So, heres a question.
Is there anyone that would be interested in me talking about my spiritual practices, how I come at paganism form a non-human point of view?
I’m kind of hesitant, because, well, this is Tumblr and I don’t know how much of my spirituality I want out there in the public.
But at the same time, I don’t think theres enough discussion of paganism form a non-human perspective. Most deity and spirit interaction, magic use/spells, rituals and belief in general in the pagan community is from a strictly human perspective, and its made a lot of pagan otherkin either feel really left out, or made them feel as if they aren’t ‘doing it right”. Including myself.
So, would anyone be interested in that? yes no?
I’d certainly be interested. This is a topic I’ve been thinking about some lately.
Just got my first Faery Wicca book! (the one was supposed to come together with this one buuuut)
I found some value in the Faery Wicca books, but take them with a good grain of salt. These books are not highly regarded by most people working with Celtic material. Also, despite the title, it is not Wicca, even in the loose modern generalized/eclectic sense, and especially not “Feri Wicca”, as one of your tags was. (There’s no such animal; the tradition of Feri or Faery descending from Victor Anderson is a non-Wiccan Craft tradition and in fact predates Wicca.) I used to be on a discussion list with Kisma Stepanich and IIRC she did not want it billed as “Wicca” but essentially Llewellyn insisted. If you are interested in her writing you might want to take a look at http://www.faeryfaith.org/fairy-faery-faerie-marketplace/brigidspress/fftw.html - I think “Faery-Faith Traditional Wisdom” is her “director’s cut” of the first Faery Wicca book.
differences,
Although IIRC in Gardnerian Wicca the inverted pentacle is used to denote the second degree.
True (although not scribed in a circle). Both the “upright” and the “reversed” pentagrams can have a lot of meanings ascribed to them. There’s no one universal meaning for either. (“Often” used to represent Satanism I suppose is true as far as it goes, but I sense a certain “see, see, we’re not Satanists and Satanists aren’t Neopagans! just look!” tone to this graphic.)
“Made to Order Greek Goddess of the Moon Artemis Deer Mask” on Etsy
I love this mask! I own it. It’s very nicely made, so I definitely recommend the artist.
Hrrm. This is the second time in like a few days that this exact mask has appeared in my sphere of attention. In what passes for the fragments of my personal path the White Stag is associated with the Earth, the Woods, the South. Not the Moon (that’s West) but other than that.. yeah. Iunno.
(Source: herbalialavandula, via ceryneian-hind-deactivated20130)
He had a few mishaps along the way, but He’s finally finished. This is the first time I’ve sculpted a male form in many years, and while his proportions are off, I’m not altogether displeased.
This idol is based off of how I saw Cernunnos the first time; as a dark, wild, beautiful humanesque form donning a stag’s skull as a mask, instead of an anthropomorphized deer, or an over-sexualized guy with antlers growing from his head.
This is so close to being the perfect statue that it physically hurts to look at it.
In modern societies we approach tradition from a distance and as neopagans it means we have a long walk to get back to where we come from. Sometimes we’ve to do it without a lot of light to guide us. Its similar to folk tales where coming home across the fields on a moonlit night after…
(Source: irelandseyeonmyth)
The timing of “Imbolc” (First Spring) is more of an artform than a date on a calender. It’s the day then the Daffodils bloom. When the pond is warm enough to clean. When the trees begin to bud.
It’s not yet. Not quite. Just a little more.
I can feel the cold stretching, cracking, and getting ready to let go. And I just can’t wait.
Hmmmm yesss good. Especially the last bit about feeling the cold cracking and getting ready to let go. I am not usually very good with feeling the When, I must confess, but for some reason Imbolc is one that resonates with me pretty well, and there’s just this… emerging. Stretching. Rubbing sleep out of the eyes. Maybe five-more-minutes-Mom but definitely responding. A few things are blooming (we don’t have daffodils in our yard at the moment, but yeah). Birds sing differently. Buds feel like they’re rearing back in preparation for the sproing!
I celebrated back at the full moon because I follow the celestial calendar rather than the modern one. Imbolc here is really the start of spring. Trees are blooming, it’s getting warmer but hopefully we will still get more winter rain, time to start work on the garden. Bioregional baby!!!
I like to date it either by 15° Aquarius (which will be on Sunday) or by the blooming of the cherry plum trees we have around here, as they’re one of the first things to bloom in the spring (after persimmons, which usually bloom in January and dang the one in the back yard of the house at the end of the street was blooming back in December this year, wtf). The cherry plums haven’t bloomed yet this year but it ranges from the end of January to the middle of February.
best picture I’ve seen of em up to now
(via ladyoftheweald)
THIS IS NOT CELTIC
THIS IS WICCAN
LEARN THE DIFFERENCE
shit that’s been continually brought to my attention.
What’s up with wiccans calling their faith Celtic?
Is it derived from that or something? I’m not very knowledgeable on that path because it didn’t appeal to me but this is getting on my nerves>.>I think Wicca has roots in England [I think], but it has nothing to do with the Celtic religions. They are separate. You are not mistaken.
BUT THIS SHIT ISN’T EVEN WICCAN. WICCA DOESN’T HAVE COMMANDMENTS AND IF THEY DO IT’S NOT PART OF THE MYSTERY TRADITION THAT THEY SHARE WITH OUTSIDERS. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS SHIT IS.
This picture is loaded with misinformation.
Basically this image is ‘we made this shit up and called it ancient.’ Also, can we associate ‘Celtic’ with colors other than green? They gots seasons there in Europe.
