Adventures in Polytheism

[platosshadowpuppet]

I've managed to propagate a god.

Just a little one, a wild god of place. I've made a little mountain valley for it, on a table by the window.

I'm working on the assumption that the Baas-Becking conjecture applies to gods. That seeds of divinity are everywhere all the time, and grow where conditions are most suitable.

So I've made a loci. Two big rocks and some soil, all covered in moss. A little pump keeps a waterfall flowing down between the rocks, into a pool. I've planted an oak sapling too. It's just 6 inches high right now but looks nice and healthy.

I've been leaving offerings. Little things, a few times a day. Tiny silk strings on the tree, like clootie cloths. Crumbs near the pool, or a candle at night.

I poured out some whiskey last night and - just for a second - I could smell heather blossom and sun warmed bracken. Best of all was when I dropped a silver coin into the pool. It fell slowly into depths that weren't there, much much deeper than the tray, and the oak tree burst into flower. A flowering oak tree! Must be a whimsical god.

I suppose I'll have to plant it out one day, once it gets too big.

[travelsafely]

bbc merlin actually takes place in a distant post apocalyptic future in which christianity no longer exists. this also explains the existence of tomatoes in europe.

[almostanastronaut]

Steven Greenberg, “Wrestling with God and Men” - Author’s conversation with Rabbi Eliashiv in Jerusalem

[halcyonhue]

What she says: im fine

What she means: the average age of conception over the past 250k years is apparently 26.9. Let's round it down to 25. Think of your birth mother. Hold her hand. Imagine her holding hands with her mother. Within 4 people, you're back in time 100 years, and it's an intimate family dinner. Just after WWI. Add another 16 people, a small party of 20, and you're in the 1500s. Double it, twice, and you're at 80 people. Your family would fill a restaurant, and you're at the height of the Roman empire. At 100 people, Confucius is alive but Socrates has not yet been born. 100 people. That's a medium sized wedding. A small lecture theatre or concert. 200 people, probably the biggest party i could ever hope to host, takes you back 5000 years. The guests at your soirée of parents would be contemporaries of the Egyptian and Indus Valley civilisations, although you'd probably be too busy fixing drinks and nibbles to talk to all of them. Just imagine it. 200 of you. That's all it takes to get back 5,000 years. And we could go further. 1000 people, a decent sized concert, a large high school, and we're at the end of the last ice age. Your ancestors are comparing their pink floyd vinyl with music played on instruments carved from wood or bones of long vanished species. Wander through the crowd. See your own features and phrases and gestures refract out like a kaleidoscope. What would they make of you? What do you make of them? Why does it feel so unfair that even that first 100 years --that small family dinner of four--is out of your grasp? Maybe it's because questions of spatial distance have become negligible to us now. why, oh why, does time hold out against us so stubbornly

[raining-tulips]

I am TELLING YOU if you have spent months, years, around the same trees, land, etc., they WILL recognize you and reach out to you or not mind if you reach out to them. You don’t need to know anything about them.

A tree in the forest behind my parents house I’ve never spoken to before reached out - I never would’ve expected it. I don’t know what kind of tree it is. But of course this tree knows me. This tree has known me since I was six.

Trust me. This land knows you. These plants know you. They want to speak with you.

[libraford]

"There's no wildlife here. The land is barren and stripped from farming chemicals"

I just saw two blue herons fly super low over our house, which means they've been fishing in the creek behind us, which means there's fish there. Which means there's bugs to feed the fish and algae to feed the bugs, which means the water and soil is worth something damnit.

Yes, I'm sorry the suburb isn't the grand, sweeping swath of uninhabited land that you so desperately crave but would learn to loathe, but saying that the land here is barren and that there's no wildlife here and that there's nothing to salvage- that's a You problem. Nature might be struggling, but against all odds it is at least trying.

[headspace-hotel]

And you can help by being its caretaker...

[brujarojaderio]

This is what I’m harping on about when I talk about Urban Animism.

The hopelessness, the lack of community, the lack of connection to the natural world, it’s all an illusion.

Migratory birds still use the bayous, drainage ditches and culverts. Moss and lichens grow in the margins between cement. You’ll find fish and turtles in a puddle in a cement culvert. You’ll find pocket prairies struggling to get established in utility easements and empty lots and medians. There are lizards and snakes in the non-native landscaping.

Hopelessness is a tool. If people keep saying it’s dead then you won’t look and if you don’t look, then you can’t build empathy with the natural world around you and you won’t be motivated to heal its wounds and steward its growth. If they keep your eyes on the death and misery, then you won’t see all the life and joy there is to protect.

There are grackles, seagulls, raccoons, possums, and coyotes, all thriving in urban and suburban environments. They’re not vermin, they’re our neighbors. They, too, are worth protecting and they’re everywhere if you look.

And the thing is, it is bad. A lot of these areas are heavily compromised and nothing is being done. A lot of them need tremendous amounts of work to be in a healthful and balanced state. But, when there is so much damage, when there’s so little effort being taken, that’s an opportunity. How little effort you’ll have to put in to make an incredible difference. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be worlds better than it was, and that will matter to your neighbors, the fish, frogs and birds.

But first you have to look, you MUST look, you must see these beings so that you can recognize them as your neighbors.

