I get it. Yes, Hephaestus has shown me things about me, things about how I react to stresses, ideas, and to the environment that surrounds me. Hephaestus has given me a different, though not pleasant, perspective on work, and he has given me a glimpse into the fiery depths of his being.

 

But in forcing me to essentially take stock of myself, I have also been forced to take stock in them, the Gods, and what it is I need from them, want from them, can expect from them, and how all of these actually manifest in my reality.

 

For one thing, Hephaestus has shown me, I think, more clearly than ever, that the Gods are not manifest solely in a single place and in a single form. The Gods manifest throughout the world and throughout history in a great many ways. We know this. We see it in the mythos of the Greeks as surely as we do in that of the Romans, Hindus, Chinese, Japanese, and even the Christians. The divine sphere does not make for an easy and simple translation, ever.

 

But to me, it means that Hephaestus has shown me that it is OK to see him in a God of the Hindus if a Hindu meditation is what I need to quiet my mind. That it is OK to see him in a Chinese form if the prayers of an ancient Chinese philosopher seem apropos to my dilemmas today.

 

Not that I am becoming eclectic or anything, mind you, I still believe, and I think Hephaestus has helped me to deepen this belief, that the context of a mythic and religious system is at least as important as the myths and philosophies themselves.

 

That I am more willing to listen to and be enlightened by Hindu or Buddhist philosophy today than I might have been five years ago is, I think, something Hephaestus has guided me to and helped me to realize in my life. That I am more willing to listen, to hear, and to digest that which another has felt and made manifest in his own life is something he has guided me too as well. But also, how to be strong within my own convictions even as I continue to evolve.

 

That is to say,  to keep the fires of the forge burning, and the embers steady, even as I busy myself forging the iron that is my soul into a new and more pleasing form.