Theism versus Non-theism in Pagandom

I like to read. I read a great deal. Sometimes multiple things at the same time. I read books and blogs and web articles. I am always reading.

And there is this thing that is being discussed all over the place. It is basically asking whether only hardcore polytheists are 'real' pagans.

What's a hard polytheist, you ask?
Well, apparently there are people out there who feel that god/goddess (gods, goddesses) are real personified actual 'living' entities. Ones that you can talk to and will respond to you. That each and every deity in all pantheons exist as independent entities.

This is in opposition to the beliefs of someone like me who sees gods/goddesses as faces we humans give the universal energy around us as a way to make sense of the incomprehensiblness of divinity. Gods are not real persons (for myself, I mean.)



I think that everyone has a right to believe in exactly what they want to believe in and I would never poke fun at their beliefs. It is, however, difficult to discuss this topic without hurting anyone's feelings. So I'll apologize in advance and let you know that I am not telling anyone what to believe or what not to believe. My goal here is to explain my perspective on  this topic.



The truth is that I do not have the capacity to understand polytheism because in my base structure, my core, I cannot prove the existence of deity. I have never been able to do so. I have never talked to any deity and I certainly have never heard any deity speak. And trust me, I have listened and I have searched with an open heart and open mind. I'd love to prove that they exist. But for me, they just don't.

And I think this lack of capacity to understand is the same issue for polytheists, that they perhaps cannot comprehend how non-theists can be spiritual or religious if they don't believe in god/gods/goddess/goddesses that are so apparent to them.

It is a fundamental difference. A big one. It's one where we typically agree to disagree, but secretly feel sorry for the other person who just doesn't understand.

But to say that a non-theist cannot therefore be pagan is ludicrous.

This idea I think stems perhaps from the re-constructionist pagans (those reconstructing the 'old ways' from historical sources) who are under the assumption that our ancestors worshiped real/actual deities in a particular way. That the ancestors believed in deities actually existed upon the earth and that therefore this is the way to worship them currently in the modern world.

I think this is in error for two reasons.

One, we have no way to know or understand how our ancestors believed or what their thoughts were. We may know some of their actions and some of their rituals, but these do not necessarily correlate with their thoughts. For example, I have an altar to the Goddess. If my altar was found 100 years from now by another pagan, they may assume I prayed to a specific goddess and left offerings on this altar for her... as that is what altars are for in their opinion. They would be in error. My altar is to invoke within me the Goddess mindset. I place upon it the things that trigger or remind me what the Goddess represents as an avatar of divinity.

And two, the only constant is change. As we grew into more and more knowledge about our natural world, it became obvious that it was not gods that caused things to happen. For example, lightning is definitely not created by Zeus or Thor. (I have this on good authority.)

And not to mention that in any number of pantheons, deities would become entangled and/or change with the politics of the time. A great example are the Egyptian deities. I just read an article the other day about Set. If you read about Set from the early dynasties, he was a Sun God, a beneficial deity much loved. Then if you read about Set in the later eras, he was the bad guy who slew Osiris to get the throne. This change possibly occurred due to the changing political clime during the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Amun and Ra were also once separate entities, that at some point merged into one.

I think it is safe to say that while these 2 factions will never agree, we cannot and should not tell someone they are not a pagan unless they believe or do xyz... This is as silly an argument as asking which one of these is pagan: the priestess that calls to the watchtowers of the 4 elements or the one that only calls on the  God and Goddess? What if she only calls the Goddess? What about one who does not use an athame? (I have been known as the Twizzler Witch for a reason. Yes, the candy. I was just trying to prove a point thank you very much.)

The fact is, these old religions have been gone for so long that we are all merely re-creating what we perceive to be right. And belief is a widespread and ever changing thing. None of us have the right to tell another human being what to believe and how to worship.

Pagan is an umbrella term for a reason.

We can all fit under it. I promise, she's big enough for us all.

Bad luck comes in threes?

This is one of those old wives tales as they call them. The idea that luck (good or bad) usually comes in bursts of three.

