Kokopelli
I realize he’s technically a deity, but he’s always seemed more…nature spirity to me, if that makes sense. I’ll walk past a bush, or something, and it’ll rustle and he’ll be in there, part of the bush, and then he’ll be gone, to be part of something else. He moves through the natural world like a fish through water, and my interactions with him have never been anything like my interactions with other gods. (I’m not trying to denigrate him by calling him a nature spirit; just trying to explain the difference I feel between him and other gods.)
He crops up in my life in strange places, ever since I was a little kid. It’s almost been creepy betimes….
It doesn’t feel like a thwapping. More like a sort of guardianship. Like he’s watching over me.
So he’s my favourite because he’s the only one I know by name; the others sort of gather around me and flit away like curious animals when I walk through the wild places in my life.
Kokopelli is the god of childbirth, fertility, and music in various Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States. Among the Hopi, he’s said to bring children to women on his back, which can cause young women to fear him (may explain why I’ve sometimes found his presence in my life creepy).
He plays a flute that chases away winter and brings spring, and he is associated with the rains by many tribes, including the Zuni.
He’s a trickster deity, and pretty playful, sometimes showing up to rituals where he hasn’t been invited. There’s a pretty intense sexual energy with him; very similar to Lugh’s energy, actually.
I may try to do some work with Kokopelli in the future. Perhaps not until I’m ready for kids. Kind of want to be careful there.