One big reason I subscribe to a Pagan worldview rather than an Abrahamic one is because, as it seems to me, Pagan faiths are outlining aspects of life and human nature, rather trying to slap authoritarian rules onto people regarding how to live.
Don’t get me wrong, there are, for lack of a better word, rules to paganism. But to me, much of it seems to be about personal integrity rather than “Yes sky daddy, I have been a good girl”
There is no promise of eternal life. No promise of paradise after death. Hell, not a lot of people realize that Valhalla kinda sucks. It is the Hall of Odin, who is training the best warriors of Midguard by having them drink and feast all day, then kill each other in the evening, then bringing them back from the dead the next morning, everyday for eternity.
It’s not a reward, Valhalla is a duty.
The Wisdom of the Havamal is not “Do this and you will be rewarded” as much as it is “Do this, and you will be happier. You will be rich with friendship. You will have no regrets. You will be the best person you can be.” Which is really cool.
Hellenistic is even somewhat that way, in that the Gods are imperfect, almost caricatures of the worst and best aspects of human nature. Moderation is a big thing in that faith because over indulgence is what leads the Gods to being so cruel, a lot of the times.
In Gnosticism it’s Sophia (wisdom) the emanation of creativity/creation that fell from the Source into the matetial plane. This ‘birthed’ the Demiurge and demons and humans through the divine mixing with the material plane. We carry her ‘Breath of Life’ or The Flame, each human carries her wisdom/essence.
Gnostics believe in the asension of Sophia through us, if we ascend our mortal coil so does she, returning to the Source.
There’s a lot of themes in Gnosticism that overlap Chrustanity like “The Fall” the Trinity, Adam and Eve, the Garden, the flaming heart of Christ etc, but that means there’s also overlap with paganism, especially new age religions, Rosecrutianism and Alchemy as a philosophy and religion.
And Orphism. When I say I also practise paganism, my Gnosticism overlaps with Orphism. So I am a Gnostic but I’m also Orphic and I practice the Orphic tradition. My practice is centred exclusively around reincarnation and the acsension of the soul.
I feel like the Demands of the Heathen Gods are things they know will be enforced on their own. They don’t really punish you.
Everyone must face several iterations of Ragnarok throughout their life. Hard times come to all people, no matter who they are or their upbringing. If you were cruel to your fellow man, you have no support system. If you didn’t listen to your elders, you have no wits or wisdom. if you chose to run away from your problems instead of face them courageously, you wont be prepared for future hardship.
So sure, they may have demands. But, it is for your benefit, not theirs. If you choose to ignore them, that is your choice. I think that is one reason we never saw a big conversion campaign for heathens, unlike Christianity and Islam… Which conversion is a major aspect of those faiths.
Because our gods walk along side us and guide us, they know life isn’t easy, and we will screw up, a lot in our lives. They can be harsh sure, but it’s because that’s how much they love us.
To be fair, the early Christian monks stole a lot from my Irish pagan ancestors, to make it more pleasant for the people who converted. Can anyone honestly point to something Orignal that Christianity has?
Santa Clause < Coca Cola’s version of Dutch Sinterklaas
Sinterklaas ← Christian version of of Odin/Thor in Yule folklore
Easter ← Basically a casserole of several Pagan spring/fertility festivals, made into the most sexless holiday imaginable by Christians about a Zombie hippy.
Hell, even a lot of the Saint Days correspond with Pagan festivals… Which took me off guard because… It’s like honoring a dead person for all their deeds in life by… Just doing what you were doing before they existed.
It’s like being born on Chistmas. “Yay… It’s my Birthday…”
Also, real wtf moment when I learned Santa Clause was essentially invented by the Coca Cola marketing team lol.
Is it me or does anyone else find it funny that Christmas is just people celebrating the coming of the winter solstice? Like y’all just celebrating winter for a single day.
I definitely prefer when Easter was about dancing around a maypole and having lots of sex.
Christmas for the Romans was called Saturnalia and was pretty much the same thing. It’s the reason why a certain plant went extinct, because the Romans were using it for birth control. I can’t remember the name of the plant off hand, maybe after work I’ll look it up.
Idk man, clearly I am bias, but the Christian rebranding of these traditions is criminal.
I mean, literally, it is genocide. But what I really mean is, without the context of meaning, they feel so shallow.
“Why are we decorating eggs?” - “For Jesus”
“Why did we bring a tree inside our home?” - “For Jesus”
“What’s a Yule log?” - “Idk, probably a Bible thing I didn’t read.”
It is actually weird how so few people question it. I mean, they question it, but not enough to actually research anything.
Funny story,I raised catholic and all, but I always felt uncomfortable and felt like something was missing from my life, so one day I was sitting in my room thinking to myself What’s going on? What’s wrong with me? and that’s when I heard a soft, but stern voice whisper Wake up
And….that’s how I began looking into my pagan roots and fell in love with the history of my people. That’s my journey anyway
It’s wierd, Christians swear that “being called to called to your path by God” is real but yet dismiss being called by a higher power to explore faith outside of conventional religion and is somehow condemed as “losing faith”
My mom hates it, but I wear my pagan necklace literally everywhere I go. It’s basically a cross, with Celtic knots on the cross itself and a dragon curled around it and she would always say I hate that thing and I would be You know my necklaces purpose is to give good luck and protect my immortal soul right?
I never understood people fearing or hating something when they don’t even understand why they’re hating it or what said thing even stands for.
And you’re right, everyone has to find their own path in life, sometimes the gods kick you in butt to get you on it, most of the time they let you figure it and when you start to struggle, sometimes a little whisper in the ear is all it takes
A few years ago, like -early- 2016. I was in a pretty rough place. Won’t really get into the specifics but I was pretty insecure with myself. And I was doing things at the time I am not proud of because of that.
I started having nightmares. Like -really- vivid ones. Full on night terrors and hallucinations. I would wake up in the middle of the night surrounded by snakes. On my bed, on the floor. I would swing at them and try to grab them, it was so real.
There was one day that was particularly bad. A falling out I had with a friend, and a powerful sense of guilt that I carried. I had the same night terror that night, then woke up for work. On my way to my car, there were two ravens perched on it. Either ravens or abnormally large crows. Neither of which are common where I live. One flew off when I saw him, the other stayed until I got close.
I consider that the day I officially converted. I haven’t had a night terror in several years, but I did learn that throwing Heathens into pits of snakes was a common way Christians would execute them.
I usually only work with Greek and Roman deities but Odin is apprently really trying to get me to make him my patron diety. There’s two crows outside my house that I feed walnuts to i’ve started calling them Huninn and Muninn, one has a bum foot.
I must make friends with the Death Chickens!!
I hope they like the offerings of stale fries from under my drivers seat. I think I give off just the right amount of chaotic daughter energy for him.
I think I give off just the right amount of chaotic daughter energy for him.