heathens will inherit the earth.

heathens! (pah) i wouldn't pee on one if he was on fire. (joke)


lol ........... ah what is a pagan? We are a wide and varied bunch.

Actually i was asked this around the camp fire at this years summer solstice at Avebury. The best i could come up with is that a pagan is someone who has a spiritual relationship with nature that probably involves ritual.

Thus uk pagans recognise australian aborigines, american indian, african tribes etc etc.

I think many if not most also have a sense of tribal identity, but this is of course not unique to pagans. It's just that tribe is a natural expression of human nature........ and nature is sacred. But tribal identity can be place, gender, age, tradition, coven and so on.

Finally we mostly believe in (for want of a better word) magic. Or the supernatural or whatever. BUT i have come across sometimes called naturalistic pagans that do not. I say magic, but actually magic and specifically black magic is a term thrust upon us by christian history. Our horned god is of course equated by such as devil worship. Halloween and witches are evil and so on. But in fact ritual magic is no different in essence to prayer if you think about it.

So

personally no. i prefer to chill. But there are many ex military pagans, and hells angels and so on, who love to strut about. The warrior is definitely a tribal identity for some, though nowadays expressed mainly through green protests like stopping new roads and developments, or protecting ancient sites like tara in ireland. Locally we have a druid called arthur pendragon who has long since been up against the authorities, fighting for the right of free and religious access to stonehenge. But Avebury is tons better. Bigger, older, easier to get to ..... and its got a pub (the red lion) right in the middle of it :bigsmile: You can give stonehenge to the tourists for all i care, but then that's me being tribal.

Yeh we may smell a bit ...... but we have hearts of gold.

I can recall walking freely around the henge but sadly we are too many for its good.I say there are many smaller places we can have the same experience and have a feeling of union with our ancestors.I might not practice its fine points but feel its my nearest relationship to nature,its history.
I understand the heathens lived on the open heaths in turf covered long huts,it explains the myths of the little people who lived underground.
You are right our earliest humans communed with the natural spirits of the earth and the pagan brotherhood is not confined to any part of the globe. Thanks xris..

yeh we agree xris. good to meet

i lived in cornwall for about 4 years a while back. Near bodmin. Very earthy and damp! How the landscape subtly changes us, even as visitors. Of course you have the sea so close too.

I hadn't connected heathens to heaths. Funny how the language does that without our noticing as the words change over the years. But yeh. favourite places. Home turf. Doeasn't have to be grand and famous to hold our spirit.

I did dabble with Pagan beliefs but i was tempted away by the norse religion, valhalla sounds so cool

"our Troth" and all that Imnotrussian?

The Norse myths are well respected by many where i live. Their runes for example? Though i dont know anything about Norse mythology myself.

That's what i like about being a pagan. It isn't dogmatic and is open to all kinds of inspiring philosophies and practices.

Multi narratives rule ok? :bigsmile:

Its just the "Die in battle and you will be rewarded with 10000 virgins and a mine of gold". It gets me every time, its kinda similar to the spin the muslims put on.

yeh thats true. personally i wouldn't reduce my life to the search for an honorable death in battle. In fact i avoid reducing the meaning of my life to any one thing. I prefer the mix, even though it has inevitable chaos, contradiction and confusion

Amen to that. My main ambition in life is to inspire one person (i'd be happy with more), one person to do something great, and memorable.
of course, to do that id have to do something inspiring and memorabe, i dont want to be forgotten when i die. I want to leave a big mark on this planet, i Don't care how but i dont want to become just another statistic, it makes me sleepless when i think about it. I yearn to be great, I cant help it.

what is your sun sign may i ask? I am into astrology.

Me piscean. zero ambition socially. My dream is to live a pain free, fun loving hassle free, invisible life. lol ............... greatness is too exposed for me.

i was born on the cusp two hours each way i am a cancer and a leo

interesting. Cusps are difficult to read ....... but what i immediately noticed was that you word your ambition for greatnes in a slightly curious way.
your own greatness thus becomes secondary! Supporting. You also emphasise memory. Cancerian is very supportive. Leo is very leading. Cancerians can be very nostalgic, to think back. Greatness is a way to survive death, to think forward.

And that is how i plan to live forever...Muhahahahahaha!

Im a natural leader and often fantasise about leading a rebellion lol

lol

your signature is interesting in the cusp respect too

Help because as a leader i am lost? thats interesting. But often leaders need supporters/inspirers

are you into astrology, or the sun and moon in particular? What about eclipses? Leo is strongly sun. Cancer is strongly moon (and sea).

I follow the moon phases obsessively i am transfixed by it, and as for the sun, it could be dimmer

I think you might be a loony.

As in lunitic because he worships the moon xris?

Of course Caroline what else could i mean?

HA HA I get it Luna Tic.

i never denied that i am crazy, but at least im different