Most pagans celebrate the cycle of the seasons. The thing about circles is that they don't really have an end/beginning, so everyone has their own idea on when a new cycle begins for them.
What day do you consider the seasonal ‘New Year’ in your practice?
Many US pagans want to visit Stonehenge or other international pagan monuments, but I'm willing to bet that each state has at least one sacred site that is equivalent- a place where people gather for spiritual experiences, then and now. Whether natural or man-made, they inspire awe, and have the feeling of a space out-of-time.
I want to hear about your local sacred site! No parameters, I just wanna hear about special places around the US. It would be cool to collect one from every state.
Are you comfortable with ghosts/spirits being in your house?
So growing up in rural Kentucky with tons of superstition, we were all raised NOT to have ghosts in our houses. Communication when needed is fine, but the living and the dead have their own places.
Nowadays, many people talk about living in haunted houses and feel very comfortable with this.
Some of the best pagan/secular parenting advice I have received is “teach your kids about Jesus, or someone else gladly will.”
I taught my pagan children that Jesus is ‘the god of forgiveness and charity in the Christian pantheon.’ It's not perfectly accurate, but it framed it in a way that they understood.
When I started learning witchcraft, the majority taught that a spell should not be performed on someone without their consent, even benefic ones like healing or protection. I'm wondering how much/if this opinion has changed.
Would you do a spell (or pray) on someone without their consent?
I've come across a lot of people who say they ground and shield everyday. I'm a pretty earthy sort and feel grounded most of the time without doing any intentional grounding. I'm outside and in the woods a lot, too. The only time I intentionally ground is when I am going into large crowds or something chaotic.
As for shielding, only when I perform certain types of work in my practice. So when hexing, cursing, etc.
Do you feel you need to ground and or/shield everyday?
Do you think the energy of a stone can become dead or deadened?
Just as dried herbs lose potency after time, do you think the energy in stones/crystals also can lose potency?
We hear so much about "charging" stones by moon energy. What does this really mean?
A stone has been removed from the ground or its mother. It's then moved and shipped, often run through tumblers, packaged, shipped again, set on a shelf until purchased, then more than likely kept inside, on a shelf again.
Or a person walks through the woods, picks up a stone on the ground, carries it home, puts it on a shelf, indoors.
Something spurred my partner to begin building a temple to Osiris, and this temple site was the location of the altar we erected for our Dia de Muertos celebration. It was fitting, the idea that offerings were being made both to our ancestors and the god who watched over the underworld.
The altar I hand painted with symbols related to Egyptian, Western occult, and Meso-American systems. This practice of ours is growing oddly eclectic, but somehow feels placed and connected with the landbase despite its tenuosity of place literally.
The temple site itself is an island 14 feet in diameter, hand carved from the land and built up by my partner. The 'moat' around it is encircled with rocks, and he likewise created a spiral path off of one of our walking paths to enter the temple. We've planted four marigold plants and a date palm at strategic points along this path. You enter the temple from the East, and face West as you worship.
There are plans to build a structure here, but for now it is freestanding, an altar in the middle of our land, in the middle of the desert, covered still in marigolds and offered seeds, petals and incense.
This morning my daughter & I walked out there, and sat with the altar for the first time since the event. I offered new flowers, seeds, and scattered petals. My daughter made herself busy arranging flowers on the ground in quite an intentional way, although she can't tell me about the designs in her head yet. I sat and meditated for a few moments below the altar, as the sun rose over the valley.
I think that this is to become a daily ritual. It's been a long time since I've properly engaged in prayer or ritual on a regular basis, and even my once-daily meditation practice has become "here and there, as I have time". There is something so powerful about structured practice, and I really don't know if I can explain why.
This might become a thread of other updates with regards to my spiritual practice, since I feel as though a lot has shifted in the last few months.
I think it's important for newer Pagans to know that you are absolutely not supposed to feel guilty for not practicing your religion enough. This is a modern Christian and Capitalist concept; that you somehow have to earn the right to exist as you are.
I've been really busy the past two weeks with home construction, and I haven't done any devotions in like 10 days.
No big deal, my Gods are for always. In fact, time is probably a whole different concept to Them. My faith didn't diminish because I didn't light any candles. My love didn't fade just because I was busy. The entropy of life means that sometimes practices wax and wane, and you can either fight against it, or wait a few weeks and pick it up again when you're ready.
I welcome all kinds of pagans to engage with me; I love having a feed of diverse thoughts and practices.
Are you a pagan who believes all gods are aspects of one? That's cool, we can talk about how ecosystems form a cohesive whole.
Are you a pagan who believes in archetypes? Awesome, I love talking about symbolism in mythology!
Atheist pagan? Well, nature is pretty inspiring all by itself without even having to add gods in the mix.
Wiccan? Let's talk about the turning of the wheel of the year and all of its many interfolded meanings.
Do you believe in faeries? Ghosts? Aliens? Come on under the umbrella and tell me about it!
I've been around long enough to see that we're all essentially on the same team, and collaborating together while accepting our differences makes our community stronger.
🧵 1/9 #Assomption (#Assumption of Mary) today, is a holiday here in France. In German we have the name "Kräuterweihe" that reminds much better to the #pagan history behind that date. Indeed, it was one of the most important days of agricultural calendars. Here, I talk about the #CulturalHeritage especially in #Alsace, its connection to #nature and even #climateChange - not about the Catholic idea. For #ClimateDiary it's a day which should change the date: weather #traditions don't work anymore.