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Hi everybody. To give some context behind my question, I am living in Taiwan and improving my Chinese, so I can learn more about Chinese culture. One part of Chinese culture is making offerings to deities or offerings to ancestors. For example, there is a class of beings called 土地公 (tu di gong) which are beings that watch over/protect a specific area. People pray to these beings for basically anything, but they also keep a respectful distance from them. For example, they wouldn’t pray to them like how Christians pray to their God, or how we Buddhists pray to Amitābha Buddha. However, western pagans seem to keep a close relationship to their deities. I have seen many people share their alters online and it seems like they have a heartfelt connection. However, to me it doesn’t feel like these pagan traditions have an ultimate being or anything, so why do people have such close relationships with the deities? I hope my question makes sense, thanks for reading :)

In my Roman polytheistic practice, I like to follow the mos maiorum. However, I really struggle with pietas when it comes to my father.

I won't disclose personal details, but for more context: my parents are divorced, and my father was rarely present. He's shown very little pietas towards me or my mother (to the point that he goes no contact for months for the silliest reasons).

Now, the gods? Pietas comes naturally for them. My mother, my aunt and my grandparents? Same thing. But my father? It just feels kind of unfair to show him pietas since it's pretty one-sided.

So I'm curious: do any Ancient Roman sources mention circumstances in which a parent could be denied pietas? Are there examples of this in literature, philosophy, law or history? And to those who went through something similar: could you share your experience? What solution(s) did you adopt?

~ Sybil

Hi all,
I understand this is a very common question amongst “beginner” pagans so bare with me.

The branches and labels are so intertwined yet different that it makes it hard to place your footing somewhere.

I find myself in trouble when it comes to religious belief as I’ve identified as agnostic thus far. I can’t say I truly believe in a deity but I do believe in an ultimate energy and the spiritual side of our realm.
From what I understand you don’t have to worship or believe in a deity but it has been hard to find labels i connect with.

Eclectic paganism has been my main focus but it’s so general I don’t know where to go with it.

I guess I just want suggestions on branches to research and take my own beliefs from that to make my own path as most of us do.

I love figures like Aphrodite and Hecate, I wear an ankh as I feel the ancient people of the time had a really deep spiritual connection to their beliefs as I also identify as genderfluid so the representation of feminine/ masculine sits right with me. I want to be more grounded with the earth. I do a lot of crystal and tarot work.

Thank you for any information or help I am here to listen and learn.

Blessed be

hope to correct me if there's something awkward thing

(I do not know if this is true in Hellenistic paganism don't take my word) from what I heard if you die before a wedding or something big in your life it can cause the leftover feelings and your soul to still linger for a bit but how " big"does it need to be in order for ghostliness

does it have to be something seen as big like a wedding can it be something emotionally big maybe like a concert or something?

Side note can you still interact with the living world once you are a ghost?

Ps (I tried to word this in a way that doesn't lead to misinformation or interpretation I really hope I passed by the rules)

I am a Hellenic Pagan and currently thinking of joining Theistic Satanism. However, a thought occurred to me, if I worship two Pantheons or believe in two Pantheons, where would I go when I die? I hope this isn't an awkward question, sorry if it is.

Hermanubis is the Greco-Roman incarnation of the Egyptian God Anubis, guide of souls. He is an integral part of my spirit work practice.

So I have Greek deities Aphrodite, Thanatos, Hades, Artemis, maybe hekate not sure. Then Norse Loki then infernal asmodeus and beezelbub and aliens, I'm not sure how to pray to them I know they probably have different prayers. But I was wondering since I have a learning disability and auditory processing disorder, if yous can simplify the prayers for me on how to do it. Then on how I can follow through on my side like I know for Thanatos he wants to help me with my psychic gifts, so I would have to pray to him for help and I have to meditate to work on them? I'm not sure what to do thank you in advance.

I am continuing my Slavic Gods poster series inspired by traditional patterns, open to opinions!

“Types” of Theoi [UPG]

**I reiterate… UPG.**

As I’ve studied, this is how I’ve come to see the Theoi. They all have equal measures, in my eyes, save Zeus who rules over them all, his brothers, who are \[also\] kings in their own rights (although Zeus is their High King), and The Olympian Council whom Zeus \[willingly\] shares power with. I **\[personally\]** to keep their roles straight in my mind use this system. While I know this is different than the typical infographic I would post, that \[typically\] gets most of it’s information from [Theoi.com.](http://theoi.com) I feel it’s also necessary to share my viewpoints in this format, as long as it’s clearly marked/presented as such. Essentially, this helps me, and if it has the capacity to help any of you, I’m grateful.

If you have any questions on how I came to these conclusions, I would be happy yo explain, (or even debate) below, as long as the Mods deem that it remains constructive to the community. Some people learn more about their own practice through the conversations of others, the give and take of ideas, than they do by someone sharing their own ideas dogmatically. Perhaps, i even will.

