Official Pagan Thread!

[sune42]

Quote:
Whew! I thought I might have killed the Pagan thread by being creepy. Then I would have cried.

You weren't being creepy. Of course if you had written, "I see a lunch in the future' followed by this smilie

, crazycoop might have wondered if he was talking to Hannibal Lecter.

I bought a stick of sage at a shop. How exactly do you use it?

I do have some fava beans. LOL

As for the sage, you light it, then blow it out and it will smolder. You can use the bundle to "smoke" all the rooms as a purifier or let it smolder a bit in a room in a heat proof dish. I wouldn't use the whole bundle at once unless it's tightly bound and you can put it out easy. Sand is useful for that. I don' t have any sage right now, and I kinda miss it.

 

[deb1]

Quote:
You weren't being creepy. Of course if you had written, "I see a lunch in the future' followed by this smilie

, crazycoop might have wondered if he was talking to Hannibal Lecter.

I bought a stick of sage at a shop. How exactly do you use it?

I do have some fava beans. LOL

As for the sage, you light it, then blow it out and it will smolder. You can use the bundle to "smoke" all the rooms as a purifier or let it smolder a bit in a room in a heat proof dish. I wouldn't use the whole bundle at once unless it's tightly bound and you can put it out easy. Sand is useful for that. I don' t have any sage right now, and I kinda miss it.

Thank you.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
You weren't being creepy. Of course if you had written, "I see a lunch in the future' followed by this smilie

, crazycoop might have wondered if he was talking to Hannibal Lecter.

I bought a stick of sage at a shop. How exactly do you use it?

I do have some fava beans. LOL

As for the sage, you light it, then blow it out and it will smolder. You can use the bundle to "smoke" all the rooms as a purifier or let it smolder a bit in a room in a heat proof dish. I wouldn't use the whole bundle at once unless it's tightly bound and you can put it out easy. Sand is useful for that. I don' t have any sage right now, and I kinda miss it.

Can you eat my brains with a nice merlot?? Im not a big chiante fan... LOL

 

[deb1]

Did I ask how any of you decided to became pagans?

What has been your most spiritual moment?

 

[farmerlor]

Quote:
For me, it started after I read one of Ravenwolf's books (don't laugh). She made me see that I was connected to everything and everyone and that I could delineate my own beliefs. I didn't need someone or some book telling me the rules of how to believe. As a child I talked to trees and plants and animals and they talked back. I wanted to get that back and I did with Paganism.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I was raised agnostic and my parents were very supportive of us finding our own beliefs. Still, growing up in the bible belt of the state as a timid kid, I was influenced by the culture around me and had developed the 'its just my imagination' view of the world. I have always seen things, but I couldn't quite believe in them. Then when I came to college my first real friend was a wiccan who took all of us open-minded yet spiritually ignorant people and opened our eyes. My friends were raised in a variety of religious environments, but we all had carefully, gradually told of our experiences, asked our questions, and came to trust eachother. Missa one day decided we should sit down in a dark room with a candle and focus as a group to see if we could use our energy to move the candle flame. This was the night of my awakening. It was in my dorm room and I was 18 years old. Whate happened was unexpected, and terrifying. First, ALL my friends have the same image of my death (hit by a car...and all saw the same outfit and street) then a spirit hostile to me for past conflicts (oh, yes, I believe in reincarnation!) steps into my friend and threatens me (and yes, the skeptics could say it is possible she faked that, but I know she couldn't act to save her life and I have never seen this look on her face, and her voice was barely recognizable, and she outright fainted and collapsed when it left her) and as a final blow, my Guardian, my beloved spirit companion who kept me looking into the dark on many long nights just knowing there was something out there, told me he had to leave. Well, rather he told them. He said that he had bent and broken many rules to stay with me as long as he had, but now that I had found others who could protect me he had to go. He threatened them and said they had better keep me safe, and then he was gone. And when he went, he cleared EVERYTHING out of the room. I have never been in a place so empty. It was a void in there for weeks. It was so quiet I couldn't sleep, I was so lonely I couln't think, So frightened I couldn't leave, So changed I could never go back.
My awakening was not gentle, but it was no one's fault. Things had been building to the breaking point for years and it just came out the first time there was sufficient energy and eyes open enough to let it in. I did not die, obviously, and after the second or third time the hostile spirit showed up and threatened me, she finally gave up and left me alone (probly because I finally stood up and pushed back against her instead of cowering behind my friends). And I have spoken with my Guardian again, and I now know how long he was with me, and why I care for him so much. I still wish he could be with me now, and I wish I understood why he can't. Anyway, it has been about nine years since then (time sure flies!) and I am comfortable in my spirituality and have happily assisted others as they discovered their own.
One of the coolest moments was facilitating the awakening of a friend of mine. He was raised catholic and was already in doubt because he is gay. We could all see him growing and building toward an awakening, but could also sense how delicate the balance was. If we said or did the wrong thing, if we showed him something at the wrong time, we would break him, scare him away, and he would be shut of for years if not forever. But then one night he returned from a party where he had had a drug-induced spiritual experience and was still glowing from having felt what he said was his connection to everyone he had ever known and feeling all the love each of them had for him all at once. I knew it was time. I told him that he didn't need marajuana for that, that he was capapble of touching that all on his own. At first he thought I was joking, but I rubbed my pals together and walked toward him as I created a ball of energy as strong and welcoming as I could. I placed it in his hands and watched his face change. He stared at me in wonder, then looked, bewildered, at the others in the room. The smiled, and each approached him, adding their energy to what I had given him. We could see the effect it had on him as each touched him, and I could feel the waves of...amazement and delight radiating from him. He came into the spiritual world bathed in friendly energy, surrounded by people who could help answer his questions. If only we were all so lucky. I am just glad he wasn't mad when he asked how long we had known about this, and how long we had known about him and kept him in the dark.
I feel honored to have helped him like that. Certainly it was one of the most positive spiritual experiences of my life.

