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I'm curious about who your God(s) are and what consequences your God(s) have for disobedience to them if they have called you? What are methods of atonement if any? Is there anything that your God(s) don't allow for atonement on?

Any other information you wish to share?

Not really. Odin may do, if you're in direct service to him, because I hear he's HARDCORE. But in general, no. You're allowed to disagree with them. Obviously specific circumstances apply here. There are times when it's best to say "yes, Sir" and times when you're more inclined to say "yyeeeahhh, see, no, I don't think I'll be doing that, thanks all the same".

Because let's face it. There are some gods who just like to mess with ya.

I suppose it largely depends on the reasons for your disobediance. If you're refusing to do something because of some deeply held value, that's one thing. If you're refusing to do it because you're lazy or through some sort of childish stubbornness, you'll get a very different response. One more along the lines of a metaphorical slap upside the head.

No worries, I'm surprised I make any sense at all sometimes sweatdrop

I've never felt the call to clergy, or at least a discernible call. Then again, I think I'm one of the few pagans who has no desire whatsoever to become a clergy member. Lots of work that I'm not cut out to do.

However, both worshipers and clergy were expected to follow the gods' desires to uphold Ma'at in some way or another. When they act against the will of a god it was considered "sin". The punishment has varied, but I've only seen it where there was a noticeable "divine punishment" with clergy and the king in terms of records. I'm sure the other tales could possibly have the divine punishment aspect in them, but it's not from a discernable god as much as "the forces that be". The atonement I've read has usually been to oust the person/ people in question or find out exactly what the gods want and do it.

As for my experiences...yeah, you get punished. The atonement I've found that works is to provide more offerings.

Oh agreed, definitely. I was thinking disobediance like disobeying orders, rather than making an oath and breaking it. But you're very right.

Would "going with the flow of the Universe" work for you?

I didn't know Catholics were Pagans now.

It really depends on the situation. Sometimes there is a lot of negotiation between us, sometimes we are in agreement, and sometimes we disagree.

Worshiping deity is relatively new in my practice. My Gods sought me out, which gives me a surprising amount of leverage in what I do or do not have to do.

Occasionally when I disagree on a course of action and they are insistent, they'll go over my head and manifest all the aspects I object to so I'll have no more reason to refuse said task.

Usually we're pretty direct with one another I know what they want and they know what I want. We know each other's limits and we know what actions are "deal breakers". Both of us usually keep a wide space on things we know the other values in a way that isn't understandable or reasonable.

For example: change and diversity is highly important to one of my Deities, and while I value change, it's not in the same central core way this Being does. I'm very careful to make sure there is a lot of movement and change in at least one or two aspects of my life because Ze will start to get annoyed and pushy otherwise. Meanwhile, I have a high focus on facts and truthful information that many of my Deities don't understand, but they know sometimes they have to wait on me to do more reading, reflection, and exploration before I'm ready to tackle something. I have the "gut" intuition on it very early, but I won't proceed until I've further explored the idea and am more comfortable.


I don't think I've done anything that needs atonement before. Sometimes I've been stubborn or wrong but those are inherent human traits. It's something to try to acknowledge and apologize for but if my Gods weren't willing to work with those limits, they should have picked a different being.

My whole faith style and outlook is about focusing on the present here and now and living in the moment. There isn't a lot of place in my practice for a long drawn out atonement process because that would involve too much focus on the past or living in the present trying to avoid the past. Acknowledging one has done something wrong, apologizing and striving not to make the same mistake again or to be more aware of negative aspects in the self is the closest one really can come to any atonement process. Even then, the attempts to not make the same error shouldn't be so consuming or intensive that one isn't able to experience the current moment. Flaws and mistakes are part of life, in a lot of ways I don't think a person or being has anything to apologize for when they are in error, though the sensitivity to others apologies demonstrate is always appreciated and valued.