#soft polytheism

[gnosis-devotee]

Someone: what religion are you/what do you believe?

What I think: I’m somewhere between a soft polytheist and a pluriform monotheist. Maybe henotheistic. Sort of hellenic, but open to other pantheons. I like the idea of a Mother Nature type entity, but more in a panentheistic way. But also not mother as in female or woman, mother as in it’s the easiest way for my human mind to conceptualize a being that is everything and nothing.

What I say: I’m pagan

[dryadofephesus]

A Litany to Ashtoreth/Astarte

Hear my prayer, oh Astarte. Lady of the Moon, Of the Heavens, Of the Earth. Beloved Goddess, Ashtoreth, of the lineages of Inanna-Ishtar and Asherah!

Listen unto my words. Know, Ashtoreth, that I love you. Know that I see you in the pantheons of the world. Know that I see your divinity everywhere, in all goddesses.

I know you, Astarte, by many forms! I know you as Artemis, beloved of the Ephesians! I know you as Diana, beautiful one of Lake Nemi! I know you as Hekate, the key-keeper! I know you as Aphrodite, who bestows passion in lovers! I know you as Athena, ever-granting wisdom! I know you as Babalon, who holds the chalice of the blood of life! I know you as Andraste, lady of Ravens and Wolves! I know you as Astaroth, Dutchess of the Infernal Realms! I know you as Aradia, First of Witches! I know you as Gaia, Mother Earth Herself! I know you as Nyx, Nott, Nuit, Veil of Night! I know you as Isis, Goddess of 10,000 Names! I know you as Hathor, Qetesh, Lady of Sacred Pleasures! I know you as Freyja, Valkyrie Queen! I know you in all pantheons, in all names, in all goddesses! Likewise, I know you as Tanith of Carthage! I see how you have become beloved in all nations! I see how your evolutionary line across cultures is interwoven! I see how you are in all goddesses! I see how your essence ever thrives! Oh Ashtoreth, Astarte, I love you in all forms, in all names! I love you, for you teach the art of sacred syncretism! I love seeing how your essence permeates and shifts between pantheons. I love seeing your endless manifestations! I love seeing your beauty! Astarte, my Lady of the Moon, my Lady of Life, of the Vines and of the Trees! Astarte, my Lady of the Witches' Craft! Astarte, Patroness of the Queer! Astarte, my Lady of Undying Worship! Astarte, Ashtoreth! Look upon my litany, hear my words of reverence, and know that I love you! Know that you are within me, and I am of you! Know that I feel your blessings! Ave Astarte, Ashtoreth! Great Goddess Divine!

[thelakeladywithbooks]

Foundation of my Paganism

I believe in equality, equity and that we are at some level all siblins to each other. So here I won’t tolerate creepy radicalsm that speeks against one another. No racism, no sexism no bigotry is accepted.

Please respect the disabled people, I am not accepting the bleief of the LoA because it is a shitty concenpt that you attract what you think. People would be already billionaires at this point if it would be true. Or many woul have been resurrected… so please keep away from my site those abelist thoughts of yours.

I believe in fairies, magic and that we are part of nature not outside of it. We have a responsibility to take care of nature within our healthy frames.

I do not believe in extremism such as ultra-minimalism and zero waste craps because again, accessibility of these and their somewhat racist and culturally appropriative agenda does not fit for my thoughts. I do think that evnironmentalism at a healthy level can be lifechanging for the planet but I am as semi-humanist, rejecting the idea that we are harmful to the planet as beings.

Education is a cherished sacred process of lifelong duration, therefore I am happy to learn. If you are civili in your manners, I gladly accept criticism, just keep in mind that if you send it via ask box more people would see what you do on the Internet.

I have yet not decided over any pantheon as I am in my research phase. I am interested in Irish&English Paganism, Norse Paganism and Hellenistic Paganism. Maaybe I’llstick to ecclecticism longer I do not know yet. This realm of beliefs is so broad. Had anyone experienced FOMO at the beginning of their practice? o.0 Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

I believe in live and let live. I am no authority to say who and what can be practiced as a Slavic white-passing person. I say white-passing because well, what I experience as a mixed person can be descirbed as such, and I hope some day this racism shit will disappear because I do not think anyone is better over the other just bc of how we appear in the outside. Inside matters more.

