Calling all PAGANS.... (page 3)

VampireDCLXV

Rituals and practices have come from intuitive people in touch with the earth, its rythms and cycles and listening to their own bodies, and the spiritual aspect that connects people to it all (side-thought:just remembered the movie avatar and the tree and the connectedness). The more I learn about it all, the more graceful and intelligent it seems. There is a profound appreciation for life that pagans seem to have. Very sensual, and also very spiritual.. i like what i know of it...

freeflyingfaerie, I've gotta admit it, that all sounds really cool. I find that I feel more "alive" when I'm hiking in the woods, experiencing nature. I often feel the call of the moutains. The high mountain streams and lakes feel spiritual and sacred. I do find that I myself am more emotional and intuitive than is typical among the males of the species. (No, intuition is not a female exclusive.) Perhaps others will brand me as "weird" over this but I don't care. I have to find my way...

V665

BabaYaga

Vampire 665 said:

"I have to find my way..."

You are doing exactly that.

ex-witness

My sister is a witch. Wiccan if the word witch brings up the negative "broomsticks and pointy hats". Which has worked amazingly well in her life. She has peace, she worships her goddesses, and in her eyes, they bless her. She used to be a regular pioneer. :) I'm so proud of her now. She's so much less judgmental, she's positive, and the best mom I've ever seen in my life.

I'm an atheist now, and out of respect to the thread, Vampire, I won't go into a dialogue of that.

Mad Sweeney

I wonder, in today's modern age with scientific knowledge of how nature works, what motivates one to actually worship (as in performing religious-like rituals) instead of simply cherishing and caring for nature in an attempt to ensure its fertility. I mean, why be religiously pagan when you could simply be an environmentalist?

My guess is there is some inherent psychological need we have for ritual and faith that goes beyond whatever we end up choosing as the focus of that ritual and faith.

ziddina

Mad Sweeney, I suspect that the great "Mother" image - and I don't mean that in the sense of "false image" - is a common stereotype throughout all of humanity...

Which philosopher/psychiatrist/psychologist or groups thereof came up with the concept of the "Collective Unconscience"?? Was that Jung??

I think there's a great deal of validity in that concept... Almost all of humanity has a mother, much more so than a 'father'...

The mother is the CHIEF caregiver in almost all cases, especially when the child is a newborn. And has been for hundreds of thousands - even tens of millions - of years, if one wishes to bring the entire span of mammalian history into it.

In ancient human tribes, - well, even today, amongst simian groups like chimps, orangutans, great apes and others - the connection between mother and child was THE life-line... Without the mother, or a mother-substitute [another lactating female, usually an 'aunt'...], the infant would NOT survive - the males of the groups couldn't [or weren't inclined...] to provide the needed care to ensure the infant's survival...

It is only natural that the FIRST deities were "Mother" Goddesss - enlarged and exaggerated versions of "Mommy"...

And, as FreeFlyingFairy touched on, it seems only natural to think of the Earth as a great Mother, protecting and feeding her children - IF they correctly understand and co-operate with her!!

Zid

Black Sheep

There is a BBC doco Rituals: Around the World in 80 Faiths on Austrailia's SBS on Fridays.

I just watched Episode 1. Australasia and the Pacific Ring of Fire

The last ritual was Witchcraft. Well worth a watch if you can get it. In the UK and Australia, the DVD might be available in Public Librarys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrsgSIZFyDo

White Dove

I am a Wiccan witch. I feel a draw to nature and what nurtures me. I could not feel drawn to an absent, deadbeat sky daddy no matter how hard I tried. I view the gods and goddesses as teachers to help me learn about the universe and my place in it.

I view them as metaphores for all that we see and experience around us. I believe that is what their purpose was, originally. They explained things that were difficult to explain any other way.

I've never felt more spiritual than I feel when doing witchcraft/magick and being alone in a beautiful place looking at what the goddess has made, which is a time of communing with nature and learning about it.

BabaYaga

White Dove said:

I feel a draw to nature and what nurtures me. I could not feel drawn to an absent, deadbeat sky daddy no matter how hard I tried. I view the gods and goddesses as teachers to help me learn about the universe and my place in it.

I view them as metaphores for all that we see and experience around us. I believe that is what their purpose was, originally. They explained things that were difficult to explain any other way.

I've never felt more spiritual than I feel when doing witchcraft/magick and being alone in a beautiful place looking at what the goddess has made, which is a time of communing with nature and learning about it.

Beautifully said.

VampireDCLXV

Calling free2beme! Please respond. There are others who promised to post as well...

V665

Violia

Spiritualism is close to what I believe. I believe in the traditional God .

Calling all PAGANS....

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