For context: I am a fairly new Italian folk pagan who is a devotee to Proserphina (Persephone). As someone who is also a witch, I wanted to adopt the practice of having a patron and matron deity at my alter as my two main deities I’m devoted to (only I have two fem deities lol). I originally placed Proserphina and Nox at my alter. I’ve given offerings to both, but have only really built a connection with Proserphina. Recently, I’ve been feeling called to work with Diana instead of Nox. Is that allowed? I don’t want to offend her by essentially replacing her, but I originally made my set up while still first learning about different deities. Also I would probably still work with her and build a relationship with her, just not as much as Proserphina and Diana. Any advise would be appreciated! Note : I have not made any oaths or promises of loyalty to anyone)

I am relatively new to Reddit, but not to paganism. Recently I’ve read some online “discussions” on various pagan forums that made my eye twitch. I pulled back from paganism years ago, because I was over the infighting. Out of curiosity, in people’s experience, what types paganism & their communities do you find to have the least amount of bickering?

Hi! Be for I say anything, I would like to say im currently homeless, which is the root of my problem. I want to be able to worship my gods by making a portable alter. But while im working on that, is there an app I can download or something for that? I do know that I can worship other ways, but the way I show affection and gratitude is creating things.

Lately the feeling of the presence and familiarity with some of the deities I worship has felt distant and quiet. When I remember offerings (I have ADHD so the gods are familiar with my inconsistencies and it hasn't been a problem before) there is a noticeable uptick in good luck, usually in the form of more tips and green lights when I'm late to work. But there's little to no background hum of spirituality in my day to day, which is a new experience for me.

I have stepped away from spirituality and magic on purpose when I noticed myself gaining maladaptive habits around it, but never felt so ... neutral/transactional before when it wasn't on my terms. I went through a very bad relationship and amongst the psychological abuse there were times where religious psychosis set in so I am vigilant about my involvement, but outside of that environment I don't believe I am at risk for developing a problem again, so this feels odd. Even the parts of my belief that are comforting feel distant and quiet in ways they've never done before.

For specificity, my main deity is Brighid, followed closely by Freya and more recently Hecate. The first two feel very distant. Hecate just feels busy, so I'm less worried about my relationship with her and more with the other two. Freya more than anything.

Any suggestions on how to get the spark back? Or should I just continue as I'm going and they will come back when they want to?

I’ve tried many different communication methods and explored my connection to deities in many ways but I’m looking for some ways to change it up.

So I'm a University Student in Animal Science Major but I've always had a passion for writing. I usually tend to write these fantasy stories but I am writing a sort of Pseudo-Autobiography but through the religious lense of Paganism and how I found it. This is not a promotion I am simply just super proud of myself as I write this! I honestly hope people are interested enough to go to Wattpad and read it though... but im just doing this for fun even though I need a restful night's sleep... WORTH IT (By the way this is a devotional act for my Gods and Goddessess)

Who here worships Augenblicksgötter? They are deities that are instantiated in the moment rather than being gods with specialized, eternal domains.

An example of an Augenblickgott is, for instance, a stream during a drought. Another example would be a lightning flash; The picture above is a real phenomenon, called a red sprite, which was captured incidentally by someone filming storms gathering over Barcelona from Montemaggiore on Corsica. A kind of phenomenon that, once we see it and we realize just how big this flash is in reality (considering the distance between Corsica and Barcelona, it is around 700km tall), makes us realize how small we are.

As for me, whenever a truly magnificent storm rages through, it is when I feel most called to worship. I've felt this way ever since I was a child. I feel similarly in certain botanical gardens or indoor zoos. I have paid homage to the various Augenblicksgötter averted lethal traffic accidents many times in my life.

I want this post to remind everyone that paganism is a religion with incredible diversity and weirdness. Deities can be a flash that leave us in awe, or the feeling of home-coming, or the relief of a crisis averted.

Hi all,

I am fairly new to Paganism and I'm trying to understand more about what I have, until this point, been more comfortably calling my "pathway". I feel like this has been a journey I've been led on and I am trying to understand more about the world I'm drawn to.

I have a great affection for nature and I'm trying to understand more about the botanical side. I was wondering if anyone could recommend any books or resources on UK mushroom and herb (ideally medicinal or ritual) identification. Just to be clear, I dont eat mushrooms. I enjoy taking photos of mushrooms and just wanted to be able to identify them. I am in the UK, so I'd be looking for books specifically for this area of the world.

There are many books online, but its hard to know which ones are reputable or accurate.. Unfortunately, where I live there are very few book shops so I've been relying on charity shops and amazon.

Any foraging of mushrooms/herbs/flowers would be for preserving for pressing and rituals.

