Thursday, March 31, 2011

Work/Family Balance

I've been thinking lately about work / family balance. I'm considering a work thing in the next couple of years which would be great for my career but would involve me travelling for two hours at each end of the day. This would severly limit the amount of time that I have with my family but it would only be for one year. It would mean that my SO would have to be responsible for almost everything to do with my daughter on week days and by then we may have another child. I have a couple of years to decide what to do but some of the choices I make now will affect that future position and I'm weighing up the pros and cons so it got me thinking.

How do you all manage the work / family balance? Does one always come before the other? Do you ever feel that you're giving too much time to one and sacraficing the other? Do you regret the choices you've made or do you feel that you've got the balance right?

Any perspective that anyone wants to share would be very interesting.

Monday, March 28, 2011

What sparked your "Rebirth"?

Many of us most likely like myself weren't pagans originally, I for one was roman catholic, though I do believe paganism does always linger inside someone. As if it's fate.

Now I decided just out of curiosity to make this topic. So I ask everyone here who converted to a pagan path at some point in their life what made them decide to become a pagan. What sparked your rebirth?

So what made to become a pagan?

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Historical human and animal sacrifice

One thing I often come across in researching historical pagan religions is the frequent use of animal, and occasionally human, sacrifices. For instance, sacrifice appears to have been the primary method of worship during a large part of ancient Greek history. To give a specific example, Hecate was strongly associated with dogs and dogs were occasionally sacrificed to her. Within Germanic paganism, human and animal sacrifices seem to have been a fairly frequent practice. Accounts of the major temple that existed in Uppsala in modern day Sweden were particularly gruesome as the sacrifices would be left to hang and rot in the trees surrounding the temple such that the trees around the area were completely covered in the rotting corpses of animals and, potentially, humans. Of the Celts it is hard to say for sure what many of their specific beliefs and practices were since much of what we know about Celtic practices, particularly in continental Europe, is considered rather dubious since much of it was written by the Romans and others who were often at war with the Celts and portrayed them in a negative light for propaganda purposes. Still, it's almost certain that druids officiated over some sort of sacrifices, though scholars seem torn about whether or not this included humans.

This is one aspect of paganism that I have a little bit of a hard time figuring out. Obviously, the vast majority of pagans in the modern world do not engage in any kind of murder or animal cruelty, and those that do are usually found to be mentally ill and drawn to these practices for that reason rather than for any particular religious reasons. What I'm curious about is how modern pagans reconcile their current religious practices with historical evidence of human and animal sacrifices, though.

I mean, I could reconcile some of it to an extent. For example, most people in the ancient world either worked in agriculture or were closely tied to agriculture. If we take the meaning of the word sacrifice to mean the giving up of something meaningful to one's self to a deity, it makes a little more sense. If you were a shepherd, your flock was your life and sacrificing a sheep to a god would be somewhat equivalent to someone in the modern world giving up a week's pay in order to donate it to some cause tied to the worship of a particular deity. That still doesn't help to justify the sacrificial practices amongst the ancient Greeks, the Germanic peoples, and others for whom sacrifice appears to have played a fundamental role in their worship. I'm just kind of curious to hear people's thoughts on this and how they reconcile their modern beliefs and practices with the historical practices.

Where I personally stand on the matter currently is that most pagan religions appear to have been a fundamentally different than religions like Judaism which codified specific laws and guidelines concerning the proper manner of worship in a way that explicitly asserted the unchanging and unalterable nature of these laws and guidelines. As such, practices in the ancient world can, and did, change over time as people progressively came to experience deeper aspects of the divine which altered the ways in which they thought it proper to honer and connect with their deities. Probably the most famous example would be Hinduism which still considers the ancient Vedic texts to be sacred even though they contain references to animal sacrifices. This, of course, seems quite strange since most modern Hindus are so opposed to killing animals that most are fairly strictly vegetarian and don't even accept the slaughter of animals for the purpose of using them as food. Many Hindus would probably insist that there isn't a disconnect between their modern beliefs and the beliefs contained in the Vedic texts, but that they have progressed to a deeper spiritual understanding of divinity and ways to connect with it. On the other hand, I suppose it's important to keep in mind that there are still some very conservative movements within Hinduism that still practice animal sacrifices on certain occasions.

Anyway, to avoid rambling on much further, I suppose my current belief is that our knowledge of the divine, just like our knowledge of more mundane things like physics or algebra, is constantly growing and evolving. As such, I suppose there isn't a disconnect there since we're not throwing out primitive ideas and replacing them with new ideas, but simply expanding upon the primitive ideas to grow into a deeper understanding of the topic. I'm not really sure how much sense that makes, but you probably know what I mean. Regardless, I would be keenly interested in hearing other people's thoughts are on this topic. Assuming, that is, that I haven't completely put you to sleep already by my massive wall of text.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The existence of alien life and the consequences it might have on religion

Recently, I've been pondering what sort of consequences the existence of intelligent alien life might have for our understanding of religion here on Earth. Personally, I believe that, in the infinite vastness of the cosmos, it's probably pretty likely that intelligent life forms have developed on planets other than Earth. Likewise, I think the incredible vastness of space means that our chances of ever encountering any of these life forms are exceedingly slim. What if we do encounter these creatures somehow though? Will that force us to fundamentally re-evaluate our understanding of religion? After all, most religions on Earth are very Earth-centric and, as such, the existence of beings not of this planet do not generally fit neatly into most religious traditions.

