#mixed pantheon paganism

[mixed-pantheon-pagan]

The start of my altar to Loki

[luckywolfsbane]

Thank you, Apollo, for non-drowsy nausea medication. Ik you're not directly responsible, but this shit is so effective that it must have been blessed by either you or your son, Asclepius. I swear to fuck.

[hiddenhearthwitch]

📚 Small Intro To Polytheism📚

One of the most frequent asks I receive is how and where to get started when it comes to polytheism. This is a fairly broad subject and I’ll try to be as general as I can for advice but I will include specific references for Norse polytheists as that’s my shit. This information can be used to help you find a pantheon or to help you pick deities to work with it. If you’d like to use it to pick a patron deity that’s super, if you want to worship 20 gods and not have a patron deity that’s cool too. You do you dude. Please keep in mind this is all reflective of my research and personal practice. 🌻

Picking A Pantheon/Deity

This really boils down to personal preference. You’ll read a lot of posts and books that tell you many different ways and it’s entirely up to you because it is your practice.  That being said, there’s a couple of different ways to go about it. 

Research! This is one of my favorite ways to delve in. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with reading the stories of multiple pantheons and picking on that calls to you. You can also talk to other devotees and see what they have to say about deities and their religions. It is important to keep in mind that some religions are closed so please do proper research!

For example, I wasn’t originally a Norse pagan. I read some stories and thought the Hellenic pantheon would best suit me. I reached out to Eros for a while but after feeling no real connection to the pantheon I continued my research! After reading up on the Norse pantheon I decided to reach out to them out. Obviously, I fucking loved it because here I am. Point being, you can pick a pantheon based on research and not some divine message or whatever. You are also more than welcome to try out a religion, decide it doesn’t suit you, and move on. 

Divination! You can use runes, a pendulum, tarot, etc.This can go a few different ways. You can write pantheon/deity names on separate pieces of paper, mix them up, and place them face down then ask the pendulum to pick. You can assign a deity/pantheon to each suit of cards or major arcana card or even do the same thing with runes. 

For example, this is how I found a devotion to Frigg and Hel. I asked if there were any deities who were interested in working with me and pulled the runes Hagalaz and Berkana which read as Hel and Frigg to me. I followed up with tarot cards and pulled Death(Hel) plus the Queen of Pentacles(Frigg).

Asking/waiting for a sign. This isn’t something I’ve personally done so I don’t have much to say on the subject. You can go about meditating, praying, doing a ritual, or whatever and essentially wait for a sign after. It can come via a dream, something you experience, symbols you see in your daily life, it’s pretty much up to your intuition to decipher it. If anyone has information they’d like me to add in here please let me know!

If there’s a god you’re curious about and don’t want to do any of the above it’s totally cool to just reach out and ask if they want to work with you. 

Idk How To Research

Same, tbh my keyword search game is weak. Anyways, good portion of us are looking up dead religions with little reliable resources. To give those curious about the Norse an easy head start here’s a compiled list of  books by yours truly(click me!!) . It’s important to take everything with a grain a salt of salt when doing research. In my experience a lot of the retold Norse sagas have been Christianized or written under heavy Wiccan influences. It’s a good idea to do research on the author before reading one of their books.

Other blogs! There are tons of great witches and pagans on tumblr that have information waiting for you. 💗 You can search their blog/tags for good references for books, websites, podcasts, etc. Plus lots of blogs are open to answer asks. If you don’t know where to start for searching it’s best to try things based around your interest like: “norse polytheist”, “hellenic witch”, “gaelic polytheism”, etc.

Media! How lucky are we that we live in the age of technology? Knowledge is right at our fingertips! There are countless documentaries, podcasts, and audiobooks on youtube full of information for different cultures and religions. I’d personally recommend almost anything by BBC, Myths & Legends, and World Mythology!

Books! I love starting on goodreads to find good books and trust worthy authors. They’ve had almost every book I looked up with bunches of different reviews so you can get varying perspectives. Check out your local library as well! A lot of city libraries have online databases now of all of their books so you can “check it out” online and read the PDF(personal fave). 

Feeling Lost Still?

That’s completely reasonable and your feelings are more than valid. It can be overwhelming and lot of information to soak up. Just do your best and take it at your own pace, there’s no rush to find a deity or pantheon. 💞 Below are a few other general concerns I hear a lot that I was hoping to address.

“I’m leaving a monotheistic(Christian, Catholic, Jewish, etc) religion and it’s giving me anxiety.” This is entirely common and almost expected in my opinion. I was raised Roman Catholic and my first year to two looking into polytheism riddled me with anxiety. I was constantly concerned that god would smite me down or I’d face an eternity in hell for worshiping false gods. While I can’t speak for everyone that fear was entirely erased for me when I found my gods. I’ve never felt so safe and strong and hopefully with time you can find the same in your gods!

