YHWY has gone by many names. In the Nazarene faith, my replacement for the name of the religion I recently left, is seen as the Creator God, the Almighty. According to tradition he created the entire universe, or at least the solar system, in the span of 7 days. He is primarily the God of the Hebrew people, Jews today or Israelites in centuries past.
I chose to profile him first as he took top billing in the core of beliefs I intend to follow.
He can be seen as a culmination or an extension of El or Elohim, an older God worshiped by the Israelites before the coming of his Son, Joshua, translated as Jesus in English speaking countries.
I chose Yahweh because of familiarity. I am not going to honor his church, study his book or live according to the tenants his followers have handed down over generations. I will revere him as my supreme God but with the understanding I will see him mostly on Sundays and his Holidays, which are Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. The remainder of the year I will keep him close in my heart but not exclusively.
I will incorporate His teachings into my witchcraft through certain prayers and rituals conducted by pre-Nazarene Hebrews, and older traditions that have not been passed down into modern Nazarene faith. I refuse to call him, or his following, by their modern English name. I make this distinction as a reminder to myself that I keep him in my heart and life but that I do not respect his hateful followers who twist his teachings to cause harm.
I was always very spiritual as a kid. I was originally drawn to the Nazarene faith when I was studying the different mythologies. I felt a calling to this particular deity and I answered that call. I currently believe the Word of God is contained in the Bible, I don’t believe the bible is the whole truth. It is not entirely complete. The truth, I believe, goes beyond the scripture. Yes it says not to go beyond what is written, but there is a lot of wiggle room in the teachings and unfortunately his followers hardly agree on two things.
What I seek from maintaining my relationship with this first deity of mine is to keep an open dialogue. I choose to honor him on his days, mostly Sunday and a handful of holidays around the year, but I have made it clear he is my first God, but not my only god.
I won’t be using his book for divination or moral guidance. I will reference Joshua’s teachings, especially those from the Sermon on the Mound. Beyond that I am not going to attend Mass or other church services, I am not going to give credence to those who quote his words to me nor am I going to limit my experiences to seeking power from just his will alone.
All in all I have no ill will towards the Holy Trinity. I have the utmost respect and reverence for the God himself in his triple form, I merely won’t limit by beliefs to exclusively his teachings unhindered.
Stephanie Bri 