Thank you for continuing to read them and comment! It seems like with everything, practice makes perfect, so I want to continue practicing the written art.
I would think we might have a similar take, as JMG seems to be a major influence on both of us. I just looked up "Uncleftish Beholding" and it sounds like a fun tangent...
Yes it seems to me that many heathens and pagans just take the same fundamentalist christian underpinnings they were raised with and change the names, but to each their own! This is also why I have found such illumination in the study of history, it really does expand the mind in a good way.
I haven't had much community with other "heathens", though I have several friends who are also "heathen" occultists/magicians, though each has their own practice. I am pretty idiosyncratic, and I don't fit in very well into any subculture, though I flit amongst a few. I have, for instance, attended several neo-pagan events, and while I found many fine and interesting people, some of whom I'm still friends with, on the whole there was a rather LARPy, grubby, shallow energy to the gatherings. Also, I moved to a new (rural) area right before C---d, and I've been quite busy, so I haven't been able to attend many events. I have seen that there is a rather well organized heathen group about 2 hours from me, but they are very vocally "folkish" and I don't think that's really my vibe either.
In terms of what I think is the value: depends on you. For me, I think it's very important to have friends and elders that I respect, that have the same or similar values to me, and that I don't mind being more like. There's the saying that you're the most like the 5 people you spend the most amount of time with. So, if you want to advance, magically or spiritually, it makes sense to surround yourself with people who are also on a spiritual/magical path. It helps to have people that are farther along than you, people on roughly the same level, and people who you can help bring to your level too. I have found something like that with other esoteric groups, with Ecosophia, and with some folks in the larger magical community who I know in person. A few of those people are "heathen", but most of them aren't. Most of the work is done by oneself anyway, though nobody can really be a fully "solitary" practitioner. Even the exchanges we're having right now, and the exchanges on the Ecosophia blogs are a way of fulfilling the need for community.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2021-09-04 04:14 pm (UTC)I would think we might have a similar take, as JMG seems to be a major influence on both of us. I just looked up "Uncleftish Beholding" and it sounds like a fun tangent...
Yes it seems to me that many heathens and pagans just take the same fundamentalist christian underpinnings they were raised with and change the names, but to each their own! This is also why I have found such illumination in the study of history, it really does expand the mind in a good way.
I haven't had much community with other "heathens", though I have several friends who are also "heathen" occultists/magicians, though each has their own practice. I am pretty idiosyncratic, and I don't fit in very well into any subculture, though I flit amongst a few. I have, for instance, attended several neo-pagan events, and while I found many fine and interesting people, some of whom I'm still friends with, on the whole there was a rather LARPy, grubby, shallow energy to the gatherings. Also, I moved to a new (rural) area right before C---d, and I've been quite busy, so I haven't been able to attend many events. I have seen that there is a rather well organized heathen group about 2 hours from me, but they are very vocally "folkish" and I don't think that's really my vibe either.
In terms of what I think is the value: depends on you. For me, I think it's very important to have friends and elders that I respect, that have the same or similar values to me, and that I don't mind being more like. There's the saying that you're the most like the 5 people you spend the most amount of time with. So, if you want to advance, magically or spiritually, it makes sense to surround yourself with people who are also on a spiritual/magical path. It helps to have people that are farther along than you, people on roughly the same level, and people who you can help bring to your level too. I have found something like that with other esoteric groups, with Ecosophia, and with some folks in the larger magical community who I know in person. A few of those people are "heathen", but most of them aren't. Most of the work is done by oneself anyway, though nobody can really be a fully "solitary" practitioner. Even the exchanges we're having right now, and the exchanges on the Ecosophia blogs are a way of fulfilling the need for community.