It’s okay to want to learn more or to seek something more. I can’t tell you how to handle your anxiety but please know you’re not alone in that fear. There’s whole communities out there willing to support you and help you find your safe space(including me)!

“What’s UPG?” You’ll see a lot of posts, mine included, that mention UPG - UPG is Unverified Personal Gnosis. This is essentially someone’s personal thoughts and beliefs about a deity. For example, I associate Sif with hazelnuts. There’s nothing in the lore or any book that says that she likes hazelnuts; that’s just a personal opinion(aka a UPG).

“How do I reach out to the gods?” I have a lot of information on my blog about this topic although a lot of it is Norse specific. You can check out my beginner polytheist tag here and my beginner norse post/ask here.

Altar! This is my go to typically. Altars aren’t limited to the cookie cutter image that comes to mind(no hate though I have a few); one thing you can make a side blog dedicated to your pantheon/deity, make a small one in a tin can, or even make one in a video game like Minecraft or some shit. You can be as creative or as to the book as you want. It’s up to you.

Prayer! You can totally just sit down and be like, “Hey man wanna work on some shit together?”. While I’m not 100% that all gods would be down with you being that casual it’s still something you can try.😂 You can reach out to them by sitting down in a quiet space and meditating into prayer, praying in the car or in the shower, or just pray at the altar you set up if you did. Again, I can not reiterate this enough, it’s your practice, reach out to them as you please.

Do something personal! This is more like devotional work in my opinion. Let’s say you knit and you want to reach out to a creative or domestic deity, you can knit something as a devotional act to them and as a way to reach out. For example I pick up litter in honor of the Vanir and Jörð, or I play Skyrim for Thor and Týr.

Most importantly just be honest and up front with the god that you’re reaching out too. Considering that statement be honest with yourself as well. There’s no point going into a relationship with a god if you can’t be upfront, it’ll end up in nothing but grief.

“Can deities reach out through gods/signs?” They totally can. However, it is up to you and your intuition if a deity has and it’s not likely another witch will decipher that for you. Sounds, experiences, images, all have different meanings to each of us - they may show you something that’s very personal to you but would be mundane to someone else. Trust your instincts. However, please remember that not everything is magical, sometimes a raven is just a raven and not Odin.

✨Take everything you learn with a grain of salt. Including this post.✨

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[themuseumofwitchcraftandpaganism]

Did Christianity Steal From Paganism? Yes... No... It's Complicated. Part 1: Rome

Tis the season so I figured I'd talk about the topic that's been the subject of debate for a long time, most recently with the 2024 Olympics. I will be discussing the visual aspect of these religions, not the theological aspects.

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: No

Let's get into it: It took about a hundred years after the death of Christ for Christianity to start gaining popularity in the Roman Empire. At around 100 AD the first congregations secretly started meeting in basements and had to be very subtle with their worship. Being Christian at this time was a crime; they refused to pay the federal taxes that exalted the emperor as a god. At this point, after the Roman Emperor died, the Senate would vote to either add them to the pantheon or erase their legacy from public consciousness. Some emperors weren't very lucky but most of them got deified. The Christian citizens of Rome refused to offer sacrifices to the emperor because it broke the first of the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not have no other gods before me." There isn't much Christian art from this time, and they were definitely the religious minority.

Skip forward to 306 AD, there's yet another civil war over the throne of the Empire. The two men fighting for it were Constantine I and Maxentius. In addition to battles, the two of them funded public projects to gain the approval of the people. They both built baths, aqueducts, and basilicas. Basilicas were the Roman equivalent of city halls: the local government operated out of them, trials and town meetings were held there, and there were small niches in the walls dedicated to different gods. Maxentius built the basilica on the left (below) and Constantine built the one on the right (below). Constatine's basilica, Aula Palatina, is still the largest remaining Roman structure that's a single room.

Maxentius' basilica was bigger but in 310 AD Constatine beat him and took the throne, partly because of the support he got from the Christian citizens. In 312 AD, Constatine converted to Christianity and enacted the Edict of Milan which made Christianity legal.

But look at Aula Palatina. It looks like our modern idea of a church. It has rows of benches, which would've been used for town meetings, and a semicircular niche at the end called an apse. In a Christian church, the apse is where the altar goes just like the niches in the Roman Pagan basilicas where different gods would be worshiped. Constantine didn't change the design from a Pagan basilica at all --because why fix what isn't broken? -- and just placed it into a Christian context.

For the next hundred years, Roman citizens started to mix Christian and Pagan imagery.

Families would bury both Christian and Pagan members in the same catacomb and decorated it accordingly. The fresco below (320-340 AD) is from the Catacombs of Priscilla (200-400 AD). It has an image of Christ as the Good Shepard in the middle, but the birds along the outside represent the four seasons; an image that featured commonly in Pagan catacomb frescos. Christ's clothing and contrapposto posing is also reminiscent of Pagan statues, particularly of the god Apollo.

