#This polytheistic life

[stsathyre]

*Hands in pockets*

I had to submit an official complaint, and only then did the gods speak.

Apparently, I have incomplete boundaries, and have for a really long time. Choosing your battles should also include backing people the fuck off you. I'm not good at that. I just get stressed, cry a little, and then wander off to the next adventure.

But this time there's an edit to my behavior. Loki wants me to strike out like a rattle snake and then I'm allowed to wander off.

But there had better be a corpse behind me.

There's nothing I hate more than a disruption, an inconvenience, a bother. The perfect life for me is noise blocked out by headphones and menial labor and repetitive tasks.

I don't work hard. I down right refuse. That goes for dealing with people as well.

I actually don't have the capacity to hold onto feelings for very long. It's the golden retriever side of me. Do I forget? LOL No. Do I harbor anger or sadness? Nope. They quickly fade into the rest of the mental illness and become indistinguishable from the rest of the horrors of my life.

But this time is different. This time I have to stand up for myself.

I can't just look for something else to do while someone says things like "I guess you really can't help what you are." and "I need medical documentation so I can deal with you."

I can't put on headphones and drown out the fact that even though I am a 15-year plus professional in my field, that someone is trying to make me write essays to prove I understand a concept.

I'm autistic. I know that sounds scary, but dude, come on. I'm not here out of luck. I'm not a diversity hire. I'm here because I'm brilliant. You're being a dick.

And now you're a dick with a permanent stamp of acknowledgement of your dickishness on your employee profile.

I can go now, Loki says. I can throw the Molotov if I want to--if I remember to. But the important thing is I opened my mouth and bared fangs.

Closed mouths don't get fed.

I need a nap.

#this polytheistic life

[museofdeity]

chronic illness so bad you gotta devote yourself to lord apollo

#president apollo... please save us #i'm on my last limb over here pls help #actually disabled #disabled queer #disabled posting #disabled #disabled life #hellenic polythiest #hellenic polytheistic #hellenism #hellenic polytheism #helpol #apollo #lord apollo #chronically ill

[blujayonthewing]

#I've played with irl atheists and catholics and everything in between #but it rarely feels like faith is a real factor for anyone-- DM or player #outside of‚ again‚ divine spellcasters and Big Epic Plot Things #I mean there are a couple of 'RAAAHGH FUCK THE GODS >:C' edgy backstory types but #no one is just Normally Culturally Religious and it's WEIRD #like it's not even a matter of faith in dnd! the gods are LITERALLY OBJECTIVELY PROVABLY REAL #so what does that MEAN for the average person! how does it shape language? business? culture? #where are the people wearing holy symbols like amulets-- or the way modern christians very casually wear crosses? #blessings over meals? prayers before bed? burnt offerings? #and like I enjoy thinking about world and culture building but I know that's A Whole Thing but even just like... #it doesn't feel like anyone believes in gods at all except clerics and paladins #like they DO because they factually exist but in the same way I 'believe in' like. the president of france. #like yeah he exists and is important to some people but has no bearing on my life whatsoever #that's such a fucking weird approach to the DIVINE in a polytheist world where those gods are YOUR CULTURE'S GODS?? #I am bad at this myself but I'm not religious so it's harder for me to remember what Being Religious All The Time Casually is like lol #funny enough my character with the most intentionally religious background in this sense #is one of my ones who's ended up wrapped up in Big Plot God Things lmao #'aubree starts the campaign with a holy symbol of yondalla because of course she does why wouldn't she' #'oh okay well she's gonna get deeply and personally entangled with a bunch of death gods immediately' fdkjghkdf oh!! welp #you don't really pray to urogalan unless you're breaking ground for a new building or someone just died so it's STILL weird for her lol #but at least I had the framework there of 'oh yeah the gods exist and matter to me and my everyday life and culture' in general #about me #posts from twitter

[assistedbytherats]

Technology and modern society is great for a number of reasons, but side note, I miss storyteller being a role in a community of people. I think that was quite cool and wish it was still considered necessary and important.

