#Religious Exploration

[lovergirl-anne]

I've been thinking about my religion lately - or, more accurately, my lack thereof. I've identified interchangeably as a heathen or Norse pagan for a while now, about 4 years, maybe 5, if I remember correctly (though timelines often elude me). However, I've never been a very consistent practitioner. My altar has been collecting dust on my apartment balcony, and I've never attended or hosted a proper holiday celebration, despite my desire to. I occasionally pray to the gods, maybe once every couple months, and I sometimes interpret signs and omens from a Norse-derived perspective, but that's basically the extent of my practice.

For most of my life, I've felt something is missing. I've never felt fully at home in any place, and I feel disconnected from any cultural identity and traditions my family or ancestors may have once had. That, along with some other experiences and observations, and despite my recognition that many of these feelings may be a consequence of class alienation under capitalism, leads me to think that perhaps I can find some answer in religion.

Specifically, something that has caught my attention over the past year, especially since meeting my ex-girlfriend, who is a Catholic convert, is liberation theology. The idea of bringing an anti-capitalist, anti-imperial perspective to something like Christianity is intriguing, to say the least. Starting last night, I've gained an interest in bringing that sort of perspective to specifically Eastern Orthodox teachings, especially given Orthodoxy's proximity to the modern manifestations of Western imperialism in the Middle East and the Balkans. Given my particularly anti-colonial approach to politics, I think this might be valuable.

In the past couple weeks, I've been made aware of dissociative symptoms and episodes that I've experienced throughout my life. These episodes have, looking back, significantly held me back in my ability to keep up with everyday life and responsibilities. I believe the emotional experience of religion, especially one with strong aspects of mysticism, like Orthodoxy, may help with grounding me and mitigating the worst of these symptoms.

Tomorrow, on Lazarus Saturday, I'll be visiting the All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Raleigh to witness the liturgy. I will also be asking about their resources and community. I'm really excited to see where this takes me. :)

DISCLAIMER (PLEASE READ)

To reiterate something, because I know Christianity is one of the more polarizing religions:

Militant anti-theism has never been tolerated on this page. And it never will. I ask that discussions on and about this post be respectful. I am queer and a communist myself, so trying to invalidate either my religious exploration or queer identity with each other is ridiculous. Obviously, as a gender non-conforming transgender lesbian, I will not be taking on misogynistic or queerphobic beliefs from scripture. That is simply incompatible with who I am.

Thank you for your understanding <3

[witchcraftrailroad]

I don’t think of spirituality the same way most people do. Or maybe, how they were taught. It’s hard to describe. I was not raised in a religious household. I’ve been learning about paganism for the last 12 years. Exploring my ancestry. Learning about the types of spirits and how to apply this logically. If I can’t make it logical, it doesn’t work. As far as spirits go, according to Animism, everything has a spirit. Humans, animals, plants, water, wind. Everything has energy, and spirit work to me is energy work. Humans like to personify the specific energy they’re working with, and that’s fine. I don’t believe in brownies, gnomes, fairies, etc. However, I do believe there are certain spirits, beings and forces on this planet that we may never understand. I do understand that once we die, that’s not the end of it. I’ve seen things, but even more importantly, I have EVP evidence recorded myself of a loved one whose death cracked open the veil to the world of the dead for me. I don’t have a theory on where the spirits go. They stay on earth. I do have a feeling they recycle. Of course, that’s just my theory.

When it comes to deities, in any religion, here’s how I see it: say you want to work with the energy of beauty and self-love, you may work with Aphrodite, or the energy she personifies. Maybe you’re into nature and animals. Cernunnos might be a deity to look into. Maybe you’re like me and want to work with the energy of the dead, there’s Anubis. Perhaps Hades. Of course there’s many, many more like saints, archangels, etc. I don’t know enough about them to speak on them.

Of course I am still learning and trying to make sense of it all, but I don’t see any of the religions as a “pray and worship” sort of situation. I think it’s more than that. More and maybe a little off to the side. 😂

[ringohazel]

I don't think faith will fix any of my mental problems but it would be nice to feel like I have faith in something again. I feel more inclined towards something nature based, like something ancient and traditional. Shintoism didn't work out. Does anyone know of anything I could explore?

[sboochi]

More Youtubers AU; mostly two idiots pining for each other

(Usually I jinx myself by saying I'm gonna start working on smth and then never actually do it so I won't make a statement BUT...........)