The fresco on the left (below) from the Catacombs of Saints Marcellinus and Peter (~300 AD), is visually similar to the last one fresco we looked at. Christ is in the middle and around him are the four Evangelists and Bible stories like Jonah and the whale. In the four corners again, there are personifications of the four seasons. Elsewhere in the Catacomb, there's a depiction of Christ as Orpheus (right, below), again combining these Pagan and Christian icons. In the Bible, it says that Christ will tame all the wild animals, and the artist is likening that to the Roman Pagan story of Orpheus taming animals with his music.

If you look at the middle of this complex fresco on the left (below) from the Catacomb of Commodilla (100-800 AD), it has a depiction of Jesus and three of the apostles dressed like Roman senators (300-400 AD). On the right is a depiction of St. Paul as a Roman philosopher from the same Catacomb.

But this interest in combining artistic traditions extended to the sarcophagi that people were buried in too. Roman Pagans usually opted to be cremated rather than buried but when they did choose to be buried, they liked to carve scenes of their gods into their sarcophagi. Roman Christians, who almost always chose to be buried, did the same. The sarcophagus on the left (below) belonged to a woman named Arria (b.~350 -- d.~400 AD) and depicts a story about the Roman Pagan moon goddess Selene. The one on the right (below) belonged to a Senator named Junius Bassus (b. 317 -- d.359 AD) depicts difference scenes from the Bible like Adam and Eve and Jesus entering Jerusalem. Do you see the visual similarities? Both sarcophagi are also carved from marble.

The mosaic below is perhaps the best example of how Christian and Pagan imagery and theologies were mixed. It used to be the floor in a wealthy Roman's villa and was found in Hinton St Mary, Dorset, England; it's the furthest north Roman mosaic ever found. The bottom panel depicts a beardless Christ with a chi-rho behind his head. (The chi-rho, XP, came from the first two letters of Christ's name in Latin. It's a Christian symbol that's still used to denote that a figure is Christ.) On either side of him is a pomegranate. Pomegranates were sacred to the goddess Persephone; Roman Pagan religion taught that she went down to the Underworld for half the year and then up to the mortal world for half the year, fueling the changing seasons. Persephone and Christ are both gods that went to the afterlife and then came back to bring new life to humans; it's not hard to see how they got conflated on this mosaic. In the corners around Christ there are four men. Their imagery is reminiscent of both the four Evangelists and the gods of the four winds, again doubling Pagan and Christian imagery. In the upper panel, there's a scene portraying the Pagan story of Bellerophon spearing the Chimæra while flying on Pegasus. That story is frequently understood to be the "Good triumphing over Evil" story archetype, much like the story of Christ triumphing over death/sin is. Whoever owned this villa literally mixing both the visual and theological elements of both Paganism and Christianity.

In the late 300s, the Emperors (who were all Christian now) started introducing laws that made it harder for Pagans to practice. They banned animal sacrifices eventually Christianity was officially declared the religion of Rome in the late 400s. However, the enforcement of these laws wasn't applied very well and people continued to practice Roman Paganism until the fall of the Empire.

But even after the fall of Rome, Roman Pagan imagery persisted in a Christian context. In the West, Emperor Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire, which was Christian, purposely copied the imagery of the Roman Emperors. He used equestrian statues and coinage of him wearing a Roman laurel to demonstrate his power. The top two images below are of the Chrisitan Emperor Charlemagne and the bottom two are of the Pagan Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

In the East, the early Byzantine Empire were still interested in Roman drapery and architecture. Below is Archangel Michael (left) as well as Emperor Justinian and Theodora (right) preparing the Eucharist. Both images display Roman architecture and drapery. Byzantine would eventually move away from Roman influences but in its early days, they were definitely inspired by it.

So, the answer everyone is looking for is NO.

The Christians didn't steal anything from the Pagans, they made an association. They produced art in the style that was popular and followed the artistic trends of the time. Christian and Pagan imagery was produced in the same medium and combined until Paganism was phased out over hundreds of years. They saw similar gods and iconography and combined them to make a message that was understandable to all audiences.

Happy Yule! Happy Winter Solstice!

Further readings:

The Deification of Roman Emperors (Chapter 4) - Invented History, Fabricated Power

BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: Roman Religion GalleryThe Paleochristian Art of the Roman Catacombs ~ Liturgical Arts Journal

Chi Rho - Wikipedia

History of Christianity - Wikipedia

Anglicanism: a Gift in Christ – Part 1: An Ancient Church

Constantine the Great - Wikipedia

Maxentius - Wikipedia

Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus - Wikipedia

Marble sarcophagus with the myth of Selene and Endymion | Roman | Severan | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Smarthistory – Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire - Wikipedia

Equestrian statuette of Charlemagne - Wikipedia

Smarthistory – San Vitale and the Justinian and Theodora Mosaics

ARH1000 Early Christian & Byzantine Art.pdf | Free Download

The image of Christ in Late Antiquity | Semantic Scholar

mosaic floor | British Museum

[indnwitch]

I been pagan for many years so let’s get into it;

How do you become pagan? Pick a god pantheon you’re drawn to, and research the gods and goddess you’re drawn too. Their stories, their candles, their offerings, set up an altar for them and start praying and worshipping.