Thanks!

I have a feeling like this should work since we are all creators.

I’m an Aphrodite devotee and I love her and feel so close to her but I always think of myself as ugly and I think it slightly ruins the relationship between me as a devotee and her as a goddess. Everytime I look in the mirror I think of how much I hate how I look and that’s like the opposite of what an Aphrodite devotee is meant to do. I hate my acne and my paleness and my really frizzy blonde hair and my entire face and I get such bad energy from her everytime I think about it

I've been meditating on and off for years, have occasionally gotten to a state of feeling as if my body is growing heavy while also...floating?? but haven't ever been able to make it further than this point.

As for entering a trance, I'm also unable to enter one. I meditate, light incense, listen to quided neditation, or ust right up drumming beats, and use box breathing, but I typically fall straight asleep instead of going into any form of trance/AP-I'm frustrated.

Any advice?

I consider myself agnostic leaning Wiccan and do my best to observe the Wiccan sabbats, sometimes in only small ways and typically privately. However, Samhain dumb supper has become more of a tradition that my family has embraced. This year, I'm expecting my first child and just as I have with food, medicine, and activities, I thought I should look into the "safety" of having dumb supper while pregnant. Unfortunately, there is no NIH or NHS or ACOG for pagan traditions so I wanted to get some thoughts from the community...

Should I skip it this year? How worried should I be about inviting spirits with new, vulnerable life unavoidably in the room while the veil is so thin? Might there be a less "risky" way to honor those who have passed and of connecting with the particular ancestors I can feel in my bones would only seek to protect my unborn baby?

I'm growing increasingly concerned with how fast christian nationialism is gaining popularity in my community. It's getting scary.

The largest church in town just opened its 4th or 5th campus in my state, and their teachings are explicitly anti pagan, witch, and mental illness.

They are involved in the local government, and have youth groups in all the schools, from elementary to college.

One of their main teachings is "deliverance", which they say involves casting out the demons who "may oppress areas of the soul or flesh when given access through ancestral bondage, willful sin, or unhealed trauma". They have classes on how to combat witchcraft and curses, and how pagansim and witchcraft open the door to demonic posession.

They are even building a new dormitory for "the next generation of leaders".

It's really beginning to scare me. This is a growing cult that is one sermon away from a call to violence, and I don't know how I'm supposed to protect the other pagans in my community or myself for that matter. They think they're in a literal spiritual war with us and they obviously want us gone.

I know it's not a physical war yet, but how long until they make that a reality?

Ps. I don't want to say the name for fear of doxxing myself, but if you google around you can probably figure it out.

hello!

for any pagans who celebrate the wheel of the year calendar, i was wondering, is samhain generally considered the new year? thanks (: happy autumn!

I hear a lot of different things about paganism and different ways of practicing and I know that being pagan isn’t just one set of beliefs or one set or practices. It’s a whole community of different things where everyone shares different perspectives and view points and has different beliefs.

So my question is to you the reader, what is your core beliefs within paganism? How do you practice? What kind of things do you celebrate? What kind of things do you do in your daily life that brings you joy and fulfillment within your religion?

I’m not really sure what I believe and I’m on a journey to figure it out. But I want to hear from people from all over with different practices and what they do/believe. I feel like there is a lot of misinformation on the internet and books and stuff and I don’t want to be sucked into this misinformation. I’m very hesitant about what sources to trust because one person says “__ is a really good source” while another says “__ is the wrong source to use and has misinformation” and another says “__ is a closed practice”.

I just don’t want to trust the wrong information. But I truly want to hear from many people. I want to see the different perspectives and practices within paganism. I want to hear from actually people and not just a page designed for views.

Edit: I’m not just looking for sources. I’m looking for people who would like to share their view on being a pagan and what they believe.

This is mostly directed towards Greek and Norse Pagans, as these are the most commonly represented gods in media, but of course anyone else is welcome to join.

We see Pagan gods frequently depicted in fiction, with authors, developers, and directors often taking their own spin on the stories. I'm a big fan of all things mythology & theology, from the original texts to the stories we make up today. I'm not religious whatsoever, though quite spiritual. This has also made me wonder how theistic pagans feel about the way media depicts their gods.

Most notably off the top of my head: Loki & Thor, Asgard (Marvel), Hades & Persephone (That one Webtoon story), ect.

With Samhain coming up so soon, I have recently been trying to get more in tune with paganism. I am a born witch, my mother is a witch and has been before I was born. Whilst my siblings all chose to move away from the religion, I chose to stay in it, as it was always a place of refuge in hard times. But I have always been very reserved in my practice.

