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Gladeflower
June 16th, 2010, 12:46 PM
I choose Wicca for many reasons, mainly cause of the fact that it includes a nature based philosophy, spirituality and nature based everything ( that was the first impression al least)
And also cause its of main stream, I have to admit that. I always somehow support minority, and as soon the minority becomes majority and begins to control politics I somehow think they are going the wrong way, and I have a urge for revolution.
I see bad and good things in absolutely everything, its just that I have a higher tolerance for minority and different minds sets, and as many others I have a less tolerance for the ruler class, which is sad paradox somehow.
I know if I became a politician myself, I would forget someone and i would be blamed for it, you cant do anything without upsetting someone or forgetting someone, or you wont have enough money to solve everything. And thats the curse of being the ruling mainstream, you will get blamed for much.

And I have to say I wouldn't been so appealed to Wicca if it wasn't a small "Pagan" religion with much controversiality around it, controversiality spoken by The Mainstream Religion.
Ofc I im not a Wiccan now cause of the 'Wow im so cool and rebelish'
When I started out with Wicca it was the best I have ever done, I didn't need ANYTHING else, just books about it and time alone, I have never felt so complete, like being saved as some christian may call it.

But I would probably not begin to explore it when I saw it for the absolute first time. If it wasn't of main stream, if it wasn't full of very old school occultism and hidden powers, when in fact it is a modern construct. I would have probably let it be alone, along with all other stuff that we walk past everyday.

And now when time have past, I am familiar with it and I have explored all other paths around the area. The feeling of being saved and the holiness is gone, I can sometimes reach it, but I know that the feelings could be anything, probably just psychological, that does not void it, it could be enough, but it gets reduced into "just" and "could be...maybe" and that lifts the magick and mystery away.
Probably Im holding on to this path cause I hope for more revelations, like those back in the days. And I mostly hold on to Wicca cause it has become a main identity. An identity that becomes strengthen those few times I actually meet other pagans, pagan stuff or other extreme christians, and this is the thing, the polarity is needed. there is not enough extreme christians in sweden.
I myself and I believe other Pagans actually need the extreme Christians to exist, the identity would otherwise vanish. Just like the satanic statement which says they themselves are the best friend of the church, cause without them the antithesis (opposite) the Church wouldn't exist. Whiteout christians I just become a new-ager, in fact much of our terminology is directly ripped from the Church.
By setting an opposite, we get an identity, we can recognize what something is. its only contrasts that exist, and without them we would not be able to separate and differ the first thing from the the second. With opposites we get meaning, definitions, we get a context to exist in, and we have a purpose. We get an identity, debates will appear, work appears, we can hope for the future, and we become active cause of these very valid abstractions. And First and foremost without THEM we have no US, no identity.

Zetta
June 16th, 2010, 01:01 PM
I think that even without extreme christians, many of us would have been pulled to our paths... I know myself, it was not a need to rebel from christianity and be different at all... this is what spoke to my soul, who i am... and i would exist without any other religion in the world. i would still love nature, and believe in harming none... i would still know in my heart that the moon was a symbol of magic, and that nothing compares to time spent in open water.... christians have nothing to do with me being me..... but that is just my opinion.

Gladeflower
June 16th, 2010, 01:29 PM
I think that even without extreme christians, many of us would have been pulled to our paths... I know myself, it was not a need to rebel from christianity and be different at all... this is what spoke to my soul, who i am... and i would exist without any other religion in the world. i would still love nature, and believe in harming none... i would still know in my heart that the moon was a symbol of magic, and that nothing compares to time spent in open water.... christians have nothing to do with me being me..... but that is just my opinion.

You wouldn't exist? Souls, harm none, love nature, moon is a symbol.
And these thoughts are common to all religion not? Then why Wicca?
I say (kindly...if possible) that you would not exist without christians, not even this forum
The strong pull to feminine goddess, equality in gender in our craft, revival of pre-chrisian stuff, altars, etc etc, haven't these not in fact emerged as an direct answer cause of a long time of chrisianity

Just as judaism is formed as a counter answers against their Pagan neighbor who boiled a kid in its mother's milk, and the jews were thought they should not do like their neighbors did, and they didn't even to this day, even special kitchens are designed to do this correctly.

Just as every philosopher with their philosophies are answers against philosophers just before them. Its a ball game, back and forth.

Our common identity is still very valid and nothing to abandon, and we should continue.

WillowBrooke
June 22nd, 2010, 08:53 AM
I think its all about balance. The world would be a very boring place if we all believed the same thing and thought the same way. I agree with what you say about needing the Christians to exist.

j3emt
August 9th, 2010, 11:33 AM
Who cares about Christians? My beliefs come from what I feel is right. I don't care if it is rebellious, opposite, or different. If some one arrived were they are spiritually because of rebelling or what ever it doesn't matter as long as they are doing what they feel is right.

Corvis Canis Latrans
August 9th, 2010, 11:43 AM
I say (kindly...if possible) that you would not exist without christians, not even this forum
The strong pull to feminine goddess, equality in gender in our craft, revival of pre-chrisian stuff, altars, etc etc, haven't these not in fact emerged as an direct answer cause of a long time of chrisianity

Our common identity is still very valid and nothing to abandon, and we should continue.

Agree with this especially, and the rest of your post as well...

A spiritual path can only exist if it has something to contrast itself with.

Happiness cannot exist without sorrow. Without sorrow, we would have no way of knowing what happiness is. Likewise there would be no good, no reason for good, without bad to contrast it with.

That is not to equate Pagan Good with Christian Bad, frankly anyone who jumps to that conclusion from my post has missed the point of the metaphor entirely, but belief systems evolve according to what is lacking or contradictory in other belief systems.

The other belief system feels wrong to some people, yes. But it has to be there to contrast with for the other one to feel right.

Brearley Arn
August 21st, 2010, 05:11 PM
Christianity has no part in the path i walk today, I wasn't raised in a Christian home, I never had really Christian friends. This was the path I've always walked, in fact because of Christianity it's harder to walk my path because the connection to my ancestors was disturbed by the coming of Christianity.

The revival of pre-christian beliefs, is for the most part(in my opinion) a response to the state of the world, people don't care about each other, or the planet, we see animals going extinct, garbage everywhere, and for lots of people, they seek to connect to a time long past when we lived in harmony with nature and revitalize the feeling of the Tribe. Almost all the ancient knowledge was lost or burned when the Christians came, and only recently have they begun to resurface with the revival of the Pagan beliefs.

Herbal medicine is on the verge of becoming the most effective form of medicine in today's world, and they were using it (exactly the same) thousands of years ago.

Gladeflower
August 23rd, 2010, 06:38 PM
I became wiccan mainly cause of the "nature part"
and environment issues and questions are modern now
And if the environment "moder earth" weren't threatened I would probably not care, and not become a wiccan :D

If you wan to play with causality (cause effect) then you can say mother is threatened and recruited me as a warrior to fight for hear until my service aint needed any more. ;D

skyvia
August 25th, 2010, 02:57 AM
Paganism is a blanket term (http://mysticwicks.com/wiki/Blanket_term), typically used to refer to polytheistic (http://mysticwicks.com/wiki/Polytheistic) religious traditions, although from a Christian perspective, the term can encompass all non–Abrahamic (http://mysticwicks.com/wiki/Abrahamic) religions.Norm is a designated standard of average performance of people of a given age, background.