[upmala]

silent pastel sunset in the local graveyard, early 2022

[kosmia]

Chris Niedenthal, All Souls’ Day (Bieszczady Region, Poland), 1970s

[fernthewhimsical]

Prayer to Nemetona

Leaf-crowned guardian of the grove She who protects boundaries of land, home, and person She who is one with the earth with the trees, flowers, and plants Bark-skinned warden of sacred places I honour you

[ofinkandstars]

Things that can and should coexist:

Your spiritual experience is your own. Spirituality and religion is a personal process, and relying on what resonates with you, what your intuition tells you, and what feels true can help you to have an authentic practice. At the end of the day, it’s your spirituality/religion, not your parents’, not your friends’, and especially not the internet’s.

Your experiences are subject to biases. You are fallible. Connecting with a mental health professional, with friends of similar and different beliefs, and with a community will help you to hone discernment and remain grounded. You are not the only person to ever have a spiritual or religious experience.

[ofinkandstars]

For 3 years now, my fiancé and I have been doing an autumn baking competition in celebration of the Autumnal Equinox where we invite our friends over to try our desserts and crown one of us the Autumn Baker (and for 3 years he’s won every damn time!).

When Samhain comes I go to a retreat to separate from normal life and connect to death in the woods.

And Yule will always be heralded by my fiancé and ne waking up with the sun, shivering on metal chairs together, and talking about the past year.

I cannot say this enough — connect your holidays to something real, something you look forward to, something you prepare for. It can be so difficult to make our holidays feel real and practical and actually celebratory. It’s taken me almost a decade of being pagan to actually feel my holidays. I never miss one nowadays because I love them so much.

So if you’re struggling with the Wheel of the Year or a reconstructionist calendar or something of your own making — keep going. One of these days it will feel meaningful and real because of all of the work you’re putting in now.

[broomsick]

While we’re on the topic of praying to deities without necessarily sharing a deep personal relationship with them (it is perfectly normal and most of the time, it’s how people go about creating a connection with deities), let me just say: if any of you are artists, writers, painters, or are just generally interested in art, you can feel free to ask Bragi to bless you with inspiration. Invoke him before starting a new creative project, either by praying or simply by calling out his name and asking for help. It’s not disrespectful and nor will it bother him. Bragi is often considered a patron of artists and of creative minds. Therefore, any artistic activity can be carried out in his honor! This will contribute to showing Bragi that you acknowledge his divine presence, thus helping you to build a connection with him.

[evilios]

So if a “true bearer of magic” (through uterus and ovaries of course) decides to cut their reproductive ability off through one of the available options, does the magic dwindle? When you’re on birth control your charge is at 7/10 and when you tie your tubes it’s 5/10, but if you become infertile or take a part of your reproductive system out it becomes 0/10 and they kick your ass out of the magic society? Do people who have some sort of sex development condition get abridged version of magic? So is estrogen and progesterone HRT like a subscription to full pack of magic?

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

When I informed a now extremely formal friend that I was getting my tubes tied and uterus cauterized, she informed me my “powers” would dwindle and I would become mundane. I asked her to elaborate because wtf. Apparently the blood of my maiden stage in life would be unable to evolve into the sacred mother. I would become a crone and lose my connection to the sacred female divine. She insisted I have at least one child first so that I may grow and become closer to the holy mother.

I was LMAO at this point. She, on the other hand, was getting upset. Like full on ugly crying.

When I informed her that I don’t want babies, will likely die before reaching full term (multiple medical conditions), and my menstrual cycles are so heavy I’ve needed a blood transfusion, not mention cramps that scared my gynecologist when she saw them on the ultrasound (apparently it looked like I was in heavy labor), she got angry.

Why?

Because dying while pregnant or in labor is holy and guaranteed to bring me to the “sacred mother.”

TERF radfem bullshit combined with her being a former catholic and new wiccan…I kicked her outta my apartment and told her to never contact me again.

Genitals and reproduction systems have nothing to do with magic or witchcraft unless you decide to involve your own in your own practice.

[morgandria]

Bedroom Shrine, June 2023

All bumblebees and the bright greens of early summer. (Finally get to use the little bee lights I acquired back in November last year.)

[jaelmoray]

Been spending a lot more time in regular praxis this year, something I struggled badly with during all the unforeseen struggles of 2022.  Tonight I honored all the Gods of my hearth cult and the Dagda for the first time.  I always forget how much better ritual makes me feel.  

[ofinkandstars]

Things that can and should coexist:

Your spiritual experience is your own. Spirituality and religion is a personal process, and relying on what resonates with you, what your intuition tells you, and what feels true can help you to have an authentic practice. At the end of the day, it’s your spirituality/religion, not your parents’, not your friends’, and especially not the internet’s.

Your experiences are subject to biases. You are fallible. Connecting with a mental health professional, with friends of similar and different beliefs, and with a community will help you to hone discernment and remain grounded. You are not the only person to ever have a spiritual or religious experience.

[cloudselkie]

Worshipping the gods doesn't have to be super serious devotion level worship all the time. I see some people worry about having "too many deities", but you don't have to have a close relationship with a deity to work with them or pray to them. In fact, it was more common in ancient times to NOT be devoted to any specific deity at all if you weren't some kind of religious figure, like a priest or priestess. Most of the time, there were certain deities that a person would favor, but their worship was not the in-depth type of devotion we see on witchblr a lot. In fact, ancient people sometimes went to a temple for a specific god once in their whole life to pray for something very specific and give offerings and then never needed that specific deity ever again. That's the very nature of these large pantheons. You will have favorites, but even then, you don't NEED to be devoted to them to ask for their help or pray to them.

I say this as mostly a Greco-Roman polytheist, but I'm sure it applies to other large pantheons as well. And, as always, certain gods may be an exception to the rule and require more, both historically and UPG-wise. But it is still a good general rule of thumb. There is no pressure to find a patron or become a devotee of any deity, unless you truly desire to do so.