Gods... many? do they stay?

[Wolf-Tigress]

What if more than one god or goddess gives you signs or answers you? and What if your god goes away?

Durga is my main goddess- I learned about her actually through a book, and one day I prayed to her as a half asleep joking way. Well she answered (coincidence) then I did it multiple times in a row and she continued to answer. I also noticed that I have tigers all over my room... and they aren't even my favorite animal, and I am a leo sign so that takes care of the lion. Haha. She is actually the last push that made me join wicca. Anyway. Lately I feel as though she has gone away... like my ties with her are thin now, and it makes me feel shaky on my beliefs.
Also I feel as though I am connected to other gods too... and maybe have gotten signs from them. Like Bast. Should I work with multiple gods together? or at different times depending on who is needed most?

[Siona]

What if more than one god or goddess gives you signs or answers you? and What if your god goes away?

For the first several years that I was a pagan, I only ever felt really connected to the Egyptian gods. Then I started to feel called to Artemis, and the Egyptian gods did step back, and they weren't there like they were before - and after listening to Artemis, I found myself called to other Greek deities. A friend of mine was called by the Egyptian god Wepwawet, but Wepwawet was just leading them down the correct path to another Egyptian deity, who they are now devoted to. I also know people who have worshiped the same deity (or pantheon) for their entire time as a pagan. Some are drawn to a single deity, others to many. Some are drawn to a particular pantheon, others to two, three, or more. It is a very personal and individual thing.

[Echo_of_shadows]

Some entities, such as gods, spirit guides, totem animals, etc., stay with us an entire lifetime, while others only make themselves known to us during certain times in our journeys. If you feel alone, make contact. Ask Durga if you've learned all that you're meant to from Her and if it's time to move on to working with other gods. Ask Her who She recommends to work with next. Then turn to specific gods that you think might be waiting to step into your life, such as Bast. Ask Them if you are ready to work with Them. Ask if They mind if you work with others.
If you're called to work a single god, that's great. If you're asked to work with multiple gods, that's great too. They know your needs and will come to you when you're ready. The best way to know is to ask.

[Wolf-Tigress]

Thank you, to both of you.

[SnowCat]

The deities and guides that I've worked with come in and out of my life as needed. They're always present, but not always active. Sometimes I receive a calling from someone new. The newest guide is a black spirit cat who calls herself Topaz. I just take things as they come. I remain ever grateful for their presence in my life.

Snow

[ladywhitewolf]

I believe that my deities are always present. Although they are times when they are more active in my life. The pantheons I connect with are Norse and Egyptian [and the Goddesses from Celtic pantheon].

[Eliphas Blackthorn]

. I think there is a difference between deity and divinity. I believe that when we make contact with deity it is with one splintered aspect of them and that sometimes they go dormant. We have to keep in mind that ancient being like Durga are not entirely in our physical world, though we can interface with them thanks to our ancestors developing and nurturing that interface the door is still open for us to use. I have known of other magicians that have experienced this phenomenon of the deities they work with suddenly going quiet and resurfacing and picking up with you where they left off. I think they enter some sort of sleep, not due to fatigue like we do but for some other purpose.

I believe that so long as you are simply working with a deity and not worshipping it, there will be no repercussions for working with other gods. I do think that if you are actually worshipping this being in a more religious form and not that of a magician and you try to step out on them with another deity then I think you can expect trouble.

[dreamcatcher]

Everyone else has made some extremely good points but I figured I might as well tack on my own bit of experience. I myself experienced something along the lines of what happened to the friend Siona mentioned, although I've also had deities back off when either I wasn't ready or that they were no longer needed.

The first deity I ever encountered was Nyx, but this was way before I knew anything about witchcraft beyond fairytales. She came to me when I was a kid and then started fading as I went through my extremely early teens, I think because she realized that I just really needed some comfort and she was able to provide that. Then Hekate knocked on my door and Nyx handed over the reins. And I freaked out. Extremely. Just sort of imagine this really shy quiet young girl suddenly getting keys and anything remotely witchy thrown into her face. (And I mean anything. Suddenly everyone who's ever had a ghost experience wants to be friends. My brother randomly gives me a crystal collection. Every. Single. Book. that I pick up is about witches. Every single one. Even ones that are just given to me. I still have a mini hoard of keys.) So I straight up tell her that I just can't handle getting into witchcraft right then (And of course I'm thinking that I'm crazy for talking to an ancient goddess) And after that... I'm flying solo for a while.