#side side note- anyone know of a deity of storytelling? #doesn’t have to be Hellenic #i just feel like storytelling #is a big part of my life #and if there were a deity #who smiled on my little tales #I’d feel so fulfilled #helpol #paganblr #hellenic pagan #pagan #paganism #hellenic polytheism #hermes devotee #hermes deity #baby pagan #deitywork #deity #polytheist #witchblur

[diana-thyme]

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to make some coloring pages for the Theoi! Here’s Aphrodite and Hera! Pay what you want, with the price starting at $0. As of now, Aphrodite and Hera are the only ones up, but I plan to make more! The actual designs come from either historical art or statues. Available here.

#nothing much but i couldn’t for the life of me find coloring pages for them #so #yeah but completely free but you can pay if you’d like #it’s not required though #figured i’d share them on Valentine’s Day! #deities #hellenism #helpol #hellenic #hellenic pagan #hellenic polytheism #hellenic polytheist #hellenic community #hellenic deities #does this qualify as spam tagging.. idrk #who knows who knows

[sullenange1]

i usually don’t talk much on here but i am so nervous about later today. if you’ve been following me for awhile you know that two years ago i got rejected from my dream school (barnard) and it really crushed me. i got mugged during college admission season and sustained a concussion (and some other shit happened) so i was only able to apply to about 3 schools.

i ended up going to a school i knew nothing about because it was the only university i got into. it was going fine until my dad went missing shortly after i moved into my dorm. not knowing where he was crushed me and my grades started to tank, so i decided to take some time off of school. the police didn’t look for him. they immediately dropped his case and put no effort into finding him, and i spiraled. this was 2022.

i spent most of 2023 trying to cope with how the person who understood me the most was missing. during this time i realized that transferring schools was probably in my best interest, as the university i was attending was one of the last places i saw my dad and i had so many bad memories there. in october of 2023 i was informed that my father had been found in september the year before. 14 months of my life were spent in agony, but finally i had closure.

now i want to move forward with my life. i hear back from my top university choice in 13-15 hours. i’ve had so much bad luck and heartbreak over the past two years so i would appreciate it if you all could pray for me, or if you’re not religious just send me good luck. getting into this school means so much to me, and i just hope the admissions officers were able to see through my bad grades during my first year of uni, and see me as a person who was coping with uncertainty and loss. if you’ve read this far, thank you so much! i’ll be sure to update on the status of my admission <3

#girlblogging #hellenic devotees #hellenic polythiest #hellenic wiccan #hellenic pagan #hellenic polytheism #hellenic deities #athena #athena devotee #athena devotion #pagan #paganism #pagan witch #wicca #wiccan #pagan wicca #wiccablr #positivemindset #good luck #pray for me #university #dream school #life story #slight vent #slight trauma dump #hellenic polytheistic #ancient greek #greek gods #witchblr

[thedansemacabres]

Dionysus of white wine is far more dangerous than Dionysus of blood-red wine. It is so easy to get drunk on champagne. I've seen people become completely different after drinking a 14-17% white wine saying they'll be fine because they can handle a red. be wary of the fruity drink it fuck you up

#dragonis.txt #obviously not verifiable #people are irresponsible either way #but oh my lord... this lady at my work's tasting room... #maenad in another life i swear #dionysus deity #hellenic polytheist #dionysos deity #hellanic paganism

[v-arbellanaris]

I have no idea why but I absolutely hate how Ameridan' story was handled, they basically dumbed it down to him worshipping both the creators and andraste/chant of light, which kind of proved Cassandra's dumb (and incredibly disrespectful) point of an inquisitor having "room for another god". It's also so unfair how they made the evanuris to just be power hungry slavers and tyrants, my only hope is that if the creators were disproving then I hope it would be the same for the chant of light and maker (seeing asnit was solas who made the veil and not the creator) I really hate how centrist the game has gotten, like flat out, whenever I hear the words grey morality and nuance I can't help burn cringe, that's how much dragon age has ruined it for me.

