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 Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 3:39 pm
Hello ^^
My name is Victoria (or Rae) and I'm new to this guild and to the whole religion of paganism. I first found out about the religion about a year ago from a psychiatrist when my mother (ironically) forced me to talk to some one because I was "acting out." She couldn't teach me much but she did give me a book to buy and I've been studying ever since.
As far as finding my path Im completely in the dark. The only thing I'm certain of is that Wicca is not the right path for me. I have been reading everyone's posts and find Dragoness Arleeana's religious views are close to my own. Although I still feel I need to learn more before I choose a path and align myself with a goddess/god (which I'm also in the dark about).
I'm not sure if I have any special skills because I haven't really tried things like tarrot cards and such. I do feel things that other people can't. My grandma says I have a super natural ability and sense spirits but my parents just tell me Im crazy so Im unsure.
If anyone has any advice or would like to share their views with me I would greatly appreciate it. I need all the help I can get. xD
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:09 pm
Well I can tell you that your path doesn't always show up like that with a snap of the fingers. It can take time to find exactly what all is for you. It took me years to find my patron and matron deities and I am still learning a lot about my path. If you want to try Tarot and see how it works for you I have some notes for beginners somewhere that I can find for you. I, personally, really do enjoy working with Tarot cards.
I find it interesting that a psychiatrist would recommend this path for you, may I ask what book they recommended?
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Underworld Priestess Crew
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 7:52 am
I would love to give Tarot a try and I'm sure your notes would be very helpful. ^^
I thought it was interesting when she said she followed Wicca. She recommended Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions by Joyce and River Higginbotham. I have read most of it but I skipped around a bit. It has taught me quite a bit but I have a lot more to learn before I can decide my path and deities.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:58 am
Oh hey! I know that one. It's not a bad intro, but I think their other book is more helpful about getting an idea as to what you believe.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:42 am
Underworld Priestess Well I can tell you that your path doesn't always show up like that with a snap of the fingers. It can take time to find exactly what all is for you. It took me years to find my patron and matron deities and I am still learning a lot about my path. If you want to try Tarot and see how it works for you I have some notes for beginners somewhere that I can find for you. I, personally, really do enjoy working with Tarot cards. I find it interesting that a psychiatrist would recommend this path for you, may I ask what book they recommended? Oh, don't I know that! It's taken me a lifetime of living and specifically eight years of studying various forms of paganism to come to the beliefs that I have now. Also, since I believe in a "living" religion, small aspects are often changing. (depending on how the world changes) As for Tarot, my personal favorite set is the Revelations deck. Different decks can be read differently. It's best to find the deck that "speaks" to you, rather than just grabbing the first one you find, or getting one just because you like the art. Palm reading is quite a lot of fun as well, though gets extremely complicated. Runes are fairly simple, though they aren't as direct as the Tarot. Divination is kind of my specialty. :p I was in the same boat as you to begin with Cynical. I had no clue where to even begin. So I simply started reading about a bunch of random religions lol. I started with religions where I was familiar with the mythology and gods. You need to keep in mind, however, that the mythology is -not- the religion. I find the easiest way to learn about the actual religion is to look at the history of the people who were a part of it. Find out the specific names of cults and groups that worshiped Gods and look up information on how they practiced. Remember that you do not need to worship an entire pantheon. If you find that single God/Goddess, that is just as good. Another big one that so many people don't seem to understand is that you do -not- need to pair up a God/Goddess, or even worship both if they do have a mate. NEVER pair a God and Goddess if they are not already paired within mythology. It is disrespectful to both the worshipers and the Gods. While I do pay respect to my God, I do not worship him. As the seasons pass, I give him the respect he is due, but it is Her that receives my devotion, my worship and my prayers.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:45 am
Dragoness Arleeana Underworld Priestess Well I can tell you that your path doesn't always show up like that with a snap of the fingers. It can take time to find exactly what all is for you. It took me years to find my patron and matron deities and I am still learning a lot about my path. If you want to try Tarot and see how it works for you I have some notes for beginners somewhere that I can find for you. I, personally, really do enjoy working with Tarot cards. I find it interesting that a psychiatrist would recommend this path for you, may I ask what book they recommended? Oh, don't I know that! It's taken me a lifetime of living and specifically eight years of studying various forms of paganism to come to the beliefs that I have now. Also, since I believe in a "living" religion, small aspects are often changing. (depending on how the world changes) As for Tarot, my personal favorite set is the Revelations deck. Different decks can be read differently. It's best to find the deck that "speaks" to you, rather than just grabbing the first one you find, or getting one just because you like the art. Palm reading is quite a lot of fun as well, though gets extremely complicated. Runes are fairly simple, though they aren't as direct as the Tarot. Divination is kind of my specialty. :p I was in the same boat as you to begin with Cynical. I had no clue where to even begin. So I simply started reading about a bunch of random religions lol. I started with religions where I was familiar with the mythology and gods. You need to keep in mind, however, that the mythology is -not- the religion. I find the easiest way to learn about the actual religion is to look at the history of the people who were a part of it. Find out the specific names of cults and groups that worshiped Gods and look up information on how they practiced. Remember that you do not need to worship an entire pantheon. If you find that single God/Goddess, that is just as good. Another big one that so many people don't seem to understand is that you do -not- need to pair up a God/Goddess, or even worship both if they do have a mate. NEVER pair a God and Goddess if they are not already paired within mythology. It is disrespectful to both the worshipers and the Gods. While I do pay respect to my God, I do not worship him. As the seasons pass, I give him the respect he is due, but it is Her that receives my devotion, my worship and my prayers. Can you recommend any books that may help me learn more about a Goddess/God? I was drawn to Paganism in the first place because I liked the idea of worshiping a Goddess versus a God but I still know very little about Deities in Mythology.