Sunday, April 26, 2015

The Pagan Experience - April Week 4

G


  • Geomancy
  • Guardians
  • Glamour
  • Glyph
  • Gnome
  • Goddess
  • God
  • Great Rite
  • Grimoire
  • Grounding

H

  • Halloween
  • Handfasting
  • Heathen
  • Hedge Witch
  • Heptagram
  • Hex
  • Hexagram
  • Hereditary Witch
  • High Priest
  • High Preistess
  • Higher self
  • Horned God

Sunday, April 19, 2015

The Pagan Experience - April Week 3

Deity and the Divine


My point in this blog was actually to discuss my Goddess and my God. 

In my very first blog post, I talk about what exactly I believe. You can read it here, but basically the spark notes version of the post is this:
  • I believe in 1 God and 1 Goddess
  • I believe the world was created through their sexual union
  • I believe my Goddess' domain is over nature, creativity, inspiration, the sense, and the general right side of the brain
  • I believe my God's domain is over logic, reason, mathematics, morals and the general left side of the brain
  • I believe people can have a closer relationship/connection to my Goddess or my God
  • I believe some people can have an equal relationship to both my Goddess and my God
It seems simple enough. But it has it rough spots. One of the rough spots I'm still trying to work out is my Goddess' and God's name, shape, form, etc. Many people have statues of their deities that help them focus their prayer and meditation. I don't, and I want it. I believe a visual reminder of my deities' presence will help me spiritually. Yes, I have my pentagram, and I can always use general goddess/god forms.

But even those are difficult for me to use... I know the foundations of my Goddess and my God, and what they are and what they reign over. But I don't know who they are. 

It sparked some interest and research on the subject, which has uncovered some interesting possibilities: 

  • Aluluei - an oceanic god, reign over knowledge and navigation. He has two heads, one to see where he is going, one to see where he has been.
  • Brighid - a celtic goddess, reign over healing and craftsmanship, patron of learning and poetry
  • Cernunnos - a celtic horned god, typical god among Wiccans and Druids, reigns over virility 
  • Lug - a celtic god of the sun, master of all arts and skill and crafts
  • Sucellus - a celtic guardian of the forests
  • Kupula - a slavic goddess of water, sorcery, and herbal lore
  • Mati Syra Zemlia - a slavic term translated to "moist mother earth," earth goddess
  • Orula - a santerian god of human destiny
  • Anshar and Kishu - mesopotamian god and goddess, parents to all other gods/goddesses, Anshar is god of the sky, Kishu is goddess of earth
  • Kingu - mesopotamian god, keeps the tablets of human destiny
  • Nabu - mesopotamian god of writing and speech, keeps records of human's actions and presents them at judgment time
  • Maat - mesopotamian goddess, earth mother, 
  • Atira - a northern native american goddess of earth
  • Thoume - a northern native american god, supposedly taught humans how to make love, clothes, and fire
  • Apollo - a greek god of light, prophecy, music, medicine, herbs,
  • Artemis - a greek goddess of childbirth, maidens, fertility
  • Gaia - a greek goddess, mother of all things, earth mother
  • Moros - a greek god of destiny, all other gods/goddesses are subject to him
  • Flora - a roman goddess of flowers and blooming plants
  • Janus - a roman god with two heads, represents past and future wisdom
  • Tellus Mater - a roman goddess of earth
  • Han Hsiang-Tzu - a chinese god, a scholar who studied magic most
  • Bast - an egyptian goddess of music, joy, and dancing, takes form of a cat
  • Thoth - an engyptian god of wisdom, music, magic, medicine, astronomy, geometry, surveying, art, and writing
  • Ganesh - a hindu god, depicted with an elephant head, reign over obstacles, beginnings, art, science, intelligence, and wisdom
  • Odin - a norse god of wisdom, wealth, inspiration, poetry, battle, hunting, magic, and prophecy
  • Pan - a greek nature god
These are just some of the many ancient pagan gods/goddess. I thought these were most similar to my Goddess, and my God. More can be found on this webpage.

Many of them sound very similar to one another, but none of them are exactly my Goddess, and my God. It is something I will have to discover for myself it seems.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

The Pagan Experience - April Week 2

Ritual


When people think of the term "ritual," they usually think of a religious ceremony that consists of a series of actions performed in a prescribed order. Usually people think of a sequence of actions that consist of gestures, words, and objects, performed in a sequestered place, and performed in a set order.

In psychology, the term "ritual" is commonly used in a technical sense to describe repetitive behavior. By this definition, we could say that our normal daily routine is a "ritual."

If we combine these two definitions, would it then mean that within our daily routine, we are performing a spiritual ceremony? If one does not feel that they are being spiritual throughout their daily routine, perhaps they should. Perhaps they should incorporate themselves on a spiritual level to their daily routine.

Connecting our "spiritual selves" with our "everyday selves" will promote positivity, and awaken our "higher selves." We should, in my opinion, live every moment as it is our spiritual ritual.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

The Pagan Experience - April Week 1

Water


I don't really go out of my way to honor Water. I don't really do that for any element. I have them represented on my daily altar. And they are all of course represented in the pentagram I wear. But other than that, I don't really honor them.

My relationship with water is lacking though. Although we as humans are mostly made of water, we still require an intake of water to survive. I don't drink as much water as I should, which can definitely cause health problems. It is a relationship I definitely need to improve. I have started to improve it, becoming healthier by choosing tea vs pop, and similar choices. But spiritually, I haven't begun the process of enhancing my relationship.

That's going to be a goal of mine: to improve my relationship with the five elements.