Pretty new to sumerian paganism and just added this Inanna statue to my altar! (it's a veronese design piece for anyone wondering, the details with the lion are so gorgeous in person). Hail Inanna! Queen of Heaven, Goddess of Love, Beauty, Passion, War, and Political Power. Her presence feels so intense and empowering already. Any other mesopotamian/sumerian pagans here? would love to hear how you honor her in your daily practice!

I'm a pagan and keep thinking about Inanna and how she is the goddesses of a LOT of things

And how her influence spreaded throughout the ancient world and actually inspired some other ancient civilizations to make goddesses that were her but wrapped in a greek/roman way (I mean the greeks didn't really hide this with aphrodite)

And then we might speculate and go to ancient Africa for a bit and she inspired goddesses like Oshun and Hathor and later Aset (Isis)

And if you really want to go UPG, you might think she might have influenced the creation of Freyja and Frigg. Though this one is VERY UPG and kinda unlikely. But it wouldn't be surprising either.

Just makes me question if we are dealing with one goddess that is just going with the flow and allowing us to interpret these forms because it helps us interact with the divine

I am in no ways knowledgeable about old myths around the sidhe/Seelie, but I have seen a weird conflict that earth from burns and repels the fair folk, which okay fair i can get behind that.

But then I see sacred metals in Irish myth, and white bronze is there, same as meteorite iron being a sacred metal and apparently safe for the fair folk to wear, so i think I am confused it feels like a double meaning and I am not sure what is true. In this case.

Im researching Sidhe seelie metals because im trying to create an authentic Feel and not just "RPG" cold iron bad i think i want to understand the why and not just pop culture or Victorian bastaridzation of the old myths

When you preform your spells or any sort of ritual, do you cast a protection circle with salt?
Because I do, but I wanted to ask you if you maybe disposed of that salt after the spell or do you keep it aside or do you reuse that salt for other spells and rituals?
I would really appreciate your advice :)

Namaskar!

Found this reddit a few days back, and am glad to see the revival of the eternal path in the West. I come from a traditional background, having studied Hindu scriptures, grammar, and logic from traditional teachers (mainly in South India, but from a handful in the North and Southeast Asia as well). I had some Western education as well, but left it behind once I realized that there's far more to be gained from this, and I've never studied Hinduism in a Western school.

One thing we've discussed as a Hindu community is the need to less insular, and reach out more to other similar communities which also face the same challenges. So, in that spirit, I wanted to reach out and see if there's anything you'd want to know about the Hindu tradition. If not, I'd also be happy to learn more about your traditions, if there's something you think I should read/look into as I try to understand traditions outside of our own!

Obviously, I don't represent the whole tradition -- it's incredibly broad, and the entire idea of religious borders (in the sense of "this is Hindu", "this is Buddhist", "this is Daoist", etc.) is something that many of us consider ridiculous. That being said, I have friends across the tradition, and I'd be more than happy to ask them, or just say I don't know if the question is really good.

So, with that being said, from philosophy to social issues to questions about personal practice, looking forward to talking!

I just wanted to create a post where people can share signs and other things they associate with their deities, to maybe help others connect with them too!

For me, I associate Apollo with the feeling of peace you get when you breathe in fresh air outside, and when the sunrise/sunset looks especially beautiful!

I created a little spreadsheet of the names suggested to share with my partner, but he was pretty (quietly) set on Shadow as a name for our sociable, loving and fun boy cat, although after a couple of days I was leaning towards Shitty Jim 😂 - our house now has 5 litter trays for the pair of them! Star on the left named herself as she has a beautiful white patch on her chest. She’s the first to explore, but her brother is first to approach. They’re a wonderful team and I’m so lucky to have them in my life. Thanks again ⭐️🌚

Hello, my name is Leo and I’m currently working on forming a relationship with Lord Cernunnos. I’m a bit of a pothead and I also have derealization disorder so I’m quite familiar with the feeling of being high or dissociated. I do have days of the week I don’t smoke and my head is clear. On those days I tend to leave offerings to Cernunnos and meditate a bit.

The second I touch anything on his altar I feel instantly high but my mind is clear of that makes sense. I feel calm and I tend to be able to meditate very well after that. It is strange though because I’ve normally taken no substances that day and wouldn’t feel high whatsoever until that moment.

Is it normal for the gods to have that kind of effect on you? I enjoy the feeling don’t get me wrong but I’m just curious on what that could mean. This is the first deity I’m truly forming a bond with so this is all new to me.