I get hit with  a good dose of bad luck every once in a while. However, I also get a good bit of good luck, usually more than the bad. So all's good.

I was thinking about Trickster again, I mean when am I not? right?

And I thought I would share with the inter-webz how he helps me sometimes.

There are people out there who see tricksters as bad guys. evil. pranksters.
Many of these people blame all the world's misfortunes on Trickster.

But, you see, misfortune in the world just happens. The same way good fortune just happens. This is life. It is the way it is. The only choices we have are how we react to those things that just happen.

To give you an idea of my bad-luck spree.... here is a short list of the big things gone wrong in the last 2 months:


1.
Hubby lost his job. again.

2.
Hubby bought me a pygmy goat. ($12 and box of girl scout cookies... now that's a deal)
A freaking adorable and awesome goat. Stinky. But awesome. I named him Pan. (As befits the naming scheme for my household: Dogs are : Zeus, Thor and Hermes; Cats: Morgana, Merlin, Gwen and Georgie; Chickens are named for the Muses and Graces.)

My youngest child called him Moo.

Then one Friday, a neighbor's Pitbull got loose, pushed open my gate and killed Pan. My dogs attacked the Pit and chased it out of the yard. It went over to the farm across the street, killed 2 chickens, a goat and was in the process of trying to get a horse, when the farmer shot it.

I feel bad all around here. I blame the owners (who claim 'it's not my dog') and not the poor animal. Thankfully, none of my kids were home when this happened.

My 3 dogs formed a wall around the goat until we got home. They actually laid in a circle around the dying goat like some kind of funeral guard.

3.
On the following Tuesday, my house got broken into. Several broken windows, a few things were stolen and everything not stolen was spray painted blue. A big FU on my front door, a b-ch on my bedroom wall. You get the picture.

I am struggling not to burst out laughing here. Obviously someone was trying to get us upset. I'm not. I'm not up for this game. I think it must be time to paint my house. Oh and I needed to replace those bad windows anyway.

Granted, I'm a little annoyed at a few things that were painted that are irreplaceable (Lovely white Hungarian embroidered apron) and my sewing machine and serger are toast having paint in the gears,  but mostly things can be cleaned off. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser by the way... it gets spray paint off anything but wood and wall.

It's obvious that this was the work of some kids. I also know that they will be paying for it in some way. They may not be caught now, but they will one day pay for it. Call it Karma, Rebounding Energies or Trickster paying them a visit, or what have you, one day it'll come back on them.

4. The kidnapping scam. Suffice it to say, I do not want to give out all the details here, but let's just say that there is this scam where a stranger calls one of your family members that there's been an accident and they need to come help. Then you get a call that your family member has been kidnapped and that you need to send $3,000 to get them back.(or that your nephew is in jail and needs bail money wired right away).  You may be smart enough to realize this is a scam and call 911. It still stresses you out and blows your day though, right? Especially if you can't get a hold of the 'kidnapped/jailed' person.

Lots of bad luck as you can see. However I still have a smile on my face. I am laughing and giggling along as I write that list. Because it IS funny! I mean seriously, how many things can go wrong in a span of 2 months? Holy Hel. 

Things turned out fine, by the way. Hubby has a new and much higher paying job. I now have a mommy goat and her 3 babies. (We bought a preggo goat and she had triplets! omg!) Insurance is paying to re-paint my house and replace my kitchen cabinets. I also got to buy a new sewing machine. It has 80 stitches! Much more than the old one.

Things always have a way of working themselves out. And I know that I just have to move through the hard stuff to get to the other side. There is always an other side.

There are always going to be multiple ways of looking at a situation.
Trickster did not cause the bad luck, but he helps me to see the humor in the situation.
I always say, Find the Humor.

Please do not get me wrong here, I am not saying that there aren't serious situations or that there aren't times where you need to be serious. All I am trying to get at is that you get to choose those times. You get to choose how to react. And if you can find the humor, you can get through anything.

Oh and about that bail money? Can you wire that to my Kaman Island account by tomorrow?