#pagan newbie

[tiramisuwithmascarpone]

Hello! I'm a 15-year-old devotee of both Lord Hermes and Lady Aphrodite who is raised in an extremely Orthodox Christian household, and I would like to share my story with you ⋆˚ʚɞ

Hi! for safety reasons I will not use the name I usually use online for this account, but you can call me Jellyfish. I live in Eastern Europe, more exactly Romania, a country whose population is 98% devoted to Christianity at the time of speaking. My mother is a perfect example. She wholeheartedly believes in God, I grew up with pictures of him and the Holy Mary all over the walls, which I wouldn't escape even at my grandparent's houses. My house always smelled of myrrh, I would carry a picture of God everywhere I went, I would pray to him before bed, go to church on every holiday, but I never felt fulfilled or connected to him in any way. I didn't truly know what I believed in. My mother was telling me all about how should I praise God, but I don't think I ever did it because I wanted to or felt connected to what she was telling me or felt like it was the life I wanted to live. When she would fight with my father, even now, she would threaten that she would run away to a monastery and become a nun. She thinks you cannot change your religion and you can not be Christian if you were born with Christian parents and raised in that environment. I did not have faith in God because I wanted to and felt connected to his message and wanted to worship his divine being, I did it because my mother felt that way. And that destroyed me.

As I grew older, I started believing less and less in God. I was struggling with going through teenagehood, fighting my own inner battles, and dealing with friendship that slowly felt like they were taking away my lifespan, and it wasn't just that I didn't have faith in a divine being (which is completely alright. Please do not believe this monologue is Anti-Christian, I believe everyone is allowed to believe and worship the one who they feel most connected and inclined towards.) I didn't have faith in anything anymore. When my brother reached 15, he hated my parents for their beliefs. I will not get much I detail since his story is not mine to tell, but he had battled with alcohol and substance abuse. And I was his only shoulder for him and my parents to lean and cry on. My mother told me to pray for our family, she would pray to god every day, light up myrrh, take me to churches, and I would feel miserable. I felt like an imposter in that church. I truly wanted to have faith in a god, anyone, but I felt like my only choice was God since that's what my mother taught me. Both my parents trust God so I cannot be different, can I?

How foolish I was. I can only look back to my past self and wish to embrace and hold her till she cries all her sorrow out. She was so confused.

Back in 2022, I had first heard of Aphrodite. My brother was sent to a mental hospital for his substance abuse when they caught him on the verge of overdosing. I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder after a suicide attempt, autism and ADHD, but my father (who already couldn't accept the fact that my brother has ADHD) fought with them saying they ,,don't know me well enough" and,,there's nothing wrong with me". And he's right, there's nothing wrong with me. Not even If I am neurodivergent. I was at my lowest, I felt disgusting, I fought with my parents and was their therapist every single day, I stopped going to school, I was a mess. But, I was heavily active on social media because I had tons of online friends. While scrolling on tiktok, I found a video of an Aphrodite devotee. My interest was piqued. I heard about Greek Mythology before but never actually researched it. I liked the video and commented, talking about how gorgeous their faith sounds, and that's when it all started. I started getting more info about Aphrodite, the swans swum by me every time I would go to the lake with my family so we could ,,get some fresh air". I started getting lots of pins on Pinterest with her. I always had a desire for water and the beach was my safe place, where I felt fulfilled and free from all I'm feeling. I had a Dove make itself a nest on a tree next to the window of my classroom which I would always sit by while having lunch (on the rare occasions I would drop by to school). I started researching more about Lady Aphrodite, loving her story, beliefs, ways of worshipping, how it felt like silence was washing over me when I would make a non-physical offering to her. Her tales. The way it felt like she was always there to give me a warm hug and squeeze me while I was crying. I also felt a boost in my confidence! I started loving my features, taking care of myself again, etc. It wasn't always just sun and rainbows, I would still have breakdowns and wish it would all just end and all that, but it was more bearable with her. She made my life more bearable. I love, worship, and adore Lady Aphrodite for that. I worshipped her till this year when I officially felt strong enough to devote myself to her.

