Pagan interest thread

[MoonFaceMama]

Hello,

As a pagan who practices alone i sometimes find it difficult to mark the passing of the wheel of the year in a secular society which largely ignores there things (ie, i sometimes forget special days ) I get the feeling there might be others on here who feel the same, or who do remember, and that maybe we could support each other in reminders and suggestions for celebrations...

Personally i tend to mark the seasons in ways that feel appropriate and are informal, i'm not big into ritual (but willing to discuss this with those who are). Now that i have a ds i think i'm more concious of helping him to have structure to his year (when i was little i had this through the church) and am considering joining a local pagan group so that i have a community of support in this, which might, in time, be available to him should he wish to access it.

So...a place to discuss pagan celebrations, ideas etc... Any takers?

Hi Grockle

Sorry to hear you're feeling down. Maybe some walks on your own in the woods would help? Take your shoes off and walk barefoot and really feel the earth supporting you.

How about doing some yoga and/or meditation in the mornings to start your day off? Burn some incense while you do it.

How about smudging yourself before you go to bed as well, and smudge your home too.

Sending you love and light...

Thanks Flamingo - I think I'll do the barefoot thing on the beach tomorrow. The sea and the sand always help me feel grounded. What is smudging?

I am going to order some incense. I don't have any anymore.

Barefoot on the beach sounds lovely!

Smudging is burning sacred herbs to cleanse a person's aura or a space. The native Americans are best known for doing it, but many religions do it in some way - Catholics swing incense around, for example.

You can buy smudge sticks (bundles of dried sage or sweet grass) from most mind/body/soul shops (or you can make your own, but you'd need to wait for the herbs to dry and that would take a while!), then you get them smouldering by holding them in a fire or candle flame, then waft the smoke around whatever/whoever you want to cleanse.

If you google 'how to smudge' or 'smudging ceremonies', I'm sure you'll find lots about it.

My first experience of smudging was at a friend's house at the first meeting of a mothers' group about 18m ago, and I hadn't a clue what it meant, but went along with it. Then about three months ago I was smudged at a moon group meeting which I'd got up the courage to attend, and that inspired me to read more about it.

Now we have a smudge stick at home, and I smudge my bedroom when my period starts (as I make it into a 'red tent' for my moon time), and myself and the rest of my family as and when we feel we need it. I also smudge my shrines when I clean or tidy them, or re-make them.

What are everyone's plans for the Spring Equinox?

Can I join? I need to go back and read. I'm atheist but with hippyish tendencies and have become very interested recently in ancient sites (i'm in the far south west so there must be loads around here).

My eldest son is severely autistic and gets an enormous amount of grounding from the sea. We'll be in tomorrow - there's nothing quite like it.

If anyone can advise me where to start in order to find out more I'd be very interested.

Hi Saintly

I'm just starting on my spiritual journey, having rejected Christianity for some years, but being unwilling, or reluctant, or something, to decide that there is no divine at all (ie. call myself an atheist). I just believe there's something more and have, for years, wondered what it is.

Only now, in the last few months, have I really started looking into what that might be, and walking a path that is proving to be intriguing, healing and awe-inspiring.

I'm trying to think what I've read that has helped the most. Lots of people say 'The Secret' is good, but I don't like the 'how to get what you want' aspect of it. I found Lynne McTaggart's The Intention Experiment incredible, and convinced me of the power of prayer and of the connectedness that most spiritual traditions (including paganism) have been aware of and honoured for hundreds and hundreds of years.

I'm just feeling that quantum physics is proving so many things we have spent so long believing couldn't be true, that I'm willing to throw myself into the whole spiritual journey thing and see where it takes me!

No idea if that's helpful or not...I suspect not

Oh I have one of Lynne mctaggart's books on my bookshelf somewhere from tears ago - will dig it out.

I'm not quite sure what I want. Like you I rejected christianity but I miss bits of it - the community and the sense of being a teeny part of something ancient maybe. I've always found the moors a very special place and now I feel the same about the sea. My eldest son also really reacts to the moon cycle (sleeps poorly during a full moon and can be noticeably manic). It made me realise how much ancient knowledge has been lost and I think I'd like to reconnect with it.

Welcome, saintlyjimjams - you're in the same area as me. Perfect place to live. I work with severealy autistic children and they really react to the moon's cycles too. It's very interesting and challenging

Hi grockle - ha good clue in your name! I wonder if you work with my son!

I've lost track of the moon this week but judging from ds1's behaviour this morning (up early lots of repetitive shouting) I would guess it's the week before the full moon :off to see if I'm right: he's actually worse the week before.