There’s no right or wrong way to be pagan, and no you don’t have to do witchcraft to be pagan.

Pagan gods see you as equals not as servants, they love that there’s still people that worship them and remember them especially since paganism isn’t common practice anymore. You’re the one in control, free will.

Do I have to veil? Only if you feel drawn to it or your God/Goddesses as it of you or to honor them.

Pagan veiling head and/or face is more about energetic protection than modesty. Though in today’s world most veils are worn with modest dress even if they don’t have to be.

No matter what you choose your gods are going to be happy and proud of you.

But do they judge? Not really no, Pagan gods and goddesses are not perfect and don’t expect perfection from you either. They will help you improve your life and it may seem hard but they will never judge you or abandoned you.

Is there a conversion process? Nope. Once you decide to be pagan you’re pagan

Do I have to give up holidays? Nope, in fact you gain more than a few

How do I know my prayer is accepted? All prayers to pagan gods are accepted, offerings sweeten the deal but don’t always need to be made to get what you want.

But what about hell? Doesn’t exist for humans, hell is a concept people made up and torment themselves with on earth. The depictions of hell you see are a mix of hades underworld and the five realms of Asgard not accessible to human energy.

Will other pagans judge me? Absolutely not, if they do they’re not really pagan.

But I have tattoos and drink and premarital sex? So what?! The pagan gods don’t give a shit about that, they drink, some love offerings of herb and cigarettes, sex is an offering to some pagan gods. They’re not judgmental beings.

Paganism is a lot chiller than some people think, prayer, devotion, and inner work is serious however you can be chill about it. Chill and mutual respect is all that’s needed.

[blog-names-are-overrated]

Imagine if a halfblood was pagan before learning they were a demigod and they turned out to be worshipping a completely different god than the one that was their parent

Like an Apollo kid worshipping Aphrodite

Or a Demeter kid worshipping Hera

Or an Athena kid worshipping Hephaestus

Or an ares kid worshipping Apollo

Actually fuck it let’s mix some pantheons

A Loki kid worshipping hestia

Hermes kid worshipping mars

Venus kid worshipping Artemis

[wolverinesorcery]

UNBLENDING CELTIC POLYTHEISTIC PRACTICES

Celtic Umbrella

This lesson is largely focusing on the insular Celtic nations & Brittany (Ireland/Eire, Scotland/Alba, Wales/Cymru, Cornwall/Kernow, Isle of Man/Mannin, & Brittany/Breizh) - traditionally regarded as 6 out of the 7 Celtic nations. Galicia/Galizia is the 7th, but because of a mix of the below + my own lack of knowledge, I won't be covering them.

The vast swath of Continental Celtic cultures are a different but equally complex topic thanks to extinction, revival, varying archaeological artefacts and the work of modern practioners to piece unknown parts back together.

This will serve as a quick 'n' dirty guide to the insular Celtic nations, Celtic as a label, blood percentages and ancestry, the whats and whys of "Celtic soup", and how to unblend practice.

The insular Celtic groups are split into two language groups: Brythonic languages and Gaelic languages.

Brythonic languages are Cymraeg/Welsh, Kernewek/Cornish, & Breton

Gaelic languages are Gàidhlig/Scottish, Gaeilge/Irish, & Gaelg/Manx.

The language split leads to certain folkloric and religious figures & elements being more common within the language group than without. All of these nations had historic cultural exchange and trade routes via the Celtic sea (and beyond). Despite this, it is still important to respect each as a home to distinct mythologies.

Pros/Cons of a broad Celtic umbrella

Pros

- Used within celtic nations to build solidarity - Relates to a set of cultures that have historic cultural exchange & broad shared experiences - A historic group category - Celtic nations’ culture is often protected under broad legislation that explicitly highlights its ‘Celtic-ness’.

Cons

- Can be used reductively (in academia & layman uses) - Often gives in to the dual threat of romanticisation/fetishisation & erasure - Conflates a lot of disparate practices under one banner - Can lead to centring ‘celtic american’ experiences. - Celtic as a broad ancestral category (along with associated symbols) has also been co-opted by white supremacist organisations.

In this I’m using ‘Celtic’ as a broad umbrella for the multiple pantheons! This isn’t ideal for specifics, but it is the fastest way to refer to the various pantheons of deities that’ll be referenced within this Q&A (& something that I use as a self identifier alongside Cornish).

What about blood % or ancestry?

