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News and Updates
Personal Ethics Posted Monday, February 08, 2010 by Randall
By and large, Pagan paths leave a lot of room for a personal ethical standard. We're given guidelines on valuable ideas, but not necessarily told how to behave.
What are your personal ethics?
What values do you hold dear?
How closely do these values align with your religious path?
And most importantly, how comfortable are you with defining your own ethics? Do you prefer to be told what to do/how to behave/etc? Does sorting out your own beliefs make you anxious? Or is the whole process of self-discovery exhilarating and freeing?
Human uniqueness? Posted Monday, February 08, 2010 by Randall
A book I'm reading - actually for light reading, it wasn't meant to supplement my spiritual/religious research at all - brings up an interesting point and I'm curious where others stand on it. It discusses Yogis and how "true Yogis" view the world, all of it, as a manifestation of "God." (term used loosely here) Everything is divine, but humans are unique, "special," because only as a human can "God-realization" occur. Other forms of life do not have this opportunity.
This is something with which I fundamentally disagree. Personally I find nothing "special" about humans and I do not hold a view in which humans are above other forms of life. In an article somewhere (about dolphin communication), a researcher said, "It's only due to our lack of knowledge that humans remain this exclusive species." I can't for the life of me remember her name, but that resonates very deeply within me.
So...thoughts?
Myths as part of worship and ritual Posted Monday, February 08, 2010 by Randall
I know that myths are often used as sources of info on the nature of the gods and interacting with them. But does anyone here incorporate the stories themselves into ritual? How do you decide which of a god's many myths you'll focus on? Or, in everyday life, do you find yourself returning to some myths as touchstones of faith?
Solstices and Equinoxes Posted Thursday, February 04, 2010 by Randall
The solstices and equinoxes and I have always been on shaky ground. I remember trying to incorporate them as seasonal holidays in my calendar during my strictly Celtic period, but between the fact that I had no historical foundation to build from, and that I didn't see these days as marking the seasons (they're pretty arbitrary when it comes to New England weather) I didn't really have any use for them. I felt a draw, but I couldn't shape that attachment into anything useful.
Fast forward to about ten minutes ago. How I got started on the subject, I do not recall (which is pretty sad, given that it was about fifteen minutes ago) but I thought to myself, what if these days aren't about the earth, but about the sun? Or, I continued, not exactly about the sun, but about light and dark, night and day, and the balance? To a certain degree, they've always been about those things, but I was never able to extricate them from the seasonal association that didn't work for me.
So I was wondering: how do you feel about the equinoxes and solstices? Do they have a role in your practice, your calendar? Do you see them about light/dark, or seasonal, or both, or something else? How do you celebrate them?
Solitary in Asatru Posted Wednesday, February 03, 2010 by Randall
Community is a generally considered a huge part of Asatru and related faiths. What about those people who worship without a religious community?
- Are you solitary? If so, is that by choice or necessity?
- How necessary is a religious community or not? Why?
- How important is a mundane community or not? Why?
- If someone is solitary, how do they practice Asatru or other Heathen religion? Particularly, I'm interested in what people's more formal, solitary blots might look like.
- What do you do to cultivate or support your community, religious or secular?
What books SHOULDN'T you read? Posted Wednesday, February 03, 2010 by Randall
In another discussion group I'm in, I asked a similar question, but it was very subject oriented. Here it's more general.
What book you would not recommend reading, and why so? Be it contents, or just a waste of time and money, or are there better books on the subject?
I can also ask it in a different way - What book wouldn't you recommend for a beginner in this or another path? (material to advanced, need for solid basics before, etc...). That's a different question actually, but never the less also important.
Also, if you think that the book isn't bad, but not suitable for a specific crowd, mention it (i.e. "Wicca" by S. Cunningham, which I think is good for a general interest in Neo-Wicca, but not as good for someone interested in Traditional Wicca).
Why these question(s)? There are many lists of "What to read", but there aren't many of "What to avoid". Many of the books which I think should be avoided, are those who are actually more "easy selling" - tempting covers, tempting titles, etc., which beginners (and non beginners) may buy, and just waste some good time and money, better spent elsewhere. Though IMO, there is no such thing as a "bad" book, because from every book you can learn something (such as - "what is a bad example for a book").
Expectation of a Deep, Personal Relationship with Deity/ies? Posted Tuesday, February 02, 2010 by Randall
I was reading in another thread - and my apologies, but I can't seem to locate it again! - and something in it stuck with me today. The idea brought up was that for most Celts, a relationship with the gods wasn't necessarily about having a deep, personal, intimate communion with them, that it was a different way of looking at the gods' interaction with men. In other threads, primarily from those of Celtic or Heathen beliefs, the relationship with local land and house spirits seems to have more emphasis as a more important part of the day to day life.
I know that there are those who do have an intimate, personal relationship with one or more deities... but perhaps my expectation of this as an inherent and fundamental part of religion is a Christian hangover, rather than fully embracing a totally new approach to things? And I sense that it could be a barrier to developing a deep and intimate experience in a totally different way, especially since in the last month or so, forming a better understanding of and connection with the more immediate, local spirits has become more and more something on my mind.
I would love some more discussion of this idea, and about making this paradigm shift.
Communing with Nature? Posted Tuesday, February 02, 2010 by Randall
I'd like to hear from those who are practicing a religion that reveres nature (or places a great importance on nature or nature spirits) who live in suburban or urban areas. Particularly from people who are transplants there, who have had to adjust to it.
I lived in a rural area my whole life - acres and acres of wooded hills around a family farm - and a few years ago we moved to the outskirts of a honest-to-goodness town. I like it here for a lot of reasons, but the difference is huge in terms of the connection that I feel to nature. It's like trying to have a relationship through glass. Yes, I love the trees around here, and I find meaning in dandelions pushing through cracks in the sidewalk, etc, but it doesn't have the wildness that really resonates with me, and I'm feeling the lack of that strongly.
Also I feel a lack of privacy, due to the proximity of other homes, which affects me. Sure, there's nature everywhere (or I would go mad) but there's no privacy.
What are some ways that other people (who aren't conveniently living in the middle of the woods Smiley ) find to deeply and meaningfully connect with nature? I'm finding that kind of communion to be elusive, and I miss it.
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