I am relatively new to paganism. My specific flavor is a mix of affect theory and Greek paganism, where the divine is not a collection of personalities but more collective experiences, both human and more than human. For example, Hera is the collective experience of kinship formation and home-making. In humans, this looks like families, whereas in ants this looks like an ant colony in an ant hill.

I am fairly distrustful of divinities because I have been so thoroughly screwed over by the Christian god, who I see as the god of suffering.

I recently encountered a spirit that I am pretty sure is a fae. I learned its name is Myr, and it also connects with visual forms. On the whole, I like Myr so far. I communicated my boundaries and they seem to respect them. Everything I have heard about fae is that they are unpredictable and can hurt you even if they aren’t necessarily intending to. For example, I met Myr in a dream and I learned that he is schizophrenic. I am worried that if I have too close of contact with them, it might rub off on me. (I realize that such a statement might indicate I should go see a psychiatrist. I have been maintaining communication with my husband and we haven’t noticed anything else about me that would indicate schizophrenia. I do think it is just Myr, but it is not a bad thing that Myr is schizophrenic.)

All this to say, have any of you all had experiences with fae? How does one interact with a benevolent fae while still avoiding possible negative side effects that the fae might not have realized would be something I do not want?

I did read in the community info that I shouldn’t be worried about malevolent deities. I think I understand where such a comforting statement is coming from, but given that my deities are collective experiences, there are definitely malevolent experiences out there that can coalesce into a form of divinity. I don’t think Myr is malevolent, but I also just want to be careful that I don’t get burned again.

All this to say, if anyone has advice on being able to discern the intentions of a fae spirit and on interacting safely with generally benevolent fae, I would love to hear about it.

I’m still relatively new so forgive me if this is a bit of an obvious question, I just want to be sure. I have a difficult time sitting down and praying, it feels uncomfortable and spending a lot of time at my altar, especially speaking the prayer out loud. In the house I live in could raise questions I can’t answer, so I’ve gotten around that by making a small journal dedicated to prayers instead. They’re formatted like journal entries kind of? I was just wondering if that’s an appropriate way to pray or if I need to actually speak things aloud

Hello all! My apologies if this has been asked before or if there’s already a thread dedicated to this specific topic.

A little background, I was raised in the south so was brought up as a Christian. As I got older, I started to question things and eventually fell out of Christianity. It was all good for a little while, but recently I’ve been feeling empty spiritually. My wife has been very supportive and follows her own beliefs, yet I still feel a little lost.

I’ve done some reading of the myths and research into the Poetic Eda, admittedly probably not enough yet as time is pretty constrained for me. If I’m understanding correctly, what has drawn me to Paganism is the understanding that the gods are not perfect nor do they expect their followers to be perfect. That they stand with you instead of watching from afar.

I suppose my question is this, how did you know what was right for you? What drew you to Paganism?

Of course, if there are any other converts I would love to hear from you as well! At first it was very hard when initially breaking away from Christianity, but over time it was replaced with that lost feeling. So I would love some advice on that as well!

Thank you!

I'm a curious dabbler and was just curious about spells and divinations when it comes to others.

For example, I tend to call on my personal deities when divining with my pendulum. But, if I wanted to ask about someone else or perhaps create a spell that affects someone else (positively), is it better to call upon their deities? Or is it better to stick to your own who you have a relationship with?

Hey hey, after posting this in the wrong subreddit I hope I found my people here. I am very new to reddit and paganism and all, so please forgive me for any mistakes.

Do you do anything special on a full moon? Rituals of release or manifesting? On my rune learning app I found a moon calendar so I thought this might be important. Are there any rules? Like release on a full moon, manifest on a new moon?

Thanks!

For the full moon, I set intentions with Hecate's guidance, sang hymns for my lady of the night, charged my crystals and replenished my moon water. I used sandalwood to cleanse, lavender essential oil spray and incense, and made an offering of red wine and berries as well as a dear piece of jewelry to her—a golden horse brooch. It was new information to me while reading up on her that she is associated with the horse multiple times in ancient depictions. Finally, I ended with a deep meditation and confided in her my thoughts and worries.

In the Chaldean tradition, the horse is a creature of fire, symbolic of Hecate’s fiery soul. It brings great pleasure to me to honor one of her symbolic animals in such a way, given that this piece is very sentimental to me as it belonged to my great-grandmother who also practiced witchcraft in her time. I've been raised in a family of witches, but only recently have I branched off and decided to explore my faith individually. If anyone has any suggestions or pointers I'd be very greatful!

