#apagansjourney

[breelandwalker]

Ok. I'm bored at work and doing a one on one which means I am the one looking after only one resident. As it's the overnight shift and he's sleeping, it's been very very boring. So. I'm stalking your blog. And have been for two hours now. (I had a two hour nap on my break). I keep seeing reference to Christians stole Christmas? Is there a link you can point me too? I'm just curious as I've heard this for years. Thanks in advance 🤩

HOLY MOTHER OF MITTENMICE, CHILD. Back away slowly, you know not what madness you toy with. It is an unholy can of worms which opens each year around this time and believe me when I tell you, there are many of us who dread it like the clomping hooves of Krampus upon our doorsteps. It is a wraith of woe and suffering which visits us not once, but SEVERAL times each year, resulting in much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The whole mess makes me want to deck the halls with barfed-up holly and when I see those posts start to make the annual rounds, I always need a little Christmas right this very minute. If by “Christmas” we mean “copious amounts of Irish whiskey.” It makes a witch wish fervently for a silent night.

-sigh- Well, the lid’s off. Best get this over with.

There is an annual debate…and I’m using the term very generously….which centers around the juxtaposition of Christmas and Yule, the key points of which generally hinge upon the inability of some pagans to tell the difference between cultural integration and outright theft.

Key terms in this debate are “syncretism” (the blending or amalgamation of cultures, traditions, and philosophies over time) and “conflation” (the merging of two or more similar or related ideas into a single concept, not always correctly). It is largely the latter that is the cause of our pain, namely in the mistaken assumption that since Christmas and Yule occur at the same time of year and share a number of traditions and symbols that they must be the SAME holiday and/or that the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus is entirely adapted or “stolen” from older pagan festivals.

Which is about as correct as saying that because there is a Dublin in Ireland and a Dublin in Pennsylvania, both sharing a large population of Irish people, a similar climate, and a surrounding of dairy farms, that they therefore must be the same town and/or the more recent settlement’s ways were maliciously purloined from the elder.

If you’re already frowning and saying, “Wait, that makes no sense,” you’re beginning to get an idea of what several of us have to deal with every winter solstice. And every Halloween, every Easter, and more recently, on Walpurgisnacht as well. It’s maddening and headache-inducing, and trust me when I tell you, the battles get ugly.

The short version of the stance held by witches who are students of academic history (rather than whatever Llewellyn is limping to the barn with) is that Christmas and Yule share festival traditions and symbols because of generations of coexistence and cultural blending between the Church and the pagan country folk. Christmas is as much a secular holiday as it is a religious one, and many pagan traditions became secular traditions during the process of conversion. This is particularly true of symbols and celebrations connected to solstice festivals. Ergo, over time, formerly-pagan secular traditions were adapted and adopted into the secular festivities associated with the Christmas season.

Yule, as we know it in modern paganism, is largely adapted from Gerald Gardner’s interpretation of the older Norse holiday of the same name. In Scandinavia, Christmas and Yule are celebrated as one and the same. In fact, the word for Christmas in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, and Icelandic is some permutation of Jul or Jól. (It’s their word and their festival, they can conflate the two as they see fit. Are you gonna tell them no? I’m certainly not.)

The trouble arises when witches who are students of authors who were students of Gardner (or at least his writings) claim with the majestic authority of having-no-one-around-to-say-them-nay-back-in-the-1980s that Christians, the ostensible enemy of all things pagan, are still persecuting us in the present age by daring to have a holiday with shared history and traditions to one of our own. Ravenwolf and Buckland, we’re all looking at you. Glaring, even.

(Please note that despite similar timing, traditions, colors, and symbols, nothing is EVER said of Yule and Hanukkah being conflated, which illustrates the other part of the problem: some pagans just seem to need the crutch of perceived Christian oppression in order to feel validated. And so they see fit to ruin everyone’s holiday cheer by complaining about problems which are either hundreds of years dead and gone or which never existed in the first place.)

There’s SO much more to it than this, but it begins to delve into minutiae and I’ll just wind up writing yet another book. Suffice it to say, it is far wiser and far more in keeping with the spirit of both Christmas AND Yule to offer each other peace and goodwill, rather than bickering over who really owns the religious version of intellectual property rights to decorated evergreens and flying reindeer.

