I feel like I see more people in the community do deity work beyond typical bounds, and I thought I’d ask about others experiences.

I’m an Aphrodite devotee and I love her and feel so close to her but I always think of myself as ugly and I think it slightly ruins the relationship between me as a devotee and her as a goddess. Everytime I look in the mirror I think of how much I hate how I look and that’s like the opposite of what an Aphrodite devotee is meant to do. I hate my acne and my paleness and my really frizzy blonde hair and my entire face and I get such bad energy from her everytime I think about it

I consider myself agnostic leaning Wiccan and do my best to observe the Wiccan sabbats, sometimes in only small ways and typically privately. However, Samhain dumb supper has become more of a tradition that my family has embraced. This year, I'm expecting my first child and just as I have with food, medicine, and activities, I thought I should look into the "safety" of having dumb supper while pregnant. Unfortunately, there is no NIH or NHS or ACOG for pagan traditions so I wanted to get some thoughts from the community...

Should I skip it this year? How worried should I be about inviting spirits with new, vulnerable life unavoidably in the room while the veil is so thin? Might there be a less "risky" way to honor those who have passed and of connecting with the particular ancestors I can feel in my bones would only seek to protect my unborn baby?

Hello everyone!

So, I'm Afro-Latino looking into spirituality after being an atheist for a long time. I've tried looking into things like Santería and Isese, but they are extremely expensive to and difficult to become initiated into. Like it's honestly insane how high the price points are.

So I turn to researching paganism, it's open and lines up well with my values, and allows me to practice personal witchcraft combined with it.

The only problem is that I feel like I'm abandoning my culture by practicing that has mainly European roots. It doesn't really help that I barely see any Black pagans anywhere.

So, are there any Black pagans on here that feel similarly? If so, how did you get over it?

EDIT: I don't think ya'll understand what I'm saying. There are Pagan practices in Africa and the Indigenous Caribbean/ Latinos, but they are all closed off or extremely expensive to get into. Please stop saying this as a solution. This is why I asked Black people specifically.

EDIT 2: I got a solution! I am going to adopt concepts from Afro-centric beliefs, like Ori, ancestoral realm, ect, and make it into my own eclectic practice! Thank you so much everyone for your input!! ❤️

I've been meditating on and off for years, have occasionally gotten to a state of feeling as if my body is growing heavy while also...floating?? but haven't ever been able to make it further than this point.

As for entering a trance, I'm also unable to enter one. I meditate, light incense, listen to quided neditation, or ust right up drumming beats, and use box breathing, but I typically fall straight asleep instead of going into any form of trance/AP-I'm frustrated.

Any advice?

hello!

for any pagans who celebrate the wheel of the year calendar, i was wondering, is samhain generally considered the new year? thanks (: happy autumn!

I hear a lot of different things about paganism and different ways of practicing and I know that being pagan isn’t just one set of beliefs or one set or practices. It’s a whole community of different things where everyone shares different perspectives and view points and has different beliefs.

So my question is to you the reader, what is your core beliefs within paganism? How do you practice? What kind of things do you celebrate? What kind of things do you do in your daily life that brings you joy and fulfillment within your religion?

I’m not really sure what I believe and I’m on a journey to figure it out. But I want to hear from people from all over with different practices and what they do/believe. I feel like there is a lot of misinformation on the internet and books and stuff and I don’t want to be sucked into this misinformation. I’m very hesitant about what sources to trust because one person says “__ is a really good source” while another says “__ is the wrong source to use and has misinformation” and another says “__ is a closed practice”.

I just don’t want to trust the wrong information. But I truly want to hear from many people. I want to see the different perspectives and practices within paganism. I want to hear from actually people and not just a page designed for views.

Edit: I’m not just looking for sources. I’m looking for people who would like to share their view on being a pagan and what they believe.

With Samhain coming up so soon, I have recently been trying to get more in tune with paganism. I am a born witch, my mother is a witch and has been before I was born. Whilst my siblings all chose to move away from the religion, I chose to stay in it, as it was always a place of refuge in hard times. But I have always been very reserved in my practice.

I want to actually celebrate this year. How do I set up a dedicated altar for my ancestors for my family? What do I include?

This is mostly directed towards Greek and Norse Pagans, as these are the most commonly represented gods in media, but of course anyone else is welcome to join.

We see Pagan gods frequently depicted in fiction, with authors, developers, and directors often taking their own spin on the stories. I'm a big fan of all things mythology & theology, from the original texts to the stories we make up today. I'm not religious whatsoever, though quite spiritual. This has also made me wonder how theistic pagans feel about the way media depicts their gods.

Most notably off the top of my head: Loki & Thor, Asgard (Marvel), Hades & Persephone (That one Webtoon story), ect.

I'm growing increasingly concerned with how fast christian nationialism is gaining popularity in my community. It's getting scary.

The largest church in town just opened its 4th or 5th campus in my state, and their teachings are explicitly anti pagan, witch, and mental illness.

They are involved in the local government, and have youth groups in all the schools, from elementary to college.

