30 Days of Paganism, Day 2, Cosmology

2. Beliefs - Cosmology

Or, our place in the universe.

Ask me this, and I go with the scientists--big bang, evolution, dinosaurs, et cetera.

Because mythological truth is mythological truth. No less important, no less true, but nothing to get literal about.

Which means that Ymir and Gaia are both formational forces, and they are unconnected. That fire and ice met. That Gaia birthed her husband, then her children. That all this is true, and it does not conflict.

And that there are manymanymany gods, and some of them are mine, and most of them are not.

And how I put my mind around all of that, I'm not sure. :) But I do.


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30 Days of Paganism, Day 3, Deities

3. Beliefs - Deities

I'm a hard polytheist. Generally speaking I think that if a deity has manifested in a particular way, there's a reason for it, and as far as I'm concerned in my practice, that reason is that s/he is that individual deity. Note that I'm not saying that I know that this is so--I'm fairly headblind so don't take my word on that--just that it works for me and it makes sense to me.

There are two pantheons of gods I honor. The Greeks came to me first. (Well, Aphrodite came first, but polytheism is like an avalanche, a bit of snow to start and pretty soon you're buried up to your neck. In fact Aphrodite is why I am a hard polytheist.) And the Greeks are pretty close-knit. You don't have to be besties with the whole family, but please be civil, offer a libation when they drop in, that sort of thing.

Then there are the heathen gods. Started as a friend-of-a-friend thing I think, but that's how you meet new friends, right? I feel quite a bit more comfortable with the Vans and their energy, personally, but here there is a strong community bond as well, I have many rl co-religionists. Initially there was more of an element of choice here. They're pretty clear on what they want from me, which is nice, and they're fairly direct, which is also nice. :) (Incidentally I'm not folkish. I think it's great for those who are but it's not the sort of connection I myself make.)

I'll also say that I don't really get how people can equate gods of one pantheon with gods of another, because in my own experience they're not much alike. But that's why I'm a hard polytheist, right?


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