Hope this answers your questions. Have a very merry holiday season! :)

[shelbymelissa]

Long-term Tumblr user, new blog name; was just wondering if you would be able to recommend some good witch/pagan blogs? Thanks

Hey! Congrats on the new blog!Ummmm. Well. I’m not in the rounds so much any more, so I don’t know who is all currently big. However, I do have some blogs that I have been following for years that I love! (Basically, I consider them friends, or closer acquaintances as to not over assume friendship level.)

@hellboundwitch​ - Witch obvs. and pagan @asksecularwitch​ - Secular witch@thiscrookedcrown​ - Witch and maybe identifies as pagan? Crown does some astral and spirit stuff.@thetwistedrope​, and @satsekhem​ - Egyptian deities@torque-witch​ - Witch and pagan, Hel@beewitch​ - Witch and pagan, Artemis@cannibalcoalition​ - Witch, and identifies as pagan?And I am sure there are more people that I can’t think of at the moment. But I hope this helps get you started!Also, everyone I’ve listed isn’t solely a witch or pagan blog. So they do post about their lives or reblog other things. Also, everyone does things differently. So you’ll get a range of beliefs and practices. Good luck!

[libraford]

apagansjourney

Tbh, I have no idea what beard means in this context.

A beard is a person who a non-straight person dates (or seems to date) to derail rumors that they are gay. So like... my beard was this dude I ‘dated’ from church because I was trying to reduce the amount of bullying I got for being a closeted lesbian. 

[apagansjourney]

Welcome to my blog.

Hello! I’m starting anew. I’ve been around tumblr off and on for years now. I just had to delete all my old ones, as none of them were working for various reasons. You may remember me as lilredridingbook, or apagansjourney from a few years back. I decided to keep the name as it’s fitting! I tried this blog under octopodoccultist, but a dear friend told me it sounded too villianous to be taken seriously. I agree. 

So, for those that don’t know me - and a refresher for those who do remember - I’m living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I used to work at Wal-Mart, but five months ago I graduated to become a Health Care Aide! I’ve been working four months now, and I love it. I work in a long term care facility, and it’s brilliant. I enjoy all my residents, and helping them. I’m very passionate about the elderly. I don’t think they get the recognition they deserve. I adore them, I truly do!

As the blog name suggests, I’m on a journey of the pagan persuasion. I’ve always been pagan, before I knew there were real witches! It started in the 90′s, when the New Age movement hit. I was absorbed with all things crystal, and coveted my amethysts that were always gifted to me by family. (Being a February baby, it’s my birthstone. I’m also a Pisces.) 

I was fifteen or sixteen when I was browsing Chapters, looking in the New Age section, debating on what to buy. I was gobsmacked when I came across the now famous (and controversial) Teen Witch by Silver Ravenclaw. I bought that book so fast, and devoured it over and over again. 

Ahhh, yes. The idiocy of youth, right? I’d stare at the cover for hours, imagining power that I would obtain through the book. The usual crap that teens dredge up after watching The Craft too many times. It took me years to realize Hollywood magic and real magic are two separate entities! After that, I really started to live the pagan lifestyle, not by conscious choice. I wore the ‘witchy’ clothes - long flowing hippie skirts, and peasant tops. I started taking more interest in the environment, speaking up for animal rights, trying to be a better person. I was enamoured with all things occult. I slowly grew out of the New Age phase, and more into Witch Age. If that’s a thing ... 

It wasn’t until my early thirties, where I was able to find a teaching circle, in Calgary, Alberta, where I was able to really delve deep into becoming a pagan. After nearly two years of lessons, lessons that I absolutely loved, lessons where I shared energy, and light and love, lesson that had me leading huge rituals with up to fifty people!!!, I had a huge faith of crisis and withdrew into myself. 

This was five or six years ago. I’m now living with my parents, where I’m really  not allowed to practice, leaving me feeling left in the dark, and abandoned from the connection I had steadily built prior. The last few months, I’ve had this insane pull to start up again. I really miss my community, my connection, my feeling of utter belonging. I’m hoping that by utilizing this blog, I’ll be able to gain some of that back. 

I went to a workshop the other week, lead by someone I really admire who owns a shop. I’m frothing at the mouth for more, but am patient until the next one, and have in the meantime looked up some resources to read to tide me over. 

So, I decided to start a tumblr, yet again!, to chronicle my path and my way. I’ll be posting my own spells, rituals, and findings, along with reblogs. This will be my online grimoire, and book of shadows, so to speak. 

[heatherwitch]

I'd like to see posts about herbs, as well as more in depth discussions

Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind! ❤️