God of Awakening
published:
by Harshvardhan J. Pandit
sleep story
There are many gods. This is known. We worship them with offerings. We ask them for a blessing of their power to help us in our lives. Not all gods have names. Not all gods are even known. And sometimes we worship them without knowing it.
One such god is the God of Awakening. It is the deity of the rising. The force that brings one back from the dream-world and the sleep-world into the this-world.
Most creatures don't know the God of Awakening even though they feel its power. sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes hours. Some for days, and others for months. Not all of them pray to it or give offerings. Yet the god persists as a part of life and nature.
Humans and human-kind, as they do with their other gods, have established an intimate relationship with this one. They call upon its power in times of need. Some have rituals they partake in and offerings they provide and consume. Sometimes several times a day.
Not all prayers need words. And not all rituals need offerings. Some people get by without anything. They sleep, and they wake up. For others a prayer in the form of music is enough to call upon the God of Awakening to touch them with its power.
The music itself varies. sometimes it mimics the morning birds, sometimes the bells of chaos and pandemonium. To some humans, the sounds of someone else's prayers might be too shrill, too annoying. Even infuriating. But the God of Awakening listens and accepts them all.
Not all prayers are answered immediately. Some take multiple songs and hymns. When the first prayer does not work, the person may wait for a moment before calling upon the god again. Sometimes people forget they have been blessed and return to other-world. But the god of Awakening always returns for them.
Other rituals are conducted when the person has already awakened. They still need the power to help them loosen the shackles of sleep and its minions - tiredness, fatigue, and boredom. Such rituals are always accompanied with offerings. A traditional brew of some leaf, fruit, bean, or other concoction. Some are more invigorating than others. Some more addictive. It is unknown whether the strength of these offerings has any effect on the blessings. Or do they merely ask the god to concentrate its power in that short time instead of watching over them all day. Some people who think this is true use their offerings many times a day.
Not every prayer is answered by a single god. Not every offering consumed by just the one it was given to. Some gods always come together. Others may arrive as they please. Some may not be seen or felt at all. Over time each human has established an intimate relation on how they call upon the God of Awakening and its effect on calling upon the other gods.
Some avoid offerings after a certain time, afraid if they receive too much of this god's power, they will not be able to call upon the goddess of sleep. Others avoid such rituals because the gods of bodies - goddess of the heart, god of digestion, or the god of mind and the goddess of thoughts who always dwell together, might not like their offering.
Others hope their offerings will call upon other gods. Some hope for the goddess of cleanliness will bless them and help remove the unclean remnants from their bodies. Others hope it lessens the hold the god of intoxication has on them. Yet others hope it pleases the goddesses of food and taste if they partake their offerings together.
As with many rituals and offerings, humans have formed a religion around the God of Awakening. People have been judgemental on the way others call upon in prayer, in what offerings they consume, and what is the 'right' way to prepare them. Some humans have turned these differences into an enterprise. Promising people stronger blessings and more. And yet, the God of Awakening remains a silent god. It simply watches this and all.
Sometimes gods arrive with the God of Awakening without calling, without offerings. The goddess of lust is known to frequent the morning beds of many as they receive the blessings of awakening. Not all such visits are pleasant however. Sometimes the gods of terror, fear, and doubt - who sometimes dwell in the minds as the person roams in the goddess of sleep and dreams' many dominions - refuse to leave. It has been said the god of awakening watches over people when they sleep and awakens them before they are taken over by these gods' fearsome powers. When people feel stuck between the this-world and the other-world, it has been said they are witnessing these gods fighting. The God of Awakening is almost always victorious.
There are many gods. This is known. Some more evident than others. The God of Awakening is a silent god, unknown, - yet felt deeply by every person until the Goddess of Death comes to claim the soul.