I'm just curious if there are any Odin worshippers or druids or what have you in this community. I'm thinking about that Nazi pagan in DC but I know there's lots of pagan comrades who would hang him upside down from a tree.
Im a materialist athiest but im madly in love with a witch and may have made a marriage pact when we were kids if we don’t find someone by 35.
I now know better than to make deals with witches but im happy with that decision lmao
Just wanted to chime in with this statement from the Icelandic Pagan Association regarding foreigners and their understanding of pagan beliefs.
"To clarify our position on certain issues, the Ásatrúarfélagið issues the following statement.
We always welcome visitors from abroad, as well as Icelanders, with an interest in our cultural heritage and spiritual traditions. We respect everyone‘s interest in the Ásatrúarfélagið and our religious traditions, but we do not necessarily agree with every visitor’s ideas of the form that Ásatrú should have in our modern world. Visitors should not assume that we automatically agree with or endorse their own views and practices.
We strongly oppose any attempt by individuals to use their association with the Ásatrúarfélagið of Iceland to promote attitudes, ideologies and practices rejected by the leadership of the Ásatrúarfélagið. We particularly reject the use of Ásatrú as a justification for supremacy ideology, militarism and animal sacrifice.
It should also be known that visitors have no authority to speak on our behalf. There is no advisor to the Ásatrúarfélagið and there is no spokesman other than our allsherjargoði. We respectfully request that visitors not claim any such authority based on their association with us."
There’s been a big shift in occult circles to chase the Fashy contingent out of magical orders and institutions. Turns out they’re unredeemed spirits and bad for groups!
I wouldn’t worry about it so much today and in the future - more than half my order is leftist / libertarian socialist.
The wikipedia article is probable the best resource in English if you want to know more. Hope you find your way!
Know this might be directed more at European pagans but wanted to chime in that I think a lot of pagan worship goes on in disguise in mexican communities. Like a lot of saints and the like might be older gods from mexico or something.
The virgin Mary always has a back drop of stars and the heavens and I think she is supposed to be connected with a Moon goddess. Also if you ask some mexicans there's la Santa Muerte. Don't know what other peeps might tell you but my mom always told me she was the Virgin Mary's sister and named La Santa Marta, connecting it back with my original idea makes sense. Also from how my mom and other sources I've heard La Santa Muerte protects the lumpen so cool.
As for practicing things myself I have some baraja espanola cards, basically Spanish fortune telling cards, they my mom's but she doesn't have time to use them anymore. Also have a book on La Santa Muerte. The book in spanish and I sometimes struggle reading it, I only know how to speak spanish because parents but struggle reading it since never formally taught.
Been trying to get nephews interested in card reading but younger doesn't have the attention span and older one doesn't wanna fuck around with the supernatural. Still need to ask mom for some meaning behind cards though, used some online but find them lacking.
Anyway going back to yesterday fuck that fash. They take cool things ruin them and give the rest of our pagan comrades a bad name.
catholism in latin america used saints workship as a way to integrate other religious beliefs, in brazil slaves had their own african religions and they would incorporate those in attempts to bring slaves into christianity (which technically would make the whole slaving them a sin in the catholic sense as one of the reasons for slavery being ok was that they said that they had no soul and could not be saved) and because of that there are syncretic african-christian religions in brazil
I definitely don't want to direct this exclusively at European pagans! I should have made this more clear in my post. I would love to hear from any other minority religious/spiritual groups.
And I think you're absolutely right about pagan syncretism in LatAm Catholicism. That's a well-documented phenomena with a lot of different variations through Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
With you and @CrimsonSage I'll be honest this the first time I've heard that word, syncretism. It's cool, I guess I like the word pagan too but in my mind I've always interpreted that word to mean like druids too.
syncretism isn't specifically for paganish LatAm Catholicism. It's the anthropological term for a mixture of cultures/religions.
It technically doesn't have to be exclusively for religion but that's how it's most often used.
I'm spanish and i could never understand that thing. I get tarot, but are you seriously telling me that the same cards i use to play several games can be used for divination??