A blood percentage or claimed Celtic ancestry is NOT a requirement to be a follower of any of the Celtic pantheons. The assumption that it does or is needed to disclose can feed easily into white supremacist narratives and rhetoric, along side the insidious implications that a white person in the USA with (perceived or real) Celtic ancestry is 'more celtic' than a person of colour living in a Celtic region (along with other romanticised notions of homogenously white cultures).

Along side this, a blood percentage or distant ancestry does not impart the culture and values of the Celtic region or it's recorded pagan practices by itself. Folk traditions are often passed down within families, but blood percentage is not a primary factor within this.

Connecting with ancestry is fine, good, and can be a fulfilling experience. It stops being beneficial when it leads to speaking over people with lived experiences & centres the USA-based published and authors - which can lead to blending/souping for reasons further on.

What is 'soup'?

Celtic soup is a semi-playful term coined by several polytheists (primarily aigeannagusacair on wordpress) to describe the phenomenon of conflating & combining all the separate pantheons and practices from the (mainly) insular Celtic nations into one singular practice - removing a lot of the regionalised folklore, associated mythos, & varying nuances of the nations that make up the soup.

Why does it happen?

The quick version of this is book trends and publishing meeting romanticisation and exotification of Celtic cultures (especially when mixed with pre-lapsarian views of the Nations). It's miles easier to sell a very generally titled book with a lot of Ireland and a little of everywhere else than it is to write, source and publish a separate book on each.

This is where centering American publishers and authors becomes an issue - the popular trend of USA-based pagan publications to conflate all celtic nations makes it hard to find information on, for example, Mannin practices because of the USA’s tendency to dominate media. Think of Llewellyn’s “Celtic Wisdom” series of books.

It has also been furthered by 'quick research guides'/TL;DR style posts based on the above (which have gained particular momentum on tumblr).

The things that have hindered the process in unblending/"de souping" is the difficulty in preserving independently published pamphlets/books from various nations (often more regionalised and immediately local than large, sweeping books generalising multiple practices) along with the difficulty of accessing historic resources via academic gatekeeping.

All of this has lead to a lack of awareness of the fact there is no, one, singular Celtic religion, practice or pantheon.

Why should I de-soup or unblend my practice?

Respecting the deities

It is, by and large, considered the bare minimum to understand and research a deity's origin and roots. The conflation of all insular Celtic deities under one singular unified pantheon can divorce them from their original cultures and contexts - the direct opposite to understanding and researching.

Folklore and myth surrounding various Celtic deities can be highly regionalised both in grounded reality and geomythically - these aren't interchangeable locations and are often highly symbolic within each nation.

Brú na Bóinne, an ancient burial mound in Ireland, as an entrance to the otherworld of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Carn Kenidjack & the Gump as a central site of Cornish folk entities feasts and parties, including Christianised elements of Bucca’s mythology.

The Mabinogion includes specific locations in Wales as well as broad Kingdoms - it’s implied that Annwn is somewhere within the historic kingdom of Dyfed, & two otherworldly feasts take place in Harlech & Ynys Gwales.

Conflating all celtic pantheons under one banner often leads to the prioritisation of the Irish pantheon, meaning all of the less ‘popular’ or recorded deities are sidelined and often left unresearched (which can lead to sources & resources falling into obscurity and becoming difficult to access).

Respecting the deities

Deities, spirits, entities, myth & folklore are often culturally significant both historically and to modern day people (just average folks along with practitoners/pagans/polytheists and organisations) located in the various Nations

A primary example is the initiatory Bardic orders of Wales and Cornwall.

Desouping/Unblending makes folklorist's lives easier as well as casual research less difficult to parse. The general books are a helpful jumping off point but when they constitute the bulk of writing on various Celtic polytheisms, they become a hinderance and a harm in the research process.

A lot of mythology outside of deities & polytheisms is also a victim of ‘souping' and is equally as culturally significant - Arthurian mythology is a feature of both Welsh and Cornish culture but is often applied liberally as an English mythology & and English figure.

Celtic nations being blended into one homogenous group is an easy way to erase cultural differences and remove agency from the people living in celtic nations. Cornwall is already considered by a large majority of people to be just an English county, and many areas of Wales are being renamed in English for the ease of English tourists.

How can I de-soup?

Chase down your sources' sources, and look for even more sources

Check your sources critically. Do they conflate all pantheons as one? Do they apply a collective label (the celts/celts/celt/celtic people) to modern day Celtic nations? How far back in history do they claim to reach?

Research the author, are they dubious in more ways than one? Have they written blog articles you can access to understand more of their viewpoints? Where are they located?

Find the people the author cites within their work - it can be time consuming but incredibly rewarding and can also give a good hint at the author's biases and research depth. You may even find useful further reading!

Find primary sources (or as close too), or translations of the originating folklore, e.g The Mabinogion. Going to the source of a pantheon’s mythos and folklore can be helpful in discerning where soup begins in more recent books as well as gaining insight into deities' actions and relationships.

