Pagan?

[wellard]

If you see Garnet Falcondance around Ironworks fire her a PM. She will be able (and I'm sure willing) to point you in the right direction Spirits as only an insider could. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally posted by robertthebard: Without getting too far into what is taboo territory here, I can define my basic beliefs with a quarter. Lumina brought up polytheism in regard to the Greek/Roman pantheons, and while I don't have 12 Divine Beings, I do have three. Firstly we'll take heads, and assign this the masculine side. This is the part that represents winter, and death, to oversimplify. We hunt for food, or harvest crops for food. All of this is a natural cycle, and it all kills what we hunt/harvest. The tails side of the coin is the feminine aspect, which represents fertility. The crops we have harvested will be replanted in the spring, and will grow, to be harvested, and the game animals will breed, so that some of them will be hunted for food. These are intermediaries to the main divine spirit, which is the whole of the quarter. In my belief, you cannot have the quarter w/out both sides. They are separate, but intertwined in so many ways. I really don't know how to explain it much better than that, in a short amount of time, but I hope that this sheds some light on it. Satanism is an offshoot of Christianity, Judaism religious beliefs. He is taken straight from the Bible, although his physical appearance was contrived from within Pagan temples. I can't go into this w/out violating our TOS. Somebody would be offended, and I'm not trying to offend.

In symbolism and many other belief systems, the feminine is associated with winter, darkness etc. Like Boaz and Jakin in the temple, both represent the yin/yang aspects. But the night and the winter always belong to the feminine. Is your belief system different on this or was it a typo or somethin'? Just curious is all. I studied symbolism back in the day.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

I don't want to speak for RTB here, but, historically speaking, the moon has traditionally been seen as a feminine figure (starting, as early as I can cite, with Artemis and Diana) and the sun has been a masculine figure. This has continued into neo-pagan traditions and Wicca, and I haven't seen the sun/daytime represented as feminine and the moon/night as masculine. If anyone's heard different, I would like to know.

[robertthebard]

I have always known the feminine to be fertility, and rebirth, which I have always associated with Spring. Nature is born in the Spring, and dies/goes dormant in the Winter. I never studied symbolism anywhere, nor mysticism. My beliefs are based on Faith, and what I percieve as the Natural Order, and this symbolism may seem to be, or may actually be skewed. I have built my Faith from what has been presented to me here and there, with no real concern for Religion. See the article I have had published regarding the difference between the two, it's the soapbox link in my sig. Maybe I'm just a rebel w/out a clue.

To the Captain, I've had to explain this before, and this was the easiest way to put it, so that people that were looking for understanding could find it. Nice to see that it still works.

[Sir Krustin]

Originally posted by Kakero: I don't know, whenever I said "I don't have any religion". People will say "Oh, you are pagan." They don't seem to make a big fuss about it. However, when I say "I don't believe in god." People will often gasp and looked at me as if I'm crazy. Is there a huge different in saying " I don't have any religion" and "I don't believe in god" ?

Yes. If you don't believe in God, you are an athiest. If you don't believe in religion, you are agnostic. One doesn't necessarily follow the other.

IMO, most people that claim to be atheists are really agnostic - they hate religion, but don't necessarily discount the existence of God.

[SpiritWarrior]

Aye I understand, and amn't trying to take away from anything you said RTB, merely curiosity on my part as to where the association came from is all.

On a purely technical note, the association of Spring to the Feminine aspect isn't really skewed anyways. In ancient and modern symbolism, the feminine is and has been portrayed as having both "dark" and "light" sides if you will. The darkness being the intuitive side and the light being the fertile/creative aspect (the womb). There are of course two sides to the masuline but these are far less pronounced in contrast with one another.

[Kyrvias]

Originally posted by Sir Krustin: quote: Originally posted by Kakero: I don't know, whenever I said "I don't have any religion". People will say "Oh, you are pagan." They don't seem to make a big fuss about it. However, when I say "I don't believe in god." People will often gasp and looked at me as if I'm crazy. Is there a huge different in saying " I don't have any religion" and "I don't believe in god" ?

Yes. If you don't believe in God, you are an athiest. If you don't believe in religion, you are agnostic. One doesn't necessarily follow the other.

IMO, most people that claim to be atheists are really agnostic - they hate religion, but don't necessarily discount the existence of God. [/QUOTE]As Steven Colbert once said, "Agnostics are just Athiests without balls."

And, it's actually quite sad that Athiests are regarded in today's society as evil, or satanic. Fact of the matter being, we probably outnumber the jewish community. Just too disbanded, and afraid to join together.

Given that most people pull the "Hitler was Athiest! Stalin was athiest! Athiests are EVIL" mantra, that fear is founded...

But I digress. As far as I can tell, from what history has said, Sun=masculine, moon=feminine.

[Sever]

Originally posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar: I don't want to speak for RTB here, but, historically speaking, the moon has traditionally been seen as a feminine figure (starting, as early as I can cite, with Artemis and Diana) and the sun has been a masculine figure. This has continued into neo-pagan traditions and Wicca, and I haven't seen the sun/daytime represented as feminine and the moon/night as masculine. If anyone's heard different, I would like to know.

Ya, Tolkien thought about it in reverse with his creation myth, The Silmarillion. Similar enough (in more ways than i can remember) to the Pagan aspects in most regards, with the male aspect representing fire and water, and the blokey stuff and the female aspect representing earth and air, fertility and rebirth and all that. The sun and moon, however, he assigned female and male aspects respectively.

[Felix The Assassin]

Keeping things calm here, I would not agree with your explanation of "Agnostic" SK.
Rather, mildly worded, an "Agnostic":
"An agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned".

Or in so much as: "An agnostic regards the Bible exactly as enlightened clerics regard it. He does not think that it is divinely inspired; he thinks its early history legendary, and no more exactly true than that in Homer".

And: "Since an agnostic does not believe in God, he cannot think that Jesus was God. Most agnostics admire the life and moral teachings of Jesus as told in the Gospels, but not necessarily more than those of certain other men. Some would place him on a level with Buddha, some with Socrates and some with Abraham Lincoln".

As a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), we must have a little knowledge about everything, and a lot about people, training, and equipment.

My last company sized unit had a very diverse religious congregation. We had to change some things up to accommodate all of my soldiers. I had 50% Christians, 40% Catholics, and the other 10% challenged me. Two "Atheists", Two "Agnostics", Three Mid-Western "Pagans", and One Western "Wiccan"

I could NOT battle buddy the others with the majors, but, the "Wiccan" worked well with the "Pagans", but not with the "A's", the "A's" worked well together, but not with the rest. The rest were receptive to all except the "A's", the "A's" did not do anything unacceptable, ethically, or good vs bad per se.

Truly it was my good fortune to have met these soldiers and to have learned of their beliefs.


Well it saddens me to end this with an edit. My former Western "Wiccan" Has taken the path to "Fiddlers Green".
"Army Sgt. Corey J. Aultz, 31, of Port Orchard, Wash.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; died Jan. 30 at Ramadi, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. Also killed was Milton A. Gist Jr".

[ 04-06-2007, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: Felix The Assassin ]

[Dron_Cah]

As Steven Colbert once said, "Agnostics are just Athiests without balls." And, it's actually quite sad that Athiests are regarded in today's society as evil, or satanic. Fact of the matter being, we probably outnumber the jewish community. Just too disbanded, and afraid to join together. Given that most people pull the "Hitler was Athiest! Stalin was athiest! Athiests are EVIL" mantra, that fear is founded...[/QB]

Actually, IIRC, Hitler professed to be Lutheran. Doesnt really change the "atheists are evil" thing, but kinda interesting, nevertheless.