So that was my experience with deities who just sort of left. (Although I do still ocasionally light a candle for Nyx and I have a small shrine for Hekate on my bookshelf) And so the story continues into my experience that was similar to Sonia's friend. After a couple years I started gravitating back to witchcraft and such and I'm just sort of surfing around, reading up on different pantheons etcetera, and I start to think... You know what... The Norse deities are pretty amazing. And as soon as I leave out a couple offerings for a couple norse deities, Apollo pops up and just sort of gos "no, no, no. Come back. We love you." or alternatively "Get back here or so help me." (And keep in mind that when I say that a deity actually said something like this to me, I"m just trying to condense the story. It's generally a mix of feelings and attempted readings and funky dreams that when combined together generally mean the same thing. At least in my experience. For apollo it was a whole lot of him just popping up in my dreams and sort of just sitting there refusing to look at me until I finally turned back towards the greek gods. Then he also popped up in any reading that anyone did for me. For instance... I had my energy read by someone, and they said that rising suns kept popping up everywhere and that I should probably look into that.) So after that sudden flutter of Apollo activity, I go back to the greeks, and then poof, I don't hear from Apollo again.

So for a while I'm freaking out because I have no idea what I'm supposed to do next, and then Hermes explosion. A whole lot of "Yeah yeah we're still here and still amazing. Let me shower feathers and random foreign change on you until you get the picture."Then a bit of, "hey. hey. you should make brownies for me." And then that eventually turned into. "So.... buddy.... you remember how you just randomly became boy catnip a bit ago? Yeah you should probably have a sit down with my friend Aphrodite. Do I need to start chucking rose petals and shells at you? Go. See Aphrodite. Have fun."

And so now I'm about at where I am currently. Aphrodite has become a pretty big part of my life, and Hermes still gets quite a bit of attention even though he's not as strong of a presence as he used to be (He's been kind enough to send some luck to my dad who's trying to secure a new job at work that will let my family move to a much better area, so I'm very grateful for that) and somewhere along the line I sneaked Poseidon in.

So I hope this longer-than-expected story was sort of helpful? I think what I'm trying to say is that it's okay to become distant from your deities sometimes, even if they're extremely precious to you. And also that at least for me, it's been okay to work with multiple gods at the same time, although it may help that at the moment they're all from the same pantheon. I think it would be a good idea to ask about it as Echo suggested, but I personally can't really foresee any horrible problems with working with anyone else.

[Wolf-Tigress]

Thank you all soooooooo much!!!

[Lillady]

Everyone is different when it comes to how many or how few Deities they follow and/or communicate with. I think it is more or less a personal choice. There is no right or wrong answer. For example Isis is my main Goddess, she came a couple of years ago when I was fixing to battle it out in court with my ex over our children. Hence, Isis is the Mother Goddess. She embraced me and still does, not as often but is coming around more again. Recently Hecate has been calling out to me. I think this is due to my heart hardening a little with all I have been through. She has come to me to help comfort me and help me in knowing and embracing that even in our darkest times there is light and refuge. I have been in a huge fight with my oldest daughter recently who has shunned me for my beliefs. I feel that is why Hecate has come to me recently. To me Deities may stay with you for years, they may stay shorter or for always, sometimes they may leave you. It all is based upon your needs in life situations. Just because one or maybe more leave you though doesnt mean you did anything wrong, it just simply means your need has been fulfilled. I hope this helps you in understanding this more. Blessed Be.

[Nightwatcher]

@dreamcatcher: AHAHA! It seems no matter who I talk with, Apollo is always a derp. I know I shouldn't say that but... I donno, he always feels like an older brother who gets into trouble a lot and I can't help but laugh affectionately and go "Oh you derp; what did you do this time?"

As for if they stay or not, for me personally I have never lost connection with the deities I've connected with. But some DO fade in and out sometimes. And like others have mentioned, sometimes they fade away, sometimes just to the background.