What is the appeal in worshipping Set? He continuously tried to hurt his nephew in anyway possible (including sexual abuse), and as someone from an abusive family I cannot see what anyone could gain from him and his constant chaos (besides stepping out of boundaries)
The first thing I want to clear up is that I can’t comment on the appeal of worshiping Set, as I don’t worship him. I know some people will say that that is irrelevant, but it’s a large difference for me in my own mind. I can comment on why I continue to work with him, despite his flaws, but I can’t comment on the worship thing.
Also, to be clear, he came to me first.
From my perspective, there are always a few angles to take the sort of “why do you interact with XYZ god who has done shitty things.”
The first is “well, truth be told, all gods have done shitty things.” Our pantheon is riddled with NTRW who have done god awful things. Who have been mean to others, who have been vindictive to one another, etc. Arguably, rape has been committed by multiple gods (HSA included, Aset would have been the victim) in our pantheon. Set is by no means the only deity with a checkered past.
So, I mean, why worship any god, if they have all been jerks who have done awful things?
The second angle to take is “well the myths may not be literal.” As such, we have no real way of knowing whether a god actually did something, or if its just myth. You can see more about that over here on sat’s post about mythic time. In this case, it’s worth mentioning that the Contendings has been changed several dozen times, and as such, it could potentially be argued that maybe perhaps there is a possibility that the mythology is inaccurate to what actually happened.
Also, I’d like to point out that the way the NTRW have treated Set in the past wasn’t always rainbows and sunshine. While that is not meant to excuse what he’s done, it does highlight that the bro was likely mentally messed up at an early age, and that that could/would affect his behaviour later on (this is, ofc, if we’re taking mythology at face value.)
The third angle to take, which is my favorite, is “things change.” Yeah, Set has been an asshole in the past. He’s done shitty things, and he was punished for those things–rightfully so. However, there has been a fuckload of time btwn then and now, so even if I take the mythology at face value, I can logically understand that he did something awful, and perhaps has changed.
As someone who has come from an abusive household and who has also experienced sexual assault firsthand, I can say that I don’t take the topic of rape lightly by any stretch of the imagination. If Set ever started acting like that was on his mind, believe me when I say that he would be cut out of my life so fast it’d make his head spin. But to my experience, he hasn’t done so.
Further, I’m going to venture out and guess that you’ve never really dealt with Set in any capacity, because anyone that has done any sort of in-depth work with him knows that he’s not all chaos all the time. He’s not there to make your life miserable, or stir shit up for the lols. Perhaps he was more prone to it in his youth, but gods (like humans) can be tempered and change over the years. It’s my belief that he has mellowed, and as such, is better able to wield his strengths (chaos) as to achieve better results (overall, obvs he can still make mistakes. no one is perfect.)
Also, for me, he hasn’t been bad at pushing boundaries (unless it was a part of shadow work.) But I’m also very strict about my boundaries and what I will and will not allow. Others may have other experiences. But still, it hints at the likely fact that you probably only have a very superficial/limited view of what Set is like as an entity.
You wanted to know what Set could offer to someone from a shit past. I can tell you a few things. He can teach you how to survive, how to be resilient, how to keep going when the world is against you, how to keep going when you don’t want to keep going, how to take care of yourself when others won’t, how to get by in bad situations, how to pushback when pushing needs to happen, how to stand your ground, how to navigate difficult situations (albeit, his methods aren’t always the best, but no one’s methods will be 100% spot on), how to value yourself, how to have discipline
like. should I keep going?
There is a comic whose main theme is something along the lines of “different stories resonate with different people” and the same could be said of gods. Set will not be everyone’s cup of tea. No one deity will be well liked or well received by everyone. It’s impossible. But there are a lot of us who have found strength and even solace (to an extent) in Set’s company. I totally get if he’s not for you, but I wouldn’t discount him simply because of his mythology. Please remember that there are a lot of factors involved in myths and pantheons, and not everything necessarily is how it appears on the surface.
TL;DR: Set is a dick, but he’s a useful dick that has enriched people’s lives.
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