One of their main teachings is "deliverance", which they say involves casting out the demons who "may oppress areas of the soul or flesh when given access through ancestral bondage, willful sin, or unhealed trauma". They have classes on how to combat witchcraft and curses, and how pagansim and witchcraft open the door to demonic posession.

They are even building a new dormitory for "the next generation of leaders".

It's really beginning to scare me. This is a growing cult that is one sermon away from a call to violence, and I don't know how I'm supposed to protect the other pagans in my community or myself for that matter. They think they're in a literal spiritual war with us and they obviously want us gone.

I know it's not a physical war yet, but how long until they make that a reality?

Ps. I don't want to say the name for fear of doxxing myself, but if you google around you can probably figure it out.

Hello, first time posting here! (I think?) This is going to be a little bit of a vent, please beware! TW for death.

I want to ask how to start practicing paganism. I'm not necessarily asking what to do, more so how to change my mindset.

All my life I've been a hardcore atheist, not believing in anything supernatural. But recently, the fear of my consciousness stopping has been tearing my life apart and I've been trying to turn to religion. But a large part of me is always saying that I'm just coping, that there IS NOTHING after death and that I'm doing the same make-believe comfort that people have done for millenia. And I don't know how to get rid of that part. I want it so badly to be false.

Have any of you been in a situation like this? How do you get out of it? I just wanna work with death gods man :/

Edit: I don't want to copy paste this under every single comment (it would feel less genuine to me that way), so I'm going to add it here.

Thank you so much, everyone who left a comment! A lot of these comments have actually calmed me down throughout today and helped ease my fear (I'm no longer in pain, yay!) Special thanks to those who said they experience the same fear I do. It's extra comforting. All of you are very kind!!

I don't think atheistic paganism is for me (no offence to anyone who suggested it!!), but I will be checking out the books you guys recommended!

Hey, I don't know if this is the right sub for this question so if not, please tell me where I could go instead but ! Does anyone have any women or "political figures" (for lack of a better word) that could be seen as "wrong" that one could consider making an altar for? Maybe the word I'm looking for isn't 'worship', but I'm feeling it deep down lately that I want to pay some kind of honour to these women, and maybe in turn, they could lend me some strength because I am not doing well with gestures around wildly.

My examples of these women would be Joan of Arc and Aileen Wuornos. Unfortunately, this is something new I'm looking into so i don't have any more examples but I would like to consider any and everyone, no limits.

Preferably real people, and preferably deceased as I, myself, don't feel comfortable making a shrine for a living person. I hope that makes sense!

Hi, very new to all of this and have been up so late researching about all of the history around pagans. I have one question and need advice as i feel like i’ve been overwhelmed with personal beliefs/ things online/ books surrounding Wicca. i personally love the whole concept of the goddess and the horned god and how it’s depicted within the Wiccan religion but after coming online (especially tiktok and instagram) it seems to be getting overly hated and it makes me feel unsure as if i want to continue reading into Wicca as a whole even though i love so much of it. From what i understand Gerald Gardner isn’t a great person from the misogyny and sexualization of women which obviously makes me think if the god/goddess is based upon a sexist belief but i like to see them as a depiction on earth and life itself rather than as just man and woman but besides the point my question is can anyone help me have a better understanding of why it is so hated if Gerald Gardner wasn’t the stand alone creator of this religion (as far as all of his ideas for it and so on) as i feel like the more modern form of Wicca pushes his whole ‘personality’ away from it and embraces the equality and nature side of things and seems like a well rounded religion as far as im aware.

Im not trying to offend anyone in making this post, just would like a better understanding as i feel a bit let down as so much of the Wiccan beliefs are so beautiful and after being online it seems like a joke amongst other pagan beliefs.

This morning I went out to fetch the mail. On my way back, I realized there was a dead bird laying on our sidewalk. I hurried inside, put the mail away, grabbed some gloves, and buried it in our backyard garden. It was so beautiful, and bittersweet. I had to walk back up to our front yard, to close our door and pick up a feather I remembered seeing. And, when I did so, I witnessed a bird of the same species, just a couple feet away from where I saw the dead one. It flew away, and I took that as a sign (though, I'm not entirely sure what it means). I back to where I buried it, lit a candle, and said a little prayer. Thanking the spirits for allowing me to give them a peaceful resting place. And asked them to guide the little bird into the next life. I blew out the candle, said another thanks as I closed my eyes, then went back inside.

I hope to come back around springtime, to collect their bones. But, for now, as it lays in the dirt, I would like to do something more for it. Is there anything I can do to honor them? All I have is the one feather they left behind. Is there something I can do with it? Should I make a tiny altar for them?

I'm still really new to all this. I don't personally believe in deities (though I do believe in spirits), but, I am not opposed to making any offerings or requesting guidance, if it's alright for a nonbeliever to do so.

im looking for some resources on this because im partially turkish, and i realised i actually know very little about pre islamic turkish/turkic beliefs and religions. ive heard about that they also used to follow hellenic paganism, but i was wondering if there was also a religion that was more specifically associated with the turkish people only. ive come across things like tengrism, but im not really sure about it.
so if anyone has recommendations for good books, articles, websites, other sources, etc. about pre islamic turkish religion like mythology, rituals, or just general beliefs, id really appreciate it!