Be kind and I’ll be kind too. That’s the most important rule here. Sure be different how you like just keep others respected. Golden rule, treat others how you wanna be handled.

No threats or harrassment is accepted here. If you have problems you definitely can behave and express yourself in a manner that won’t leave a mark on your internet history. I’ll block you if you treat anyone badly on my site.

Don’t share too personal things with me if possible that could give out your civil identity. Protect your accounts, as there are too many scammers and bots online nowdays. AI is so shit -.-’’ Take care and have a nice safe internet experience.

Please if you want to share me a third party post tag or mention the original blogger so I can give them kudos for their work.

This blog is anti-AI so if I accidentally share something AI created please warn me in DMs privately and I’ll manage it immediately.

Again, let this blog be cruelty free safe space for all of us to enjoy paganism and witchcraftsy stuffs. There is too much hatred online already so I want to keep my own place a safe haven where we can discuss our practices withouth stress.

[dandelionjack]

as a natural skeptic i’m gonna be real with you. i’m slamming the brakes on this whole religion thing before i figure out what it really is that i believe. one thing i know for certain is that i don’t think my experiences of the world relate to what you call “hard polytheism” at all, so i will be refraining from referring to myself as “pagan” or “heathen” or similar terms from here on out — as i learned from reddit, actual pagans, i.e. those of you who believe that the Gods from whatever pantheon you follow are literal, actual, 100% independent, non-anthropogenic, non-metaphoric entities, tend to frown upon talk of “archetypes” and co. i don’t want to be seen as insulting your Gods with my home-brewed eclectic woo-woo nonsense, so i’ll keep at an arm’s length until i’m one hundred percent sure that i can defend my own beliefs because i know what they are.

i personally lean towards the chaos magic side of approaching these concepts — although, truth be told, i need to do more reading. a lot more reading. but once again, i stress, personally, i find myself far more comfortable with the concept of egregores. metaphysical entities, congregations of energy and intent, that have been given power and consciousness through centuries of dedicated devotion and prayer from humans. if enough people direct their thoughts towards an idea for long enough, leave offerings for that idea, hold festivities in its honour, write poetry and paint artworks depicting and praising it, then it’s no wonder if it gains a mind and will of its own. i lean towards the idea of deities/other spirit entities as personified aspects of the universe, as currents of energy or patterns of thought or representations of natural phenomena that were given different (or many) names in different historical/geographic contexts and have taken on a semi-solid shape with time

which is to say, i don’t know whether the Presence that has been visiting me — the one that rekindled/sparked/ignited my interest in all of this, pun quite intended if you know who i’m talking about, is genuinely the ambiguous, controversial Norse deity that i have been referring to Them as; whether They are some kind of thoughtform or another separate spirit; a manifestation of my subconscious desire to “Aren’t You Tired Of Being Nice Don’t You Just Wanna Go A Little Apeshit”; or a character i Made Up In My Head (not outside of the scope of possibility, knowing my tendency to spot patterns where there aren’t any). i’m treading with caution. that’s what you do. because after doing some wider research, i really, really don’t wish to be associated with that sort of person — you know the one. edgy. rebellious kid. doesn’t know what they’re talking about. witchtoker

after all, i did come here through pop culture. so, maybe, all this ends up being is another hyperfixation on mythology. i’ve had those before as a way younger teen — thanks, uncle rick. don’t really know how to conclude this, so: i’ll get more educated and get back to you. if any of you (you know who you are) have any BOOK or ARTICLE RECOMMENDATIONS based on what i’ve said above, please don’t hesitate to PUT THEM IN THE COMMENT SECTION

xoxo, ivy

[booksandwitchery]

Hydromancy and Scrying

So I tried scrying for the first time a few nights ago. My experience was compelling (????) so I am going to share it.

The first time I was introduced to scrying (outside of fiction) was last year when I read The Witch of the Forest's Guide to Natural Magick by Lindsay Squire. She introduces scrying as an exercise that, like other methods of divination, assists in revealing or seeing hidden information. I don't believe in supernatural scrying, like seeing the future or talking to spirits, but I firmly believe that divination can bring things to the surface of your mind from your subconscious. Many methods of scrying involve meditation upon a reflective surface, but Squire also discusses things like pyromancy and bibliomancy.