This year, actually, I started noticing my strong connection to Hermes. I was always attracted to the kind-hearted, mischievous, kind-hearted, highly intelligent and funny thieves. I always idolized them and wished to be like them. That's how I feel about Lord Hermes. I feel like he was reaching out to me all my life. Everything he is associated with I had an inexplicable obsession with for pretty much all my life. Turtles, golden or silver, travel, learning new languages, astronomy, astrology, everything you could think of. I have been devoted to him since last month, that's when I officially started labeling myself as a Hellenic Pagan, but I am still a beginner, and I need to hide all of this from my mother since I am afraid of what she would do if she were to find out I have another belief since she reacted super badly back when I was an atheist :( I set up the first altar for Lady Aphrodite, and the second one for Lord Hermes. I always had been an artistic soul and loved making my room all pretty randomly so I told my mother this is one of those cases and she believed it. She does not know english and is not at all cultured about any beliefs besides Christians, Muslims, and Jews. They are both hidden in my closet. I feel very bad for not being able to make them a bigger and more obvious altar, I hope I'll have that chance when I move out from my parent's house..

I wanted to ask if Lord Hermes would be mad if my mom kept setting random things on his altar? she even put a picture of the Holy Mary. I moved it to the other side of the closet and made a DIY necklace for him out of orange garnet or beads to apologize to him, and he didn't seem mad, but I'm not sure...I sketched drawings of both of them and rested them on their altars. Everything you see are either offerings I heard they may like or things that reminded me of them! the little notebook on Hermes's altar is specifically made for learning new languages and thought he would enjoy it. Do you guys think any of my offerings are disrespectful? or should be removed? I'm open to any advice! Thank you for listening to my story <3

[secondwinterstill]

Does anyone know the proper dates for thargelia? I've seen some people celebrating today, I see some people say it's later in the month either the 20th/21st or on the 24th.

[cj-ghostemoji-destielpie]

Questions about working with Loki:

So I've been reading a book and a couple different blogs and posts about working with Loki. A book I've been reading (Loki: Trickster and Transformer by Dagulf Loptson), mentioned staves and activating staves. I was wondering what anyone else's opinions or experiences are with using staves or if they do something different and if so; what do you do?

Anything pertaining to Loki or even Sygin is welcome too. Whether it be spells to do with them, offerings, chants, incantations, sigils, runes, associations, art, or book and website recommendations.

Peace, y'all

~CJ

[worship-of-the-gods]

Question for my Hellenic folks -

So regarding offerings I know we are not supposed to consume them (in Kemetic offering we do) so what do I do with them and how long should they sit on the shrine? (I gave an offering of honey and bay leaves today)

And what should be said when giving an offering? (Kemetic has ‘May you be satisfied with the repast to the right and to the left, Dua Netjer’)

[solvicrafts]

Personal pagan thoughts

There's this attitude that's circulated in the broader pagan community for quite a while that like... you either have to be a reconstructionist following one single pantheon or a fluffy woo neowiccan. Obviously not all pagans think that way and in more recent years I've seen more and more people step away from that mindset.

BUT

When I was in my early teens going from studying pagan cultures academically to kind of gradually starting to pursue paganism as more than just a niche interest, I was absolutely inundated with pressure to just PICK A SIDE and nearly 20 years later it's still an issue for me.

I've always felt this pressure to just conform and pick a side and be done with it. Put myself into a neat little box as un-offensive in design as possible and all that.

And the truth is I just can't do that no matter how hard I try.

And that's actually the main reason I don't often talk about my beliefs on here. Because while I've used "Hellenic Polytheist" as a label to describe myself and while it is more or less accurate, there's also so much more that goes well beyond that.

Basically... my beliefs and practices are messy. That's probably a big ADHD brain thing.

And I didn't start feeling okay with that until roughly this past year, when I finally started letting go of that pressure to fit into a neat label.

Are the Theoi particularly thrilled that I also have a budding relationship with a few deities outside their pantheon? Eh, probably not, but the feeling I get from them is that they're not terribly fussed about it. At worst I imagine them being like "yeah okay fine you can take my follower out to dinner just make sure you bring them home no later than 10."

Are the Theoi absolutely trembling with rage because I occasionally dabble in my own form of ~magic~ (but without that woooooo special K nonsense)? Nah, at worst they just think it's silly.

