Ask a Pagan

[morningstar2651]

You've got questions, we've got answers.

 

[kdet]

The only answer is Jesus.

John 14 6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

[Shy21]

The only answer is Jesus.

John 14 6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Gosh get over your self. Give the man/woman a chance to explain his/her religion.....

I have a question.....Do Pagans believe in a G-d?? What happens when man/woman dies? Do we go to another world?

 

[Wakeup2god]

Where do you place your hope if you have any?

 

[morningstar2651]

Do Pagans believe in a G-d??

Yes...I'm not sure about ALL Pagans, but most do. I, for example, believe in all Gods and Goddesses as being aspects of a single divinity. Jehova, the Judeo-Christian God, is one of these aspects that I believe in.

What happens when man/woman dies? Do we go to another world?

Your guess is as good as mine...but I believe that our spirit goes to the Summerlands where it rests and reflects over its lives before reincarnating into a new body.

Where do you place your hope if you have any?

I don't know if I'm understanding your question correctly, but I'll try to answer it.

I place my hope in myself, my friends, the Goddess, and the God. Because I don't believe in sins, I don't believe that I am in need of salvation...not sure if that is the hope you meant though.

Also, it may be confusing when I say the Goddess and the God. I'll clarify that.
It's my belief that all of the Goddesses -- Athena, Demeter, Isis, etc. -- are all aspects of one Goddess. I also believe that all of the Gods -- Jehova, Zeus, Pan, etc. -- are all aspects of one God. The one God and one Goddess are both aspects of the one Divine, or the Godhead.

 

[Maria_adams]

Do all pagans worship Godess? How you worship?
What % of world is Godess worshiper? Any idea?

 

[Shy21]

So Pagan is sort of like Wiccan, right? I learned about Wiccan from a college classmate. I loved learning about it. I love learning about all religions.

 

[morningstar2651]

Do all pagans worship Godess?

Nope. Pagan is a very broad term and includes many religions.

How you worship?

Well, here is the way it works for me.

I live my religion every day -- taking care of the creation to honor the creator.

I am also in a coven. We are a close-knit group of friends with similar religious beliefs. We have 8 yearly rituals & celebrations held on Sabbats to honor the God and the Goddess. Some groups like ours will also meet for Esbats -- full moon and new moon celebrations & rituals...but we don't.

Another way is to construct a personal altar. The altar will probably have symbolic items on it such as a chalice, a pentacle, a bell, an athame, and a wand. A personal altar can be used for personal worship.

 

[Shy21]

I am also in a coven. We are a close-knit group of friends with similar religious beliefs. We have 8 yearly rituals & celebrations held on Sabbats to honor the God and the Goddess. Some groups like ours will also meet for Esbats -- full moon and new moon celebrations & rituals...but we don't.

I have another question and I know its going to be taken the wrong way by alot of people, that is not my intentions, but I really want to know the answer.

By rituals...do you mean animal sacrifices? Do you all do animal sacrfices?

 

[morningstar2651]

So Pagan is sort of like Wiccan, right?

Wicca is one of the many forms of Paganism -- I happen to be Wiccan.

What % of world is Godess worshiper? Any idea?

Not a clue...not many surveys about religion have that as a question or answer.

 

[morningstar2651]

By rituals...do you mean animal sacrifices? Do you all do animal sacrfices?

Eep, no! I believe that all life is sacred and a part of the creation...it would be a slap in the face of the God & Goddess to intentionally harm their creation. Few neo-pagan religions, such as Vodoun, include animal sacrifice.

At a ritual, we invite the God and Goddess to come into our presence and offer them breads, fruits, etc. At our last ritual, we offered a large cucumber and some pomello.

 

[rahul_sharma]

What % of world is Godess worshiper? Any idea?

somewhere between 900 Million and 1 Billion.
Goddess worship has a very important place in Hinduism. But unlike paganism, it is clearly explained and well defined in Hinduism.

 

[pensive]

By rituals...do you mean animal sacrifices? Do you all do animal sacrfices?

I do not do animal sacrifices, and I'd be very surprised if any Pagans on this board do them.

Having said that, while animal sacrifices are not a part of Paganism in general, there are small subgroups and individuals that participate in such practices. For example, some groups of Asatruar (of course, Asatruar would generally cringe at being called Pagan, but that's another issue altogether) believe that because animal sacrifice was a part of ancient Norse religion, that it only makes sense to reconstruct that part of the religion too. Not all Asatruar do this, either, but it does exist. (I've gotten the impression that it's mostly groups in Europe, but don't quote me on that.)

