recaptchalater

[recaptchalater]

the desire to pronounce words as they are said in their source language for the sake of accuracy vs the desire to not sound like a complete tool

[recaptchalater]

The Bucca's Stone

In Cornwall the shadow of the old gods is never far away. In the mines, offerings would be left to the Bucca and his faery kin "The Knockers", in the fields he stood as a scarecrow by day but by night lead the "Pisky" revels, but as lord of the seas and the storms he took his most majestic form.

Legend has it he was chased out of Newlyn by Paul Choir. Before he took to the air he chanted his name three times...BUCCA, BUCCA, BUCCA! But in the commotion he dropped his nets. As living proof of this take his nets still mark some of the stones around these parts...and this is one of them

from the Museum of Magic and Folklore, Aberfala, Kernow.

[recaptchalater]

If there's one good thing about Britain it's the diversity of its pagan past more than anything, and the fact that there's still so much to be found and rediscovered. Before Christianity, the land was home to countless pagan gods from numerous different cultural backgrounds. This includes not only Celtic, Brythonic, or later Anglo-Saxon gods, but also Roman gods and the gods of any number of foreign cults that came to Britain during the Roman era, as well as the Norse gods who were still worshipped by Vikings some time after Britain became Christian.

I guess the main virtue of that is that any number of gods have a place here.

[recaptchalater]

Caristia, or Cara Cognatio, “Dear Relatives”, is a Roman festival celebrated on the 22nd of February to finalize the sacred week of ancestral worship of Parentalia. The celebration was marked by its highest degree of privacy as the Lares, Lari Domestici, and one’s deceased relatives were properly reunited with after the long week of veneration of the dead. Sacrificial activities, return to the temple devotion, and offerings that once again included burning of incense, prohibited during Parentalia, marked the period of exiting the mourning rites for the Romans and entrance of a calmer, private, family-focused celebration of Cara Cognatio. 

Keep reading

[recaptchalater]

I can try. Apologies if I'm not the greatest tour guide.

There are a lot of different definitions floating around the Internet about what exactly "Paganism" means. That is, which religions fall under that umbrella. The most generous definitions label Paganism as any non-Abrahamic indigenous faith. More strict definitions say it's the pre-Abrahamic indigenous faiths of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

I don't really like either of these definitions. The first includes people who don't want to be called Pagan, and the second excludes people that do. I prefer to say that any religion which self-identifies as Pagan, is Pagan.

One thing you'll encounter right away are "pantheons". People will say they follow the Norse gods, the Greek gods, the Canaanite gods, etc. This framework has arisen largely from historians, and it works well for the task of cataloguing history, but it isn't really how the religion ever looked in practice. The Germanic people worshipped Celtic gods, the Greeks worshipped Anatolian gods, and the Britons worshipped Egyptian gods.

This is due to the non-exclusive nature of polytheism. Each distinct faith within Paganism was more akin to a magical practice. It provided a framework for ritual and prayer, but could easily assimilate any deity that became popular. This is why the Celtic goddess Epona had a temple in Rome, and hybrid gods like Serapis and Jupiter-Amun became popular in Egypt.

Within modern Paganism, or Neopaganism, there are generally two distinct camps or approaches to the faith. Reconstructionists, and Revivalists. Reconstructionists generally focus on rebuilding the most historically accurate version of Paganism based on existing records, and trying to recreate the faith as closely as possible to what it used to be like. Revivalists see this as somewhat of a lost cause, or at least not a primary concern. They focus instead on the future of the faith- what it is becoming. Neither approach is wrong or bad, and both can work together in harmony to keep the faith alive while maintaining a connection to its rich history.

The biggest internal issue in modern Paganism is, unfortunately, white supremacists. Sadly, some people want to "reconnect with their heritage" for completely the wrong reasons. These people are generally called Folkists, but there are other names as well. We keep an eye out for them and try to be sure never to give them an opportunity to spread their vitriol. They are a very small minority of Pagans, though, so please don't let them color your perception of the rest of us too much. I promise we hate them as much or more than you do.

Paganism is, in my opinion, a faith which asks you to connect with the world, connect with nature, and connect with yourself. It calls us to be mindful of the divinity around us, to be good stewards of the land, and good neighbors to our fellow man. I hope this brief intro gives you a good primer for your Pagan studies, and maybe helps inform some others as well.