Do the Theoi give a shit that I sometimes incorporate imagery and themes from some of my favorite fictional settings into my practices? Again, probably not; those spider lights look damn cool on my shrine and as sad as it is that my khernips bowl broke this year, the spider-webbed replacement bowl is JUST as useful and pretty.

People act like the only legit pagans are the ones that are super serious all the time, NO FUN ALLOWED and like... yeah, okay, I'll admit that pagans can be reeeeaally cringe, but you know, I think it's okay to be a little cringe once in a while as long as you still remain grounded in reality (as in: crystals are not a substitute for modern medicine and sometimes that thing you think is a sign from a god is actually symptoms of a gas leak or something) and don't make a point of being an asshole, so what? Be cringe.

Maybe there's ONE TRUE RELIGION that has all the answer. Maybe NO religion has the answers. At the end of the day, none of us truly know. So why not have fun?

[cavorta]

Newbie questions about paganism and/or witchcraft

Alright, I see the same questions coming up again and again by newbies in the fields of paganism and/or witchcraft/magick. I do like to answer newbie questions, so I am going to answer a few ones which I have heard over and over again.

Starting today (September 8, 2023) with this one: I have seen this … is it a sign?

Let me answer this with a quote (which is also in the picture): "It is important to recognise that not everything you see or notice is a sign, a symbol or a message. If for example you always have crows in your garden, if they nest in the trees around where you live, if you see them every day or almost every day then seeing crows is highly unlikely to be a sign, a symbol or a message. Sometimes a crow is just a crow. If though the crow is doing something highly unusual such as tap dancing on your patio then it may very well be trying to give you a message." quoted from: "Signs, Symbols and Messages" © Yvonne Ryves from the anthology "iPagan", John Hunt Publishing (Moon Books)

[crochetingw1tch]

newbie on tumblr! 🌸🌺🌸

hello!! my name is ez, im 19 and my pronouns are she/they! i like crocheting and ive been a wiccan witch for just over two years. i also like poetry, creative writing, vintage books, body positivity and more stuff!

itd be awesome if i could get some mutuals who like the same stuff as me :D!!! so give me a follow, if youd like and ill follow you back :))

[nothoughtsgayboy]

21 Day Newbie Devotee Challenge - Day 1

Day 1: Name the deity you will be working with for the remainder of this challenge. Give a quick overview of your relationship with that deity.

For this challenge, I will be working with Apollon, the Greek God of music, prophecy, and medicine amongst other things. 

I don’t really know how to explain my relationship with Apollon. I’d been “casually” worshiping him for about a year until one week when I was really ill I just felt his presence throughout the entire time and he helped me feel better about myself, which made being ill a lot more bearable. That week was what really solidified our relationship to me, and I’ve considered myself a devotee pretty much since that week. I also play music, and whenever I’m stuck or just can’t get inspired I’ll pray to Apollon and I always get ideas after that. My relationship with Apollon is more casual, I guess, because when I try and make things more formal I stress out and panic about whether or not I’m doing things right.

[thegracefullwitch]

Something that new witches should know- just because many of us have awesome bought stuff doesn't mean you need to spend a single penny to practice your craft, not even on candles, if your budget doesn't allow for it.

Sure, I have a bought set of ogham, and I'll probably use them for the rest of my life, but with my first foray into witchcraft, as a young teen, I found a branch in the back yard, and in the short time between getting home from school and my dad getting home from work, I used his garage to cut that branch into even-ish slices and then painted the symbols of the Norse runes on them. I long since passed it along to an old friend, but they were made with things I had available to me.

Need a pendulum? Have a necklace? A string and a ring?

Need fortune telling cards? Have a regular card deck on hand?

Runes? Some rocks of a similar size, texture and some paint?

A book of shadows? A blank notebook(or binder, removable pages are VERY helpful).

Forage for spell ingredients, look into the local flora and fauna to see what's abundant. Dead nettle grows abundantly out here, for instance. It has loads of magical properties.

Get creative!

[katieraepakulak]

Welcome to my Blog!

Just a small youtuber trying to survive the big wide world. But anyways welcome to my page. Im Katie Rae I am 22 and living in Ontario Canada. I will post mostly witchy or bookish content as much as I can but I d work full time for social media.

