I am in the process of cleaning up my bio and the bio of the Clan. I hadn’t originally planned on including this as one of the segments, which really does show how necessary it is. But then to be fair I hadn’t yet gotten as far as looking into my own bio. The inspiration came from a possible interview I may be doing online for a supernatural blog, which may in itself lead to an interview with the interviewer, stay tuned.
Thinking back on things, I am a little surprised at myself. I never consciously meant it, but I think that online I may have shied away from expressing my religious self. This I don’t do in life, yes I no longer go out of my way to profess the faith to all and sundry. But as it is a major interest in my life – religion, mythology, philosophy and psychology – I engage in conversation about it when it comes up and with my varied and vast (reasonably) experiences, that for so many people are incredibly unusual, why should it not be brought up?
To be honest though I tend not to, nor never have, prosetlyze. But the older I get, the less I feel of judging others for their beliefs, no matter how strange they are, including cheese moons. So long as people leave their beliefs out of their dealings with me, or can compromise about it, it does not bother me. The way I see it is I believe in some crazy things, not less so than thinking I am eating bread transformed into flesh every week just to add, so why should ANY other beliefs be rubbished? That’s what others do to my beliefs, so why should I partake in the same ignorance.
So my beliefs? To specify: I am pagan, a Celtic pagan, of the Irish pantheon, a shaman. All of which are labels I could happily agree with and conform to in one way or another. To deal with the last three first. I am a shaman who worships the old Irish gods and the Celtic wheel and system found with them.
What follows is a broad summary rather than a concisely accurate description. A Pagan is a very vague term. It first originated in Italy at the time of the Roman empire when they were still multi-theistic. I use that to signify the difference between polytheism and omni-theism, multi-theistic believes in multiple deities as opposed to a lot of modern pagan views that Gods are all simply aspects of higher powers / power. “Pagan” has the same origins as the word paean. The word signified the “silly” superstitious folk of the country and was used derogatively by the city folk of the time. Afterwards in a mono-theistic culture the word got taken to mean the belief in multiple spirits, as the old ways were often stronger in the countryside where traditions continued. More recently the word which had been used to derogatively mark, since its inception, people who carried out folk tradition has been reclaimed by a vast diaspora. The New Age movement, the “Pagans”, even the Christian / Judaic Kabalists used this name to signify a belief and practise of things that had been grouped as the occult until recently.
This shift began in the second half of the twentieth century and was mainly due to the resurrection of the druidic movement in its new forms. Occult belief and practise has been widespread throughout history and Christianity has never comfortably stamped it out. The label of Paganism has had a tendency to be used therefore as a banner call for all alternate beliefs, beliefs in a spirit-centred world or occult natured worship – which numerically and time-wise have been more prevalent then the more recent trend towards non-spiritual religions practised more commonly within monotheism. When I say spiritual in this sense I mean belief in energies and spirits, animistic (see my earlier posted speech.) Some Christians also identify themselves as pagans simply because its a way of them expressing their belief in spirits etc.
Within that group is really another group of pagan peoples that generally tend to see themselves as pagan by belief as well as culture; pagans, wiccans and heathens (or some variation of the Norse faith). These are three distinct religious groups that follow a similar theosophical view on the gods, all are poly- or multi- theistic and nature centred religions. Which brings me back full circle to the origins of the word, today the word has been reclaimed to refer and show a centre to our religious beliefs.
General paganism, as with Wicca, is a blend of differing cultures and religious practise (much like Christianity was hundred of years after Christ lived when it began in Italy.) Totem animals, the wheel of the year, Mabon and Yule – so many differing ideas from earth-centred religions that have been gathered together to form a modern faith. I tend towards a more traditional gathering of Irish cultured beliefs. This is more so about what sounds right to me, and feels right. A lot of this may have been down to my reading of the mythologies from a very early age. In this the Celtic Pantheon and particularly the Irish Gods have my highest of reverence and worship. Finally shamanism… I have two resources online to help explain what this is. One is our show A Shaman’s Dictionary, the other is a speech previously mentioned I have on animism, a concept central to shamanism.
A person who practises shamanism and a shaman are two different concepts. A shaman is a cleric. A mouthpiece of the gods, an ambassador of the spirits. The central belief is that there are two worlds / realms / planes, the material and the spiritual. A shaman can not only see between the two but acts and crosses between them. It is his purpose to deal between both and effect change on both realms. The purpose is not like a lot of paganic religions, to illuminate yourself. For a person practising shamanism this goal of improving / enlightening / attuning oneself and purifying their soul is noble but for the Shaman, his (her) goal / purpose is to serve the spirits. Not necessarily as a servant but similar to the way a politician serves his country and the electorate (and that does not mean screwing them over for those cynics out there.)
I find myself acting in this role, within a Celtic and Irish framework. My pantheon of Gods, and therefore some of the highest spirits with which I interact with, are the old Irish Gods. My totem animal is the wolf, but more so than this I am wolf-spirited. My patron goddess, is the Morrigan. Neither of these are necessary to my religion, I need not have a single patron and indeed when I say patron I mean main patron.
And that wraps up both an introduction to paganism and a brief account of my beliefs.
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