Merry met and blessed be, friend.

about Paganism

I’m an atheist at the moment, but Paganism (I practice witchcraft) has really interested me lately

Due to the “oh no witchcraft” “pagans are evil” sh!t Google hasn’t really helped me

so, would a Pagan here on tumblr be able to give me an in-depth ‘tour’ of Paganism??

[recaptchalater]

What Native people say about the use of sage: you can use sage, but you cannot smudge as nothing you are doing (waving sage around) is actually smudging. Smudging is a ceremony and you are, we promise, not smudging. Please buy sage from either us, or someone who sources the sage from us. White sage may not be considered endangered by the US government but corperate sourcing is making it difficult for us to source sage for our own religious purposes. Let alone to sell it.

What white people hear: never use sage ever, don’t ever buy it, don’t own it, don’t even look at it.

Look, y’all. There’s a couple of facets to my talk today.

1) Yes! You can buy sage! You really, truly can! Buy it from either native sellers (go to a powwow! Eat our food, buy our stuff, watch some dancing!) Or buy it from a seller who sources the sage from native people. Pick one. And no, buying it from 5 Below doesn’t count.

2) you CANNOT smudge. This isn’t just you “shouldn’t”— this is a YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF SMUDGING. Waving a sage stick around your doorways IS NOT SMUDGING. It is smoke clensing. Smudging, depending on the tradition and tribe, could easily have dancing and drums involved. You, as a white person, do not have the cultural BACKGROUND to even know how it works. At all. Period.

3) please, for FUCKS SAKE, stop making posts here on tumblr where you tell other white people about cultural appropriation and what they can and cannot do. Please stop, your license has been revoked because none of you bother to get the facts right. We native people are FULLY CAPABLE OF DOING IT OURSELVES. Consider instead: a) reblogging our posts where we talk about it! We’re here! We have made posts!! b) Making a post that states what we said and then LINKS BACK TO US. Screenshot with a link if you must. Stop centering your own voices in these conversations. You are already centered in everything, stop centering yourselves in a native space.

I’m tired of this nonsense, y’all.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk ™

——

Help Support a Native artist?

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/jnwampler

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/khanji

[recaptchalater]

The point has been made before, but LOA people are essentially the same as the neighbors from the Book of Job who constantly say "this is your fault, you must have been unfaithful, or god wouldn't punish you like this".

Of course the LOA person who just told me it's totally possible for kids to manifest their way out of an abusive homes overnight reblogs inspirational shit with pictures Regina George. Of course she does. 🙄

[recaptchalater]

Definitely. Samhain comes first, then the Catholics synchronize it with All Saints Day in order to try and outcompete the Pagan holiday, then it slowly morphs into Halloween.

Now, the Day of the Dead in Mexico is certainly a Christian holiday which became sort of "paganized" by local customs and folk Catholicism, but Samhain definitely predates All Hallows Eve.

What's funny is that Halloween isn't a pagan holiday that got Christianized. It's far more likely to be the other way around lol. It's a Christian Holiday that Celtic people kinda slapped their traditions onto.

All Saints Day was a pretty big thing for medieval Christians. The catholics love spooky macabre shit. All Saints Day was when you prayed for the holy departed.

It's funny, the most "pagan" elements are actually trick-or-treating, (which started around the 16th-ish century as a practice called Mumming,) and bobbing for apples, which is an old Celtic divination method that became a fun game for family gatherings. All the spooky goth shit in Halloween is from the Catholics.

[recaptchalater]

This is all true, but I'd like to point out that people shouldn't let this stop them from celebrating modern "wheel of the year" type holidays, either. So what if we know very little about their original form? We are a living religion, not a dead one, and we can do new things and develop new ideas and shift and change.

Not everything should be about looking backwards into the past and trying to copy what was done then. Even if they are only from the 1860's, it's perfectly acceptable to celebrate modern holidays. It's not as if modern Christmas celebrations have much to do with ancient ones, either. Everything changes, and shifts and morphs and mixes around, and we can acknowledge that and still be at peace with it.

I think it's more important than we set our sights on being good ancestors to the generations that will follow us, and leaving them a legacy and a tradition. Look forward, not back.

