Pagans and non-believers.. and any other beliefs!

[Royd]

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They are trying to conjure energy and power from something or someone....Otherwise, they'd consider themselves athiests, with no leanings toward any kind of powers...A tree is a tree, a dog is a dog and a quartz crystal is a quartz crystal...Nothing more, nothing less....No need for dreamcatchers, medicine men, conjurers, seances, etc. etc.

 

[BarkerChickens]

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There are many types of pagans out there, just as there are many types of Christians, etc. The true definition of a pagan is a country dweller. In older times, the country communities had their own belief systems for their areas. Today, a pagan is someone who is usually polytheistic (believe in more than one god), but can be monotheistic (believes in one god) or believes in a higher energy power, but not necessarily a "god". In general, a pagan is usually has nature-based beliefs and considers him or herself an animist (a belief that souls or spirits exist in everything (animals, plants, rocks, thunder, mountains, rivers, etc).

Pagan can also use whatever pantheon they choose. A pantheon is the deity structure that one can follow, such as the christian patheon (God, Jesus, etc), Jewish (God, Moses, etc), Muslim (God, Muhammad, etc) as well as the egyptian, nordic, celtic, etc. For example, a pagan who uses the christian pantheon (god, jesus, etc...essentially the new testament) is considered a christopagan; a pagan who uses the jewish pantheon is a judeopagan; a pagan who follows wicca is considered a wiccan (generally referred to as a witch), etc. There are many different paths. Examples of commonly known pagan beliefs are buddhism, Shintoism (old religion of Japan), Native American Religions, Hinduism, Taoism, Wicca, Druidism, Shamanism, Neo-Paganism and Eclectic Paganism.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

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Mmmmm....Grape, my favorite! Hey, this tastes.....kinda.......funny.......

 

[Wifezilla]

You guys have the coolest looking purple Nikes...hey, what is that you're drinking?

Anyway, Dec 20/21st is the full moon,winter solstice and the last lunar eclipse. Hope everyone will be watching with me.

Sure will!

 

[Dunkopf]

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There are many types of pagans out there, just as there are many types of Christians, etc. The true definition of a pagan is a country dweller. In older times, the country communities had their own belief systems for their areas. Today, a pagan is someone who is usually polytheistic (believe in more than one god), but can be monotheistic (believes in one god) or believes in a higher energy power, but not necessarily a "god". In general, a pagan is usually has nature-based beliefs and considers him or herself an animist (a belief that souls or spirits exist in everything (animals, plants, rocks, thunder, mountains, rivers, etc).

Pagan can also use whatever pantheon of they choose. A pantheon is the deity structure that one can follow, such as the christian patheon (God, Jesus, etc), Jewish (God, Moses, etc), Muslim (God, Muhammad, etc) as well as the egyptian, nordic, celtic, etc. For example, a pagan who uses the christian pantheon (god, jesus, etc...essentially the new testament) is considered a christopagan; a pagan who uses the jewish pantheon is a judeopagan; a pagan who follows wicca is considered a wiccan (generally referred to as a witch), etc. There are many different paths. Examples of commonly known pagan beliefs are buddhism, Shintoism (old religion of Japan), Native American Religions, Hinduism, Taoism, Wicca, Druidism, Shamanism, Neo-Paganism and Eclectic Paganism.

Thank You, a lot of people only know one religion.

 

[BarkerChickens]

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Not all pagans believe they are causing longer days.

I am a pagan (eclectic, family tradition) as well as a hydrogeologist (groundwater geoscientist). Being a scientist, naturally I look at everything from a scientific point of view, but I am also spiritual. My mom's side of the family considers themselves Methodist, but the pagan family tradition beliefs (with the christian pantheon) extend back several generations. My mom, brother and I do not consider ourselves christian though we were all raised Methodist. My brother and I always questioned how Jesus was a savior. A prophet, ok, I can accept that. A savior?

"The bible says so right here" thing didn't work for us. My mom had a tough time at first that we did not "believe", but when we asked our questions and she realized that she couldn't understand the answer, she ended deciding that she wasn't a christian either. Not that it made much difference, since my family has our own beliefs that are unchanged. We still recognize Jesus for the wonderful things he did.

I don't consider myself monotheistic or polytheistic, but rather see the energy of the universe as God and that God is in everything (us, animals, rocks, clouds, etc). Should we find out that there are multiple universes, then God would be the energy in whatever contained the multiple universes. I do not believe in creation, but I do believe that prayer, positive energy, etc can have an effect (same with negative energy). I believe in reincarnation and karma...I also believe in the laws of three (negative thoughts or actions will come back threefold...a wiccan philosophy that is common in other pagan beliefs as well).

