r/paganism

First of all, I'm sorry if I say anything inapropriate. I am very new to the studies of paganism and also don't have english as my mother tongue.

For some time now, I have felt a very strong curiosity about magic, witches, and other spiritual practices alike, but I only recently started to really look things up. I don't really know in what I believe. I don't have a set religion, as I often feel like so many of them can coexist and don't contradict one another, necessarily. That said... I do believe in spirituality, but have some difficulties believing in Gods per se, especially since I understood that some witches believes in and have altars for gods from different pantheons. How should I look at these entities? Should I view them 100% like the religion they are from, or should I view them more like entities of high power that symbolizes some aspects? I would absolutely love to hear any experiences and thoughts about it. Again, sorry if I was disrespectful at any moment and thank you in advance.

Please forgive My ignorance in this matter but I have absolutely no idea how to fallow the call, I just feel it there. I can't explain it.

We built Arctara around timing instead: moon phase, planetary hour, and sabbat timing together, so you can see when something's actually well-timed, not just how to do it.

Save your workings, plan spells around real timing, hemisphere-aware Wheel of the Year, a deity compendium tied to timing rather than static entries. Tarot, runes, dream journal, and grimoire all connected to the same logic.

Free, closed beta, kept small on purpose so practitioners can actually shape what's missing.

I’m leaving Montheistic beliefs amidst a discovery of my own beliefs. Over the course of my life I’ve always noticed how connected I felt to nature, it felt as though I physically was submerged within the earth itself.

The sound of the ocean crashing and the waves submerging spoke to me like a language. The trees felt as though they were consciously
living and could experience sentience and emotions.

The love I felt for nature was beyond anything else I have experienced, it felt so natural and like loving and caring and being apart of nature was my sole purpose in life.

When I told my family about this they said that believing that the Earth is divine and living is demonic and blatant paganism. I’d often argue with them about the logic behind their monotheistic beliefs and express how deeply connected I am with accepting the Earths divinity and wanting to submerge myself in its ecosystems.

I sought help from a professor of mine who was Native American, I spoke to her about my troubles and what I was experiencing I explained to her how I felt about the planet and the Earth, I told her that I felt as though the Earth is a woman, and I often referred to God as Mother Nature in our conversations.

She asked me what faith I resonated with and I told her that I did not know, I told her that I often worshipped the Earth by expressing my love for it but have no concept of how to actually worship and display reverence for Mother Nature.

She told me her faith is rooted in Animism the idea that everything has a spirit from rocks to trees to the water to animals and beyond, and that she shows reverence and respect to those spirits.

I have no clue on how to actually worship her what sects that align with what I truly believe, and how I can practice worship to not only Mother Nature but her creations as well.

I’m a black woman and hear how certain practices and traditions are closed and I don’t want to poke my head in spiritual ancestral plains that I don’t belong in, Can someone help me please?

Context for question 1: I've been a practising witch for a few months, working with Wicca as I heard it was easy to start with (before discovering it was a religion and considering myself part of that religion). I have heard a lot of pagans absolutly hate wiccans so I want to know why.

Context for question 2: recently I have been finding myself constantly thinking of Nut, the Egyptian goddess of the sky and rebirth. I dont know why I think of her. I dont know much about ancient Egyptian mythology. Does Nut want to work with me? I dont think I've been practising enough to warrant the opportunity to work with any deity

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to better understand where the idea of soul contracts, soul agreements, or pre-birth planning comes from, especially in relation to Druidic and shamanic beliefs.

By “soul contracts,” I mean the belief that before birth, the soul in some way pre-selects or agrees to certain life experiences, such as suffering, family, trauma, relationships, challenges, or major life lessons, for the sake of growth, healing, karma, or spiritual development.

I know that neither Druidry nor shamanism is one single unified religion with one universal creed, so I’m not assuming everyone believes the same thing. But I wanted to ask people who are actually part of these communities:

Is there any universal or widely accepted belief among Druids/shamans that the soul chooses its major life circumstances before incarnation?

Or is this mostly a modern New Age idea that later became associated with some Druidic, pagan, animist, or neo-shamanic circles?

I’m also curious about the historical development of the idea. Does it come from:

1. ancient Druidic belief in reincarnation/transmigration of the soul?
2. Indigenous or shamanic beliefs about spirits, ancestors, reincarnation, or soul journeys?
3. Eastern religious ideas like karma and rebirth?
4. Theosophy, Spiritualism, or modern New Age movements?
5. Or some combination of all of these?

I’m asking respectfully because I’m trying to understand the difference between:

traditional beliefs about the soul surviving death or reincarnating, shamanic beliefs about soul journeys, ancestors, spirit worlds, or multiple souls, and the more specific claim that the soul intentionally chooses its suffering and life lessons before birth.

For those of you who practice or study these traditions, how do you personally understand this idea? Is it part of your path, rejected by your path, or treated as optional/speculative?

Thank you for any insight.

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I want to share what I find the pros and cons of having an altar vs not having an altar. Many who start on their path to paganism assume they need one and panic if they have circumstances that aren't best to have one. I see this most when people start with being a hellenic polytheist.

Having an Altar:

A pro to having an altar is so that you have a space to remind you of its purpose. Having an altar in my experience helped me remember the spirits I was working with. Another pro is that if you give offerings in the form of objects and not food or drink then you have somewhere to place it and don't have to think about where a suitable place is otherwise. This also helps if you're doing a ritual for a spirit as you don't have to set up any area unless that is something you want to do. Although that leads to a negative. If the altar isn't in a suitable spot then you're gonna have to rearrange your stuff for that (temporary or permanently). Altars also tend to take up space also. Then there's also the possibility of being in an household where you have other members who aren't as carefree on other religions. When this happens please don't make an altar. You put yourself in danger and the items depending on how reactive that person is.