I think that the strictly monotheistic faiths like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam will be thoroughly harmed by the discovery of intelligent life on other planets. After all, these religions teach that, though God is an all-pervasive cosmic force that exists every where in the universe, Earth and human beings are distinctly special. For instance, Christian theology tells us that Jesus had a special mission to die for the sins of human beings here on Earth. It's very hard to imagine how one might reconcile the existence of other beings on far away planets that don't neatly fit into "God's plan" for this world as it's envisioned by Jews, Christians, or Muslims. Not only does the theology of these religions fail to take into account the possibility of special beings like us existing in places other than Earth, but almost all of their history and teachings would have to be completely reworked in order to reconcile them to this new development.

On the other hand, religions like the various Neo-Pagan movements, Hinduism, and such focus on local manifestations of spiritual forces that theoretically could be broadened out to include other places within the universe. After all, if the Celtic gods developed here on Earth, there's nothing to say that local gods couldn't have developed uniquely on other planets. These types of religions seem to have the least to lose from the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Hinduism already teaches the existence of other worlds besides the one in which we exist, so very little about Hinduism would have to change in order to account for the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Different movements in paganism would have to react differently, but generally wouldn't have too much of an issue with broadening out their understanding in order to incorporate other intelligent beings on other planets. Of them, I think Wicca would have the hardest time reconciling itself to this development, but it would still only require very minor changes to Wicca's over all theology and teachings.

Somewhere in the middle would seem to be religions like Buddhism which, though large parts of their theology may have to be reworked in order to bring them in line with the new knowledge of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, their general teachings would not have to change very much in order to be reconciled with this new knowledge.

Anyway, I thought I'd just throw this out there and let you all run with it. Since we have no idea what sort of religions and cultures intelligent life on other planets might have developed, it's a purely theoretical scenario with no real right answers. Still, I think it's worthwhile to think about as it presents a new way of thinking differently about our religions here on Earth and our approach to them.

Magic Results and Deities

I am curious about how magic takes form, after the spell is cast. Do you think that deities effect the ultimate outcome of the spell?

I am wondering, because I don't do magic much, but when I have there have been some startling outcomes.

For example, one result of a binding spell was that the people who I bound from causing me harm got into a fight on the night of the spell, and the husband ended up getting arrested and jailed for physical abusing his wife. Their own story of the event ended up being really wierd--apperantly the wife thought the husband was trying to set fire to their house...and that is how the confrontation began.

Another spell I cast, to attract money, resulted in three, non-injurious, car accidents that year, none of which were my fault, and so I ended up receiving monetary compensation from all of them. They all just pulled into my bright colored car, because they didn't see it. I had never been in a car accident prior--and since I reversed my intentions for the spell--not to include physical or material damage as a means of attracting money--I haven't been in any accidents since.

Both of these examples include physical impact, impaired perception (or distorted perception), and the law. Does this sound like a particular magical practice, or Deity? I am trying to build more relationships with Deities, do you suggest I investigate one in particular?

I used to chalk it up to "magic works in mysterious ways," but now I wonder if everyone's magic has results like this. I am not a violent person, I've never broken a bone, I don't do sports, I don't go around starting fist fights, and so I don't know why my results would be like this.

Is this how your magic works? Do you see your Deity effecting your magic acts? Any suggestions?

Can relationships with gods

This may seem like a silly question, but I've been reading material from certain authors who shall remain nameless, and I've detected an undercurrent of...solemnity, almost gloominess, to the tune of: "Cultivating a relationship with a deity is hard work. They sometimes push you to explore sides of yourself that you would rather keep in the dark. Pain and suffering can be acceptable offerings for some gods."

It's not my place to bad mouth the way other people relate to their gods. If it makes them happy, go for it. I understand that, yes, cultivating a relationship with a deity can be hard work, but surely some gods enjoy parties as well? (My gods are known for being fond of drink...lots of drink.)

On a related note, has anyone ever had a deity come and tell them to "lighten up"?

I just realized this is the same sort of question I ask my kinky friends: "Is it always about exploring the deep recesses of the mind or can you just spank someone 'cause it's fun?"

The intersection of religion, magic, and well-being

Conversation else-thread made me think that a new thread focusing on the intersection of religion, magic, and well-being might be useful.

We probably all know of religious and magical traditons that do things we do not want to have anything to do with. And yet, some people find those exact same things meaningful, important, and often healing or sustaining for them.

Given that the law doesn't directly have a lot to say about much of this, and given that there are cultural biases and rampant misinformation about some practices, how do people go about sorting out what might work for them, or supporting people they know whose choices are different in a way that's thoughtful about risk, but not patronising or controlling?

And what do you think is the obligation of the practitioner in these cases? Do you look for formal, licensed, legal-standards training? Do you look for experience? Do you look for signs that they've thought though possible problems and figured out how to handle them? Do you need trust? What other things do you think about?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Banishing Fear vs. Inviting Confidence?

I've had an unreasonable and unwanted insecurity for the past few years. In spell-working, full-moon to new-moon is for banishing and new-moon to full-moon is for inviting (correct?). Is there a reason one is better than the other? What are your thoughts on banishing fear vs. inviting confidence? Would doing both be overkill? This fear is so strong it's causing all sorts of trouble... Any thoughts?

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Do the Gods Get Lonely?

I'm pretty sure that "big" gods like Jehova, Brigid, Shiva, etc probably don't get bored. They're "rock stars", and have huge followings. But the "little" gods, or the ones who have been led to the deity path by means of abuse/hard luck/strange instances... do they get lonely? The ones who, say, sit in their own abodes, whether it be the stars, the sea, or the earth?

And is there any written info regarding deities who get lonely?

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