Pagan Fellowship

silverhawk · 06-12-2008, 07:30 PM

Since it was suggested in the other thread and no one has done it yet.... here is a place for pagans to come together just to talk or whine or talk about craft stuff.

Questions can still go in the other thread and we welcome anyone to post in here.

eww · 06-12-2008, 11:16 PM

*scratch scratch* Just marking my tree.

Tribal · 06-13-2008, 06:57 PM

eww-- ha ha too cute.

marking my spot!

BeccaUK · 06-13-2008, 08:34 PM

just making an appearance! not been around much lately. been way spaced and got some new meds to get used too. also been trying to get back on the meditation wagon, and its hard work!

eww · 06-14-2008, 08:35 AM

I'm a bad pagan. I've never been able to meditate. Too much going on in the brain.

silverhawk · 06-14-2008, 10:39 PM

Meditating can be hard until you can get your life slowed down enough to stop thinking. I used to have that problem too. Now I have trouble staying occupied.

BecStan · 06-15-2008, 07:37 AM

Howdy -- I'm here too! I so wish I had other local Pagans to converse and share with.

I've been on this spiritual path for 21 years now, so it's often times hard to find peers. I do have friends, scattered all over the world, and I am thankful that the net allows me a chance to chat with them.

So, glad to be in our fellowship thread!

BeccaUK · 06-15-2008, 07:41 AM

it actually took me ten years before i could meditate properly. i had the same problem of thinking too much and not being able to shut it off. but i created an 'entrance' into my meditations to help. and a way to counter stray thoughts.
now its more a matter of feeling well enough and having the time to meditate. mind you i don't get enough time to do anything pagany really which does really annoy me and is a source of depression. i'm trying more now though.

silverhawk · 06-16-2008, 10:42 AM

Thankfully I have a coven now that I've moved. I'm going to have Litha as my first ritual back..... funny thing is that 4 years ago Litha was mine and my ex-husbands last ritual with our coven before moving away.

silverhawk · 06-18-2008, 06:21 PM

I love my aunt.... she's about as christian as you can get.... I have nothing against Christians.... it's the path they chose and what they believe. My aunt keeps hammering me with internet christian stuff about how bad paganism is and how I'm going to hell and how I'm damning the children around me to hell because I'm not being a good example for Christ. She's very very anti-nonchristian and very anti-gay. I wonder how I ended up coming from such a family sometimes.

Today I got an e-mail with honest questions rather than an attack. I was so floored that I still don't quite know how to answer her questions. I asked her to be patient and give me some time to answer her fully and she said she would. It only took 6 years, but she finally managed to ask for answers without making me feel like she was attacking me.

How do y'all deal with your family? Anyone have any advice?

Tribal · 06-18-2008, 07:05 PM

I don't talk to my family about religion because they are VERY one minded strict pentecostal. So, coming from no experience, I think the best way would be to start with what you said in your post. Everyone chooses their own path.

It sounds like your aunt really loves you in her own way and obviously she is trying to connect with you. Maybe pointing that out will help the situation too?

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

BeccaUK · 06-19-2008, 09:35 AM

well i am actually estranged from my family. not because i'm pagan though. but their attitude was if they ignore it it might go away, i think. i became pagan at the age of 12, but they still kinda ignore it, or did when i was last in contact with them. at the last national census i was still living at home, and my dad flat out refused to 'wiccan' (i was wiccan back then but have expanded away from it now)for my religion, i had to write it myself. and everytime i spoke about things i did in the pagan community like my work at a pagan school (i taught for a while) they would kinda look away and act completely uninterested. but then they did that for every aspect of my life except my daughter, and slightly for my son. so its hard to tell if they really had something against my religion.
my inlaws are great about it though. they are who i consider my real family so where i don't give a rats what my parents think, i do care what they think. and they are great. they asked questions, my mum inlaw actually went out and bought a book about it to find out more, my sisters in law have had readings from me before...they take me for who and what i am, no exceptions.

Tribal · 06-19-2008, 10:07 AM

Becca,

What an interesting past! I can't imagine choosing my own religion at 12, you must have been really mature for your age.

I really wish I would have had the freedom to think openly at that age, I don't think I would struggle as much as I do now.

Thanks for sharing it.

I understand about the in-laws thing. Even though I don't tell them everything, I consider my Mom IN law to be closer to me than my own mother. The other day, she was sick (mil) and I had a realization that I would be DEVASTATED if something happened to her. She is important to my daily life.

I guess blood isn't always as thick as water, is it?

jeljebouti · 06-20-2008, 12:01 AM

I consider myself Christian and I never plan to change that. However I love learning about other beliefs and cultures, and don't really have a specific branch per say. That being said do you find it absurd for one to consider themselves Christian and pagan? I think that's the route I'm headed towards and some people seem to find it crazy. I just don't understand why, what's so wrong about wanting to merge two faiths together?

BeccaUK · 06-20-2008, 07:33 AM

yeah, tribal, i was independant of my parents at a young age. definately before i was 12, when i realised they didn't give a rats. i was going through a really hard dark time and lets just say i got a message that opened my eyes. never looked back.

jeljebouti, it really depends on your definition of christianity and your definition of paganism. technically some christian faiths are pagan, like mormonism. and i have come across alot more than one christian witch (they called themselves witches because although they practised magic they didn't have pagan beliefs. most people don't understand that as being pagan and being a witch aren't the same). and there are what people consider pagan paths that are heavily influenced by christianity, such as voodoo, and alot of romany magic i have come across is also pretty heavily christian (more specifically catholic).
so i guess depending on how you do it, and your definitions, you could merge the two