Friday, January 28, 2011

How do you design your altar?

After becoming very frustrated when re-making my altar, I've come to your good people for advice. How do you design your altars (or shrines or any related sort of thing)?

Right now I have some nice symmetrical pieces, but nothing as a focal point (I used to have a candle but because my new altar is on bookshelves, putting a candle as the focal point means that it blackens the wood above).

Offerings: What do your Gods like?

So, if you give offerings to your diety of choice, what do you offer? What do your gods and goddesses prefer?

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Crystal Purchasing?

I'm taking the plunge to start buying up the myriad sparkleys, I mean crystals and stones that I want to use to protect my house. YAY! Except that no one in my area (grr) sells crystals and stones and whatnot. Yeah, tell me about it. So, I have to resort to online purchasing. I've looked in various places, but all the stones are... small. I was hoping to find stones in the 'worry stone' range of size, let's say two to three inches by two to three inches.

Any suggestions?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

How did you find the pagan religion that suits you?

Paganism, as an umbrella belief and worship system, interests me. What I can't decide on is *which* pagan religion is calling me... I know it's easy to say "Just read books about wicca/asatru/kemeticism until you find the one that speaks to you"... While I agree it's important to learn about all of the various pagan religions, I'm still anxious to find the system that really clicks with me...

What draws a pagan to one particular system? Is it a certain deity that draws you? Is it a culture? Is it the artwork or poetry? The ritual? Does a pagan even need to follow a system, or can they choose to venerate gods/goddesses from various traditions? I.e., I've always been drawn to Isis, but I've also been drawn to Diana, Brigid, Neptune, etc.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Dolphins?

I just had a very intense dream with a dolphin. (I don't want to post the dream.) I've had encounters with dolphins before in a few spirit journeys a while ago. I realized I've never researched this much, but I feel that it is very important at the moment that I finally pay some attention to my relationship (whatever it is) with dolphins.

So I wonder if anyone can give me some hints and inspirations about dolphin lore, your own experiences, good documentaries, inspiring fiction about dolphins etc.

Searching the forum I've already found very beautiful poetry by Entwife and I also know Poseidon and Mannannan are associated with dolphins, but that's as much as I have at the moment. I'm open to various stuff about dolphins, not just as the companion of a deity (although that could also be interesting). I hope getting various suggestions from others might inspire me in which direction I need to look.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Charging Crystals?

I've started looking into crystals for home protection and everything I found (online) mentions charging them. I feel like a newbie, but how in the heck am I supposed to do that? I just thought cleansing them was enough...?

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Magical Housekeeping

I'm curious about what other people do to keep their houses 'clean' in the magical sense. Personally, I burn sage in my bedroom and do a bigger cleaning there than on the rest of the house, because I don't do magic outside of there and because I live with my family so there isn't much time when the rooms aren't in use. I also keep my bedroom tidy and clean in the literal sense because I think energy can become stagnant in cluttered, dirty places.

What do other people do (or reasons if you don't do it)?

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Gender of your Deity Relevant to Your Path?

Has the gender of your deity ever been relevant to your path? Made things easier, harder, 'other' for you?

Or has it just never come up?

If You Believe in Reincarnation....?

Hey, I came up with a reincarnation question for those of you who subscribe to that belief today while sitting in traffic. I was wondering about what you thought would happen if the human world ended. I mean, if we made the world uninhabitable or if a meteor took us all out, or the universe imploded or something. Would your consciousness just cease to exist? Tell me what you think!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Celtic Cat Goddess?

Okay, so I have been practicing my Pagan belief system for almost six years now and have recently come to a bit of a snag. I am formerly been drawn to worship the God and Goddess as just faceless deities, but my spirit urges me to connect with a Goddess I see in my dreams and meditations. I tend to have a rather Celtic flair in my path and so what I am seeing and what I know are conflicting a little bit right now. I see a Cat Goddess, she is VERY much like Bast of the Egyptian pantheon, only it is not her. She holds no Egyptian symbolism or regalia. She looks more Celtic, she holds more celtic symbolism, but she is like an echo of Bast.

I have looked and looked in countless books and websites for information about a Celtic Cat Goddess, but I can't find any. And any small fragments about cats in Celtic Mythology have little to do with what this Goddess represents or says when she comes to me. I don't really know how I feel about mixing pantheons, because I feel that they are like families and mixing Egyptian with Celtic is a bit odd for me. I'm just unsure about how to go about this. Whenever I ask if I am supposed to adopt a more Egyptian path she tells me no, but then when I ask her how to incorporate her into my Celtic Path she is silent and just stares at me like I already know. And perhaps I do, but I am not conscious of it. I am asking for some outside perspective here. It would be greatly appreciated.

Persephone

Does anyone have any good information (websites, books, UPG) on Persephone? I've been to Theoi.com and it helps for some basics, but I don't really get a good sense of Her. I'm especially interested in UPG and/or generally the best way to honor/worship Her. Info/ideas on offerings, holidays, prayers, a shrine/altar, etc. would be great.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Is Kindness Required?

I've been thinking a bit about kindness lately and I wondered how you all feel about it. Does your path require you to be kind? Do your deities? And what's the difference between being kind and being a doormat?

My sister and I have both experienced being kind to others to the extent that we are taken advantage of. I still do my best to be kind as my path does require it but I've also learned that it's ok to have boundaries and that I need to take care of myself to be able to take care of others. Unfortunately my sister still gives so much to others that she's often exhausted to the point of being ill.

I'm very interested in all of your thoughts on the subject.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Offerings for your Deities

Do any of you, as part of your personal practice, leave offerings for your patron deities, or the deities you work with?

What do you offer (for whom)?

How did you determine what to offer them?

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Praying?

I've never really prayed before in my life, my parents raised me Catholic(well at least they tried)and I never really agreed to it and all so...yeah.

I don't really know if there's a specific way to pray or if it's different for every person(I assume it is) or if it's a mixture of the two in some way, shape, or form.

When I do try it I don't know what to say and who to pray to and stuff like that so I usually just murmur something awkwardly and put my candle on.(it's a battery lit candle. I can't get a real one due to cats and the fact I'm 14.)

So does anyone have any advice or helpful tips or something?

Denied! -- Thanks but No Thanks

When I started on my pagan path many years ago, pretty much the only information available to me was about Wicca with a very heavy emphasis on the Celtic pantheon. The Celtic Gods were complete strangers to me but I tried my best to worship Them through the Wheel of the Year and even dared to create my first few spells (which failed miserably thankfully) calling on Them but nothing ever really clicked.
I tried it all: study, meditation, visualisation, attempted dedication etc but the only feeling I ever got from Them was of Them looking me up and down, saying " What are you doing here?!"

It was disappointing to say the least. I never did manage to connect with Them and moved on to other things but Their refusal of me as a worshipper stayed with me - I think it's very funny now and was probably very wise of Them.

Has anyone else ever experienced something like this total DENIED! from a pantheon or god? Please share!

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Building Relationships with Deities

I'm at a total loss. For the past year I keep having dreams about a certain goddess (and sometimes her consort). I don't know if it's just me dreaming or if I'm being called, but for the last year I've wanted to build a relationship with Her. However, I just don't know how to do it. I've done research, but I feel like it's not very good research. I've asked a few questions though PM about Her, and I think I "understand" a little, but I'm just at a lost on how to start building a relationship with a goddess.

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