[honeyrosepetals]

[sewerratwithrabiess]

[independent-fics]

Countdown to LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION Season 3 ↳ Alec Hardison Appreciation -> A Favorite Quote

S01EP01 The Too Many Rembrandts Job

Bonus Moment:

[worfsbarmitzvah]

there’s such an attitude among ex-christian atheists that religions just spring up out of the void with no cultural context behind them. like ive heard people say shit like “those (((zionists))) think they own a piece of land bc their book of fairy tales told them so!!!” and they refuse to understand that no, we don’t belong there because of the torah, it’s in the torah because we belong there. because we’re from there. the torah (from a reform perspective) was written by ancient jews in and about the land that they were actively living on at the time. the torah contains instructions for agriculture because the people who lived in the land needed a way to teach their children how to care for it. it contains laws of jurisprudence because those are pretty important to have when you’re trying to run a society. same for the parts that talk about city planning. it contains our national origin story for the same reason that american schools teach kids about the boston tea party. it’s an extremely complex and fascinating text that is the furthest thing from just a “book of fairy tales”

[canisalbus]

Do you ever get attacked by homophobes about your art?

A lot less than I had initially feared. I think the only times when I've gotten some purposefully homophobic comments on twitter is when I've drawn my dogs looking very clearly in love while mixing in religious elements in some particularly transparent way. But even then it's been more like displeased grumbling than a direct attack. For the most part people have been remarkably chill, I hope it stays that way.

[loggedbloddgedfjsjf]

locked & loaded

[kastalani123]

Leo Valdez, contrary to popular belief formed by the fact that most people only see him around others when he's fighting for his life, does not use his fire all the time.

It's been Plan C since he was eight, afterall, the screams of his mother and crackling of kindling eternally echoing in his ears. It itches under his skin, rages through his veins, burns in his chest, it wants out, but he claws at it and buries it down, down, down where it cannot hurt anyone. Ivory bones under charred skin flash through his mind, flames devouring everything around–

He pulls his ratty blanket tighter around himself, shoving away the need to drive away the winter chill with his lifeblood. There are angry red marks down his arms, lacerations decorating his ribs, oozing blood, and he had been taught how to burn them, to force his skin to yield to flames, to use fire to heal, but he doesn't, because nothing that eats away at living flesh can be good — it's the Devil's power, afterall.

He uses it to save his friends, to save the world, because the damage it can do is smaller than if he doesn't. It tears him into pieces, skin flaking off and bones crumbling to ash, and that is his repentance, his purgatory, his Passion, his crucifixion for his own sins–

And then he's back and he binds his hands in gloves and cuffs imbued with the need to trap, to keep his simmering underneath his skin, to contain the fire in his bones and his bones only. He is not to burn anything ever again if he can help it.

Leo Valdez does not use his fire.

[mavenstein]

[jayktoralldaylong]

I love the TGCF approach to religion because it shows that you don't need to make your charcaters atheist to make them 'cool'.

Take He Xuan for instance. He Xuan spent day and night praying to god to solve his problems. Just to end up finding out that 'god' was causing ALL of his problems. 💀💀💀💀 What did He Xuan do? Defiantly stop believing in god? Don't be ridiculous. He Xuan's new goal became climbing into the heavenly realm to kill 'god' with own two hands. 😂😂🤣🤣😭😭

Now if anyone had the right to become athiest in TGCF, it was Qi Rong, the boy abandoned by god.

And I do love the parallels between Qi Rong and Hua Cheng because they essentially worshipped the same god. But Qi Rong is a representation of a fanatic. He beat children and slaughtered people 'in the name of the Lord' then did not understand why he was shunned by the god he loved. From his perspective, all he ever did was love god. But his god would not love him back.

Meanwhile, the reason Xie Lian responded to tiny Hua Cheng in the first place was because Hua Cheng was one of the only few believers to follow his instructions when it came to prayer.

Xie Lian wanted all of his believers to pray standing up with their heads bowed. He did not want monetary offerings but they were allowed to give him gifts. So tiny Hua Cheng did not kneel while he prayed and he brought Xie Lian a flower. It pleased the young prince greatly. He could not leave Hua Cheng's prayer unanswered.

Then Bai Wuxiang (I love all the four calamities so much).

Interestingly, the most atheist character in TGCF was a god himself. A god who'd grown quite tired of getting all the blame every time something bad happened. He'd slaved away thanklessly for the people he loved, but as soon as things went wrong, they turned on him. Hated him, cursed him, even beat him.💔 A god that grew to loathe his believers and caused them endless suffering.... Because they were always praying to god, but none of them would stay with him when things got hard.

[vaguely-concerned]

on one level one simply has to hand it to the chantry for sticking to a theology based entirely around god as a divine deadbeat dad (but He was like right about it tho don't get it twisted). giving a whole continent daddy issues. yeah daddy left us. yeah it was your fault even though you weren't born yet. maybe if you're really really good and enact violence on the groups and minorities we've deemed appropriate he'll come back for us. but probably not lbr :/ still do it tho. andrastian guilt must hit different in its more severe stages