Ask lots of questions

Question every source! Question every person telling you things that don't define what pantheon or region they’re talking about! Write all your questions down and search for answers! Talk to other polytheists that follow specific Celtic pantheons, find where your practices naturally overlap and where they have been forced into one practice by authors!

Be honest with yourself

There’s no foul in spreading your worship over several pantheons that fall under the celtic umbrella! A lot of polytheists worship multiple pantheons! But be aware of the potential for soup, and make sure you’re not exclusively reading and working from/with sources that conflate all practices as one.

If you approach any Celtic polytheistic path with the attitude of blood percentage or 'ancestral right', stop and think critically about why you want to follow a Celtic polytheistic path. Is it because it's the most obviously 'open' path to follow? Is it a desire to experience what other folks experience? Being critical, turning inward, and really looking at yourself is important. Originally posted in the Raven's Keep discord server

[that--witchling]

As a pagan, who's gods are mostly Hellenic (I do worship a couple of Hindu deities), I find myself trying to balance my practice and my Hindu family.

But I also think that coming from a polytheistic religion has also helped me when I started working with the Hellenic Pantheon.

I just never expected to have this and I'm not sure what to call myself or where exactly I fit in. I'm sure I'll find my place eventually, but right now, it's a bit of a mix.

[maidenofsophia]

Stuff About Me

Disclaimer: This is getting to be an old blog and during that time my spiritual path has taken many turns from Gnostic Christian to Filianist to Eclectic Pagan. Posts from the past might be very different from what my beliefs are today, including both religious and political.

What Am I (Currently)?

My name is Rose. For simplicity, I refer to myself as either a Sophian Witch or Déanic Pagan. My path is a bit of an eclectic mix of my religious journey so far, I synchronise what I've learned as a Gnostic, a Wiccan, a Filianist and so on but would not label myself as either of those anymore as I don't feel fully aligned with any of them.

What's a Sophian?

A Sophian is a devotee of the Divine Sophia, aka Holy Wisdom. A Sophian views Wisdom as the Ultimate face of God. There are many different versions of Sophia, from Platoism to Gnosticism to certain branches of Christianity and so on. I personally worship the TrinoSophia, or Sophian Trinity, as I believe was revealed in the Nag Hammadi texts. This being Barbelo, Sophia and Zoe.

What does Déanic mean?

While I'm not longer a Filianist, I do still consider myself Déanic. A Déanist is someone who worships the Ultimate God as the Divine Feminine. The Supreme Goddess who created all without the need for a male counterpart or Father God - Déa being the feminine Latin word for God. However, while some Déanists and most Filianists worship an exclusively feminine deity(ies), a few like myself believe there are 'lesser' gods and other entities who are children of Déa but higher than humans and some of those can be masculine or non-binary. I worship the Goddess as the alpha but also have a place for the divine masculine, not as Her equal but still worthy of respect and devotion.

Where does the Pagan come in?

It feels like the most simple and therefore truest label for me to identify with. Not all Déanists are Pagan as many prefer to mainly see Déa as the Creator but above rather than within Her creation. Personally I see Her as both within and beyond (panentheism). The Mother created and watches over us but the Daughter walks with all creation as both Princess of the World and Queen of Heaven. The other gods I worship too feel very much a part of creation. I love nature, I love animals and for me no church or temple can compare to the sense of divinity I find when just walking through the forests or gazing at the moon. And connecting my spirit to all that's around me makes me feel complete in a way Abrahamic-like theism cannot compare.

What is your pantheon?

First and foremost, I am a devotee of the Lady Sophia; divine wisdom. I worship Her in Her threefold form as I believe was revealed in the Gnostic scriptures and what I made sense of through the lense of the Filianic trinity. That being She is, in Three modes:

The Mother (Sophia, The Creatrix)

The Daughter (Zoe, whose name means Life)

The Absolute Deity / "Dark Mother" (Barbelo)

I also invoke the Seven Great Ladies, who in Filianism are known as the Seven Janyati. These are the Seven Powers that reflect the highest aspects of Déa. I use their Greek names; Theia, Phoebe, Nike, Metis, Themis, Tethys and Rhea.

For the divine masculine, I worship the Horned God. Not as Sophia's consort or equal, but one of Her most honoured children or "emanations" as both male and female and other entities all came from Her. My preferred name and form for him tends to be Cernonnus, Celtic being my most direct ancestry. But He also comes to me as Pan and Lucifer. If Sophia were to be seen as a Queen, then my Lord wouldn't be Her king consort but more a loyal Knight in Her service or governing Prince.

Sophia is much more the Déanic part of my identity, and while I do connect with Her and other goddesses via nature, Cernunnos is much more the 'Pagan' side of me, being Lord of the forests and the glen.

I also invoke and honour Mary Magdalene as my Hera (a Filianic term for an ascended human soul). I believe She was Jesus' most enlightened disciple and an avatar of Zoe Sophia, the divine spark, fully realised in woman form. I worship Sophia and Magdalene as the Divine image of Mother and Child.