[divine-crows]

10 Ways to End a Prayer Aside from Saying Amen

Note: these are just ideas based on something I struggled with when I was a newbie pagan. I by no means am saying you can't use the word "amen", I'm just trying to help those who may not want to! If something works-- then it works!

Being raised in a very hard-core Christian household I was always taught to end my prayers with the phrase "Amen", but when I realized the faith didn't really fit me... I found that using that phrase didn't really fit me either! So, what could you say in place of it? Here are some ideas! Some I came up with, some I scoured the internet to find!

"THE END"

I have two younger siblings and they both used to say 'the end' all of the time because they thought when we said 'amen' we were actually saying that. It's very direct, but I suppose it works!

"AS IT IS REQUIRED" / "AS YOU REQUIRE"

I also use this phrasing in place of "so mote it be" when I do spellwork, not because it's a bad phrase, but mainly because I'm the type of person who has to vibe with the words I utilize. (I'm sorry I'm insufferable lol). I've used it at the end of prayers and it's nice and to the point without being too crass sounding.

"AND SO IT IS"

This one always reminds me of manifestation. Kind of a "I will obtain xyz" mindset. Sometimes I use it if I'm praying for help when I'm working towards a goal.

" DONE "

The first couple of times I tried praying without using the word "amen" I got lost on what to say, so I very awkwardly just said done and went about my day. It might work for you, but it definitely felt weird for me!

"AND SO IT IS, AND IT ALWAYS WILL BE"

I've used this phrase quite a bit and I currently like it a lot. I mainly use it when I'm doing prayers to show my admiration for my deities, or when I'm doing prayers for special occasions. I came up with it while writing some poems this Beltane and it kinda just stuck!

" LET IT BE SO " / "SO BE IT" / "VERILY" / "TRULY"

According to wikipedia, these are all translations of the word amen? So I suppose you could find a way to use them!

"BLESSED BE"

I'm gonna be honest, I lurked on some reddit forums for ideas and this one came up A LOT. I've only ever really thought of this phrase as being a form of "goodbye", and I didn't realize you could end a prayer with this!

"THANK YOU"

Sometimes the best way to end something is just a simple "thanks for listening".

UTILIZING ANOTHER LANGUAGE

If you feel so inclined, finding a language that suits you and your practice and looking for a similar meaning to 'amen' might be helpful to you!

POP CULTURE / LITERATURE

This may sound weird, but I saw a few people talking about using "This is the way" from the Mandelorian, and I even saw someone who recommended using "as you wish" from the princess bride! I also saw a suggestion where someone took a phrase from an Old English text and utilized it! The world is your oyster!

So there's a teeny list to get you started! As always I'd love if people would reblog with their own ideas and alternatives!

Online sources I looked at:

[maythestormsnevertakefromme]

Hi! I am a new hellenic pagan, just got into this all. And I admit... I am glad I found your blog. I didn't know such issues were amongst the pagans/wiccans and I am happy to know now. Every community has its own issue and so far I didn't even know that there were soooo many neonazis and just shit people (one google search got me.... far, but that is an understatement)

Are there any tips from you on how to research or how to avoid neonazis/bigots/alike when a newbie is going into this? Or just in general? Any experience that is lingering in your mind and is burning to be told?

Honestly they will all rear their ugly heads in vastly different ways but id suggest staying far away from anyone who overemphasises (is that spelling right??) (European) paganism being the true and original religion of Europe.

Also as a rule of thumb if they hate Christians on the principle that Christianity replaced paganism they will also probably hate Jewish people. I have no clue why but you rarely see one without the other. And like even if they didn’t hate Jewish people hating Christians is still bad, especially with how anti-Christian hate crimes perpetrated against Christian communities by pagans in East Europe are a genuine, violent and sometimes fatal issue.

Honestly my best advice is to just educate yourself on fascist dog whistles and far right ideologies because then you have a much stronger footing when trying to decipher if someone is a literal neo nazi or just really weird.

[broomswept]

Pretty tired of the internet acting like neil gaiman has any kind of authority regarding mythology. Professionally, the man is a fantasy book writer, which should already bring about a healthy level of skepticism. Especially if you're looking to get started with actual paganism. Norse Mythology (2018) consistently being the first reading suggestion made by heathen online voices to newbies absolutely blows my mind.