I react to the moon cycles as well. I think women's menstrual cycles ought to sync with the lunar cycle as well, except that we've lost so much touch with nature and the lunar and yearly rhythms so now they don't...and we all suffer from PMT and SAD in the winter etc.

I truly believe that if we can become more spiritual and in tune with nature, then most of our illnesses, both physical and mental, will disappear - they're usually down to an imbalance of one kind or another.

Saintly - get a lunar chart and have it on the wall

I wonder, Jimjams! Our kids are always wild for a day or two after full moon as well - they seem to take a while to 'come down'. I need to track it properly. I must get a lunar chart.

Does anyone have any nourishing plans to celebrate the Spring Equinox in a couple of weeks?

Nope, not yet. What are your plans, Flamingo?

Nothing as yet, Grockle. I am slowly changing our family shrine thingy, though, to make it more Spring Equinox-y and less Imbolc-y!

Hi again, I lost this thread. Will read through now :)

Ostara blessings to all.

I'm ready for the brighter days, literal and metaphorical ones.

Ostara blessings to you too, Grockle, and to everyone else. Did you do anything to celebrate in the end?

We went to a family Spring Equinox celebration on Tuesday, where the children made bread, sat round a fire discussing balance and trying out some balancing exercises, having a story, and singing songs. They planted a seed and then hunted for hard boiled eggs, and then we all sat down to a huge, beautiful feast laid out on a long table - all outside. It was amazing!

Then last night a friend and I had our own ceremony in my back garden. We sat by a fire, with an Ostara altar nearby, and made prayer flags which we imbued with our intentions and plans for the coming year, then voiced our intentions and threw lavender onto the fire.

Ostara has come at the perfect time in my cycle as well, as I emerge from my moontime hibernation into the planning, forward-looking stage of the month...and also from my years-long winter of depression. This year is going to be the best year of my life!

What a lovely post, Flamingo. I am glad you are feeling brighter. I too am emerging from a winter of depression - more brief than yours but part of an ongoing struggle and a miserable cycle.

I lit a candle and some incense for Ostara but really celebrated today. I walked barefoot on the beach and paddled in the sea. It was beautiful - the sea was calm and the waves gently lapped on the shore. The sun was setting but reflecting in the waves - a gorgeous shimmer below the seamist. I sat with DS and the world seemed peaceful. Well, my little corner of it. Peace at last.

Hi :) Just thought I'd pop my head in here and say hello.
Spirituality has taken a backward step over the last few years as things have been extremely chaotic, but I'm getting back to a more even keel now and am beginning to have time to think about things again.

I celebrated by taking the children and the dog over to the woods for a lovely long walk and then we planted seeds when we got back. Have had the children colouring pictures and making sun catchers too. I cooked a mini feast for us all on Wednesday night and lit a candle. I've also had a spring clean and it's just been a glorious week.

Grockle, Squishy - both those things sound lovely

We just had another fire in our back garden. I'm sure our neighbours think we're nuts (we live right in the middle of a city!) but I don't care! The children have such a beautiful reaction to fires, as they do with running water

Flamingo, we bought ourselves a cast iron firepit as a wedding present and often have it going in the back garden. It's lovely to sit around.

We cut the legs off an old barbecue

Am going to be doing a lot of solitary walking in the woods, and meditating, and praying for strength this week, as have just found out my FIL is concerned we're harming our kids . Wow! That sounds so bloody awful when I write it out like that! Thankfully, everyone else around us, who loves our children, thinks he's mad, but not nice to think someone's thinking that at all.

Thank goodness for spirituality and the opportunities it gives us to remind us that we're all part of a massive, massive picture, and not in it alone.

Blessed be!

Harming your kids how? Sounds worrying, flamingo - hope a walk in the woods helps

By home educating them...he thinks it's 'benign incarceration' [rolls eyes]

I know it's about as fa from incarceration as you can get, how we live, but he's got the hump about something so either he genuinely thinks it (which is scary) or he's just being spiteful (whichs also scary!).

I'm feeling happier alread having talked to lovely wise friends and family, but will make time to walk barefoot and let nature remind me of my truth.

Does he just not understand, Flamingo? It sounds very odd either way. I tend to think 'each to their own' - I don't home educate but it's not my business if others do. Their children, their lives, their decision. Live and let live & all that. I'm glad you are feeling happier.

My lovely MIL is seriously ill in hospital. Please think of her and wish her well. I'm very worried about her and the effect this is having on my already-struggling-with-life-DP.

Will send prayers for your MIL Grockle. So sorry to hear she's so ill. Please keep us informed. Can you tell us her name? Or PM me.

My FIL is just expressing his pain, I think. He feels guilty that he's screwed his son up, and jealous that I'm so well now, and that our children are being so not screwed up by our parenting!