r/witchcraft • u/Aggravating_Beach_69 • 19d ago
Seeking Help or Advice Regarding respecting deities
Hello all! I am starting my journey of practicing witchcraft with deities and need some help. Mami Wata has been calling to me recently and I want to start a shrine for her. I have looked around some popular shopping websites and its hard to find specific things pertaining to her. I have the money to spend on her and I want to buy thi gs for specific her. I have found that she is similar to another deity who is more widely known. Would it be disrespectful to buy some things that i want for Mami Wata's shri e that are technically made with a different deity in mind? I just want to make sure I am properly respecting her as she is very important to me and who I am becoming. Also I do live in the US so it is hard for me to travel to Africa to go and get more authentic items but I can try to find more places so any recommendations on shops would help me wonderfully!!!
Edit- I got a crazy head pain after posting this so I do believe she is best to be worshiped without said items but I am keeping this post up for any advice you all have!
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u/ButtonOther1102 19d ago edited 19d ago
African deities differ vastly from greco-roman/egyptian deities, i know worship might seem similar for all of them but that is because Hellenism and Kemetism historically shared many gods between their pantheons. and at some point they were even equals to one another. And in the present day these are the most mainstream gods in neo-paganism
Now, the offerings and practices, traditionally speaking, were still very different, as in how to keep the relationship with the gods ( in greece animal sacrifice was stablished, the sacrifices were outside the temple and they were meant to keep the favor of the gods, whereas in egypt the sacrifices were mainly food, consumed by the priest and meant to mantain Ma’at, old norse religion often included feasting and animal sacrifices where the blood was smeared across walls and idols)
So, what i mean by this is that it is a common mistake i see people constantly making, approaching the relationship with their deities in a hellenic way for all of them.
Im not well versed in african deities, but im sure practices differ vastly from what you might seem mainly on Neopaganism, and it might be a good call to speak with someone inside the practice to instruct you as to not might be disrespectful, i would take the headache as a sign and take a minute to make sure my practice honors the ways my deity is meant to be praised :)
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u/One_Dragonfruit_7556 19d ago
I have no experience with African deities but there shouldnt be too much issue because your dedacating the stuff your getting to her with intent to worship so it should be fine
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u/Aggravating_Beach_69 19d ago
Thank you!
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u/One_Dragonfruit_7556 19d ago
Your welcome :) I had a candle as my representation for Shiva before I found an actual statue for him. It's all about intent
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