What is your scripture?

I don't see any religious text as the definitive Word of God. I believe they all have been written by people who felt God in their hearts through their own interpretations and some I connect and find wisdom with, others I don't. I try to read all with an open mind.

Both the Gnostic texts and the Clear Recital (the Filianic Scriptures) are probably the closest to my heart and influence my path but I don't hold either to be without error.

What are your current political beliefs?

I'm very much a proud "wokey leftist", support complete separation of Church and State, am pro LGBTQ (as well as being a lesbian myself), fully support every person's right to bodily autonomy. Not to say I won't call out BS on the left by certain individuals where I see it.

Enjoy my blog!

[orinene]

ABOUT ME

I'm a neopagan that worships the Greek/Roman, Norse, Egyptian pantheons, a Theistic Satanist, and a discordian

I worship Gaia, Aphrodite, Nyx, Eris, Hel, Idunn, Hathor, all the Mousai/Muses, Lilith, Hecate, Apollo, Thor, Dionysus, Hermes, and Horus

I'm in a godspoused polygamous relationship with Gaia, Aphrodite, and Eris

I'm transmasculine and transhet or just straight (and poly)

a minor/under 18 (not listing my age though for privacy)

Even though I do like the Percy Jackson books and Lore Olympus THIS IS A RELIGIOUS BLOG

I'm a metalhead; favorite bands are Iron Maiden, The Trve Mayhem, Burzum, and Amon Amarth

I'm a sanrio fan (if you couldn't tell, my favorite character is cinnamoroll but I also like hangyodon)

I am mixed race, my mom's from El Salvador and my dad's from Bangladesh

My temple is @temple-of-gaia

My new non-pagan blog is @orinene2

my discordian blog: @goofball-of-eris

my theistic satanist blog: @lcfr666

my linktree

[windvexer]

Hi! Idk if this is a silly question, I’ve seen people have mixed opinions on this. Do you think certain pantheons or deities are more possessive than others? Like for example someone works with a Greek gods and then they want to go introduce themselves to a Roman god is that like “bad”(idk what words to use rn other than bad). Like people who “mix” pantheons together.

I'm not really a pagan, so I can't comment on pantheons as a whole, or even popular deities.

However, I can say that I 100% believe some gods and spirits can be very possessive, even jealous. This is something I've experienced, and have heard about from others. This can be a part of their personality as a whole, but it can also come down to their relationship with an individual, or individual circumstances.

Such behavior can be uncomfortable and hard to deal with. The individual practitioner or pagan should feel comfortable saying, "you don't get to control who I interact with, and your behavior to limit who I can talk to is unacceptable."

Unfortunately, from time to time, it seems that gods and spirits may demand a practitioner doesn't work with certain other entities, or that working with one group may preclude working with another.

All that being said, it's my understanding that if this happens to the average pagan who works with popular pantheons and deities, it's rare. Popular pantheons and deities are popular in part because they're easy to work with, and aren't a ready source of interspirit drama.

[mixed-pantheon-pagan]

The start of my altar for Lord Hades.

[blessedtiff32]

I grew up Christian and when I was 18, I left it behind. I've been a Pagan. I've been a Satanist. However, I always felt like something was missing from my practice. In recent years, I felt the pull back to Jesus. Even though, I returned to Jesus, I didn't want to give up my practice as a witch. So I was at a standstill. Until, I started finding books on Christian witchcraft, Christopaganism, and Gnosticism and came across content creators who identified as Christian witches. It was nice to come across like-minded folks.

In my practice, I work with the Christian pantheon. Jesus, Mary Magdelene, and Mother Mary. I still incorporate the wheel of the year in my practice. I don't believe in a false God. I don't believe that any God is lesser than another. I don't believe in hell.

In my practice, I mix elements of Christianity and Paganism. I always kick off the day with lighting candles for my deities and lighting incense. Pulling cards while asking Jesus for messages. Using Bible verses in spells. Honestly, I've never felt closer to God.

I do have an interest in Hoodoo. I've been doing my share of research. I feel like as an African American woman, I'd like to incorporate it into my practice. I've learned that Hoodoo has been practiced in my family. My family comes from Georgia.

This is the end of my ramblings. Have a blessed day.

[astro-witchery]

—ℐ𝓃𝓉𝓇ℴ𝒹𝓊𝒸𝓉𝒾ℴ𝓃—

My name is Sasha. I am a cosmic/astro/lunar witch. This means: I do a lot of rituals around the moon cycles, I tend to also do intention setting based on lunar phases, and live my life by astrological and cosmic patterns and magic.

I am also an astrologer (I’ve been practicing and studying for over 6 years). I’m a Sagittarius sun, Sagittarius moon, and Cancer ascendant in Tropical Astrology. {Scorpio Sun, Sagittarius Moon, and Gemini Ascendant in Western Sidereal.} I study all types of astrology but I’m most well versed in Western Tropical and am studying Traditional Hellenistic Tropical Astrology to blend the aspects of both together.