Instructions for scrying, as stated in her book, promote passive observance of the subject of divination (fire, water, deck of cards, flock of birds, etc). With scrying, as the images come and go in our mind we should attempt to interpret them.

Hydromancy, where the reflective surface for scrying is water, seemed the most appealing to me--but it took me a long time to find a scrying bowl that worked. It ended up being a shallow, circular, matte black ceramic bowl. At night, I lit a candle, turned all the lights off, bent my head over the bowl, and observed the water. Afterward, I wrote down my experience:

"I am in a dark room--spherical and all black with traces of white and blue creating hints of shadow and depth, solid but blurry in the water.

There seems to be a rodent to my right (or something like a rodent) looking over a wooden desk at me, talking. He's got a man's voice and he speaks English. He's very wise, but he's small. He's very blunt, too--not rude, but he doesn't waste time on sentimentality or getting too emotional about things. He's generally not very emotional, but he's smart and kind. He knows what he's talking about, and he's generally right about things.

To my left, light is shining through two separate doorways, one big and one small. They are doorways to other places but I don't know where they go. I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should focus on the wise rodent, or the other doorways. I decide that the doorways and the rodent are equally important.

Then my cat distracts me, and I decide that this was more than enough for a first scrying session. I blow the candle out."

I think I'll be chewing on this one for a while, honestly. What an interesting first-time experience. I'll say it's possible the animal that was speaking to me is some aspect of my higher self, or an aspect of myself that I am looking to for guidance right now. I felt extremely comforted by him, like I knew him very well. Y'all, I literally just imagined a rodent in a scrying bowl lit by a candle in the dark, but he feels like a very real aspect of myself that I want to get to know better.

TLDR; Based on my first impressions, scrying is really fun, is a great writing exercise and also returns those feelings of enchantment that I felt when I was a kid.

[emilytheghostwitch]

Two types of Polytheism is Hard Polytheism and Soft Polytheism.

I would like to talk about them today in a short post, as I find them helpful terms for those who practise any form of Paganism or blended faith.

Soft Polytheism:

This is where all aspects of the Divine can be seen to be different aspects of the same Being. Many cite the Roman and Greek Deities as prime examples of this, like for instance, when you think of Aphrodite and Venus.

Some also view the different faces or facets of the Divine as archetypes that people can interact with. This can be found in lots of different types of paganism, and is very common in pop culture paganism.

When I think of soft polytheism in fiction I often think of the scene in the first House of Night book where Nyx is showing the different faces of who she is to Zoey.

Many Pagans cite the proto indo European pantheon of gods, that many of our gods can be traced back to; and while I think researching the roots and history of pantheons in general is important, the way you view deity does not have to be justified. (Unless you’re culturally appropriating or whatever, then maybe, you know, rethink what you’re doing?)

Hard Polytheism:

Hard Polytheism in contrast to this is believing that all the Deities to ever have existed and that will exist are their own separate Being.

People who follow this line of logic believe that the Deities are real beings, and not personifications. (Although you don’t have to view them as personifications in soft polytheism either.)

Neither way of viewing the Gods is more right than the other, it is simply a matter of personal belief, and way of interacting with the world.

[thehexwitch]

I've been starting to relate more to deity and divinity in a more literal sense than before, and have been really leaning toward the idea that while the majority of spirits are tied toward land, more powerful divine spirits can travel and exist multiple places at once. My gut has been pulling me toward Celtic and Roman polytheism, though through a very traditional witchcraft-influenced lens.

I've been a practicing witch for almost 10 years now, but I still struggle with understanding what path I want to go down spiritually. In many ways, I still feel like a beginner. There are so many elements from folkloric and historical witchcraft and polytheistic practices that I relate to, but I need some sort of core to center my beliefs around and am so naturally skeptical. Constantly questioning how my beliefs fit together and can work.

Anyway, curious if people have experience with working with these pantheons. I'm definitely more of a soft polytheist, as I tend to view spirits as aspects of each other and divinity as somewhat of a hierarchical title in some ways. I still want to be respectful to the rituals and offerings these divine would appreciate and expect.

[artemiscalled]

My dad, a business exec: How can you believe in Jesus AND pagan gods

Me: I diversified my portfolio ¯\_(ツ)_/¯