Questions -- Writing a Paper (ritual, tradition, hell, America)

[spiritually inclined]

Hi. : )

I am taking a magic and cults class, and I am currently writing a short paper on neo-paganism, or any form of paganism for that matter. I would appreciate any answers and opinions to the questions below about your personal path.

As a pagan, do you believe the gods are actual, separate beings, or symbols for a Higher Power? Or a metaphor for something else? Or do you believe in no gods?

Do spells and magic actually work in some supernatural way -- or are they just a natural enhancer of your own abilities? Or both?

How do you feel about other religions, especially Christianity? (Relevant because I live in a very conservative Christian area. )

Do you worship the gods and goddesses? Why do you worship them? Do they become upset if you do not worship them? HOW do you worship them? Or do you not worship them at all?

What drew you to paganism? What is your particular branch of paganism (ex., Wiccan, etc.) or do you not specify?

Please feel free to answer these questions personally. I would really like an insider's perspective.

Peace,
James

[BFD_Zayl]

Originally Posted by spiritually inclined

Hi. : )

I am taking a magic and cults class, and I am currently writing a short paper on neo-paganism, or any form of paganism for that matter. I would appreciate any answers and opinions to the questions below about your personal path.

As a pagan, do you believe the gods are actual, separate beings, or symbols for a Higher Power? Or a metaphor for something else? Or do you believe in no gods?

Do spells and magic actually work in some supernatural way -- or are they just a natural enhancer of your own abilities? Or both?

How do you feel about other religions, especially Christianity? (Relevant because I live in a very conservative Christian area. )

Do you worship the gods and goddesses? Why do you worship them? Do they become upset if you do not worship them? HOW do you worship them? Or do you not worship them at all?

What drew you to paganism? What is your particular branch of paganism (ex., Wiccan, etc.) or do you not specify?

Please feel free to answer these questions personally. I would really like an insider's perspective.

Peace,
James

1. to me, they are separate, unique beings that are self-aware and independent.
2. kind of both, it takes a bit of our own to do the spell, but what happens usually never is just us.
3. I would not say worship them as much as revere and pay homage too. and I do not think they are shallow enough to be offended if you don't do this.
4. i'm not sure, I just found it and it clicked. and i'm a Necromancer, of the Greek tradition.

[Zephyr]

Well I'm a Heathen, which some would claim is Neo-Pagan enough. I'll give it a shot I suppose, but don't be surprised if my answers come off a bit off compared to otheres.

Originally Posted by spiritually inclined

As a pagan, do you believe the gods are actual, separate beings, or symbols for a Higher Power? Or a metaphor for something else? Or do you believe in no gods?

I'm a hard polytheist, so I believe each of my gods is a distinct, seperate being.

Do spells and magic actually work in some supernatural way -- or are they just a natural enhancer of your own abilities? Or both?

Well, I'm a man, and in Asatru magic is considered the woman's domain, so I'm not too knowledgeable here. I will say that I'm undecided. I feel that if a god takes favor on you for some reason you might get a little nudge here and there, but I haven't witnessed anything epic.

How do you feel about other religions, especially Christianity? (Relevant because I live in a very conservative Christian area. )

For me and many other Heathens, some religions are seen in a much better light than others. Any religion that tries to branch out to everyone is seen as a major problem (this includes Christianity), while smaller isolated religions like Judaism or Native American religions are seen in a more positive light. For many of us, Christianity is the biggest problem because it all but eliminated Heathenry in Northern Europe.

Do you worship the gods and goddesses? Why do you worship them? Do they become upset if you do not worship them? HOW do you worship them? Or do you not worship them at all?

In a sense. Worship might be the wrong word though. Do you worship your grandparents? We see the gods as sort of a great ancestor. Certainly paying respect to your old grandfather is a good idea, ja? I don't know if they'd become upset by a lack of respect, but if they do we have a problem: there are a lot more Non-Heathens than Heathens. As for how I honor them, I'll often poor a libation for them, or sacrifice something at the table. Really anything that's meaningful. Not necessarily even food or drink either. It's not too uncommon for somebody to give a poem or song that they spent a long time working on. Hell, on another forum a Heathen mentioned once sacrificing a gallon of gasoline when prices were high!

What drew you to paganism? What is your particular branch of paganism (ex., Wiccan, etc.) or do you not specify?

I don't know really. When I was young I became a Wiccan, but that was just too damn fluffy and in the clouds for me so I left and oddly enough became a Muslim. That didn't work out so well for a number of reasons so I just started looking around. Then a member on here posted about Asatru and I read it and thought "This makes a hell of a lot of sense!" Then I started reading some texts and bam! Heathen. As for branch, we have a lot of names, often with regional variety. Some are: Asatru, Heathenry, Odinism, Forn Sed, Irminenschaft.