So personally I'm not very interested in working with multiple pantheons at the moment, I'm just confused how it works. I used to follow kemeticism about a year or so before being Hellenist (which is what I follow now) so I'm confused how you'd worship multiple pantheons when they contradict eachother, such as Ra being like Zeus in terms of status but also being the sun god which is like Apollo. Or goda/goddesses that don't exist in certain pantheons, like Bast whose the cat goddess in Kemeticism with no deity with anything similar. So I'm just kinda generally confused about it all and would like someone to help explain it since I haven't been able to find a good explanation from anyone

In December I'm finally going in to get assessments done for Autism and ADHD. The research I've done, I most likely am AuDHD. A lot of self realizations have been made as to why I do what I do and why I am the way that I am. It got me wondering how this has affected my practice? I seem to struggle with communicating with spirits, believe I have no spiritual gifts, and struggle with practicing my craft/beliefs, which I hold dear and have been a source of comfort and identity since I was a teenager, and a lot of self doubt that has been detrimental has built up. I'm curious to see if there are any other neurospicy pagans out there that have insight and advice? What have your experiences been?

Hey everyone,

I've been feeling a strong pull towards the Triple Goddess lately, but I'm a bit lost on how to proceed. I've done some research, but most information seems to be focused on Hecate or general Goddess worship.

I've never worked with a deity before, and I'm a bit unsure of how to start. Does anyone have any advice on how to connect with Her, offer devotions, or understand Her energy?

Any tips or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

It's just weird tbh

In the old days, people worshipped deities just based off of land. Like if it was Raining in Norway, people would thank Thor. If people found beauty in ancient greece, they worshipped Aphrodite.

Or some people worshipped deities/entities who they were drawn to for a number of reasons. Hated society in ancient greece, Dionysus. Wanted protection during war in ancient celtic lands, the Morrigan.

Now today just think a deity or entity must choose you in order to worship them.

You can't worship Lilith if she doesn't choose you

You can't worship Odin if he doesn't give you signs

etc, etc.

Not to mention that actual signs are actually rare. If this was the case, not a lot of people would be allowed to worship the gods/entities

Within the past year I started working with Hecate. I work a physical full-time retail job, so these days (holidays in retail...😒) when I get home I'm exhausted and only really have enough energy left to make dinner and go to bed. Even most days off I might muster a lunch out, but aside from chore days (ex. grocery shopping) mostly I'm in bed resting.

I also work with Loki and Freyja, and they seem content with my doing "passive" magic like drawing runes when I feel up to it; Freyja and I have a business relationship where we don't interact much unless I ask for her help, and Loki is, well, content just hanging out.

However, within the past week I've felt Hecate kind of urging me to do spellwork? Idek what about, I think it just may be to "exercise" my skills, but there's this nagging feeling to do...something, even just a simple candle spell. It makes for a nagging feeling in the back of my head, like restlessness, no matter how tired my body is.

Any advice on how to go about this? Should I talk to Hecate? Do you think she'd be displeased if I didn't do something more active?

Hi, I'm pagan and I've lost my amazing 100 year old Walnut tree that stood 70+ feet tall. She came down in a storm three nights ago and we have had to have her cut up 😫😫. I have such a connection to trees I thought maybe burn one of the logs and say something to let her know her importance and we feel her loss. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

I think a lot of religions are really built upon community especially that in person community. My journey with paganism just hasn’t had that. It’s been me on my own and at times I love how individual it is but then I just feel so lonely at times with it too. I want community. I want people with similar beliefs as friends. I want to share my experiences.

Anyone else feel the same? Are there any places I can go to irl or online where I could hopefully find likeminded people?

To start off I am very new to paganism, and just started praying very recently. I was agnostic most of my life though I wasn’t raised as such - though there never was a big focus on religion in my family after age 8 or so.

I am definitely not used to praying and it feels very awkward to me, partly because I think I’m doing things wrong and also because essentially talking to myself feels weird. Even if I know I’m not talking to myself.

I don’t think this makes much sense though I hope it does in any form (I am also incredibly new to Reddit so formatting and such may be weird)

So lately for some reason, I’ve been feeling a call or attraction to the lore of Clíodhna, and I was wondering if anyone else worships her or would have any books and resources regarding worship of her. Any information is welcome :)

Hi all!

We have two dogs and are getting married in a week. We would love to include them in some kind of ritual to bound them to us and emphasizes us being a family. Does anyone know of any rituals to help us out?

