Paganism

ok so alot of our regular posters (4 out of 5 in fact lol) are pagan

so i was wondering how everyone describes themselves to non-pagans when asked about it

i know its different describing yourself to another pagan than it is to a non-pagan

so i was just curious

(plus its a good way to really kick off the paganism section)

I find it easiest to say I don't have a religion.

It all came out at work over lunch, when we were chatting in general about beliefs. Catholic, protestant, atheist, total non believers and I said Wiccan- to which a few replied- thats why all the recycling and why you know so much about plants, herbs & essential oils & crystals.It seems to be no big deal, but I do get asked lots of questions about healing and such.

it's cool that you were able to say that, and be clear about your beliefs with your co-workers. you must work in a pretty liberal place.

i tend to just say pagan althrough i would say i pretty much follow Wicca

i gather the UK and Ireland tends to be alot more laid back about religion than the us from what others have said

i have no idea why but most people ain't that bothered about religion here

Maybe people in the UK don't get as upset about Wicca and other Pagan ideas because Christianity was the invasive religion. ??? Maybe?

But wasn't Christianity an invasive religion over in the US too!

well the British protestants when over to America to gain religious freedom (please correct me if I'm wrong with any of this)

the native Americans had their own gods and ways of worship and since the definition of pagan is basically " any non christian based religion"

then the native Americana's religion was pushed out by the British protestants coming over

so yeah your right carol

Americans (not all Americans mind you this is just the impression i get, it doesnt mean im right, i don't mean to offend anyone by this statement) seem to have become a very all or nothing people

they either obsess over something or show totally dislike of it

i like to call this theory "the marmite theory"

I've known many British people like this too
its not a bad thing in most cases

but their are a few people that seem to be able to go abit OTT with it all

Carol, that depends on how you look at the US. With Manifest Destiny the country was created to please White Anglo Saxon Protestant Men period. Of course there were still American Indians but they were decimated and the survivors "converted" but still half-citizens with no rights for a long time. Blacks were of course imported for slave labor with zero rights as citizens...which is still improving but not 100%. Mexicans fall under Spanish/Catholic rule and they have their own History of abuse at the hand of the Jesuites in particular. Even women in the US were not allowed to own land, businesses or to vote for a long time. Everything they did was in the name of their husbands including themselves, as they were considered chattel. The war against the WASP Male wages on.

Meanwhile, there is fearful distrust aross the board, even in the 21st Century.

Ok, maybe that was tmi. It's tough to be "other-than-a-sanctioned-religion" anywhere at any time. And it doesn't matter where you live or the exact "shade" of your skin, it's tough to go against the grain. But you know what? Even the hard-core fanatics of a given religion, turn to the "unknown" when death approaches. We are desired in the long run. That is why we continue to exist.

I've never understood this fear of death

i know its all down to my particular situation but i just don't get whats so scary about it

id be more scared of getting so old that i couldn't have any quality of life at all

my attitude toward it is that there is plenty of things to scare you in life why worry about death

having just emerged from yet another struggle with the beast, my own personal fear of death isn't about me, but about not being here for my kid. I know she'd be ok, but i would miss her so much, even though people who are supposed to know about these things say you don't miss them and you get to see everything important that they do from the other side, I would still miss her. i might even miss Mr. Nice.

is this another way for you to say that those on the other side are just spectral stalkers?

Perhaps so. I don't know for sure, though.

i guess none of us will know until we go ourselves

but i know what you mean snort i worry about neo i want to be with him as long as i can and i do think that sometimes him and the rest of my family and friends are the only reason i take my pills everyday

death itself don't scare me but leaving Mikey and neo alone to cope does scare me

I've done everything anyone can think of to make sure they remember me when i do go but i still don't want to leave them

Mikey and Neo left alone to cope scares me too.

i know they would be ok mikey's good at the day to day stuff but maybe its me worrying about me in the fact that i want to be with them i don't want to leave them even though i know the house would be clean and they would be fed and all that stuff

maybe they would be better off without the burden of me but i still don't want to leave them lol see i can be selfish lol

Who told you that you were a burden? Oh, well you are a burden, and that's me talking, when you aren't the hell on-line.

Worry, worry, worry.

AAArrrghgh. I don't like it when you disappear, damn it.

true. sometimes we just want to know you're all right. once you let her know that, then snort can get back to ...

what is it that she's getting back to anyway?

Nice guy, I'm up to piracy at the multinational corporate level.

Speaking of a burden, I only want to change the planet. (small goals first)

What the hell, I only have one life after all.

well I've had really bad connection of late and quite a few times as you don't normally to come online here until about 11pm

i normally go on guild wars to keep myself awake then get caught up doing missions with heraldo, fallen and everyone else

then i check back and your not online

or i go to bed really early coz I'm really tired

I'm changing my meds soon and i got another transfusion coming soon so I'll be offline all night as they keep me in overnight for that

i do try to let you know whats going on but the time difference makes it hard sometimes

it might only bee around 7pm ish for you but that makes it 1am here you know

It's 9:04 in the AM on Monday as I write this. A is sick and I have to take her back to the Dr today, as the person I took her to on thurs wouldn't give her an antibiotic. Stupid. She's been suffering all weekend for no good reason, only becuase the person we saw doesn't know her. She and I don't get viruses. It's never a virus for us. Those just walk on by.

I need to go wake her up and get her in the shower for the appt. I will sign on though, maybe we can chat a little bit today.

tell her i hope she feels better soon. sick is not fun.

Influenza type A,...positive. Yipee.

She's recovering slowly.

And since I'm here and it's more or less relavant, I quit school. It's the eve of Chinese New Year and unconsciously I made a very clear decision (during the hours of 1 and 6 am, unconsciously in that, I didn't know what day it was) that UTA sucks rat balls. I'm being directed by them, somewhere I don't want to go.

I'm not done, by any means, I just don't want to go ummm, Republican.

i don't get it.

was the school too conservative?