It's also so incredibly funny how the devs are genuinely surprised that most of the players are pro mage, like of course we are?

i think it's particularly extremely aggravating, the way bioware writers write about a pantheon as if polytheistic religions are simply a thing of the past and dead and some kind of mystery/mythology. according to bioware, this kind of writing for polytheistic religions is fine because no real religion these days would everrrrrrr worship multiple gods /sarcasm. (note that the links are just some examples and not comprehensive in the least)

there's a lot of writing choices i quite simply disagree with in dai, and there's some that are just... i don't even disagree with them because that implies it's something to argue about. some of their writing choices are just wrong. after borrowing so heavily from ethnic groups to shape their fictional histories, the disrespect of writing their fictional oppressed minorities as being responsible for their own oppression because they were not "open" enough to include/absorb expy christianity into their religious beliefs and fought back against violent colonialism. the resulting clumsy collation between isr*el and the indigenous people of the americas wanting to reclaim their lands stolen from them by white colonisers makes my blood boil.

ameridan is just another piece of the puzzle that makes me seethe. we have a man who apparently ~existed before hostilities between the elves and the humans~ which is now the fault of drakon's son who invaded the dales after ameridan was long gone. that's already absolute bullshit because ameridan lived in the fucking dales. elves only started living in the dales AFTER ANDRASTE'S REBELLION. after the fall of arlathan, and hundreds of years of enslavement at the hands of tevinter humans???

additionally, the battle of red crossing happened in 2:9 glory, but tensions between the elves and humans had been building up since the second blight. drakon the first died in 1:45 but the elves apparently did "nothing" to help montsimmard when it was overrun by darkspawn in 1:25 divine - twenty years before his death, there was already simmering resentment. additionally, it was drakon the first that expanded the orlesian empire and the orlesian chantry - wotv2 notes his battles against the darkspawn did more to spread the chant of light (specifically, the orlesian chant of light which he, yknow, fucking made up) than any of his other attempts. by the time the exalted march on the dales happens, over three quarters of thedas is under orlesian rule. maferath himself handed the dales to the surviving elves from andraste's campaign in -165 ancient and the elves lived in the dales peacefully until the orlesian chantry was salivating at its borders. and the orlesian chantry has a history of wiping out "cults" - i.e. other sects of their own religion that differ from belief, no matter how minor, to their own. including, notably, the wholesale genocide of a non-violent sect centered around fertility rituals and, later, the dragon worshipping sect in haven off their own land. (and i'm willing to BET MONEY that they were originally alamarri themselves, considering that andraste was brought there to rest, and considering how cultural variance in religion usually occurs [i.e. through the blending/adoption of folk beliefs or the cultural/religious practices from Before]. so the andrastians slaughtered the cult AND THEN TOOK THEIR FUCKING LAND.)

the entire way andrastianism is treated in inquisition makes me violent. and unfortunately, it does not look like it's going to change - there's been multiple statements about how the maker's existence will continue to remain "a mystery" out of a reluctance to confirm or deny the existence of a One True God which, coupled with how they've shat on every other religion in the game - the tevinter chantry, the qun, the stone, the elven pantheon, every other sect worshipping the maker/andraste - gives me absolutely no hope that the writing team is going to get their heads out of their asses about it.

#asks #bioware critical #dai critical #and tbh at this point i really think anyone acting like the writing team is being geniuses or whatever is kinda racist and deluded lmao #most polytheistic religions surviving today are inextricably linked to ethnicity and culture and rich histories of surviving and resisting #colonialist attempts to wipe them out. i feel like comparatively there's fewer polytheistic religions in ''the west'' (more specifically #rooted in white culture) as a result of that. but bioware didn't borrow from THOSE white-rooted polytheistic religions and cultures #they borrowed from native; jewish; roma; even hinduism when it came to the dalish elves but people want to act like the only thing bioware #is pulling from is fucking norse mythology. borrowing character archetypes from norse mythology and planting them onto your #fictional ethnic minorities based off real life religions and people. IS NOT ACTUALLY GOOD WRITING. when you dont CONSIDER the implications #like Gods Not Being Good or having Separate Morals To Humans is a huge theme for norse mythology #but not so much afaik in other polytheistic religions TODAY??? #fucking bioware SHOULD HAVE JUST USED NORSE MYTHOLOGY AS A BASE FOR THE ELVES FROM THE START #and NOT brought other ethnic groups into it??? #the moment they did they SHOULD HAVE been considering the implications of their writing. and that they didn't and continue NOT TO #is actually something people are allowed to be fucking upset about!!!!

