Pagan Practices

[Adramelek]

No.... the Winter Solstice may be the longest Night, but it marks the New Year and the reborn Sun.

Samhain marks the beginning of the Winter, the Season of Death, which was on November 7 this year.

Ah, the Reborn Sun is a reflection of the great god Khepera... the Dawning Sun.

 

[Riverwolf]

Ah, the Reborn Sun is a reflection of the great god Khepera... the Dawning Sun.

For me, Balder Wodenson represents the Sun.

I think there's Sun Gods, and Gods representing its rebirth, either at Dawn or on the Winter Solstice, in pretty much all pantheons. I think the most common figure in Contemporary Western Mythology (if such a thing can be thought of as existent) is the Phoenix.

 

[Adramelek]

I view Winter as the Season of Darkness and Spring as the Season of Re-Birth.

 

[Riverwolf]

I view Winter as the Season of Darkness and Spring as the Season of Re-Birth.

Same, generally. Midwinter just basically means it's past the halfway point, and the days will grow longer from here. Time to be optimistic.

...at least I would if the region I lived in followed the bloody rules for a change!

 

[Quintessence]

I view Winter as the Season of Darkness and Spring as the Season of Re-Birth.

That's not dissimilar from how I view it either. Winter Solstice is a celebration of Darkness in my tradition. The time of darkness is just represented by the Dark Half of the year, which runs from Autumn Equinox to Vernal Equinox.

 

[EyeofOdin]

Yeah, I see religion done right as a way of life that informs your day to day conduct. Ritual, both formally and informally, can be an aspect of that, but it can take a backseat to upholding a character or virtues that reflect your path.



That's a lot of incense. Heheh. What kinds do you typically use? Sticks? Cones? Loose? What aromas and brands, and why?

Also, a great thing to be more earth friendly is to try to convert to recycling-only as much as possible. I've been doing that for the past few months, and while I don't think I can eliminate garbage entirely, it really is not as hard as one might think. It has made me despise plastic even more than I already did, though. So many things are packaged in that crap, and a lot of it isn't recyclable.



What are wights in the context of your tradition? I don't know much about it, so the image I conjure in my mind is an undead monster from role-playing games, but I know that is probably not at all what you're talking about.

Would you say the correct way to approach the gods is similar to how we'd approach our fellow humans? As in, with general courtesy, respect, and dignity? Or is there something more specific than that?

I don't know if I'd consider feeling gods are superior as fundamental, largely because that presupposes notions of hierarchies that not all contemporary Pagans will follow. But I could be reading some subtext into that word "superior" that you don't intend for. It seems fundamental to me in general that the concept of god(s) for all religions of the world is that gods are that which is fundamentally greater than humanity. That word "superior" has some value judgement tones to it that I'm not sure I can handle. *laughs*



I bet some gods would be pleased with that, while others wouldn't. That's one of the cool things about polytheism, I think: the gods don't all agree with each other. They represent different facets of reality in all of its spectrum, from the cold and ruthless to the warm and kind.



The Nine Noble Virtues have always been a curiosity to me. I've wondered how they actually get implemented in practice, as well as where they really came from. I don't really care if they're historical or not, but I wonder where that list originated and if others modify it at all for their paths.

It occurs to me based on what you said here that the act of wearing sacred symbols can be a practice for us in these paths. Does anybody else feel that way too? Nearly all of the jewelry I own has religious significance, though no outsider would know to look at it. Most people don't consider a necklace of planet earth to be a religious symbol.

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 societies had hierarchies and differences in social class. Typically there's a three-class system in pre-Christian pagan cultures (not including slaves) being the priests/politicians, warriors and farmers/peasants.