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:49 am
Sanguina Cruenta Oh hey! I know that one. It's not a bad intro, but I think their other book is more helpful about getting an idea as to what you believe. The one titled Pagan Spirituality? I was planning on purchasing that book as soon as I can find a bookstore that sells it. It seems like it would be a great read. (:
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:01 am
Xx-Cynical_Angel-xX The one titled Pagan Spirituality? I was planning on purchasing that book as soon as I can find a bookstore that sells it. It seems like it would be a great read. (: My problem is that I get their books confused in my head, so I can't really remember which had which. I know one of them was quite good and I think it's Spirituality. It gives you some exercises to sort of pin down your beliefs, and explains variations between religions, and gives examples. So I do recommend it over the Introduction one. Of course, there are so many Pagan religions that it's difficult to write a good book on them, so just keep that in mind; while they've done a good job with the space they had, it's not going to give you the full spectrum. Quote: Can you recommend any books that may help me learn more about a Goddess/God? I was drawn to Paganism in the first place because I liked the idea of worshiping a Goddess versus a God but I still know very little about Deities in Mythology. I am actually going to give you names of books to stay away from. >.> "The Witches' Goddess" and "The Witches' God" by the Farrars are pretty bad; their work on Wicca is great but these books are really awful, with poor information and poor ideas for getting to know deities. Generally beware books that treat the deities as interchangeable or don't relate back to actual lore. You really need to get path-specific, to be honest. If you're interested in a goddess from a particular culture, research the lore of that culture - for example, theoi.com if you're wondering about a Greek deity. (Genuinely the best source around on Greek gods.) Or perhaps you're considering monotheistic or henotheistic goddess-worship and would gain from looking into Dianic witchcraft. The Pagan Spirituality book may help you narrow things down on that score. There are certainly deities or deity-figures out there that are worshipped nowadays that are not present in known palaeo-pagan pantheons. So it's a bit of exploration, a bit of looking within to see what you find interesting, a bit of opening up to whoever might be calling after you. You may have to read around a bit before you start getting an idea of what you're into.
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 7:14 am
First of all I want to say thank you to everyone for their help. ^^
I have been studying and reading a lot on the internet, trying to find books on it (which is proving to be harder than i thought), and I even found an awesome Pagan store thats not too far (like 40 minutes) from where I live :3 Yay!
I do have another, very important question though. I want to do a healing ritual. My grandma has been very, very sick and has been in and out of the hospital. She has so many things wrong with her but the one that really worries me is the tumor on her heart. I believe she will make it through this but I wish to offer her my strength and help her not be in so much pain but I'm not sure how. Can anyone kinda give me a basic overview of how to preform a healing ritual please?
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 4:14 pm
You don't need to do a spell or ritual, nothing complex anyway. If you visit your grandmother (best done in person), hold her hand and simply imagine your strength transferring from yourself to her. I usually imagine this as my heartbeat. With each beat the pulse sends a wave of my energy into what I'm focusing on. If you can't see her then find a picture and do the same with that.
If you want to get a bit more complex you could get a picture of her and a candle. Empower the candle the same way I said before. Set up the picture and candle so that the candle is in front, every night lighting it for a little while. Obviously it's a bad idea to leave it burning through the night, so don't do that.
You could also look up a god or goddess of healing and pray to them. do a bit of research on them first. Find out what their "sacred" food, drink, colors, animals, items etc etc are. You can then offer these things to them. Say you found God Mumojumbo who's associated food and drink are hot dogs and beer, you could get some good beer and the best hot dog you could find and offer them up to him. If he's associated with the earth, you could pour the beer into the ground and bury the food. If he's associated with water, throw/pour it into water. Get creative, gods are more likely to notice!
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:36 am
One of the very important rules to take into consideration is to not doubt your abilities. Once you start doubting that you can do something will only cloud your mind of what you have been doing. I quote my teacher and very close friend "doubt will only lead you to more doubt" I know I have had problems with doubting my abilities and it has really hindered my own learning...... don't let that happen to you...... if something feels like your spell, ritual, whatever hasn't worked out just continue till you feel that gratification of actually preforming something science will deem impossible. You have the power to move mountains, part the seas, create your own fires, and set the winds in your favor.....all you need to do is unlock it......
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:40 pm
!!!I AM THE GRATE GOBLIN!!!
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