Why the lack of Pagan threads?

Are the early 90s making a come back?

originally posted by: Lysergic
Are the early 90s making a come back?

I definitely liked the hippies and the sixties better than the nineties. The seventies were wild and fun too. Then all of a sudden, people starter to think everything had to be so serious, boy, being a teenager nowadays is not nearly as fun.

I am glad those days are gone, but they were fun when I was younger. Now that I am older it seems like the change has gotten more towards Meth and Heroin than just going hanging out with friends at the beach with a few beers and a little smoke. It seems that the divide is widening between people, almost half the teens in our area would be out at the bar on Friday or Saturday night listening to a live band. Not so much anymore, they seem to be broke from paying for their Phone service. I noticed even in the bars with bands, half of the people seem to be typing into their phones and taking pictures to post on Facebook. Pretty soon dancing will be obsolete, they will create a dance App so you can do it on the phone.

a reply to: rickymouse


I miss those 90's chokers.

originally posted by: Lysergic
a reply to: rickymouse


I miss those 90's chokers.

I can now say this without being slammed. Disco sucked.

Well, I did kind of like the song Disco Duck.

Depends on how you're going to count. In An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Roman Catholic John Henry Cardinal Newman admits that items Christendom has used for centuries, such as incense, candles, holy water, priestly garb, and images, “are all of pagan origin.”

And that's just the tip of the iceberg of Pagan teachings and customs/traditions in Christendom and other religions or religious teachings promoted in this forum.

originally posted by: VengefulGhost

the pagans were burned at the stake by the christians .
the few remaining pagans all went into hiding .

No.

I think you are confusing Pagan faiths and Witchcraft.

Pagan faiths have always been well tolerated by Christian communities, i.e: the Germanic pantheon, the Hindu pantheons, the Middle Eastern pantheons and the Greco-Roman pantheons.

Among Christian communities, these Pagan beliefs and stories have always held a place of respect and honor in the arts and in literature.

And few witches were burned at the stake. For example, in English common law, burning is not a legal form of execution (like hanging is).

Wiccans, unaware of the fact that their faith was started in the 1950's, make claim that their members were often burnt at the stake in the historical past, but this is fiction.

As Wiccan Scholar Jenny Gibbons has stated:

"We Neopagans now face a crisis. As new data appeared, historians altered their theories to account for it. We have not. Therefore an enormous gap has opened between the academic and the "average" Pagan view of witchcraft. We continue to use of out-dated and poor writers, like Margaret Murray, Montague Summers, Gerald Gardner, and Jules Michelet. We avoid the somewhat dull academic texts that present solid research, preferring sensational writers who play to our emotions. For example, I have never seen a copy of Brian Levack's The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe in a Pagan bookstore. Yet half the stores I visit carry Anne Llewellyn Barstow's Witchcraze, a deeply flawed book which has been ignored or reviled by most scholarly historians".

originally posted by: testingtesting
Beware they burn Pagans around here....

They flame them on the forums?

You will get some folk on here preaching their way is the only way but just ignore them.
Noindin is a pagan I think but YOU can be the change you want make a pagan thread!.

Yes, I believe that Noinden is a pagan, he has spoken of the ancestral nature of his beliefs but has been reticent about the full details of his faith when asked.

Perhaps a dissertation on those beliefs is a big project?

a reply to: ChildOfLoki

Speaking as a Pagan. Who has started the odd thread about paganism. Its really not worth it here. Either there is no discussion (that is the best case) OR they devolve into attacks on pagans. As a consequence, I seldom actually speak directly about my faith (Celtic Reconstructionism). I am always open to talking, but only if the other side is willing to be polite (as they demand from others).

a reply to: chr0naut

Hmm I'm going to have to disagree about Pagan Faiths being well tolerated by Christian Communities. There are examples of forced conversions by Christians. For example I will mention the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae. What you listed was not really tolerance.

The history of the neopagan revival is fairly modern, and sits almost whole during the Victorian Deist period.

Now Witchcraft is a tricky thing. Viz all Wiccans are Witches, not all Witches are Wiccans. FOr the most part Witches are considered Pagan, with a few exceptions.

a reply to: rickymouse

Just going to point out not all pagans are hippies (or goths) Some of us took a different path to get to where we are today. But I'd be glad if no one ever watched Charmed, Practical Magic, or such again! That was a Pox on the Pagan path. Today its Vikings. Everyone thinks they are a heathen They don't do the leg work Heathenry requires (not a heathen, but I've attended many a blot and symbul), and think pretending to be a viking makes them pious

a reply to: testingtesting

Hey I got named It is noinden however, an Irish term for a period of time, associated with Magic As for making a pagan thread .... hey who knows, it might not devolve into "you are all going to hell"

a reply to: VengefulGhost

Yeah no, no they were not. If you had burned all the Pagans, you'dve had no one in Europe and the middle east People converted, just as their ancestors converted numerous times. Changes in religion are part of humanities history. Christianities assention was no less or more bloody than other conversions. In places like Ireland it was essentially bloodless.

a reply to: pirhanna

Little unfair on lineaged Wiccans British traditional Wicca (Gardnerians, Alexandrians, and various offshoots, sectarian groups, etc) are very unfluffy. But I get your point, the eclectic Wicca that exploded in the 90s and 00s is very fluffy, and militantly proud of not having a lineage.