Of course, let's also bear in mind what these groups are talking about when they talk about "animal sacrifice." This isn't a brutal murder of fluffy or spot we're talking about. We're talking about the ritualized slaughter and cooking of a cow or other livestock. In such "sacrifices" the animal in question is slaughtered in as humane a way as is done for most of us at our local slaughterhouse (and possibly more humanely in some cases). The animal is then butchered and the meat is used to prepare a feast (and or preserved for future use -- or even donation to a worthy food pantry or charity). There may also be something from the animal (generally those parts that are generally considered inedible or undesirable by most of us anyway) is more formally given to the gods.

Again, this is not my practice, but on the same hand, I don't want to pretend that suh practices don't happen. Nor would I prefer to see people getting all sorts of insane ideas of what constitutes a "sacrifice" in such cases, either. Truth be told, while it's not something I don't think I'd ever do, I'd have a hard time getting too upset over it when I'm a meat eater. And to be honest, I think someone who's willing to do the "dirty work" of slaughtering the animal themselves rather than ignoring it by having some slaughterhouse stranger do it or them earns them a bit of respect from me.

 

[Lokisdottir]

By rituals...do you mean animal sacrifices? Do you all do animal sacrfices?

No.

I'm an Asatruar, and I'll freely admit that my predecessors practiced animal sacrifice. However, the majority of them were farmers. They slaughtered animals for food on a regular basis, so all they did was attach religious significance to an everyday event.

Of course, very few people today raise and slaughter their own food, so animal sacrifice would be very impractical. We still make offerings of food and drink (Asatruar, that is; not all pagans do this), but they tend to come from the supermarket instead.

 

[pensive]

Do all pagans worship Godess?

Which one? Bear in mind that not all Pagans are duotheists. (Heck, not even all Wiccans are duotheists.) Some of us do believe that each deity is a separate, individual entity. However, I have a hard time imagining any Pagans that don't recognize some sort of feminine divinity on some level. But that's about as accurate a generalization as can be made, I suspect.

How you worship?

Well, personally, I don't worship in the sense that most people use the word. My relationships with my gods are a "working relationship." I do things for them. They do things for me. We work together through ritual, meditation, and other methods.

 

[pensive]

Where do you place your hope if you have any?

Hope for what?

 

[pensive]

Gosh get over your self. Give the man/woman a chance to explain his/her religion.....

My personal advice? Ignore people like that. It's clear they don't wan to discuss things, so there's no point in trying to force them. It's better to focus on those who want to share.

Do Pagans believe in a G-d??

I think it really depends on how you define that word. Do all Pagans believe in an all-powerful, personal, creator? Nope. Do all Pagans believe in some sort of "Ultimate Source"? That's more likely, but not entirely certain. (For example, I'm open to the possibility that such a Source exists, but I'm also skeptical, especially when it comes to its nature.) A number of Pagan religions, though, tend to focus on "little gods." These are gods that are not all-powerful, but just "very powerful" instead.

What happens when man/woman dies?

I tend to take a view that's a curious sort of reincarnation, personally. I believe that each living thing has "soul." However, I don't believe that soul is an indivisible thing (that's why I didn't say that living things have "a soul"). I think it's a more vague "essense," like a liquid if you will. When a life ends, that soul is released and returns to a sort of "soul soup." That soul will then get reused in new life at some point.

It's actually a bit more complex than that, because I also tend to agree with the British Traditional Wiccan view of reincarnation, in which some people perform specific rituals so that they can get "good rest and a swift return in a new body" when they die. This to me suggests that by performing these ritual, one can keep their current soul "intact" to some degree. It's very confusing. But what do you expect, it's one of the great Mysteries.

 

[Lokisdottir]

Having said that, while animal sacrifices are not a part of Paganism in general, there are small subgroups and individuals that participate in such practices. For example, some groups of Asatruar (of course, Asatruar would generally cringe at being called Pagan, but that's another issue altogether) believe that because animal sacrifice was a part of ancient Norse religion, that it only makes sense to reconstruct that part of the religion too. Not all Asatruar do this, either, but it does exist. (I've gotten the impression that it's mostly groups in Europe, but don't quote me on that.)

Good point. The more staunchly traditionalist Asatruar, having an interest in practicing the religion exactly as it was in the olden days, would probably want to bring back the sacrifices as well. As I said, though, it's horribly impractical unless you're already in the habit of raising and killing your own food. It's not easy to be a farmer these days.

Besides, as much as most of us hate to admit it, public relations is a factor as well. We're already trying to fix the damage caused by idiot neo-nazis who think "Germanic religion" automatically means "white religion." The last thing we need, on top of that, is for people to think we all like to slaughter cute cuddly animals.

 

[Shy21]

Oops....nvm

 

[God_of_Mercy]

Why is paganism so broad?