[twojackals]

The Joy of Teaching

In recent weeks I had some opportunity to advise younger individuals interested in Kemetic practice, and I have to admit I was shocked at just how... good it felt to do that, and I couldn't figure out why I had never felt so good about teaching other people the thing I've done for over half my life.

But I think I've figured it out.

It's been several months since I left the 'organized religion' style Kemeticism I was part of for so long, and became an independent Kemetic practitioner. What I've found out is that there is a massive difference in communicating within an 'organized' religion vs. not. Namely, in the latter, when I speak from a position of experience in the general Kemetic world, people listen.

But in the former, when I spoke from a position of experience in the organized-religion world... people argued.

There was always this bizarre level of 'competition' that occurred between members of that organization which I don't find to exist outside of it between independent Kemetics. And despite the fact that they never claimed to be the 'one true Kemetic path' (and the person responsible for birthing it into being never wanted it to be), it didn't stop congregants from taking on the mantle of "one true way" at various turns. It definitely didn't stop them from applying their own opinions to the masses in terms of the way people 'should' and 'should not' practice being Kemetic. 

Sure, you can pass judgment I suppose on someone practicing that specific organized path incorrectly, though even then the idea of passing judgment on someone else’s practices was not condoned by its founder in the slightest. But I suppose if you were literally teaching, verbatim, something completely incorrect about that specific organized path, there is obviously an opportunity to say “hold on, that’s not how we do things, here are the resources / contacts who can explain how we do practice instead.”

That’s not how it went, of course. It was not unusual to have members side-eyeing each other over their personal, subjective interactions with the Divine, and in particular there were a select number of individuals who were even so bold as to tell other people their very experiences with the Netjeru (Kemetic Gods) were outright wrong – a position so brazen and ignorant to take when it comes to what is essentially an entirely subjective experience, particularly among a Pagan or Pagan-adjacent practice in relative terms of world religion. 

But aside from what I would term ‘extremists’ (there are always two extremes to every spectrum), there was also just an ongoing sense within the community of regular day-to-day one-upmanship in spirit that could be subtly if not overtly identified, and it did negatively impact morale, community cohesiveness, mood, and spirit which is certainly not the vibe you want from an organized group. And this vibe was consistently tolerated as simply... the norm. 

As a result, it's now extremely freeing to be able to give a piece of advice to others and candidly have a listening, attentive ear tune in to what I have to say based on years of personal practice and intricate experience, vs. a situation where one or more members of a group are pretty much always trying to formulate an attack, or defense, or argument designed primarily to bolster their own personal (equally subjective) experiences over that those of others.

I’ll just be blunt: a number of people considered themselves better than everyone else, and even though that was the minority, it affected the majority on a regular basis.

As a teacher of others, I've had to struggle against a serious feeling of imposter-syndrome that is underwritten by these experiences. There's a level of gaslighting, bullying, and even aggression which I've lived through in organized Kemetic religion that utterly need not have existed. Of course I won't deny to some degree there is a spectrum of what makes the most sense to what makes less sense -- or maybe even no sense at all. I'm not saying there is no right and wrong, nor am I going to suggest it is invariably inappropriate to ask people to meditate on discernment and critically examine their experiences. 

But that's not what I'm addressing here. Because by the Gods, if people would just take a moment from time to time to actually and carefully read the room. It may shock you, but your opinion isn't always needed, wanted, or invited, and the manner in which you communicate your opinions to others often matters far more than the opinion itself. After all: If you knew everything about Divinity, if you had every truth in-hand.... well, I guess all of our searches would be completely over. 

You don't, and I don't, and so we search on. But it sure would be nice if we could do this searching together, while respecting each other's answers and journeys.

In the meantime, I suppose I will simply enjoy the enjoyment of others when I have something meaningful to say, and try to remember that my experiences matter more than people from my past have sometimes led me to believe. 