[littlest-sunbeam-of-hermes]

OOOOOOH NEWBIE!!!!!!

Really?

YESSSSS

-@that-one-ya-pagan-book

Newbie? I'm probably older than you. I was just at school :(

[cavorta]

Newbie questions about paganism and/or witchcraft (part 2)

Alright, I see the same questions coming up again and again by newbies in the fields of paganism and/or witchcraft/magick. I do like to answer newbie questions, so I am going to answer a few ones which I have heard over and over again.

Today (September 15, 2023) this question:

Have I been cursed or hexed?

This is not easy to answer, it very much depends on your personal situation. And maybe this is not even a typically newbie question, because also experienced witches and pagans may wonder if they have been cursed or hexed at some point in their lives. However, if you are open to reading a book about this topic, I can recommend »Hex Twisting – Counter Magick Spells for the Irritated Witch« by Diana Rajchel An excerpt from a small review of mine about it: Magick is not always »love and light«, and if you experience hexes, curses, psychic or magical attacks of other kinds, hauntings by ghost/other spirits or harassment by demons, this book is recommendable, because it offers a lot of ideas, suggestions what to do, including protection and cleansing magick, reversal and mirror spells and a lot more. There are also chapters about analyzing if you have been cursed or not. One method the author recommends is divination and there is also a list with Tarot cards which may indicate that you have been cursed or hexed (or not). The second part of the book is quite advanced, for the real nasty problems mean spirited people (or spirits) may throw at you and there is also a chapter about how to deal with trauma caused by such destructive experiences.

[antlersacornsandallium]

Deep breath

Posts talking about the need to unpack religious trauma from pagan practices or the influence of cultural Christianity on how modern pagans interpret their experiences practices ... Are not an attack.

You do not need to feel defensive. You don't need to feel confused by confused by what different people say online when it comes to things like "you're not actually being pagan if you do x thing" and then someone else says the opposite.

What you read is not always a conversation spoken directly to you.

(Except this. This, I am speaking directly to you.)

You're not sure where to begin with connecting to faith? Well congrats, no one ever is, welcome to the club, pull up a chair and start listening. Here is a tangled ball of yarn - what you make with it is entirely up to you. There are no easy answers, and there never were and never will be.

To people coming from more dogmatic faiths, this transition is jarring. You want a ritual, you want to know the right words to say, you want someone to teach you the steps of the dance. What you should sacrifice, how you should do it, what does this god like, what rules you should follow.

The rules are always the same, and they never changed for you regardless of your faith.

Be honest. Be kind. Be brave.

The rest is decorative.

Example: offering the gods mead. Does the recorded history say that mead was offered to the Norse gods? Absolutely. Do we know why mead? Why the blood of cattle? Why these sacrifices and not others? You can read about these things on the surface level and never think about what made these things valuable for this purpose, and be no closer to any answer. You've done the ritual and said the words but gotten no meaning from it.

To the point that I frequently see newbies coming in wondering anxiously what they should do if they can't find mead to offer a god. And I sort of want to shake them a bit and ask why are you so desperate to connect to a deity you don't understand? Is it because you were conditioned to believe that this is how humanity should interact with the divine? Do you believe that to have faith really means to believe in a god, and you just mentally swapped out which ones?

Why on earth do you think that sparkling apple juice is any less valuable than honey wine?

When were you going to question why everyone told you to offer mead? When were you going to ask "why this specifically though"? When were you going to wonder why you were looking for a book of do's and don'ts and why you were prepared to believe that the only acceptable offerings were the ones you were told?

The mead is decorative. It doesn't matter. The offering itself doesn't even matter - it's a representation of kindness and reciprocity. It has as much meaning as leaving a gift basket at a neighbor's door. You want to have a good relationship with your neighbors, so you build one. It's very important as an action, but the substance doesn't matter that much. The intent does.

So do yourself a favor and stop stressing. You are only hurting yourself. Your trauma needs healing and the scars may always remain, but you need to learn to put down the sword before it can begin. You don't need to fight, you don't need to boast, you don't need to read every book of medieval Norse poetry to understand any of it.

The rules are the same. Be honest, be kind, be brave. Start there. Decorate the rest however you want.