The historicity of most Old Celtic holidays is so goddamn shaky. They were an oral culture. Some of the best information we have on pre-10th century Celtic culture is from Christian monks who wrote shit down. They were obviously pretty biased.

There was also the Neo-Druidic revival of the 1860s that only further muddied the waters. And then again with the neopagan revival. The list of things we actually know about antique Celtic religion is unfortunately extremely small.

[recaptchalater]

I feel like sometimes it's important to say "nothing bad will come out of it".

Nothing bad will come out of you reaching out to a God. Nothing bad will come out of you making an offering spontaneously. Nothing bad will come out of you saying a prayer. Nothing bad will come out of you doing a ritual the way you feel is right. Nothing bad will come out of you gifting something to a God. Nothing bad will come out of you seeking out your own path. Nothing bad will come out of you making a mistake.

Nothing bad will come out of your conscious choice to devote.

Will something good necessarily come out of it? I don't know. But nothing bad will.

[recaptchalater]

the gods are so real. the gods are so real and they love you. if you're looking for a sign that the gods are holding your hand, here it is. they are here with you. they are looking for a way to help you in the best way possible. stay strong, it's going to be okay.

[recaptchalater]

Many people hide their pride behind "innocence," and that is why they make such a fuss every time they're confronted with painful and unpleasant facts about the world and what they believe.

But you must lose your innocence to gain moral agency, because having moral agency requires knowing and acknowledging that certain beliefs, behaviors, and systems are harmful. Everyone who tries to hold onto their innocence by refusing to acknowledge how these things harm others are derelicting in their social responsibilities.

[recaptchalater]

M A R S - Roman native Deity of War, Protection of Borders, Boundaries, and the State. Mars is a typically Roman, heavily familial and state-focused Divinity interested in protecting Rome, its citizens, and its future. 

Mars is one of the progenitor Deities of Rome, believed to have shared kinship and given start to some notable Roman heroes and families. Mars is probably one of the most worshipped Gods in Rome who had many festivals dedicated to Him alone or Him and a co-celebrated God or Goddess. 

P. S. This aesthetic has been posted by me before.

[recaptchalater]

[recaptchalater]

[recaptchalater]

If you want really powerful spells that work 90% of the time i have one important tip for you

PLEASE incorporate your childlike wonder into your spells

When i was little i could see spirits, i made "potions" with random plants in pretty bottles of water. I read and took notes of spiderwick chronicles feild guide, dragonology books and those fairy pop up books.

I incorporate this into my practice by rereading those kid books. The dragonology book had anglo saxon runes and translations branded as "dragon language" and now i use that alphabet in sigils not because im a norse pagan but because they're connected to my childhood. I still take little notes of the spiderwick chronicales because some things are based off of real folk lore. I make spell bottles not because its popular, but because i did it as a kid. I work with spirits and clairvoyance because again, that was my childhood.

If you're struggling with creating a reliable spell please try asking yourself "what would kid me do?" Because giving your younger self a voice and space for self expression not only makes your spells more powerful, but also heals your inner child.

Its technically really chill shadow work.

Working with every part of yourself makes spell casting actually reliable.

[recaptchalater]

Why does Ragnarok feel like something the Christians made up?

I mean, it does describe the end of the world. Though personally I'm not currently convinced that it was completely made up by Christians, because once you look past this superficial similarity, there's some pretty different ideology going on. Like, Ragnarok is about a distant yet inevitable collapse of order as a consequence actions and choices made in the past, which is in line with views about wyrd and orlog. And the notion of the gods dying is in line with Norse animistic views. It just doesn't feel unlikely to me that some Norse polytheists, who noticed that things always have a way of ending, figured that this would also apply to the whole cosmos.

Meanwhile, the end of the world described in Revelation is a very intentional affair, with every disaster being set in motion by God's command. Where Ragnarok describes a complete annihilation or uncreation of the world as the destructive forces of nature finally prevail against social order, Revelation describes a world that is deliberately torn down by the supreme arbiter of social order so that a new and better world can be established.

So like... yeah, on the surface these two narratives might look alike, but thematically they are extremely different, so I really have a hard time believing that Ragnarok was a Christian creation.