#pagan #paganism #polytheist #polytheism #kemet #kemetic #kemeticism #religion #spirituality #spiritual #gods #divinity #worship #divine #searching #blog #blogging #life the universe and everything #retrospective #past #trauma #gaslighting #bullying

[sarenth]

Meditation on Meta-Worlds

Once, worlds like Second Life and the more recent Decentraland and the Metaverse held a good deal of interest for modern magical folks regardless of what your worldview happened to be. Suppositions on the kinds of effects we could get through the use of digital sigils and bindrunes, casting ‘there’ to affecting ‘here’, were among a variety of spellcasting and ritual ideas. Folks were…

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#animism #animist #avatar #Decentraland #digital #doing #exploration #exploring #heathen #Heathenry #ideas #life #magic #magical #magician #making #Meta #Paganism #polytheism #polytheist #religion #Second #Second Life #shrine #sigil #sigils #simulacrum #simulation #vaettir #VR

[stsathyre]

St. On Public Practice

Spongecake Gate is a Tumblr holiday acknowledged annually on the 5th of September, and the bare bones of it all sort of comes down to practicing your craft and religion in public.

Other people can see you. They’re going to speak to you. And they’re going to tell you what they think--what they believe is right and wrong.

This isn’t always a bad thing. I enjoy a robust exchange of ideas and like to commune with my fellow hum.

But there’s also this school of thought that says that if you don’t want others to participate in your religion or craft with you, then you should practice in private.

I mean they’re not wrong, but . . .

I pretty much closed my practice to the public circa 2017 . . . ish. And you know what? I haven’t been nearly as active or consistent, nor has anything held me as accountable as when I practiced publicly.

I’d like to think that it wasn’t only my practice that benefited. I also put a lot of philosophy, theory, and UPG out in the world. I hope that I helped other people on their practices too . . . As I meditate on it, I think the public-ness was also part of my craft.

One of the Tumblr witches, I don’t remember who atm, used to do tarot readings in a bar in exchange for drinks and they could only accept the drinks and they had to accept the drinks. This was their devotional practice and what their deity (I think) asked of them. And though not online, still very public.

Covens, festivals, solstices, etc.

It's the numerous approaches and innumerable amount of personalization that makes Paganism™ high scrutiny ground. Most mainstream religions have a generally unified practices with some differences here and there. Paganism, witchcraft, polytheism and the like doesn't.

So it's subject to do-as-I-do-itis.

It’s like that sometimes.

. . .

The criticism isn’t the only thing that comes out of public practice and if you develop a thick skin and learn how to ignore people, it can be very fulfilling.

So, all of that is to say, don’t let people tell you what to do. Don’t let people run you off or turn you off.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll take my own advice one of these days.

#this polytheistic life

[blackcrowing]

Book Review of 'Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters'

I wasn't entirely sure what I was expecting when I picked up this book but... generally I was expecting... more.

I don't feel like I learned much from reading this book, aside from prehaps that (unsurprisingly) those being called to deeper devotional practices in the Pagan/Polytheistic world are mostly being offered options based firmly in Western traditions. While I was sure that inspiration for such a movement would draw from monastic Christian traditions I had hoped to see it also drawing from antiquities temple traditions and, more modern, Eastern traditions where temples for worship are often maintained by monks/nuns and in this way monistaries and temples are one in the same.

Aside from getting a feel for the current climate and areas of inspiration that seem to be present inside this community... I don't feel like I learned... much of anything... most of the essays felt... a bit like advertisements to me... and most didn't feel particularly helpful to one interested in the path or particularly insightful in anyway.

To be honest this felt like a book that was created mearly to mark the phenomenon and offer a screenshot of it for the purposes of third-party study as opposed to a tool for someone genuinely seeking information about what this kind of calling might look like in their own lives.