 

[Organics North]

Quote:
1. I don't consider my self Pagan or anything else for that matter.... If others choose to think of me as Pagan that is fine.

2. This moment in time.

-----
The couple of pages since I left were a great read... Thanks everyone!!

Tamra, thank for sharing the story! I like your term "awakening" I think I am going to use it!
I have been starting to work with my seven year old, on a greater awareness, which is a path to a more profound awakening.
We have been working on being part of nature, being sensitive, moving slow, looking around closely at every thing with in the bounds of our senses. We stared down deer, until they lost interest in us. We sat still and became surrounded by birds going about their routine as if we were not even there. How to tread lightly, become one with and open up to to your surroundings.. It is my opinion that nature is a very good place to help people out on a path to "awakening"..

Organics North..
Better know as ON.....

 

[sune42]

Quote:
I was a freshman in high school when I became Pagan. Really I was Pagan all along, but never knew it, lol. My dad decided to go back to church when I was in middle school. I tried hard to believe, and I guess I did for a while, but I started to disagree with a lot of stuff the church did. A turning point for me was when my youth group was going to some pro life rally. I told my dad I didn't want to go because I didn't agree and he said it was ok to disagree with some things the church said. In high school I sat at lunch with a few friends, one was die hard Christian and we would debate/argue. His best friend ( irronicaly) said he had something he thought I would like and gave me Scott Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. My life has never been the same. The first book I got for myself was Uncle Bucky's big blue book, but since then I have gotten several others (and some of them are Silver Ravenwolfs, so no laughing here). I used to babysit for a woman (who got my info from our Catholic Church's bulletin board) who was a former Pagan. She gave me a TON of books when she was making space for a new baby. The Secret Doctrine, The Witches' Bible vol I and II, Earth Magic : A Dianic Book of Shadows, Drawing Down the Moon, etc. Really a wealth of information. I have just read as much as I can and try to continue to grow.

As for my most spiritual moment, I am not sure. I had one recently that was pretty important. I was in the hospital last month, I was out of work last year, and just had a lot of stress. I have been pretty depressed for a while and I haven't done much spiritual practice, thoughts or reading in a long time. Then, over the course of about a week, the Goddess was popping up all over the place. I found this thread, I found out my therapist is pretty much a Christo-Pagan, I was planning my garden, I received my chickens and there was something else too I can't think of right now. Over all it was several things coming together that just made me realize She was gently calling me back to her. I am sure we all know that if gentle doesn't work She has no problem hitting you upside your head, so who am I to ignore her? I know that She wants us to be happy and I had been suffering for too long.

)O(

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Anyone watch 30 Days of Planet Green?

Episode on devout Christian livings as a Muslim for 30 Days was really interesting. (watching it again, lol)

 

[Kanchii]

Quote:
That sounds so interesting! Is there a place to watch it online?