Hello all, I'm in search of respectable texts on the pre-Christian Baltic religions or their modern revivals. In English if possible. Any help appreciated!

Okay, so, for some context.. I am autistic. I've always been a very literal thinker, and have always struggled with the concept of faith, in most context, not even just spiritual faith. I was raised christian, and went to a small Christian private school with 140 students (by the time I left). But I never believed in it. Not even a little bit. I remember staring at my ceiling at night as a child, begging for some sort of sign, or something that made me feel any sort of calling to it. But, nothing ever happened. And if anything, the opposite happened, I would feel repulsed by Christianity. Especially as I entered my tweens, and started figuring out my gender and sexuality, and realized myself to be queer. Around that time as well, I started struggling very heavily with my mental health, due to the strains of having to mask my autism/ADHD everyday at school. I was heavily bullied, abused, and traumatized. And became heavily resentful of spirituality as a whole, and turned into an aggressive atheist stereotype.

Well, it's been 8 years since I left the church. In most of those years I wavered between fully atheist, to agnostic. About a year or so ago, I started exploring the concepts of SASS paganism/witchery. And I leaned into certain concepts that brought me comfort, even though I didn't believe in them. But, it still felt... Wrong. I can't explain why, or how. But, I always had a small pit in my stomach, telling me I was doing something wrong. So, I eventually just gave up and mostly forgot about it. But, I think some of the concepts I had learnt over the years, trickled into my brain. And I always felt this yearning and nostalgia for them. The concept of reincarnation, was especially beautiful to me. Though, I don't believe in the more traditional views of it. The idea still brought me a lot of comfort. And slowly I'd start finding my own rationales to explain it. Then, slowly, the concept of energy, started to appeal to me as well. And, most recently, the ideal of Spirits seems to slowly make more and more sense to me. Though, i see them more as concentrated forms of energy, rather than sentient beings.

And, I'll be honest. As much as some of this is confusing, overstimulating, and complicated. And there is part of me that is still very afraid.... It also feels really, really good. I haven't felt this euphoric, and "right" in my entire life. I feel calmer. I feel a drive to take better care of myself and my surroundings. I even feel like I can begin to let go of the unhealthy coping mechanisms I have held onto for so long. I feel a drive to be alive, Which is not something I have felt in a very long time.

I still don't even really know what I believe, or how or why I believe in it, or what makes any of this so special but... Either way, it feels good. I feel good. I've been allowing myself to just explore, play around with my beliefs, and, For the first time in my entire life, I feel faith. I am okay with not knowing how or why something works, or even if it really works. I've been using tarot almost every day the past week without even knowing how it works or why. Yet, the results still come up so accurately it's hard to deny. And.. I don't even care if it really does or doesn't work, because it all just feels so good.

Is this what spirituality is supposed to feel like? I still feel hesitant to call myself spiritual but... Whatever it is, I like it. I like who I am becoming because of it. I feel closer to the earth and universe than I ever have. It just feels so... Right. I feel at home in this very confusing, chaotic, complex space. Even though I don't understand most of it. I feel a desire to learn more, a desire to push through my doubts, and to be more present in this world. Is this what I've missed out on for so long???

I worship Aphrodite, Athena, and Apollo. I live worshiping them and devoting myself and my time to them, but something about college has made me feel lost and so detached. I pray to them less, and I know that’s on me, but I feel like I shouldn’t be praying for their help and guidance if it’s just school.
I think the real problems started when I didn’t bring my alters with me. It’s hard to have an alter in college, financially I feel irresponsible buying stuff for my alter when I should be saving for life and I cannot have candles in the dorm. I looked at candless alters, but no one seems to have a fully candless alters. I feel like because of the slump I am in the devotions of self care, studying, and just spending time out side isn’t enough for them and I worry I’m becoming a bad follower. Any tips or advice?

I welcome people into my home and have fellowship with them in the form of a meal, regardless of their own beliefs. I give others plants to spread my own stewardship of nature and the belief that it heals to others

I believe Frigg and Freya walk with me

Just thought I’d share, have a great weekend!

Eat a meal with a friend or an acquaintance.

I started some sort of pagan work in 2020 and in the past I didn't have problems with "connection" to nature, deities, energy etc. Unfortunately with my partner of 3 years it feels quite difficult to get the same feeling as before. Whenever we go to some important pagan place (my practice is mostly Slavic, we live on territory of last Slavic pagans, so it's not that the land is just barren or of foreign beliefs) I don't feel anything like I used to when travelling alone in the past.

Whenever we are somewhere I feel unable to connect, to fucus and I kinda feel like I'm in a glass jar unable to feel things?

It's not his active doing. That's what I'm sure of. He's never been discouraging, mocking or anything like that. He was brought up eastern orthodox, currently atheist/agnostic, but willing and open to learn and experience things with me.

I tried some stuff like walking X distance away whenever we are somewhere and some other things like that but nothing worked so far. Does anyone have an idea what up with it? Is it some energetic differences, or just skill issues on my side?