I also feel this way when I pull tarot but it’s less intense.

If anyone has any insight I would appreciate it.

I really love the book Drawing Down The Moon by Margot Adler. I have the 2006 edition, which is still pretty recent, but a lot of the book content is still talking about older groups and events. Yes, it is a great book for someone who wants to learn what Paganism is, but I also like that it is about really showing the different groups at the time. I don't want to read more books that are purely about paganism for beginners. "What kind of witch are you?" "Here's the definitions of reconstructionism, eclectic, syncretic, Wicca, Druid…" a lot of this is talking about different types of pagans in general. Rather than "Here's Damh The Bard's story of how he became a druid, what he believes, and his working with OBOD" it would be "Druids tend to believe…" What I want is a book where someone goes to meet a wide variety of pagans and witches to learn what they do, how they view things, and to take part in their rituals. All that investigative journalism and participation is written about. More like "Here's Damh The Bard's story…" I want the neopaganism of now in a book. Especially since now technology (even since 2006) has changed drastically, and so has our dependance on it. Neopaganism and tech would be a fascinating topic to learn about.

Didn't know what to put as the tag so put this

Learnt my lesson on wording things carefully last night. Lit a candle that I found with phoenix imagery on it (I've always been REALLY drawn to the concepts of rebirths and whatnot) and did a couple of players and cleansings. I asked for myself to renew and my old life to be burnt.

So then naturally, my candle defided to burn everything down by falling over, spilling wax all over an extension lead, and all over my desk. I cleaned that up fast and that extension lead was disposed of.

The universe then decided about 2 hours later to say "hey [Psych Cookie]? You wanted your old life to be burnt? Have your main email account hacked."

Thankfully it was only the microsoft acc and I have backups for all my uni work and stuff on a seperate acc (my school one and several emails) and i still have the gmail but. Lord. Scared the shit out of me and I did lose a few things...

Word your spells and prayers CAREFULLY.

Anyone else had these experiences of things going wrong?

My mom and cousin went trought my book of shadows without my permition reminder this was the SECOND time . Yes they are witches too but its unfair and they tell me what to do and not do i just want privaci and do what i want. Also my mom just took my whole altar for apollo Down just because She asked her pendulum if its good for me and it said no. She couldnt even work with IT a month back and i asked her that what deities Can i work with and i told her names ... Anubis Santa muerte loki.... She agreed to loki but than She started screaming at me for why i want to work with gods of the underworld and the death Also i work with Hekate and thats okay for her so i dont understand what do you think about this ? Have something like that happened to you ?

I don't have any crystals or candles and everyone making altars seem to think they are neccessary. Anyone have any other ideas on easier altar making! I don't know what to do and how to make my altar!

How to talk to your home spirits, and how to even get one? How to cultivate a good relationship with them. Im not sure how to do either of these and any advice anyone has would be amazing!

I've always taken a lot more of an "agnostic" approach to Hellenic Paganism / Polytheism.

For about a year or two, I've been worshipping Hypnos. I have a pocket altar that I put together for him that I kept under my pillow for a while, since I was both trying to be secretive and thought it would somehow help with my insomnia at the time, even if it were just my brain tricking itself... y'know, seeing as he was the god of sleep (I never really explicitly asked for help with it from him though, since I didn't feel like I had built enough Kharis to ask for a favor seeing as I was so hesitant with my "belief").

Recently, though, I've been wanting to take my worship (and witchcraft) more seriously, but I'm not sure how to apply it to my everyday life outside of studying/doing research. I don't necessarily have the finances for frequent offerings, and I'm not really sure how to start prayer without an offering to build my thoughts and intentions off of.

I just need some help figuring out what I should do or say to get better at more "casual" prayers, or if there are things, or devotional acts, I can do to keep my worship consistent. I don't ever want it to get to the point where I start forgetting about genuinely putting an effort into my worship and, just, belief in the gods in general... if that makes sense. It's been hard to get out of my agnostic habits and I just want to get better at "doubling down" at this specifically !

I am a rather eclectic pagan, and I’m currently researching solar cults, that’s how I came across Aten. I’d love some tips on how to worship Him, as well as ideas for an altar.

ps1: I’m not a Kemetist, but i want to be respectful to the divine.

ps2: my English is bad, so I'm using google translate.

In western India, there is an old practice of calling ancestor spirit possession as "Bala ji" ("ji" is just common honorfic). Balaji is local protective deity, representing ancestors. Though, in recent times it's getting appropriated by classical Hindu deities.