There are a lot of Pagan related threads, but one reason they might be on the downturn is that if you do the research, the religions we know as Pagan have already either been assimilated into the big religions or that they are but a mere tip of the iceberg when it comes to the really big ones like Saturnalia and Luciferian/Zionism which have assimilated themselves into the big religions.

However, if you want some good Pagan info, Thoth and Pals are a fascinating delve.

LINK (well worth it to get used to the sped-up voice in their vids. )

a reply to: Noinden

No viking in me. I am eighty seven percent Finnish/northern Russian according to ancestry. The reason the Russian is there is because part of Finland was taken over by Russia after their war. So there are quite a few Finns blended into adjoining Russian areas.

The Early Finns had different gods and goddesses than the vikings. www.godchecker.com...

My Great Grandmothers maiden name was the name of the tenth god. God of the forest. Probably why I like to live out in the woods. Just a coincidence though, but liking the woods makes me a heathen. Many of us Yoopers tend to like nature, so we are considered uncivilized and Barbaric since we do not like the big city life. I can't help it, I pee in the woods.

originally posted by: Noinden
a reply to: chr0naut

Hmm I'm going to have to disagree about Pagan Faiths being well tolerated by Christian Communities. There are examples of forced conversions by Christians. For example I will mention the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae. What you listed was not really tolerance.

The history of the neopagan revival is fairly modern, and sits almost whole during the Victorian Deist period.

Now Witchcraft is a tricky thing. Viz all Wiccans are Witches, not all Witches are Wiccans. FOr the most part Witches are considered Pagan, with a few exceptions.

The Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae was an edict made under a state of warfare.

It was an edict that the Saxons accede entirely to Charlemagne, even to the point of religious observance.

It could be argued that it did not originate from the Church but from a secular leader.

Even after defeat at the hand of Charlemagne, the Saxons continued to respond with equal violence against the Lex Saxonum.

It must be pointed out that many Saxon nobles sided against the Stellinga, responding with violence against their countrymen. It was not clear cut, as these things rarely were.

Needless to say, neither side were "Christian" in how they treated each other. It was a dark period.

originally posted by: Noinden
a reply to: testingtesting

Hey I got named

It is noinden however, an Irish term for a period of time, associated with Magic

As for making a pagan thread .... hey who knows, it might not devolve into "you are all going to hell"

I realize that what I am requesting is a big ask, but could you summarize the Celtic Reconstruction beliefs and, perhaps, why you are an adherent?

a reply to: gottaknow

I would contest that neopagans have been assimilated I know where you are coming from, but that is literally ancient history. The modern revival dates from the 1950s and was growing very fast for a time, latest stats are hard to find however.

a reply to: chr0naut

You are missing the point, it was NOT tollerant of Pagans and was only one example of intollerance. There were numerous destructions of temples, burnings of books, and forced baptisms.

While this is not the supposed burning of millions of witches, which IS a fabrication (it was tens of thousands killings). It is NOT a tollerance of Pagan religions.

a reply to: chr0naut

Oy it is, but hey You are in luck, in the late 90s early 00s a bunch of us worked on THIS.

As to why I am an adherent. That is a long story.

I went to a well known Dunedin Presbyterian school, but was an atheist, and during that time adopted what would be called Heathenry today, but was in its infancy in the mid 1980s. Buy the time I went to Otago University in the 90s, I had converted my attention to Revivalist Druidry, and then in time Reconstructionist Druidry (specifically ADF) in the early 00s. During that time I talked with various founders of Celtic Reconstuctionism. I left ADF this year, due to differences in how it was run.

That is how I got there (Celtic Reconstructionsim)

Why do I adhere to it? It makes sense to me. Despite beginning my spiritual journey as an atheist, polytheism and animism has always made sense. I choose a Celtic Path, as I'm mostly of Gaelic heritage, and the correct term for what I am doing is Págántacht, though I am also leaning towards some Gaulish reconstructionism which would be Senistrognata.

Because this path makes sense to me, on a gnosis level. It is why I stay there. I've had a number of spiritual events which have involved various deities I swear loyalty too, as well as some of the good neighbours.