The place of UPG in your path.

[patch99329]

For those that don't know, UPG stands for 'unverified personal gnosis' or variations of such.

I was wondering how significant UPG was in your personal path? Does it have a place?

For me UPG plays a part, but only a very minor one. More accurately, it's 'UPG with acedemic sources to back it up'.

The minor role UPG plays for me is helping me gain a better understanding of a deity beyond their mythology. But if poseidon suddenly says 'wtf!? I don't have a temper, I'm really serene all the time' I know something is probrably up.
Similarly, I sometimes use UPG to put mythical concepts into a context I can understand.

For example: layout of the cosmos according to mythology= heaven at the top and tartaros + hades at the bottom, seperated by the flat disk which is earth.
Earth is not a flat disk, we know this. I also have never been able to get my head 'round any idea that the divine are centred around earth alone. It's a tiny planet with tiny people in a big big universe.

So I try to adapt this idea into a way I understand it.
Cosmos = tartaros and hades at the bottom +heaven at the top and seperated by the physical plane of existance.  

[TeaDidikai]

UPG serves a couple roles in my tradition.

For one- it is the basis of my personal experience with deity.
I do not have proof that the experiences I have had with my gods are anything beyond delusion. I have evidence- because I tested them though.

Secondly, through communication and UPG, somethings that on the surface seem to be contradictions become clear and reasonable compliments to one another. A personal example of this would be the interrelation between a group of gods that for the longest time had me very confused. It sounded almost as though there was a suggestion that two different deities were one and the same- even though there were dramatic contradictions (such as sex, gender, roles within the mythology etc). An understanding of mythological dynamic through UPG settled the contradiction.  

[Henry Dorsett Case]

My entire path is UPG. My relationship with Those Who Watch is personal, my rituals come directly from them, my interaction with them is on their terms...and I'm not even sure, if someone were to follow my path, that they'd ever experience the same two deities I do, or under the same names, or even the same pairing or experience thereof.  

[Fiddlers Green]

UPG is the raw material from which Gnosis can be extracted.
Altho fragile senses have trouble with pure Gnosis, it is a great starting point. but stand alone... hmm... not so usefull, especially with lunacy what it is. ninja  

[Loona Wynd]

UPG has a big role in my religious practice. It's how I have found where I am. I'm learning to test and understand context though. That's important in learning an eclectic path.