I also do tarot, oracle, & dabble with other forms of divination. Plus, I believe myself to be claircognizant and use this to help aide in my witchery.

I consider myself an Agnostic Pagan and Witchy. I am also and animist. I identified as a Hellenic Polytheist for a while but have recently decided to explore my ancestry and it’s relation to other spiritual paths (absolutely not in a folkish or racist way btw!) I am adopted and it’s always been really hard for me, not being able to explore my ancestry and do ancestor work within my spiritual practice.

I am possibly a mix of Anglo-Saxon, Devon, & Cornish descent. My adopted family is of Scottish, Welsh, & French descent. I’m still putting together my biological family tree. This very hard for me to do as I don’t have a lot of access to info being an adoptee. (I am not claiming I have certain rights to cultures because of this, I am just trying to learn about my ancestors and their spiritual practices to find answers about my own inherent beliefs about spirituality that I was born with.)

I have always had a love for religious and philosophical studies. I had very profound spiritual experiences at a very young age (for example: I knew I was reincarnated without even really knowing what death was or about spirituality). Most people in these spaces have a similar story to starting off Christian and not being satisfied (or being traumatized) by their church. I grew up Baptist and when I could explore other options after I left home I did.

I currently research: Christian Sects (especially Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy, but also really enjoy niche fringe sects and “folk Catholicism” or “Christian Witchcraft”), Pagan and Polytheistic religions (Hellenic Polytheism, Proto Indo-European Polytheism, Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, Norse Heathenry, & Celtic Polytheism or more specifically Cornish/Devon/Welsh Druidism), Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism, and honestly I could add more to list but I don’t want to ramble on. This does not mean I am an eclectic witch or that I mix pantheons or practices, I just enjoy reading/studying all types of world religions and I’m still searching for the right practice for me.

This is just a place where I can share and reblog helpful info and share aspects of my craft ~

☾ ⁂ ——————— 🜸☆

𖦹 This Account Stands Against Bigotry 𖦹

This account is accepting of all people of all religions and belief systems that are not harmful to others. This account is a safe space for LGBTQA+ identities, disabled folks, mentally ill folks, plural/multiple folks, & strangers/travelers/homeless folks. This account is against racism, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, ALL the problematic isms.

I don’t do DNIs bc I prefer to block people.

I am happy that you are here! If I follow you back it will be from my main account @s4shiii

Feel free to send asks to get to know me more, to inquire about readings, or ask astrological questions. I do offer full paid astrological natal chart readings in Western Tropical & I also offer tarot card readings all for a sliding scale price! ~

[constantly-in-a-state-of-change]

ANYWAYS… if you’re a Celtic pagan (a pagan that works with the Celtic pantheon) I love you. I want to be you.

AND if you speak Irish, Scottish, or Welsh I love you even more. As a Canadian who’s grandparents immigrated here (from the UK) before my mother was conceived it is a bit tough to know I’m missing out on my own culture so much by not even been there yk? Anyways, I love being a mix of English (eh) Scottish, Irish and welsh! And I wish more people (that aren’t white supremacists) could see we also have a unique experience as kids of immigrants ❤️❤️

[itmeblog]

Okay, because I'm nosy and it has just come to my attention that Halloween is one of our weirder holidays here in the US and I had time, I actually did go outside and ask ~10 people on my walk with the dog if they thought Halloween was a Christian holiday because I do associate it with the church but not the same way I do Easter or Christmas or other holidays?? [But the US is culturally Christian so there is totally a chance that it is but I'm so entrenched in the culture that I don't see it. Note: I was raised without a definite religion. Frankly I know more about the Greek pantheon than the Abrahamic religions, I am not the person who should be asking such questions]

And it might be like this because it's relatively new. Like, Halloween started getting popular in my area in the late 70s early 80s so maybe it's just not as well branded?? But I did find out that my neighborhood has a delightful mix of people and if you ever forget that the US is culturally Christian nation please do randomly approach people about their feelings on holidays.

So far the answer 9/10 seem to be "no" but the justification for such varies I got several "It's a pagan holiday", "it's a commercialized pagan holiday that has lost its way (possibly from a pagan)", "it's evil I don't fuck with it" , "Halloween in and of itself is not a holiday but rather is the precursor to one [episcopal from the south]" "it's just the culture but it's not really Christian [woman who worked at a church for 11 years]" and one "yes" from a man who recognized it as vaguely pagan but the way Christmas is, but it bears noting that he also wanted to get into my pants.

The more interesting question at hand is likely how did this happen? Christianity rebrands pagan rituals all the time [easter bunny, Saturnalia], so what's going on with this one?

I may cast a wider net and dive deeper into this later, but I have also received several lessons on theology today, so that is the risk I must be ready to bear.