You don't have to be formal and revere every single entity. Thinking so is a (toxic) Christian mindset.
So if you've ever been on witchtok, I'm sure you've seen at least a few of the many videos of practitioners making dramatized skits of interactions that they've had with their deities and/or the entities they work with.
Many of these are funny and light-hearted or endearing and loving. We see ppl sharing jokes and laughs with Apollon and we get to hear all the nicknames that Archangel Uriel gave to 23 year old Zoe. It's cute and it's fun.
But there's always at least one person that stitches one of these skits, swearing up and down that this is disrespectful and that this never happened.
"The gods aren't ur fucking besties. Ur a human, they're a god. They're not gonna waste their time on stupid thing with you. No, Aphrodite did not help you pick ur outfit. No, Loki did not ask you to get him Mt Dew from the store. No, Hermes did not call you sweet strawberry. That's stupid and they have better things to do with their time. Ur relationship with the gods should be formal and professional. You should revere them with great fear. Ur an ant to them. You should feel honored that they even looked ur way. So stfu with all of this. Ur just experiencing spiritual psychosis".
Now I will not deny the fact that there are some entities that you can't have a casual relationship. There are entities out there that demand reference. Where they demand that you bow down and fear them. That you address them formally and mind ur P's and Q's and not even think of stepping even a hair out of line.
But there are also entities that are more than willing to have casual relationships with their devotees.
Maybe Aphrodite did help Sally pick her outfit today. Bc she's the goddess of beauty and she wants her devotee to feel pretty when she goes to get milk, eggs, and bread from the store today.
How would you know if she did or didn't help her devotee get dressed up? It's not ur place to say whether it happened or not. It's not ur place to place limits on the gods or to speak for them. It's not ur place to judge another persons relationship with their deity. And it's especially not ur place to decide who is and who isn't experiencing spiritual psychosis or not.
I call The Morrìgan my mother. There have been countless times where we've had playful banter. She tells me to go take a shower and I say, "bitch no, make me". Does she smite me bc I, a mere lowly mortal called her, a powerful goddess, bitch? No. She simply stares at me with that "you wanna test me?" mom look and I scurry on my way with a groan and a "fiiiiiiine" and then we laugh about it.
The idea that we must be formal with the gods no matter what and revere them to the point where we fear them is a toxic Christian mindset.
I grew up in a extremely Christian household most my life. I was taught to revere God and fear his almighty power. Bc I was a tiny human. I did not deserve to be in his presence. I was lucky to be loved by the king of all creation. I was luck to have the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, see me as on of her own. I should be trembling at her power, bc she could smite me at anytime for anything.
This is a very common mindset within the Christian community, especially with more mainstream sects. So to see this in pagan and witchy circles can be a bit disheartening and even infuriating.
Many ppl leave Christianity and join paganism to get away from Christianity and to finally find freedom and joy. But if you left Christianity but then edited ur Christian views to be pagan. Then dear you never left Christianity. You simply repainted the walls.
And I get it. Decolonizing ur path can be very hard. It's a long road full of shadow work, tears, anger, and much more. And that can be scary. But don't say you moved houses when you only changed the decor within ur home.
I think I've said everything I want to say. So I'll finish this post by saying, don't judge other ppls relationships or journeys. Revering and fearing the gods may work for you and feel right to you, but that doesn't mean that everyone is gonna feel comfortable walking the same road that you do. So either be polite or kindly stfu.
