My sense of disconnect
One of the main reasons I think I feel such a strong sense of disconnect in the Pagan community is that I have no interest in magic(k). I dont mean to bash magick, or people who are occult influenced or interested, but this is something that has never clicked with me.
As a practitioner of Asatru, I read my myths and walked out into the American Desert to pour libations from a cow horn. In my archetype worshipping phase, I still was primarily focused on worship. Now that I have found a new path - in creating a vaguely Proto-Indo-European influenced neopaganism in which I venerate Proto-Indo-European gods and deified abstractions according to kennings and epithets rather than proper names, I am still primarily focused on making offerings and speaking prayers of my own composition.
when I go to pagan meetups, I listen to people's narratives about how they became pagan, and it doesnt really sound like me. I encounter maybe a stray Kemetic Orthodox person ( who I always tend to like and get along with for some reason ) and maybe a stray Asatruar, and thats basically it.
I think the division, to me, is between people who are primarily *religious* polytheists, and people who are more into spellwork and other forms of magick. I also dont mean to bash the New Age, but I hear a great deal of it, and I don't feel connected to it at all. I think religious polytheists, and reconstructionist oriented people are vastly outnumbered. I stopped going to the local Pagan meetups when a presentation about Babylonian religion became a forum for a woman to talk for an hour about her past life experiences as a Babylonian priestess.
( I dont want to sound like I think one form of Polytheism is more valid than another. I consider Wicca and NeoWicca to be polytheistic, they just emphasize different things and have a different approach. ).
I started calling myself a Polytheist because it gives me a chance to explain. I never get tied to wicca ( not that thats a bad thing, but I dont practice wicca or any kind of Witchcraft) or what people know about NeoPaganism. Pagan, Heathen, Druid, Witch, all have connotations in the greater society that dont resemble or describe my beliefs and practices.
I get to explain: "I believe in multiple Gods and Goddesses. I believe that deity can be both male and female. I believe that nature is a manifestation of the Divine. I worship a pantheon of Proto-Indo-European gods and deified abstractions using kennings and epithets rather than proper names." If people are still curious, I get to explain further. I dont get grouped in with a subculture I dont identify with, and I dont have to use words that to a nonpagan have an extremely negative connotation.
So this is why I call myself a polytheist. I stopped going to the local pagan meetups long ago, and am getting to the point where I can no longer stomach the online pagan community either.
As a practitioner of Asatru, I read my myths and walked out into the American Desert to pour libations from a cow horn. In my archetype worshipping phase, I still was primarily focused on worship. Now that I have found a new path - in creating a vaguely Proto-Indo-European influenced neopaganism in which I venerate Proto-Indo-European gods and deified abstractions according to kennings and epithets rather than proper names, I am still primarily focused on making offerings and speaking prayers of my own composition.
when I go to pagan meetups, I listen to people's narratives about how they became pagan, and it doesnt really sound like me. I encounter maybe a stray Kemetic Orthodox person ( who I always tend to like and get along with for some reason ) and maybe a stray Asatruar, and thats basically it.
I think the division, to me, is between people who are primarily *religious* polytheists, and people who are more into spellwork and other forms of magick. I also dont mean to bash the New Age, but I hear a great deal of it, and I don't feel connected to it at all. I think religious polytheists, and reconstructionist oriented people are vastly outnumbered. I stopped going to the local Pagan meetups when a presentation about Babylonian religion became a forum for a woman to talk for an hour about her past life experiences as a Babylonian priestess.
( I dont want to sound like I think one form of Polytheism is more valid than another. I consider Wicca and NeoWicca to be polytheistic, they just emphasize different things and have a different approach. ).
I started calling myself a Polytheist because it gives me a chance to explain. I never get tied to wicca ( not that thats a bad thing, but I dont practice wicca or any kind of Witchcraft) or what people know about NeoPaganism. Pagan, Heathen, Druid, Witch, all have connotations in the greater society that dont resemble or describe my beliefs and practices.
I get to explain: "I believe in multiple Gods and Goddesses. I believe that deity can be both male and female. I believe that nature is a manifestation of the Divine. I worship a pantheon of Proto-Indo-European gods and deified abstractions using kennings and epithets rather than proper names." If people are still curious, I get to explain further. I dont get grouped in with a subculture I dont identify with, and I dont have to use words that to a nonpagan have an extremely negative connotation.
So this is why I call myself a polytheist. I stopped going to the local pagan meetups long ago, and am getting to the point where I can no longer stomach the online pagan community either.
