On not holding too tightly nor too loosely.
For a community that is supposed to be about interacting with subtle things, I am often amazed at how little nuance there is in the spiritual community. People love to run to the extremes. A couple weeks ago I was in the car with John Reynolds (Lama Vajranatha) and Troy from Wolf&Goat* We got to talking about how John has been criticized in some Dharma communities for thinking comparatively. He is unafraid to make comparisons between Hindu and Buddhist deities like Trolma Ngakmo and Kali. He is unafraid to make comparisons even between entire traditions and has often talked about the thematic and symbolic links between Tantra and European Witchcraft. This upsets a lot of people in the Dharma communities, which largely tend to be pretty tight-assed about pretty much everything.
I understand why people can get defensive about it. Wild Eclecticism has 
run amok in New Age and Occult communities. People are always claiming that Venus IS Freya, or that Muerte IS Azrael, or any number of other silly comparisons. It is important to stand up for tradition and to make it clear that dieties are indeed different.
On the other hand traditions are not quite as self-contained historically as fundamentalists would like to think. While the scholars and anal-retentive zealots are drawing lines about what is and is not part of X, magicians and mystics are often blurring those lines. This is not anything new, and even a brief look at the PGM will reveal the mixing that went on between traditions, identification of cross cultural dieties, and so on.
During the car ride I brought up the topic red goddesses. Some people want to think of Babalon as the same as Pomba Gira and the same as Kurukulla. They are not the same. They have individual cultural histories that need to be respected, individual modes of traditional contact, and very little in common historically. On the other hand you have to be kind of blind not to see commonalities: red color, sexual associations, hot nature, the combination of wrathful and joyful nature (what in Tantra get termed “Rishi Wrath”). Clearly there is an undercurrent here.
Troy pointed out that this is all made more complicated by the fact that Pomba Gira could decide to manifest as Kurukulla Pomba Gira or Babalon Pomba Gira, just as she has with other manifestations. Some think that this has happened already, others disagree.
Just as there are “personality types” for people there are certain commonalities that are interesting to explore if you are willing to think a bit experimentally. But one must never mistake them all for being the same, or just an expression of that undercurrent. To do so robs them of much of their worth and individuality. It also might result in them slapping the crap out of you.
In general I would like to see purists loosen up a bit and not get so uptight about things. I would like to see wild eclectics and people that build their evocations out of reciting every name they can find associated in 777, learn to respect tradition and individuality in the spirits. Basically what I am saying is that if you a magician, or mystic, or in any way associated with experiential spirituality, a little nuance in your thinking goes a long way. Just dont, as they say, open your mind so far that your brain falls out.
* Troy sculpted the Pomba Gira statue that is featured at the top of the post.
