RogueBelle

exploringpaganism:

thewitchblog:

There is no such thing as christian witchcraft! There is only one Witchcraft and that is Witchcraft the Old Religion!

Witchcraft is not a religion. Witchcraft is a secular practice that can be added to a religion, or stand alone by itself.

You are the weakest link.

Whenever I see someone talk about the “Old Religion”, I just want to flip a table. Actually I feel that way about pretty much anyone who says “I get to define what this religion is and everyone else is wrong by reason of being not me”. I can’t even with OP any time I see her reblogged; her utter lack of comprehension offends me not only as a pagan but as a historian. She’s pretty much 100% wrong on everything she says about both ancient conceptions of religion and about Christianity. Not just interpretation, though she’s wrong about that too, but just plain factually incorrect.

For instance: While the Bible has many proscriptions against things we would now consider “witchcraft”, most of those are in the Old Testament law codes, and have no more relevance following the sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth than do the proscriptions about, say, shellfish or homosexuality. The few references in the New Testament are about necromancy, so, a certain type of black magic which I gather Christian witches abjure?, and a very few are about seeking advice from mediums or fortune-telling, but only when used in place of seeking guidance from God. If you’re still talking to your God and putting your trust in him, you’re cool so far as the New Testament is concerned. Christian Witchcraft is not a paradox.

I’m not even going to begin on how pretty much any conception that someone in the modern day can be practicing a form of paleolithic religion is just completely impossible, because that is so absurd archaeologically, sociologically, psychologically, and frankly physiologically, that I would not even know where to start.

exploringpaganism:

ruthlesswoodcarver:

pagan-wolf:

chasingafterjackals:

leveeofthestars:

So I know people in the pagan community don’t like Rick riordan

I don’t like Rick riordan either

But it raised a point of curiosity for me; how do others in the pagan community feel about Neil Gaiman’s American Gods?

Because I…

American Gods affected the way I view gods and their mythologies in general.

American Gods is my favorite book. I love it, and i cant wait for the tv show.

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett both, across their works, have a lot of things to say about faith and religion that resonate with me, very deeply. The interplay between gods and humanity, each needing the other, human belief creating and sustaining divinity, divinity inspiring and comforting and terrifying mortals, how a god can live and grow and change and wither — and the ways of working with the gods, for those who can see clearly — yeah, there’s a lot there that I really enjoy.

ourgoatrodeo:

Spoiler alert: They do. 

(via charminggoats)

notthepopeiv:

carousing-in-sin:

Skyclad never looks like this

That’s because no self-respecting Witch is dumb enough to get starkers in the middle of the woods and then stand so close to an open flame. Between the cold, the hot, surprise Priests/Police Officers and, in the words of the great Sage, “sudden hedgehogs,” its damned daft thing to do.

He speaks the truth.

(Source: incoldhellinthicket)

Happy Beltane!

May it be the last one I have to observe alone. :/ But! I am wearing my traditional red-and-white Beltane outfit, even though the weather is really not justifying it (Virginia climate, please get your shit together, it is now the beginning of summer so far as I am concerned), and tonight I have my first run at the new murder mystery, Once Upon a Crime (where I do, incidentally, play a witch). If I go up on any lines, I may just cover it by cracking a joke about Beltane. ;)

And, hopefully, I will not be totally exhausted when I get home tonight, and I’ll be able to do at least a little ritual. This is the start of my favourite time of year, and it is the season which is headiest for my particular inclinations — so I would like to be able to take a few minutes to talk to my ladies as we launch into it.

In the meantime, you should all brace yourselves for my typical inundation of holiday posts.

omg just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, stfuparents brings me someone who thinks there’s a linguistic connection between Easter and estrus, meaning the holiday is clearly actually about lunar cycles and menstruation.

cuntureculture:

Jesus was actually a pretty awesome guy.

So yeah, even though I don’t believe he saved the entirety of humanity, he thought he was.

So thanks dude for giving up your life in the hopes of saving everybody [even though not everybody needed saving]

*appreciation noises*

And now, for my annual observation of Easter — listening to Jesus Christ Superstar, because I don’t care who you are, that musical is fucking awesome, and it’s still a damn good story even if you don’t believe all of it or see it as a reason to worship. ;)

exploringpaganism:

apogeesystem:

exploringpaganism:

itglowsinthedark:

Seriously… all of these pagans supporting Christianity as a religion… it makes me sick.

Reminds me of the Jews dressing in bits of the nazi uniforms

I learned in psychology that when a person is controlled and abused by someone for a long time, they end up supporting the abuser.

you need to stop.

Ooh, Godwin’s Law in action! Is this on the drinking game because this level of dipshittery seems very worthy of it.

i dont have a copy of the drinking game, but im pretty sure this one is on it somewhere. 

I was going to give some kind of thoughtful response, and then I looked at itglowsinthedark’s blog… and, well… itglowsinthedark appears to be That kind of atheist. Similar to That kind of pagan. The kind all the sensible ones wish would just sit down and shut up and stop giving everyone a bad name. The kind that parrots misinformation in all caps with exclamation points and passive-aggressive emoticons, as though that proves a case, rather than actually knowing anything about history, religion, linguistics, or cultural transmission, yet claiming their “facts” make them superior. 

And I’m too old to deal with flouncy little brats like that anymore.

(Source: aspiralinmyheart)

hangedwoman:

“In my opinion, the more you learn about the mythology, the more impossible it is to take it seriously as a religion. These are great old stories, and the Norse myths like the Greek myths have influenced our culture in many ways … but after you’ve met Odin and Thor in the stories, who in their right mind would ever want to worship them?” — Rick Riordan (via)

“…who in their right mind would ever want to worship them?”

Me, asshole. The answer is me. 

I think you could make the same argument quite fairly for the god of the Old Testament. Talk about an arbitrary, vindictive, violent old curmudgeon. And as for the New Testament, don’t tell me the concept of the Holy Trinity is less weird from an objective standpoint than anything in polytheistic cultures. Come on now.

(This is not necessarily aimed at Riordan, since I have no idea what his personal beliefs are and for all I know he could be an atheist, but this argument is certainly used by other people as well).

(via exploringpaganism)