I understand too, part of this will be considered *extremely* controversial, (i.e.) I think some monsters deserve recognition for having divine roles. I don’t believe they were/are/will-be (ever) worshipped by Hellenists, but I do believe dome Hellenists \[past and present\] acknowledge that they have power/authority over disasters. I mentioned Typhon above, I’d also add: Charybdis, Cerberus, Talos, Pegasus, the Phoenix, \[certain\] Giants, and \[certain\] Cyclopes.

If I might seem like i’m over explaining this description of an image post… that’s *highly* intentional, I want to be clear that I make you understand, this is both UPG **and** **also** apart of my practice based on my own understanding of the cosmos, that I am sharing from the perspective that you can understand that; take what you agree with, leave what you can’t, make your opinions known, and leave room for me to disagree/agree and also make my opinion known (if we can do that respectfully to/with) each other. Our religious ancestors \[some\] were philosophers and scholars, we too are philosophers and scholars, whatever level of that we engage in our own practice, reaching compromise is part of our shared practice (and how our shared religion grows).

I, again, hope there is at least something you can take from this, and apologize if you think there might be a concept I over simplified, I only had do much room on the program I use to make these, snd again will answer any questions you pose with sincerity.

Thank you, in advance, for allowing me to share this/these with you

As a Hellenistic pagan we have things like Elysium and Taurus religions like Christianity have heaven and hell Islam with paradise and hell why does every religion even if they have more seemed to have the really good place and the really bad place? With religions being so different why is this one thing they almost agree on?

I couldn't find Orphic Hymns to Olympians in Ukrainian (Homeric Hymns were translated by Ivan Franko) so I have translated these by myself. I don't speak Ancient Greek, so I had word by word English translation from the site dedicated to Hellenic Gods and I have searched on etymology and context of specific words to get most complex view of their meaning.

Hi! I’m not a pagan, but a Bronze Age history nerd.

I love learning about paganism, and I love learning about the various cultures of Ancient Mesopotamia. However, I can’t help but notice that it’s been hard for me to find anyone worshipping just about any Ancient Mesopotamian deities in the modern day.

Do any of y’all worship/work with any Ancient Mesopotamian deities? If so, I’d love to hear about your experience!

So I was dreaming of this Raven named Morgan.

So basically, in this name I was touring around this old fish restaurant for sell or something and as I was walking. Two Owl fell from the sky and land next to me. I was scared but they were so cute. Then I said goodbye and kept walking, but a Raven landed on my shoulders. She had a vest on and a leash so they lost their owner. On the vest their name was Morgan. I took them in, my mum and grandma were furious with me. They hate Ravens but I have a strange connection to Ravens.
To make the rest of the story short, I tried finding their owner on Reddit. For some reason, when I took the picture for identification, they had long golden-brown hair and the face of a woman and bearded man’s face.
But then out of nowhere, my late grandfather walks in, and it was then first time he didn’t yell or was mad at me in my dreams.

The other time I dreamt of Ravens, the last time, was in a cage. I was really sick. So, I looked up the interpretation, it said they were healing me in my dream.

But this one was different. Because the Raven was free to move around but she belonged to someone

I don’t know what do you think?

So a few days ago a necklace of mine that I had enchanted for protection broke (I know it did its job because it broke in a weird way and at a very appropriate time).
I would usually thank it and throw it out or bury it, but it’s one of my favorite necklaces and It is very important to me emotionally. I was wondering if I could possibly do a sort of cleansing ritual to get rid of the negative energy and then repair it?
Thank you in advance!

I've gone from using a natural makeshift altar in the woods to a more permanent setup at home.

I’m pretty new to this but I’ve been reading about people’s holiday observances, and they all seem… small? I guess? Like every holiday celebration seems to be Valentine’s Day level, vs something bigger like Christmas. So I wanted to ask — do any of you observe specific holidays in a big way? Which ones, and how?

Seriously, you know when I am going on a cruise or a trip overseas but put my spirituality recommendations aside
Or
Am I crazy and it’s all just a coincidence

What are your thoughts on worshipping a god for a specific aspect outside of the major aspect they're associated with.

For example, I was hoping to begin worshipping Ares, but not for war or anything (maybe protection from war)(although I do think weapons are cool), but more for the aspects of courage and civil order. I'm trying to be more confident in myself and I use worship as a way to ask for help in my journey.

Thank you for your time

So there is a lot of Religious Minecraft let’s plays but I never seen one for Paganism.
I guess since centralism religions are easier to put together since the basics are listed but with decentralised religions it’s up to the practitioner for the interpretation.

So what shouldn’t and should I do in order to beat Minecraft which is something I haven’t done but I am excited :)

I know “paganism” is incredibly broad, and maybe not all celebrate these days. I thought it would be fun to share and discuss different ways everyone celebrates! Whether that be little actions or big gestures— share what your favorite traditions are!

So far, I’ve only celebrated yule (traditions passed down from my mom), but i hope to do more for the Autumn equinox and a little bit of everything in 2027.