#book review #books #pagan #polytheism #eclectic #Monasticism #monastic life #monastic #Polytheistic Monasticism #Jann Munin #blackcrowing

[loriache]

we don't actually know that there isn't a carolingan empire on the Northern Continent. maybe there is. maybe the toudens are from fantasy bavaria to marcilles fantasy italy

#og post #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #in tags lol #carolingan is too early actually i think. maybe there's a Holy Roman Empire #but of whatever religion tallmen practice... it probably isn't the same as the gnomic one... #i kind of like it being polytheistic? #but given the centrality of religion to medieval life. feels like i need to know what that looks like in dunmeshi #gnomes are obvs animists #and the golden kingdom views the demon as its guardian deity - that or it had a guardian deity which the demon then took the form of #honestly could be either/or #and we know in the pre-apocalypse times the demon was worshipped as a god. i wonder what knock on effects that had

[neptunejheart]

Where I'm at. I am leaning towards being Polytheistic right now. I am still reconciling my relationship with Christianity bc as far as I am concerned right now, that's all mythology.

Hinduism is calling me.

Last night I had a dream about a deity I've never known about and woke up to see a mantra video from that deity(out of nowhere). They're from the Buddhism religion so I suppose that all religions are somehow calling me right now.

Law of Assumption is a good enough but it left me feeling more alone than ever. I think that having religion or some sort of spiritualistic beliefs system is helpful for me since I grew up with religion. It simply has to be a free belief system that empowers me. Law of Assumption is good but draining bc it leaves everything to me & my human mind finds that to be lonely. I am a social being, I like the idea of having other beings help me rather than me doing it all alone.

Kemetism is also calling me again. I guess, a lot of things are calling me right now. I will answer the calls bc as much as I like Law of Assumption, I like looking into the things that bring my human mind comfort. All belief systems are a coping mechanism for me and I need comfort with existence bc it's A LOT for me to process.

#my life #update #about me #polytheistic #religion #spirituality #hinduism #Buddhism #kemetism #law of assumption #memes #meme

[solvicrafts]

One of these days when I'm in the right mental space for it I really, really want to post about how incredibly isolating it feels to be neuro-divergent in the pagan community and, at the same time, more or less following a near-reconstructionist path despite how extraordinarily difficult it is because my brain just wired differently so I basically have to fight own instincts and inherent nature in order to practice my religion but at the same time I fight entirely of my own accord because it falls in line with my personal principles and--

#solvi's personal ramblings #it's late for me so today probably will not be that day #but I've been wanting to write a series of posts on this topic and others #because there's an immense feeling of isolation that I deal with in the pagan community that I don't talk about #and weirdly enough I feel like my non-pagan followers on here would understand it a lot more than the broader pagan community likely would #especially my abbilen in the Legend of Drizzt community #but like to put it simply for now I genuinely feel like Kimmuriel and maybe a bit like Drizzt sometimes #especially in my offline social circles #because certain people in my personal life who have grown progressively anti-theist over the years #will actively shit on anyone who believes in or worship anything because in their mind it's all Christianity #and all of Christianity is the Westboro Baptist Church #and on those rare occasions where I do manage to slightly challenge them they give me the Drizzt treatment #'man drow suck they're awful they're just the worst I can't wait to kill them... oh well except you 'cause you're OK I guess' #like because my brain just doesn't work the way other peoples' brains do there are aspects of religion and spirituality I struggle with #so I don't really fit in with the crystal woo crowd but I also don't fit in with most other recon-leaning polytheists #and then I get really actively shat on by anti-theists I know because they can't separate modern ex-Christian baggage #from literally everything else #like it does not compute in their mind that extreme American Christian beliefs =/= ALL RELIGION or ALL CHRISTIANS #and nothing seems to get it through to them and they take everything in bad faith #so I feel very isolated at times because I don't seem to really have a place really anywhere #because my interpretation of religion and spirituality and my ability to practice it will always be different due to my inherent nature #so I'll basically never 'belong' anywhere #I'm gonna join Kimmuriel in the 'I shoulda been born an illithid' thing except I don't know what I should've been born as #I just know that the person I was born as just doesn't seem to fit in anywhere or have a place in the world

[shadow13dickpistons]

Wikipedia out here just casually blowing my mind.

#ancient human culture is amazing #i had no fucking clue the roots of judaism were polytheistic #like how was that never covered in my world religion classes????? #real life