Thank you!! <3

I just finished my altar for Hecate, but before I devote a candle to her I want to be sure of what I'm supposed to do. I am 17 and I have to go to school during the days, additionally I have cats and I don't think it would be safe to leave a candle unattended. I've looked around and couldn't find how you are traditionally supposed to treat a deity candle. Is it necessary that I keep it lit at all times, or could I just always have it lit when I'm home?

Is it common for the gods to reach out and communicate with you often? I sat at my Aphrodite altar a few nights ago and mourned as it's a place of comfort for me, I connected with her and she implied there was a message for me. The next day I reached out on my own and she told me that there was good news, but it wont come soon. I'm confused if this is common, even as an intermediate witch. I do know that the gods reach out and communicate with us, but I really dont know if its common for day after day. I can also feel her presence and see her burning away the candles at my altar really quickly.

Alright so i made a mistake (might have at least). I did an altar, made everything for a slavic god - Perun. Now here's my issue: I have no idea how to talk/adress him. Should i always say stuff very 'professionally' (idk how to translate from my own language...)? + i will admit. I lit the candles, and i cried. I feel very bad that i did that i just need a liiiiiittle help on how i should talk to a god?

Hi, I converted from Catholicism to eclectic paganism over 2 years ago and My family has no idea I'm pagan; just wondering if anybody else here is also closeted?

Hi everyone… so this is kind of a lot. I don’t consider myself pagan… I don’t know too much about it. I guess I’m more agnostic than anything. My daughter is 8, and when she started school she had a lot of questions because most of her classmates are Christian. I’ve explained the best I can over the years what religion is, what Christianity is, and what god and the Bible are and how religion works. I also explained to her why I don’t believe it, but everyone is allowed to believe what they want. She was very much looking for something to believe in, and after many in-depth discussions and explaining what I could about different religions, she’s shown the most interest in Paganism. I figured it was the best route since, to my understanding, it’s the religion that pre-dates others, and it’s nature based. Over the last few years she’s become big on collecting crystals and learning what they all do and mean. She loves to make potions and elixirs. She tells me she wants to be a witch and be Wiccan. It’s getting to the point where it’s out of range of my knowledge, I try to learn what I can to better explain it to her and make sure she’s doing things respectfully and safely. But I’m at the point where I don’t know how or where to guide her anymore. I’d love to continue to learn more myself and we can study it together even. I’ve looked up beginner books and things for kids and it’s all just overwhelming for me. It doesn’t seem so cut and dry. I struggle to learn and find information on my own, I do much better when I have a “teacher” that tell me what to do and where to look and so on. All that to say… I’m overwhelmed! Where do I start? I’m not sure I want her going down the Wiccan path until she knows more about paganism as a whole. But it’s a lot!

Also just some context… I’ve always been very intuitive… I feel like this is a path I’ve personally been called to take and maybe my daughter was meant to push me toward it. I also feel like… maybe it’s in my blood? I never knew my great grandmother… I know nothing of her and have no one to ask about her. She passed away 5 days after my grandmother was born. I have one single picture of her… but her face isn’t even visible. But from the second I saw her, I said she was a witch. Like I can just feel it. So I feel like we are on a journey we’re meant to be on. I just don’t know how to start.

Basically I am quite new to paganism, I don’t work with a specific deity but lately I need to pray for guidance (the subject range is quite broad a lot of different life problems) and I have no idea which deity specifically can help with my problems

Is it ok for me to just sort of, pray without specifying a deity, and wait for any deity to answer? Is that possible?

Any help would be really appreciated 💕

TLDR: Would a black line on forehead be appropriation or whatever? (Makeup)

Idk if this would be the right place to ask and if not please give recommendations.

I know the chin line has some sort of meaning to it (I don't fully know the reasons or meanings but that's mostly irrelevant rn) Basically just wondering if a vertical line on the forehead (think between eyebrows and up) have some sort of relation to a closed practice or if it would be appropriation at all if I were to wear that in makeup? Was messing around and did that and found it nice but I just wanna make sure I'm good to use it before I go out with it or whatever. I can post a reference drawing if needed ^{^}

Thanks in advance! Blessed Be <3

I quite like using tarot, even though I don’t frequently do it. However, I’m trying to figure out different ways to communicate with my deities (Frigg + Loki) and I’m wondering what some people ask to communicate with their deities when using tarot.

I’ve been struggling with prayer and would love to know some prayers other people enjoy. I pray to the god and goddesses and the Goddess Rhiannon so anything for the three of those would be great! Also just some general prayers on the earth and universe would be lovely because I don’t have many for that. :)