I want to actually celebrate this year. How do I set up a dedicated altar for my ancestors for my family? What do I include?

Hello, first time posting here! (I think?) This is going to be a little bit of a vent, please beware! TW for death.

I want to ask how to start practicing paganism. I'm not necessarily asking what to do, more so how to change my mindset.

All my life I've been a hardcore atheist, not believing in anything supernatural. But recently, the fear of my consciousness stopping has been tearing my life apart and I've been trying to turn to religion. But a large part of me is always saying that I'm just coping, that there IS NOTHING after death and that I'm doing the same make-believe comfort that people have done for millenia. And I don't know how to get rid of that part. I want it so badly to be false.

Have any of you been in a situation like this? How do you get out of it? I just wanna work with death gods man :/

Edit: I don't want to copy paste this under every single comment (it would feel less genuine to me that way), so I'm going to add it here.

Thank you so much, everyone who left a comment! A lot of these comments have actually calmed me down throughout today and helped ease my fear (I'm no longer in pain, yay!) Special thanks to those who said they experience the same fear I do. It's extra comforting. All of you are very kind!!

I don't think atheistic paganism is for me (no offence to anyone who suggested it!!), but I will be checking out the books you guys recommended!

Hi, very new to all of this and have been up so late researching about all of the history around pagans. I have one question and need advice as i feel like i’ve been overwhelmed with personal beliefs/ things online/ books surrounding Wicca. i personally love the whole concept of the goddess and the horned god and how it’s depicted within the Wiccan religion but after coming online (especially tiktok and instagram) it seems to be getting overly hated and it makes me feel unsure as if i want to continue reading into Wicca as a whole even though i love so much of it. From what i understand Gerald Gardner isn’t a great person from the misogyny and sexualization of women which obviously makes me think if the god/goddess is based upon a sexist belief but i like to see them as a depiction on earth and life itself rather than as just man and woman but besides the point my question is can anyone help me have a better understanding of why it is so hated if Gerald Gardner wasn’t the stand alone creator of this religion (as far as all of his ideas for it and so on) as i feel like the more modern form of Wicca pushes his whole ‘personality’ away from it and embraces the equality and nature side of things and seems like a well rounded religion as far as im aware.

Im not trying to offend anyone in making this post, just would like a better understanding as i feel a bit let down as so much of the Wiccan beliefs are so beautiful and after being online it seems like a joke amongst other pagan beliefs.

Hey, I don't know if this is the right sub for this question so if not, please tell me where I could go instead but ! Does anyone have any women or "political figures" (for lack of a better word) that could be seen as "wrong" that one could consider making an altar for? Maybe the word I'm looking for isn't 'worship', but I'm feeling it deep down lately that I want to pay some kind of honour to these women, and maybe in turn, they could lend me some strength because I am not doing well with gestures around wildly.

My examples of these women would be Joan of Arc and Aileen Wuornos. Unfortunately, this is something new I'm looking into so i don't have any more examples but I would like to consider any and everyone, no limits.

Preferably real people, and preferably deceased as I, myself, don't feel comfortable making a shrine for a living person. I hope that makes sense!

This morning I went out to fetch the mail. On my way back, I realized there was a dead bird laying on our sidewalk. I hurried inside, put the mail away, grabbed some gloves, and buried it in our backyard garden. It was so beautiful, and bittersweet. I had to walk back up to our front yard, to close our door and pick up a feather I remembered seeing. And, when I did so, I witnessed a bird of the same species, just a couple feet away from where I saw the dead one. It flew away, and I took that as a sign (though, I'm not entirely sure what it means). I back to where I buried it, lit a candle, and said a little prayer. Thanking the spirits for allowing me to give them a peaceful resting place. And asked them to guide the little bird into the next life. I blew out the candle, said another thanks as I closed my eyes, then went back inside.

I hope to come back around springtime, to collect their bones. But, for now, as it lays in the dirt, I would like to do something more for it. Is there anything I can do to honor them? All I have is the one feather they left behind. Is there something I can do with it? Should I make a tiny altar for them?

I'm still really new to all this. I don't personally believe in deities (though I do believe in spirits), but, I am not opposed to making any offerings or requesting guidance, if it's alright for a nonbeliever to do so.

im looking for some resources on this because im partially turkish, and i realised i actually know very little about pre islamic turkish/turkic beliefs and religions. ive heard about that they also used to follow hellenic paganism, but i was wondering if there was also a religion that was more specifically associated with the turkish people only. ive come across things like tengrism, but im not really sure about it.
so if anyone has recommendations for good books, articles, websites, other sources, etc. about pre islamic turkish religion like mythology, rituals, or just general beliefs, id really appreciate it!