Ok, Death means this and The Chariot means that. Cool. What the fuck does the 3 of cups mean? The 3 of golds? the 2 of sticks?
Each is supposed to have have meaning and I think like one card is supposed to represent you. So from what I remember my mom said the dude on the horse and sword is me.
Copas I think are supposed to deal with love, bastos mean like journey I think, oros is money, and espadas trouble. Your definitions might vary based on who you go to.
There are two ways you do it but for both you say a prayer, I think because you are doing a magic there is still invoking Jesus's name to protect you.
After you shuffle the cards you either deal them out while counting to seven then go sota, caballo, y rey, if a one comes out when you count one you set that card aside and so on. The other method is spreading them on a table 4 rows ten columns. You find the card that represent you and count left or right by ten and turn that card sideways. At the end you try to make sense of it.
I still need to learn all the card meanings from my mom but you can probably find some online if you look. Sorry if this a mess but trying my best to describe.
I wish I had some tbh. I think this a combination of a class I took years ago in community college, reading Joseph Campbell's work when younger, and reflecting on a lot of saint practices growing up. The funny thing is we aren't catholic but my parents still do a lot of prayers and candles to their favorite saints. A lot of this doesn't really get talked about because we christian or something and it's frown on back when we used to go to church. Looking at the virgin Mary she got a cloak of stars and the moon at her feet in some images. Would love to read some formal writing on it but this all I have to go on it.
I like western magic a fair amount it’s cool to create your own esoteric symbology lol
Have you ever heard of randonautica? Its a curious little app that got popular recently, and is based on something I used to back in the day when I was into chaos magic. It was really interesting to see something like it pop up.
Thanks for this, I just downloaded it. Looks super cool.
I'm a materialist agnostic atheist, but I'll be dammed if there isn't something deeply fascinating about Chaos magic. I actually picked up a copy of "Condensed Chaos" for the hell of it.
Druid here! Nazi's shouldn't be hung from trees, they should have their throats slit and their bodies dumped in the woods, faster return to nature that way.
Edit: Pagan com when?!
yea, i'm a witch who follows the green path. trying to resuscitate a lot of the celtic traditions and herbal techniques that were lost with the roman invasion / later christian conversion.
That sounds dope. How are you doing that? Are you part of a community of people doing the same, and are you using historical/archaeological research to figure it out?
it's kind of a mixture of a lot of things! i've tried to find community, but the local community is very... uh... white and appropriating Age of Aquarius witchcraft stuff
dope shit, my wife is learning herbalism and makes a bunch of medicinal teas that are surprisingly effective! If you find any good resources, i'd love to share with her <3
I only celebrate the coopted pagan parts of most major Christian holidays because they’re the best bits, does that count?
I’m kind of a witch, and I have a couple folks from the Slavic pantheon on my altar. Mati Syra Zemlya is a feminine personification of the Earth, her name means Moist Earth Mother. Veles is the pantheon’s cthonic underworld god of music, magic and bears.
I went through a bit of a pagan phase decades ago, read a few books, got interested through a family member being a bit of a hippy and theologian. It didn't stick, but I credit a lot of my passion for the natural world and ecology to exploring it and Taoism.
I've known a few Druids in my time. They're good people but they'll send you more email newsletters than LinkedIn.
I'm pagan lite, basically do the 4 seasonal celebrations in a very small way and have for a few years.
I don't know anyone in my small pagan community who would associate with any nazi at all
I get the impression that Nazi pagans are the ultimate expression of the concept of the vocal minority
Nordic-themed atheism here. Sounds weird, yes, and not what you asked for. Mostly it's using the gods as archetypes, and taking warning from the stories. Odin, with all his power and wisdom, can't avoid his own death, and his anger gets the best of him often. Loki's abused cleverness gets him all kinds of trouble. Broken vows and lies leading to the end of the world. The Havamal has a few words of wisdom in it.
Also: magic would be neat
I'm loathe to call meself a witch and would rather educate the q shaman but yes