I thought I'd ask. I know my mental health is less than average to say the least, and most people who claim deity possession have some form of a severe mental illness. With that said I'm open to spiritual phenomenon, very much considering how secular I am.
Personally I'm not ashamed. I may be...
There are some heathens who actually question the trustworthiness of Odin based on Prechristian Germanic morality.
Allfather in mythology approached a giant having shapeshifted in the form of like kin, with the etin's mead of knowledge in mind, and promised to marry his giantess daughter with...
Depends on my mood and Odin's. Sometimes I hail Odin, Lord of war, battles' strife and victory, others I honor Odin, master of knowledge, death, arts and mysticism.
There is another aspect which IMO can be talked about distinctly (even though all three overlap greatly). It's Odin as "the whole...
I've had some weird things happen in my life.
As a teenager, I loved nothing more than acting and contemporary dance. There was an odd phenomenon that happened, especially when I got stressed before going on stage. I would walk into the stage from the wing, get into character quickly but the...
I think that "conflict" is the wrong way to look at it. Living organisms invented "harmony" and "conflict", and classified everything based on their bias for what science calls "equilibrium". Gods predate this, for billions of years at least. Why would they subscribe to a relatively new...
You seem to be uneducated in indigenous practices and worldview, so I'm going to give you the wider perspective and my own.
Indigenous traditions are typically a combination of polytheism, ancestralism and/or animism. Hellenismos is the indigenous religious worldview of Greece. It has multiple...
I've been getting more and more involved in Proto-Germanic Paganism both academically and spiritually. This is a hymn I wrote to a single god who has three names, at least two of which will be recognized later as independent of each other.
This first name is Ermunaz, meaning "whole", coming...
It is neither off topic, an excuse nor a cop out.
I find that it's disrespectful, and at times arrogant, to proclaim one's great and deep shamanic relationship with the gods. Saying these experiences would imply that one is a shaman, and calling yourself a shaman is like calling yourself a...
Wights are spirits. There are landwights, land spirits, and housewights, home spirits.
I like to think of the gods as being the parental guardians of the universe. I approach them with the respect I'd give to my grandmother (honorable, well mannered, polite).
Plenty of historical pagan...
For me, I'm a Germanic Polytheist. I've seen evidence of my gods. I wouldn't honor them with offerings and hymns if I didn't know for fact that they're existence is factual. Then when I think about it, who am I to say another culture's deities aren't factual?
I also feel my gods (and all...
"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear."
Just thought this would make an interesting discussion.
You were probably experiencing a hallucination during sleep paralysis. They tend to get spiritual, because most visions and auditory hallucinations are assumed to be of the "supernatural".
They still can be shamanic though, because of the strong connections between journeying and dream...
I like to say that if the inner experience is consistently resembling external reality (i.e. answers to questions or omens are usually fulfilled or answered timely), you're on the right track. If not, as in your questions are never answered clearly or timely with an omen, nor "travel" seeing and...
Their beliefs as to the true nature of dramatic forces like lightning and earthquakes is unknown, but we do know the interpretations of the Romans, Greeks and Etruscans, that there was something like a collision with the clouds or one along with air, which cause lightning and thunder, but the...
The other thing the people could be are the Heathens who view the world through an objective lens. We need chaos, coldness, darkness, destruction and death. Without them, fertility would never come. Most, if you experience and honor them, of these "darker deities" or "Rokkr" use their more...
The logic behind Folkish Polytheists (there are other ethnic movements besides the Germanic ones) is either that all peoples should only honor religiously their ancestors and the gods are apart of that ancestry because a) all gods and goddesses are ascended, human-born, divine ancestors who were...
Heathenry is practiced by a diverse community, most having a certain synonym of Heathenry associated with it. That community can be lain out as a political spectrum from synonyms of Heathenry and Heathen organizations having most liberal tendencies to the ones with the most conservative. At...
1) Moderate Atheists don't threaten me, family nor my country, generally.
2) Although moderates are usually fine, militant atheists always try to convert others to a secular, non-theistic point of view. I mean, sure, militant atheists don't go door to door and say "Did you hear the good news...