Of course they do. Their seasons are “GREEN,” “GREENER,” and “OLD AND CREAKY AND SYMBOLIC OF THE CRONE.”
Or so the fluffy neopagans have led me to believe.
SO THE LEGEND SAYS. -theremin-
This is basically what Solo and I were annoyed over yesterday. Things like this. Things that are people just obviously making up crap, and saying it’s from ancient times, and don’t understand what they’re even using to make things like this. It’s not Celtic, and it’s not even Wiccan, so what even am I looking at? This is the stuff that is problematic.
This is not ancient Celtic, but it is sort of Celtic, or at least more than it is Wiccan (meaning specifically in the initiatory traditionalist sense), despite the nod to the Rede. Hear me out on this.
This piece is actually titled “The Rune of the Wild Magic”, and it is from A Pagan Carmina Gadelica by Mike Nichols. The original Carmina Gadelica is a collection of various folkloric material from Scotland — prayers, hymns, incantations, runes, etc. — taken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmina_Gadelica) So in that sense, this is Celtic, or modified Celtic. (At least if you consider Scotland a Celtic country.) It is, I suppose, “made up shit” in the sense that it was adapted by a poet from an original source into a different form, but though it might not be to everyone’s taste, I don’t think that makes it bad or invalid per se (unless you’re a strict reconstructionist). Under its correct title, which expresses the intent of the piece rather differently than calling it “commandments” does (silly), it’s just something neopagan based on a Scottish folkloric source, I guess is the most accurate thing to say.
The original version is this:
On the holy Sunday of thy God
Give thou thine heart to all mankind,
To thy father and thy mother loving,
Beyond any person or thing in the world.
Do not covet large or small,
Do not despise weakling or poor,
Semblance of evil allow not near thee,
Never give nor earn thou shame.
The ten commands God gave thee,
Understand them early and prove,
Believe direct in the King of the elements,
Put behind thee ikon-worship.
Be faithful to thine over-lord,
Be true to thy king in every need,
Be true to thine own self besides,
True to thy High-King above all obstacles.
Do not thou malign any man,
Lest thou thyself maligned shouldst be,
And shouldst thou travel ocean and earth,
Follow the very step of God’s Anointed.
(P.S. Yes, Wicca as a unique cohesive thing is originally English, and no, Wicca is not a Celtic religion, although some Wiccan traditions use deity names from Celtic sources.)
An Unfortunate Journey
My girlfriend, business partner, and love, R has a son. When she come to live with me, she left him behind because it was supposed to be a temporary stay, that became the effort to bring a new life. As soon as it looked as if she would be putting down roots, she wanted her son back. But her son’s father, and his father’s parents, did seek to deny the return of her son, though by law he should have been as it was a temporary guardianship that could be terminated at any time.
Last Tuesday, the Day of Tyr, we set off to the land of Maple Syrup and snow to seek the return of the lost little lamb. Three we were in number, a Svartwulf, a witch, and a kitsune, with various spirits in tow. By long hours of day and night did we travel, without pause, resting as others drove. It took us nearly a full twenty-four hours to arrive, only to find there were no rooms avail in town, and that R’s best friend, was giving shelter to R’s ex-bf, father of her son.
I know not a lot of people are Lucius’s biggest fans or anything, but I really think that this needs to get out there. Too often, we’ll hear about pagans and polytheists who are denied the custody of their children because of their religious lives. However, how often can we legitimately claim that the people effected by these asshole decisions are within six degrees of us?
Get the word out; let people know. It doesn’t matter what state you’re in. It doesn’t matter how prepared or unprepared you may be. The court system still thinks we’re nothing more than the pomp and bullshit people put out, knowing clearly that misrepresentation and half-truths will get the job done.
Tossed a chunk of premium incense resin onto a coal.
Bast looks on happily.
The room fills with smoke.
The smoke detectors go off.
Chaos ensues.
I slap the lid on the censor… it doesn’t help.
Bast is still really appreciative.
Window is opened to vent it before people start to die.
Three hours later the room’s clear again.
“They used to cense the temples like that, too.” she says, benign and lovingly.
Seems to me to make cense sense. Inhaling smoke of sacred plants, resins, etc. Needs to be thick to produce psychoactive results, which was the original purpose of incenses. Ya?
(rann: verse, stanza, rhyme)
In spring-tide, when the snow had melted and the roots of things soaked in cold waters, newly flowing, a vision of the spirits came to me. …
It was said in ancient days that the People of the Mound loved to process and to parade. So they appeared to me, coming in troupes from every quarter. From out of stone and soil, from the green of the forest and the waves of the sea they rose and marched, totems and standards raised high. Pure white and storm-black they came, red as blood and green as sap. Like hounds and like ravens they came, like stags and songbirds and like flights of bees. From out of the halls of the Lord of the Dead came heroes, mighty ones of the spear and of the plow, and of the Druid’s Wand. Striding across hilltops or mounted on horses of lightning-shadow, they rode among the hosts. At their head came the Chieftain, in wizard’s array, hazel-wand white as he led the Host that he had called.
Shining folk of silver and gold streamed from above; wild, lovely and mighty. Winged and horned and hoofed, in cloaks of leaves and light and shadow they joined with the scuttlers and slitherers, with the small folk of stone and bark. Together they came, summoned by the sorcerer Chieftain at the command of the Queen of Elfhame…
- December 6
- , 2012
Sure, cool, but uh, since when is Yule the name of a god? (I’m hearing echoes of “Samhain is the god of the dead” here…)
(via mothensidhe)
