Just because someone uses Godforms as personality anchors, or idols of devotion, or as focuses thru which to manifest their archetypal potential, it does not make them pagan.
Ask an anthropologist, who researches the various shifts in psycho-historic human consciousness, if any pagans still exist. They will fall to the floor in hysterics at the notion of such a thing.
Neo-Pagan traditions such as Druidic, Celtic, etc are very alive and very effective magickally but, far too many followers of these traditions have learned their "religion" from text-books and/or so-called authorities on the subjects.
Even Laveyian Satanists do not consider themselves pagans.
The only "real" pagans I know of ride on two wheels and usually don't shower very often and call their females "old lady" regardless of age.
Ever heard of the NJ Breed? Those are pagans. Not these americentric newage (rhymes with sewage) paradigm moochers.
McWiccans(tm), on the other hand, are just a joke. Al Crowley allegedly designed their entire mystico-religio-spiritualism at the turn of the century to attract more females into his social circles (to, in turn, encourage more men to join his entourage, obviously). Crowley took his ideas for the Goddesses from the ancient western mystery cults and fused it with Greco-Roman ideals of female deity worship.
It started as a carefully constructed hoax and ended up as an amerikan book-selling scheme brought to you by Llewellyn. I cannot deny that there is a lot of truth to the early European Goddess worshipping cults, but this knowledge (of their practice) has been lost with time. They left behind only relics (statuettes, etc.) and obscure cave paintings.
There are some very sincere, determined, and sophisticated Wiccans. They're known as the Feri. The Feri are also a 20th century phenomena. Gardenian Wiccans also have some well-respected members, but they tend to be few and far between.
Lilith, as far as I've studied, did not eat or kill babies. She is only mentioned once in the bible and is referred to as the Screech Owl. The Torah points toward her being the first wife of Adam, but supposedly her existence predates that of Adam. The Dead Sea scrolls portray her as the mother of all demons. And, undoubtedly she is synonymous with Cthulhu of the Lovecraftian mythos. She is the first succubi.
Kali, in my experience, tends to be invoked in every mosh pit on every dancefloor on the globe and most kids don't intend on such an invocation. Otherwise there are no Thugee-warriors left.
I agree that her image is getting slightly abused in pop-culture. But, personally, I'd rather see images of Kali than Rosie O'Donnel. Altho, I wouldn't mind seeing Rosie get abused.
I just laugh. Laughter is the purest emotion. Let ignorance destroy itself.
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opinions (sorry so long)
Date: 2002-08-30 01:21 pm (UTC)Smack anyone who thinks they are a pagan, please.
Just because someone uses Godforms as personality anchors, or idols of devotion, or as focuses thru which to manifest their archetypal potential, it does not make them pagan.
Ask an anthropologist, who researches the various shifts in psycho-historic human consciousness, if any pagans still exist. They will fall to the floor in hysterics at the notion of such a thing.
Neo-Pagan traditions such as Druidic, Celtic, etc are very alive and very effective magickally but, far too many followers of these traditions have learned their "religion" from text-books and/or so-called authorities on the subjects.
Even Laveyian Satanists do not consider themselves pagans.
The only "real" pagans I know of ride on two wheels and usually don't shower very often and call their females "old lady" regardless of age.
Ever heard of the NJ Breed? Those are pagans. Not these americentric newage (rhymes with sewage) paradigm moochers.
McWiccans(tm), on the other hand, are just a joke. Al Crowley allegedly designed their entire mystico-religio-spiritualism at the turn of the century to attract more females into his social circles (to, in turn, encourage more men to join his entourage, obviously). Crowley took his ideas for the Goddesses from the ancient western mystery cults and fused it with Greco-Roman ideals of female deity worship.
It started as a carefully constructed hoax and ended up as an amerikan book-selling scheme brought to you by Llewellyn. I cannot deny that there is a lot of truth to the early European Goddess worshipping cults, but this knowledge (of their practice) has been lost with time. They left behind only relics (statuettes, etc.) and obscure cave paintings.
There are some very sincere, determined, and sophisticated Wiccans. They're known as the Feri. The Feri are also a 20th century phenomena. Gardenian Wiccans also have some well-respected members, but they tend to be few and far between.
Lilith, as far as I've studied, did not eat or kill babies. She is only mentioned once in the bible and is referred to as the Screech Owl. The Torah points toward her being the first wife of Adam, but supposedly her existence predates that of Adam. The Dead Sea scrolls portray her as the mother of all demons. And, undoubtedly she is synonymous with Cthulhu of the Lovecraftian mythos. She is the first succubi.
Kali, in my experience, tends to be invoked in every mosh pit on every dancefloor on the globe and most kids don't intend on such an invocation. Otherwise there are no Thugee-warriors left.
I agree that her image is getting slightly abused in pop-culture. But, personally, I'd rather see images of Kali than Rosie O'Donnel. Altho, I wouldn't mind seeing Rosie get abused.
I just laugh. Laughter is the purest emotion. Let ignorance destroy itself.