30 Days of Paganism: Patrons

I already talked about one of my patrons on the Patronage and Deeper Relationships post, so this one is just going to be a quick list of the patrons I currently have and what They rule over/why They’re my patron. Brighid Brighid is the patron of my writing and my pursuit of writing as a …

30 Days of Paganism: Deity Gender

If you’ve spent any length of time here you know I could ramble on about gender for a loooong time (though I’m going to try to keep it short this time)…and that what I say now is totally subject to change a week, a month, or ten years down the road. My ideas regarding gender …

30 Days of Paganism: Holidays

This post is written from the perspective of someone who has lived in the Northern Hemisphere their entire life, and as such refers to the holidays accordingly.  Building my religious calendar is an ongoing, neverending process. When I started out in NeoPaganism it was the 8 sabbats of the Wheel of the Year and all …

30 Days of Paganism: Beliefs – Patronage and other deeper relationships

I suppose I’m odd in that I don’t consider patronage a particularly “deep” relationship. I mean, I did used to, when I first started out in paganism/polytheism and everyone else kept calling the Main Attraction in your pantheon your “patron” (or “matron”, which is even more wrong). Which, ok, whatever floats your boat, I guess, …

30 Days of Paganism: Beliefs – The power of prayer/reciprocity

Prayer has always been a tricky thing for me but lately it seems to be getting easier. I’m getting over the blocks in my head that had prevented me from really praying to the gods. Prayer is not a coin you put into a god to get the result you want. It’s a form of …

30 Days of Paganism: Beliefs – Magic, spellcraft, mysticism etc

Ok, it feels a bit weird for me to be tackling this right now. I haven’t done much magic lately, but I always seem to be steeped in mysticism so maybe it’ll work out. So. Magic and spellcraft. To me the practice of magic is entirely mundane. I mean, I’m doing the same stuff I …

30 Days of Paganism: Beliefs – Birth, death and rebirth

From the perspective of the faith I’ve been building I haven’t actually given this part a lot of thought — I think I’ve just sort of grafted my personal ideas onto it. Which makes sense, as the faith I’m building is being built out of my nebulous thoughts and ideas about the world and the …

30 Days of Paganism: 3. Beliefs — Deities

In the faith I’m building there are three main deities — I call Them the Sacred Triad. Instead of dualism, I base my faith on the number three. Sky, land, sea. Birth, life, death. Heavens, Earth, Underworld. Fire, blood, water. Brighid is the sky, the bright flame, inspiration and the beginning of all things. She …

30 Days of Paganism: 2. Beliefs — Cosmology

There are several definitions for the word cosmology (no, none of them are “the study of trashy magazines, marketed to women, with horrible sex advice”), but generally speaking in theology the one that’s meant is this one: “A specific theory or model of the origin and evolution of the universe.” Put in simpler terms, “What …

30 Days of Paganism: 1. Beliefs – Why Paganism?

Why not? Honestly, though, I was fairly raised pagan. My mom is Buddhist, and she taught me about Tara’s many manifestations, as well as the bodhisattvas, and taking refuge, and meditating. I spent a lot of time reading all the Greek myths, and Zeus and Hera and Athena and Artemis were all as real to …