#there are a lot of cultish beliefs and practices preached in pagan and polytheist spaces just as there are in every other space

[luunare]

hi! may i ask you why have you chosen not to receive signs from your gods and keep the worship one-sided? it's an interesting view of the divine and i have never seen anyone else on tumblr with similar principles

hey nonny! thanks for sending an ask, i love talking about my practice and beliefs lol

so, first and foremost i am agnostic and a skeptic. i believe that we have no way of knowing the gods' realness, but no way of disproving it either. if the gods are not real, the feelings associated with ritual and worship still are: i believe the gods are all real, as long as they are worshiped, because the simple act of worshiping them gives them power over one's life.

ex. aphrodite is real to me, even beyond 'realness', because i interact with her and her domains through the lens that she is real. through my self-love journey, i pray to her in many aspects [as a trans person, as an aroace person, as a queer person, as a kid who is unsure of themself]. i offer to her, i speak to her, and i begin to view the world with more love and beauty. i could be bringing this love and beauty into my life myself, by interacting with these aspects and having them fill my subconscious more. or, she could be bringing the love and beauty into my life because i pray and offer to her. either way, i cannot prove or disprove how much she has to do with these things, but the act of worshiping her and following her guidance has been useful, has changed my life.

in antiquity, to hear the gods' words, people went to oracles, seers, etc. these oracles served a very specific purpose within the temple, cult, and worship; though anyone now can practice divination and deity communication, i tend to rely more on faith and the assumption that the kharis i build will have my prayers answered.

i do not pray for large things, simply because i do not believe that i have the power to convince the gods to change or create large things for me. i pray to the gods and their domains for guidance and introspection; i love them to death, and they guide me on my journeys, but more so because i interact with them as archetypes and i try to work their ideals into my life.

but secondly, i have seen far too many posts [here and in many other places] and heard far too many other polytheists claim that every little thing must be a sign before they even consider the mundane. i think a lot of people can easily confuse associations for signs; if i see a flock of doves, i'm not immediately assuming aphrodite has specifically chosen to send them to me, but i may smile and think of her. there can be [and there is!] magical in the mundane, but that does not mean that everything is only magical.

i'm never going to tell anyone that they are wrong for their own practice, journey, and faith [unless it's like actually dangerous or appropriative], but i have just chosen a different route. i question the divine all the time, and this has led me to genuinely being closer to them in many aspects.

now, this isn't to say i've never felt that i received a sign from a god. i'm not going to get into the specifics of that now, but what i try to do is practice critical thinking. i want to ensure that i'm being safe in the way i interact with faith and the divine, because i think if i'm not, someone can take advantage of that. and by not seeking signs or messages, by viewing everything with the mundane lens first, i am keeping myself safe.