#a pagan

[sutcliffesmushrooms]

I really look forward to when christ has finally fucking stop rising.

He's risen enough

[adhdstoryteller]

Former Christians who only experience paganism through a singular friend really can't comprehend that there's no one correct way to do things huh

[bigender-cowboy]

Having a religion that isn’t the big ones kind of sucks. No one hears about you. If you do it’s never good for some reason. No one treats your beliefs seriously. Your religion is treated as a historical event and nothing more, like you don’t exist. It’s not learned about.

[day-night-darlix]

my best friend told me she had period pain today. since i am a man, a male, and i do my utmost to encompass the spirit of manliness day-to-day, i reacted by promptly telling her that i reccomend chamomile tea and eating hot rice. the proximity of warmth and the relaxing properties of the chamomile work together nicely.

[fall-out-girlboy]

"I love you son"

Every time. Whenever I actually visit, and talk to him, in his messages.

I wish I could tell him how much that scares me.

How much it feels like a condition.

How much it hurts.

Son.

People call me bro, dude, guy, I don't like it but it's fine, I can live with it.

"Man" . That one is bad. It stings. It feels like the kind of insult you can't not let get to you.

But Son is the worst. It reminds me of my upbringing, of patriarchy and xianity, of why he's in my life and all the ways he hurt me.

We get along sometimes. We could be friends, he can call me his kid, his child, I can forgive him. But I can't keep hearing that word.

And I'm too much of a coward to even ask him to stop saying it.

[craftinggorbish]

A Pagan by Ivy Lindsley

They call me pagan. I a pagan? I neither know nor care. I only know my hear o’erflows with happiness And peace, Whene’er I hear a little bird pour forth his song In rippling notes at early dawn; Or watch a slowly opening flower in the coo, dim hush Of a woodland dell. When in the forest solitude, I lose all sense of time And place, And God seems walking with me there. I cannot feel his presence in their house of worship, But under his blue dome of sky, Where all of nature opens wide the door, I meet him face to face.

Is that a pagan faith, I wonder? But those poor, earthbound souls Never feel the wild exulting of the storm-tossed shore, When rushing waves break foamy on the sand; Or in the quiet, dreamy night, To stand entranced in fragrant, flower-strewn dark, While the nightingale pours out hi flood of melody.

I would not be as they, my heart bound down With prison bars of stern convention’s rule, Afraid to do or say, for fear some small blind soul Will criticize. Let my soul soar away beyond the narrow vision of Those placid minds; An ecstasy oft lifts me, until my lips break forth In song, as do the birds; Then leave me to my pagan faith, where walks the All-prevading Presence. God sees us all; perchance he understands.

[arpeggiosmelody]

Religion

Mine, specifically. I was asked by one of my followers to explain my religion, because I mentioned something about it being complicated in a tag. I'm happy they actually read it and happier still that they're interested. So here we go. (Trigger warnings: Overly-sensitive Christians SHOULD NOT READ THIS)

When asked in a survey what my religion is, I always put Other. Because that's what my religion is. It's an other. I believe in many things and nothing. The gods I identify with the closest are the Hellenic pantheon, so some of my friends call me a Hellenist. A few kids in my school are Odinists (they believe in and worship the Nordic pantheon) and we have fun jokingly insulting each other's gods. It's an interesting relationship.

However, calling me a Hellenist isn't completely accurate because I don'tjustbelieve in the Greek gods. I'm a firm believer in what I call Willpower.That'smy religion. I believe that if people believe it, it exists. Be it Santa, the Tooth Fairy, vampires, unicorns, magic, science, God, or gods. All it takes is one person to believe it, for the idea to be born, and it exists.

This doesn't mean the idea takes on a corporeal form, it just means it's out there. The more people who believe it, the stronger it becomes. In this fashion, many things have come into and out of being.

In ancient Greece, perhaps the gods were real. Because to the people of that time, that was all they knew. But as those gods evolved into the Roman pantheon, and those gods were swallowed up by the monotheistic Christian deity, the original deities were put into the backs of people's minds. They weren't killed, though.

Gods and monsters exist in our thoughts. We may choose whether or not to believe those thoughts, but I promise you that if something exists, there is someone who believes it.

I used to be ashamed of the fact that I believe in vampires and werewolves, in ghosts and demons. I used to lower my gaze and mutter in embarrassment when people made fun of me for my beliefs throughout middle school.

But not anymore.

I've found my gods and they accept me and all of me and that's all I need to accept myself as well. I pray to the Greek gods because I believe in them. I believe in the Christian god, and I believe in the Egyptian gods, and I believe in Hell and Purgatory and souls and sins and virtues. I just don't necessarily worship it.

I apologize if this ramble seems a bit...confusing. I tried to put it as plainly as I could, because it's so much more complex in my mind. It's so difficult to put into words. If you have any specific questions or anything, please ask and I'd love to answer them to the best of my abilities.

I also apologize if I've offended anyone with my religious views. Please understand that I'm not trying to force anything down anyone's throats. I'm just writing for the sake of writing. I'm just putting my thoughts into words so that I may better believe them myself.