I noticed there are similar traditions in south India too. However, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, spirit possession was part of old tradition, however, considered negative and evil in modern religion shadows (Christians and Muslims, even modern Hindus).

Curious on how common was/is this tradition across the world? And, how is it surviving? Has the connotation changed from positive ancestral to negative evil spirits?

For more context on west India's tradition: Why we must remember

So I think I made an accidental Alter and I have been using it for a couple weeks and I get a good feeling from it. I have my two Christmas Cacti and a bowl in between that has a compost mix. I put any debris or prunings from the cactuses in the bowl along with a little food here and there. I then feed the cacti with the compost from the bowl on occasion. I get good vibes from this and was wondering what deities or being could be responding to this and how to possibly improve this. I would love some input

so before today i had two cars: one old and one new. the old car sold today for just under $2000 (when i say old i mean old. it still had a cd port and the key was an actual metal car key) while my new one was in the shop. i lightly dedicated the act of putting money into my car as an act of love to lord hermes and offhandedly said “may all that is paid upon this day return to me threefold.” the total repair costs came out to around $500 and one of the worker guys recommended me a place a few towns away to take care of my rust spots for about half of what they’d want (about $300). it doesn’t take a genius to do the math on this one but i think it’s really funny that i got exactly what i asked for, a little more but no less /lh thanks hermes 🙏🪽

My comrades, as a former Christian and socialist I wish to reveal that Christianity disturbed me greatly while I was still a member of the church.

How did I come to Christianity?

As a result of a depression after my parrot, which I had kept for nine years, died a year ago. I sank into the deepest nihilism of depression and already contemplated suicide, until my psychiatrist suggested that I speak with the priest of our church. I followed this advice and asked the priest why life is only so painful, why it holds such emptiness. He told me that this insignificance and emptiness were merely a façade of the devil, intended to turn me away from God’s word and creation and to drive me into the most complete disintegration until I could no longer find the way to God. So I asked him what I could do against the devil. The priest replied that I should open my heart to Jesus by coming to church every Sunday and praying together to the Lord Christ; thus the love of Jesus would slowly enter me and gradually drive out the devil and his egoism. That would be the first goal in life; the second would be to return this love to Jesus by helping others. And that is what I did for a year, until a month ago. For several months I had already been asking where the love of Jesus remained, because for months I had been having family problems. Several times I prayed to Jesus without my father and mother becoming reconciled again. I never found peace from these disputes until my girlfriend once invited me after school to go hiking in the local mixed forests. I accepted the invitation, and while we walked we spoke about our faith—I about Jesus and that I missed him, and she about Father Sun, for she is a neo-pagan. I asked her whether the love of the sun was really as strong as that of Jesus and the Holy Trinity itself. She replied roughly, “The love of the sun is so bright that even its light penetrates the shadows within us.” With my family problems I found this idea wonderful, for it resembled the love of Jesus. During the walk she also spoke of Mother Nature, her love for every creature upon her, and spring as the awakening of the earth and nature. Meanwhile I noticed how strongly I was distracted from the stress at home simply by immersing myself in nature.

So two weeks ago I decided to practise a pagan faith in secret outside the church and to pray daily to the earth for life. Yet, occupied as I am with intellectual insignificance, a feminine nature makes no sense to me at all! Nature consists fundamentally of the theory of evolution and Darwinism. We perceive nature as so passive and peaceful only because we are protected by modernity! And precisely for that reason we think the earth is peaceful and associate it with a mother.

That is exactly what disturbs me: behind the modern façade nature remains fundamentally martial, driven by instinct, egoistic; the most adaptable wins, the weakest dies!

Even human beings are by nature deeply egoistic—race over race, party against party, nation and state!

Do we not resemble nature rather strongly?

Just as a tomcat would try to drive a rat from its territory in order to protect its kittens and its queen, so the human being does in the form of soldier and worker through the most complete political armament against the threat at the front, in order to protect the children and mothers from the monster that lurks beyond the borders!

Therefore I decided to regard the earth as fundamentally masculine; even the sun and the moon I saw as masculine forces that all follow cosmic Darwinism, such as mutual regulation (Jupiter and Saturn), defence against asteroids and meteorites, the control of orbits, the disintegration of minor objects, and so on. For me the universe is a place of masculinity that never comes to rest.

And what does my socialism have to do with this?

I base my anti-capitalism on the view that the bourgeoisie may be a threat that must be averted, exactly as the earth and its magnetic field avert solar storms.

I hope you have a deep understanding of my view, and goodbye!