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Would you want a pagan temple?

Theweirdtophat

Well-Known Member
Just wondering if there were any pagans interested in joining or having a temple built. such as a modern Greek or roman temple or hof, a germanic temple for the germanic or norse gods, or any other temple for that matter.

Were there any that would be interested in seeing one built. Iceland has talked about making one for the norse deities.
 

The Emperor of Mankind

Currently the galaxy's spookiest paraplegic
Just wondering if there were any pagans interested in joining or having a temple built. such as a modern Greek or roman temple or hof, a germanic temple for the germanic or norse gods, or any other temple for that matter.

Were there any that would be interested in seeing one built. Iceland has talked about making one for the norse deities.

Should these temples be general or would it be best to have at least one dedicated to a deitiy, like a temple for Janus or Thor?

I'd be down for either. I thought about this exact question a while ago and the easiest compromise would be to have a temple for the Pagans in and around a given area (say the city of Edinburgh or Washington D.C. as examples) and have the temple dedicated to the local Pagan population's pantheon of gods - all the gods they worship whether collectively or individually. So each temple for each different area would more than likely have at least some different gods. I'm assuming there'd be space for something like that, of course.
 

Theweirdtophat

Well-Known Member
It probably would be expensive to have one dedicated to one deity. I imagine if the temple was large enough they can have sections and rooms for each deity. Would also like to see Egyptian and Sumerian temples, too.
 

Aštra’el

Aštara, Blade of Aštoreth

I would create a great temple in the desert. There would be statues and paintings of various ancient Mesopotamian and Abrahamic gods and goddesses, with epic depictions of Celestial and Infernal beings- such as archangels and archdemons- and glorious portrayals of the Hells and Heavens as well as the Earth and the cosmos. There would be all kinds of astrological alignments in the architecture and events that only occur on Soltices and Equinoxes. There people would go to worship Ashtoreth, Lilith, Michael, Lucifer, Abzu, Tiamat, YHWH, and many others. Especially YHWH.

I would have it so that to access this temple one would have to journey deep into the desert to reach it. There would be an underground river far beneath the temple complex, with caverns leading to mysterious places and subterranean chambers of worship.

Most of the temple would be built of stone. Above ground, certain chambers of the temple would have wide open unroofed areas of worship to allow the sun within during day, and to observe the Moon, stars and planets at night. One such area would look like an arena of sorts, with an elevated area in the center to allow for physical training or various spiritual-religious events, such as ceremonies and sacrifices.

On some nights, attendents would have the chambers and halls beautifully lit up with torches, though on other nights there would be only darkness, so as to observe the night sky with the greatest clarity. Around the complex would be like a desert oasis, with ponds and springs and palm trees... and the wide open areas in the temple would be no different.

The temple would be beautiful.

 
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VioletVortex

Well-Known Member
My interpretation of Paganism (Odinism) is that it is a spiritual system of thought, as opposed to an organized religion which requires a place of worship.
 

Treks

Well-Known Member
Just wondering if there were any pagans interested in joining or having a temple built. such as a modern Greek or roman temple or hof, a germanic temple for the germanic or norse gods, or any other temple for that matter.

Were there any that would be interested in seeing one built. Iceland has talked about making one for the norse deities.

It's be great, but Pagans are such a loose-knit, argumentative bunch that it makes it incredibly difficult to create or operate. They're already having trouble with the templei n Iceland, and may restrict admission to only certain people.
 

GoodbyeDave

Well-Known Member
My interpretation of Paganism (Odinism) is that it is a spiritual system of thought, as opposed to an organized religion which requires a place of worship.
The ancient Germanic people certainly built temples. The one at Gamla Uppsala was described as magnificent by Adam of Bremen. The modern Icelandic one is quite in keeping with tradition.
 

The Emperor of Mankind

Currently the galaxy's spookiest paraplegic
They're already having trouble with the templei n Iceland, and may restrict admission to only certain people.

I think that was there plan from the start since the Asatruar involved don't want their faith being trivialised as a tourist attraction. I can see why they're doing that.
 

Brinne

Active Member
I think simple temples that are built in a way that is respectful to the landscape would be great. Preferably open air, lots of light, nothing to grandiose.

The image that comes to my head is a small open air circular building made of natural materials with perhaps a pool of fresh water in the middle and ambiguous statues of deities worshipped by the group who constructed it.

Though really it'd be nice to just have somewhere nearby where I could go worship, celebrate, and learn with others.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
I've been trying to collect my thoughts on this topic, but the inspiration is not flowing very well. There are too many streams flowing into the importance of infrastructure that could each be an essay in of themselves.

For now, it is sufficient to say that infrastructure is essential to the establishment of a religion in the contemporary Western world, for many reasons. I was reading a story just the other day about Cherry Hill Seminary and it's financial struggles. This seminary - one of the few places you can go to get non-Abrahamic clerical training in this country - doesn't even have a physical location. They don't have a physical location because they don't have an endowment. And not having either of these things makes it significantly more difficult for them to get accredited by reviewers who are using Abrahamic standards. We need this stuff. Some of it is happening, but slowly.

There's a new church going up on a corner in my town, and I have to drive by it every working day as it is on my route. Every time I pass it, I think to myself "this would be much cooler if it were a Druid grove."
 

Treks

Well-Known Member
I think that was there plan from the start since the Asatruar involved don't want their faith being trivialised as a tourist attraction. I can see why they're doing that.

I think it's deeper than that; they don't want racist groups using it, or other "Asatru" groups that aren't practicing the same way they do, in there. Because there are so many different groups, and they were starting to get quite vocal and pushy trying to tell the Icelandic Asatruars what to do with their own temple. I'd find the article about it, but I don't have time right now, apologies.
 

The Emperor of Mankind

Currently the galaxy's spookiest paraplegic
I think simple temples that are built in a way that is respectful to the landscape would be great. Preferably open air, lots of light, nothing to grandiose.

The image that comes to my head is a small open air circular building made of natural materials with perhaps a pool of fresh water in the middle and ambiguous statues of deities worshipped by the group who constructed it.

Though really it'd be nice to just have somewhere nearby where I could go worship, celebrate, and learn with others.

That might make sense if you're honouring a rain-bringing god or the cult of some water divinity like Sulis, or the spirit of some river or spring. That would be the best option here if you don't mind your temple getting rained on regularly.
 

Treks

Well-Known Member
That might make sense if you're honouring a rain-bringing god or the cult of some water divinity like Sulis, or the spirit of some river or spring. That would be the best option here if you don't mind your temple getting rained on regularly.

Well a lot of hofs are exactly that, minus the pool of water. Simple wooden poles marking the boundary of the space, a stone altar, maybe some god poles. Hofs aren't used for much else but the sometimes quite messy sacrifices. The bulk of the time is spend in the associated building (feasting hall).
 

Treks

Well-Known Member
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