Without a Altar:

I personally don't go with an altar for spirits that I'm very close to. If I'm not that close then I have a altar. When you don't have an altar and want to do ritual I set up a temporary space for that. To me it helps because I get in the mindset that this is a special occasion. I don't recommend offerings that are objects. Instead I recommend devotional acts and food/drink offerings (if you consume them).

Either way it doesn't matter if you have an altar or not. If you want one then have one! Make sure your altar is safe though. If for some reason you don't want to do that then don't.

Hi guys, as it appears in my title am not english native speaker, i've been passionate about studying paganism since i was 16, and i wasn't aware of the damage it cause to nature cause there wasnt much awareness when Ai first came out and i was using it for translating, now am 21 and i dont use ai for 2 years, i want to know from other non anglish speakers what website they used for translation that doesnt support Ai to use to translate books and articles other than google translate cause it's not accurate and i wanna consume acurate knowledge, and if there is any other tools that can help me that doesnt support ai, and side fact my mother tongue is arabic, thank you so much in advance

What topics do you wish was talked about more in pagan communities? In general, be as specific or vague as you would like; just looking for where the majority of interests lay.

Not quite holy water but I don’t know how else to put it. I want to create a unique fluid to anoint my alter with depending on the god I’m worship ay that time.
I need some help for the ingredients and how to make it.
The gods are:
Artemis
Thoth
Persephone
Aphrodite
Any ideas?

Hi, I’m Elle I grew up Baptist Christian but when I turned 16 lost faith and became atheist with intent to explore alternative religious practices (ie. Polytheistic paganism) my partner and soon to be wife is both culturally pagan and practicing polytheistic paganism. Her influence has led me to want to explore polytheism in paganism as a religion or practice. I don’t know where else to find information on these topics other than posting on here. If possible I was hoping to learn from you here on this community! Lots of love, Elle.

If you're new to /r/Paganism, welcome! We're so happy to have you here :)

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I hope this is allowed here. I posted something very similar in the r/mediums subreddit but I am also really interested to see answers from this sub. Are there any pagans who also are mediums? I have always been really interested in both but I never really see any crossover between the two other than things like divination, and if you are a pagan, who is also a medium, can you recommend any books or resources and tell me about your practice and experiences? I’m really interested in hearing more.

This video gives a pretty effective introduction to the concepts found in Heraclitean Paganism. In essence, in Heraclitean paganism 'harmoniē' is an idiosyncratically developed balance of tensions, which allow for functions to emerge that are principally and potentially volatile, but also potentially constructive.

The Goddess of Cancer would be best described as the Polemos, referred to as the father of all things, whereas the Goddess of Everything else is closest to Dike, who, though being literally Justice, represents the idiosyncrasies of all development building upwards.

Yet, the more I think about this particular poem, the more I feel like the poem is contradicting itself.

First, yes, this is a neo-myth, not history, and it doesn't try to be literally true. The story slices across layers of complexity, paralleling the development of forms of life, especially if we count memetics as life.

The story abruptly shifts from mythopoetic genealogy of complex life into prophecy and it claims that all the problems of the Goddess of Cancer are solved. Yet, the only thing the Goddess of Everything Else ever does is repackage the problem and claim victory.

The poem's emotional climax rests on one claim:

>"You are no longer driven to multiply, conquer, and kill by your nature."

This is the moment we're meant to feel we've broken free. Yet, following the logic of the poem, this is not true. At every layer, the Goddess of Everything Else has merely sanctified drives to multiply, conquer, and kill, and organizes them to build up towards a new layer of complexity. If we accept 'Cancer' as standing in for the drive to multiply, conquer, and kill, then under the hood of that newly achieved complexity is still cancer. The Goddess of Everything Else is as much a Goddess of Cancer. She only does the bare minimum necessary to habilitate those drives. At least the original Goddess of Cancer at least self-limits through her destruction, but the Goddess of Everything Else doesn't have to do even that.

While the poem consistently portrays the Goddess of Cancer as evil and unimaginative, it is actually her destructive tendencies that leave firebreaks that guard us from her own Heraclitean flames. She's self-limiting. Sometimes, you need that kind of firebreak to protect the diverse ecosystem that is the playground of the Goddess of Everything Else.

So I think that these names are not representative of their actions within the poem at all. The poem shows this most obviously when it says genomes are rewritten and the brain and body are "set loose from Darwinian bonds and restrictions." Yet, this is meant to be a response to tyranny? How? By what mechanism? The implication from silence is surely not something that the channel endorses. The actual solution to the problem is game theory and this is appropriate, given game theory is also applied in cancer treatment strategies.

In reality, the next step of the story would be that there will be a great diversity of posthuman catastrophes and salvations at scales hitherto unimagined. After all, the Goddess of Everything Else would seem anti-teleological. She should promote a diversity of experiments. The Goddess of Everything Else's work should fan outward into an open plurality of outcomes, many of them strange, harmonious in one context and disharmonious in the next. All that we can do and all that we have to do is to experiment with different ideas. We might experiment with transhumanism here, with deep ecology there, with this and with that and with the other thing.

While I love the way the poem is rendered and the mythology it creates, I think some of the moves are unfairly polemic: naming the Goddess of Cancer as such, and then concluding that everything has been redeemed when it pointedly wasn't.

I love the potential of this neo-myth, but I think some of the poetic liberties sneak certain cognitive biases under the radar that ease the listener into uncritical optimism. It's not that easy.

so, i recently started worshipping Venus, and i'm curious as to whether or not a partner (who's an atheist) can be in the room with me. they wouldn't be at the altar with me, but somewhere nearby. is that okay, or would it be best if i ask them to step outside while i pray?