polytheism

Reblog: My religious deal-breakers

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My religious deal-breakers: Exploring a journal prompt from chapter 5 of “Changing Paths.”

Hello readers and happy Friday! Time to tackle another journal prompt from Changing Paths by Yvonne Aburrow. This week, we’re looking at chapter 5, …

Before I start pulling out my “laundry list” and discussing it, I should note that this is today’s list of my deal-breakers. I’m not sure everything would have been on my list back in 1998 when I was making my break from Christianity. After all, my only goal in 1996 was to make peace with the fact that I was gay. I didn’t plan on changing any other aspect of my faith at that time. But that’s the thing about such lists. They change and grow as we do. We need to allow them to change. Maybe we’ll add new items to the list. Maybe we’ll take some items back off it, or at least clarify what exactly it is we’re opposed to. But let’s get on with my current deal-breakers.

My religious deal-breakers: Exploring a journal prompt from chapter 5 of “Changing Paths.”

Reblog: A weird boy, but definitely a boy

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A weird boy, but definitely a boy: Freestyling it again for chapter 4 of “Changing Paths”

This Friday, I’ll be blogging some of my thoughts from reading Chapter 4, “Religion and Gender” of Yvonne Aburrow’s book, Changing Paths…

It’s been interesting for me as a man primarily dedicated to and working with Freyja. It seems in some Pagan and witchcraft circles that it’s typically thought that men will dedicate themselves to a god and women will dedicate themselves to a goddess.

A weird boy, but definitely a boy: Freestyling it again for chapter 4 of “Changing Paths”

An alternative “10 commandments”

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The “Ten Commandments” of Solon (as recorded in Diogenes Laertius’ “Lives of Eminent Philosophers”, 1.60), are as follows:

  1. Trust good character more than promises.
  2. Do not speak falsely.
  3. Do good things.
  4. Do not be hasty in making friends, but do not abandon them once made.
  5. Learn to obey before you command.
  6. When giving advice, do not recommend what is most pleasing, but what is most useful.
  7. Make reason your supreme commander.
  8. Do not associate with people who do bad things.
  9. Honor the gods.
  10. Have regard for your parents.

Hat-tip to Richard Carrier, from whom I learned about this list of “commandments”.

Art: “Solon the Wise Lawgiver of Athens” by Walter Crane

Patron deities

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The concept of patron deities in polytheism caused me a lot of trouble back in the day. I was on a polytheist mailing list and it seemed like everyone on the list had a patron deity who had approached them personally. They were also adamant that the deity approached them and not the other way around. So I thought I should have a patron deity. This left me uniquely vulnerable to what happened next.

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