It's Saturday, so I'm continuing my tradition of proselytizing paganism:

Although we have a bad rep for being "woo" and hugging trees or whatever, paganism is actually a very logical religion when compared to others.
To paraphrase my husband, "The sun is right there fueling all life on Earth, we should probably be worshipping it."

Our holidays are built around the seasons; actual, observable things that are happening at that moment, like the solstices and equinoxes. Not, like, some quasi-imaginary guy's birthday from thousands of years ago.

Paganism has always been a combination of philosophy and natural science. In fact, pagans were doing science before science even existed. An overwhelming majority of pagans are adept at reading ancient occult texts and academic journals alike. We love science and logic, and like scientists themselves, we agree that it's a limited tool that can only be applied insofar as someone can come up with an experiment to test the hypothesis. For the rest, we turn to philosophy and historical practices for clues.

Sure, at the end of the day, all religions are "made up," even if they're rooted in actual events. But with paganism, each person gets to 'make up' stuff for themselves, inspired by millenia of evidence of human beliefs, instead of being told what to do by someone else.

If you want a religion where you are your own authority, where climate change is real and combating it is a spiritual practice, where ideas new and old are accepted on their merits, then paganism might be right for you!

#pagan #paganism #polytheism

Next on my calendar will be my Midsummer observance; I will be performing a proto-Indo-European rite to Saulē, Perkwunos, and Dānu.

Do you have plans for the summer solstice?

#SummerSolstice #paganism #Polytheism

MONOTHEISTS OUT

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2101641/monotheists-out

Just in case all you thought I did is "that Minoan stuff." This altar sits on a bookcase in our living room. I have relationships specifically with Nekhbet, Anubis, and the lion-goddess Menhit/Mahit.

#Pagan #PaganAltar #Egyptian #Kemetic #polytheism

A special blessing

https://thehouseofvines.com/2019/12/15/the-essence-of-our-religion-is-beauty/?page_id=44017

I agree with this to a degree…beauty, devotion, sacrifice.

I have a fellowship at my university, the Jewish studies fellowship, and one of the things I learned this year is that it’s considered a special blessing to do your required action, use / wear your required items but *make them beautiful.* I forget what this is called in Hebrew, but to make religious things beautiful instead of just functional adds to the blessing.

Yesterday, I was listening to a lecture on St. Francis (he’s very, very popular amongst my students, even non-Catholic ones!) and while Francis reverenced his “lady Poverty,” he said that, to quote the lecture, “Poverty stops at the altar.” Religious items should be as lush and beautiful as we can make them.

As a Heathen, I also hold this to be particularly sacred. Even if one doesn’t have a lot of money or any disposable income, beauty can take many forms. This doesn’t mean spending a lot of money. It means taking care with one’s shrine, with prayer, with religious garb, with anything we do for our Gods. It’s a Platonic ideal that beauty elevates the soul to the Gods and I believe that 100%. When I see ugliness being elevated as popular or “good” in media, in our culture, I know that there evil moves in many forms. I know to be vigilant; and I know to turn to tradition and the beautiful all the more.