I prefer to not go to church since going into a man-made building seems like a separation from God, whereas, DH and I can go hike somewhere or go into our garden and be one with nature...no buildings, etc...just us and all that is God around us. I am sure it is just a "me" thing.

As for the holidays, like I mentioned, my mom's side is Methodist/pagan (they call it "spiritual"), dad's side is non-denominational christian and DH was raised Jehovah's Witness. DHs dad was nazarene, so they celebrated holidays, but his mom did not actively participate until after she left the JW church after DH moved out. They now attend a non-denominational christian church that is owned by Baptists

(I don't get it, they say it isn't a baptist church

). In general, DHs parents read the bible regularly and are literalists (ever word in the bible is to be taken literally and factually...no metaphors, etc). So, Christmas and Easter are celebrated on his side for the true holiday meaning and on my side, for the cultural meaning. DH likes to put up a tree, stockings, etc., but in our own home, we celebrate Yule (Winter solstice). We thank Mother Earth and Father Sky ("male" and female" aspects of the universal energy) for the wonderful harvest provided this year and ask for continued wonderful harvests and blessings for the people in our lives. We use the remaining portions of last year's yule log (if we have it...we have accidentally let the yule log burn through and not have a remaining piece

), each carve something onto the yule log (love, happiness, a symbol of something, etc) and burn this year's yule log. Then, for Christmas, we go to DH's parents and/or my paternal grandparents for Christmas dinner.

For easter, we go to DHs parents for dinner. That's it.

 

[BarkerChickens]

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David and I make Honey mead too. We made two different batches for our wedding (apricot and raspberry) and that is the only wine we served (plus beer and soda). I will have to see if we have any more left. It takes a year to ferment!

You asked why Christmas is celebrated the 25th when Jesus wasn't born in December (I think theologians have estimated August)....Yule. The romans found it best to convert pagans by having holidays around the same time and mimic traditions. The rebirth of the sun, etc...birth of christ. Same with Easter and Ostare/Ostara/etc (mulptiple names).

 

[Dunkopf]

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Pagan beliefs make more scientific sense than the main alternative. I don't believe real witches wear pointy hats. They do have symbolic broomsticks. Not for riding though. Try to remember that The Wizard of OZ was just a movie.

 

[gritsar]

BarkersChickens - you are so well spoken (well written?). I want to be like you when I grow up...if I grow up.

 

[Ema]

I was born in Canada, but when my parents split up my mom went back home to Spain. I was raised celebrating Epiphany. On the 24th of December the whole family would gather at grandmas' house for a large family meal and to exchange 1 small gift after midnight. The house I was raised in, my grandmother's house, had a family room, or what we call here the diningroom, which was at least 40 to 50 feet long with a very large wood table that would seat my whole family, about 30 or 40 people including all the little kids. The table was always full of food. My grandmother would bake for weeks in advance, the table was always set with three different types of paella, (seafood, chicken, and rabbit) lots of fruits, and sweets, wine and soda, Tapas (Spanish appetizers) and it was bad luck to set the table without a huge bowl of green grapes in the center of the table (at least according to my nana) at the end of the night my nana and the adults would indulge in the biggest cigars I have ever seen....lol....while the kids ate TURRON....I miss this the most, I am not sure what its called in English sorry.

Because I was born to an englishman and in Canada, myself and my brothers did receive 1 small gift on xmas day from papa Noel or Santa clause as we know him here. the gifts were received on xmas eve had to serve a purpose throughout the year, so no toys, usually a bottle of perfume, or new colour pencils for the kids or shoes (I will explain the shoes in a bit)

the rest of the holiday season until the night of january 5th, was special for the kids in the family, we called it las Estrenas, we call it allowance, all the kids would have to visit older family members, we would have tea, and sweets and before leaving the kids would get a few coins from each family member. On January 5th the kids would use that money collected to get mom and grandma a little gift. On that night, all the kids and parents would place our shoes and the little gifts we bought for our nana or mom at the window or under a tree if we had one, we would also leave sweets and milk, and wait for Los tres Reyes to arrive, (the three kings) On the morning of the 6th we would find a gift for us, this was usually toys. or something special in a small pouch. That night we would go to the town square and watch the three kings arrive in person on their camels. each kid would get a chance to speak to them and tell them about our year and they would present each child with a gift as well. The last year I was in Spain I received a transformers radio, I loved that thing so much!!!

Now looking back I know the gift came from family and the kings were towns people all dressed up and the camels came from our zoo...lol....but to me there was nothing more magical.

When I moved back to Canada, there was no more Epiphany celebrations, just Xmas....as my dad did not celebrate it any other way.

My family in spain still celebrates Epiphany. my kids go to catholic school so we celebrate Xmas too. I hope to one day bring my children to Spain so they can see how we celebrated the holidays It wasn't all about gifts, but more about family and great food.