Official Pagan Thread!

[Kanchii]

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I would let the Solstice thread stay open, personally. I mean, there's probably multiple threads going on at any given time for Christianity, don't know why we can only have one pagan thread.

 

[CoopCrazy]

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I would let the Solstice thread stay open, personally. I mean, there's probably multiple threads going on at any given time for Christianity, don't know why we can only have one pagan thread.

I was just thinking it would be easier for folks to find if they were combined.. But no biggy...

 

[Kanchii]

Quote:
I would let the Solstice thread stay open, personally. I mean, there's probably multiple threads going on at any given time for Christianity, don't know why we can only have one pagan thread.

I was just thinking it would be easier for folks to find if they were combined.. But no biggy...

Hmm maybe you're right. If no one else objects I would say go ahead. *shrug*

 

[cybercat]

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Do you have the Name the book .. Quan Yin is one of my favorite deities....

Here you go.

Kuan Yin
myth and prophecies of the Chinese Goddess of Compassion

by Martin Palmer and Jay Ramsay with Man-Ho Kwok

published by Thorsons 1995

I leave you with one prophecy poem called

THE HEART OF IT #32

The journey goes on far, far into the unknown-

And you can't know weather there's jade in the heart of the rock

one day, a man will chisel it free into the daylight...

so be calm; you know, it's been there since the beginning of time.

 

[rainplace]

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I've spent some time this morning looking at the stones you suggested. There's a lot of conflicting information out there! In the end I think Jet would be what I'm looking for. Can you are someone else give me more information about Jet? I had a hard time finding information that wasn't connected to someone trying to sell it though I did gather some tidbits here and there.

Lol, I spent so much time writing that last little bit that I'm gonna have to start getting ready for work.

I'm so happy for this thread!

 

[rainplace]

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Lovely.

 

[cybercat]

Jet

It is a warding stone not grounding. It is a shiny black compressed coal or lignite. Jet has been called black amber and was honored for its mystical protective powers. Amulets of it are made and used to ward of evil influances.

Now what I would use for a great grounding stone is tiger iron ore. Usually made into massage wands but can be found in other forms. Others would be Leopard jasper, agate, smokey quartz, boji stones. Crystal healing is a specialty of mine. Your best grounding stone is the one that calls to you. We can list ones here but what you Need might be different than what we list. You are best to go and play and see what calls you the strongest. Do not do it by sight but buy feel. As a matter of fact try not to think and just walk around the store the stone you do not let go of is the one you will need.

I did this and ended up buying a HOT amethyst. What I mean by hot it was a program old stone and has the abilty to send you out of body once place on your head. This stone is in my care savly tucked away and only brought out for certain people that need it. I is a scary experiance the first time this stone throws you if you do not know it can happen. I have a couple other strong work stone that tiger iron ore is another. It is only used to snap energy fields back into alinement and ground a person that has trouble grounding. You can feel it do it so it make a good teaching stone.

Do not worry about getting stones as strong as I have. Crystals and stone go to who needs them so you will not get overwhelmed with a power stone until you are ready should you walk that path.

 

[BarkerChickens]

Pagan here too! DH and I are more along the lines of solitary eclectic as well. I have many books on wicca as well as paganism in general and I do not follow any particular path. My mom raised us earth-centered and spiritual, but she never studied paganism. She told my brother and I that we'd find our own path. He and I had done research for years trying to delve deeper into our beliefs and it wasn't until we read books on paganism, wicca, native american spirituality, etc. that we really understood. Of course, we'd share our finding with our mother and the three of us grew more from there.

An interesting tidbit..well for me anyway. DH and I worked together before dating. One day, we went to lunch together (as friends at this point) and just telling each other about ourselves. DH said he considered himself pagan, which he had never said out loud to anyone before because he was raised in a very conservative christian family. Boy, did my ears perk up like an interested puppy! (I was already attracted to him and he's single, but he's pagan too! BONUS!) Looking back, he says that he doesn't know why he said it, but that he was glad that my reaction was positive! We are blessed to share the same beliefs!

While much of our families on both sides are christian (and don't know that we are pagan), we wanted to have a wedding ceremony that reflected our beliefs. Knowing that we wouldn't be able to find someone who would do our wedding the way we wanted (not easily anyway), our best friend offered to do whatever he needed to do to be able to legally marry us. This meant so much to us as he and his wife are DHs and my best friends (how many couples get to have another couple as best friends!)! What a wonderful gift! We chose to write the entire ceremony ourselves, which included the Cherokee Wedding Prayer and a handfasting (among other wordings here and there). For our cords, we used ribbon and made one with red (fire), yellow (air) and white (spirit) and the other one was blue (water), green (earth) and white (spirit). I braided the ribbons together and at the end of each cord had a small photo of each of our parents (one cord had his parents, the other cord had my parents). At the time of the handfasting, our moms each brought up the cord and placed it over our wrists and then Blaine finished the handfasting. Here's a few pics.

Our mom's putting the cords over our hands

And we've been handfasted!!

We had people tell us that it was the most beautiful ceremony they had ever seen and, knowing that we wrote it (with much assistance from the internet, of course!!!), asked for a copy of the ceremony wording. Those that were pagan could recognize the symbols, etc, but everyone else could take it to mean whatever their beliefs were. It was wonderful! DH and I feel like we had the ceremony we wanted, while our families were all pleased with it as well.

We also had people say they like how we made our ceremony very nature-oriented to go with the outdoor wedding.

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Saddina, you are so lucky to have a large pagan community near you! DH and I have yet to find like-minded individuals in our area.

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Boyd, I would start with books on paganism in general (It's similar to christianity in the sense that there are many paths that one can follow). Here are a few that I recommend.
Paganism- An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism
Pagan Paths: A Guide to Wicca, Druidry, Asatru, Shamanism and Other Pagan Practices

 

[kagedgoddess]

hi all! i m glad this thread was started.

Boyd, i would say goto the book store and stand there looking at the paganism books till you find one that kinda calls to you. thats what i usually do when i am out of things to read. but i do that with everything, not really just books, lol.

Not to hijack or anything:
everyone I am curious as to how many of you have children and do you get support from your family? i used to live in the city with a HUGE pagan../. dont know what youd call it, but i never had to search for like minded ppl. LOTS of support, so i could care less what the in laws thought, but now we live in the stixs, where the first thing ppl ask you is what CHurch you goto and judge you on that ( i seriously have met ppl who do not believe in dinosaurs!) i wont get into it, but the in-laws are completely disprespectful to the point that they even recently tried to baptise ds. he politely in 5 yo terms told them NO way!

 

[BarkerChickens]

Kagedgoddess...DH and I have no kids and depends on which family when it comes to support. My Mom's side of the family...no problem and many are like-minded. My dad's side doesn't know, but probably wouldn't care either. DHs family...no way do they know! They have a hard enough time when we tell them we aren't christian. We figure that they don't need to know.

His two nieces know though and they are cool with it.