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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in belief

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The Sabbat-Field of the Buck

Gods, pagans.

Some of us are polytheists, some bitheists. Among our people, we may also variously number monotheists, monists, atheists, polyatheists, and agnostics as well.

We see here the brilliance of the paganisms, the genius of definition by praxis, not belief.

When, later this summer, the Midwest Tribe of Witches foregathers in our immemorial Grand Sabbat, chances are that what we do there may well mean something different to every single one of us.

And there we'll be anyway—theist with atheist, gnostic and agnostic alike—joining once again in the eternal dance on the Sabbat-Field of the Buck.

Really, it doesn't matter what you believe.

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Viewing the World through Pagan Eyes, IV: The trance of belief

 

This section follows part I,   part II  And part III.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • M.T. Noah
    M.T. Noah says #
    I deeply appreciate your work here. I'm planning some deep reading of your series. And to share this series, if permitted. I ho
  • Gus diZerega
    Gus diZerega says #
    Feel free to share!
  • Gus diZerega
    Gus diZerega says #
    Two other brief points. You use 'trance' negatively. I do not. So you are not addressing my argument here. Look at my two exampl
  • Gus diZerega
    Gus diZerega says #
    Notice I never wrote "uneducated cave person." I certainly do not consider that implied in the term "Trump supporter." I was mak
  • Virginia Carper
    Virginia Carper says #
    I have a question about meme trances and brains. I have a traumatic brain injury which doesn't seem to allow me to hold memes. I e
Symbols and Opinions in Minoan Spirituality

What does any given symbol mean? Is it all right if you don't see it the same way as someone else does? Do you have to view it in a specific way in order to "qualify" as following a certain spiritual path? If you don't view that figurine up top the same way I do, can you still follow a path of Ariadne's Tribe style Minoan spirituality?

The short answers: 1) Something different to each person 2) Yes 3) Not usually 4) Yes.  Now for the long answer.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The Limits of Skepticism

For years, it was my parade example of Pagans Letting Our Imaginations Get Carried Away With Us.

An interdimensional rift had opened up in a house in South Minneapolis, causing (as one might expect) no end of trouble.

An interdimensional rift.

In South Minneapolis.

Yeah, right.

Fortunately, one of the local Wiccan elders with a background in shamanic practice was able—with the help of his current student—to get that nasty rift closed and everything back to normal.

Phew.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Care of Souls

"Michael, what's wrong?"

Standing in the doorway, my friend grimaces.

"I realized today that I don't believe in the existence of god any more," he says.

The god that he means is the god of Abraham. I'd come to the same conclusion myself years before, but for Michael, who'd gone to seminary, nearly become a priest, and later considered conversion to Judaism, this was huge.

I pondered my response. Souls need careful handling.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
A Season of Mystery

   Yule nearly passed me by this year. My husband and I have been working around the clock, it seems, and the days leading up to Yule were no different: long days at work, scrambling to keep the house neat and the children fed and in bed at reasonable hours. We missed the opportunity to collect sunfire, and because of this it feels like something is lacking this year. It almost feels like the mystery has gone out of Yule.

   Over the years I have come to learn that we need mystery in our lives. Overall we believe what we can see, though some of us (many) are willing to believe that which we cannot. And therein lies a truth.

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Posted by on in Studies Blogs
The Role of Belief in Magic

Belief is a powerful tool in magic, and in spirituality in general. Belief is a funnel for attention and intention. Whether you believe in something because you genuinely believe in it or believe in it for the sake of something you are trying to achieve, belief has a purpose in magical work. I find the following passage to be illustrative of the importance of belief in magical work:

Be it noted that we do not have to believe or disbelieve in the actuality of such inner agencies per se. what we must believe in is the possibility they exist in their own state of being, yet are capable of interaction with ours by unspecified means or degrees...We need not believe in 'spirit' unless we want to, but we positively must believe in our capability of living and behaving as if the energies available to such entities might be employed on our behalf. From Exorcizing the Tree of Evil by William G. Gray

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