I was still very much Christian when I was on here a couple of years ago...after the past year, I still have respect for Christianity, but I don't believe in the divinity of Christ, and am more then a little suspicious that El of the OT is a small local tribal god trying to pull his weight around, rather then some sort of Ultimate Divine. For years I've acted as the Mormon member of a Pagan board I stumbled onto out of curiosity...answering questions even as I realized that most of the members were intensely happy with their beliefs, and started trying to figure out what spoke to me.

I "see" the Divine as male and female in a fairly pantheistic sense--whether one oceanic being that hold everything, or complimentary forces that are fluidly male and female(the way I'm most prone to picture it, given my upbringing). To me, both are loving, and both are very live, and dynamic.

I also have had contact with members of the Norse Pantheon. Frigg and Odin(who stepped in when there was some slightly dirty work to be done getting us out of my in-law's, with space enough to believe what we wanted to) as well as primarily the pairing of Tyr and the (I know fairly undocumented) Zisa.

I have come to consider them to take a similar role to the Oldest of Ancestors--not the Ultimate, but ancient, powerful, and seemingly very interested in me. I am also willing, though, to accept that these experiences may, in fact, have been entirely the product of my imagination, particularly given the intense amount of stress I've been under between leaving the church and becoming estranged from my family. Either way, I cherish it as special, whether from the outside, or from my own "inner wisdom".

I'm wondering if there are others on here who have been attracted to the pagan rout? I live in S.E. Idaho, and at this point, it would seem that any local heathens are very quiet due to the neo-nazi groups in Idaho.

Telling others you were still TBM or faking it?

Not sure.

Also what neo -nazi groups?

There are no neo- nazis in America!

Maybe in Scandinavia sure.

665 N' 1/2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Telling others you were still TBM or faking it?
>
> Not sure.
>
> Also what neo -nazi groups?
>
> There are no neo- nazis in America!
>
> Maybe in Scandinavia sure.

The White Supremacists. You not heard of them? I heard of them and I am a foreign.

just speaking a Foreign lamguage!!
are you foreign Matt??? or a foreigner?? hehehe!!
we are peoples that are seperated by a common language! :0 mand a big pond!!

...Pardon me?

I've read over your response two or three times now, and I'm having trouble following.

You obviously either don't understand what I'm talking about (in which case I won't be offended if you let other people respond who do), or are trolling me (in which case, yes, I may be offended).

Edited for clarity.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2011 04:59PM by vasalissasdoll.

My Q=

So you were into social experimentation?

Telling others you were still TBM or faking it?

After reading...what you wrote below.

"For years I've acted as the Mormon member of a Pagan board I stumbled onto out of curiosity.."

Acted...that means you were pretending to be something in my connotation.
Not sure what you meant by it.

The rest was a joke.

I know that there are neo-nazi groups in America.

"Scandinavians" was a tug at my detractors.

Sorry you were not there for the initial beginnings of the controversy surrounding the Hispanic population and some idiot with false presentations on statistics of Mexicans in the American heartland.

Thankfully Jim Huston took care of that.

Thanks for clarifying, 665 N' 1/2.

The reason I worded it that way is because I joined the board originally out of curiosity. I then went on to spend several years being the "cool" mormon (a role I discovered was hard to give up), while answering questions about LDS beliefs.

For me, personally, the curiosity I'd experienced ended up being a rescuing force. I asked a ton of questions, educated myself, and realized that people all over have very different relationships with deity. I saw how happy and comfortable many of my friends were, and how differently their treatment of me was, then if a pagan had joined a primarily LDS religion board. I realized that as they continued to learn and change in response to their surroundings, I was trapped in an endless cycle of loathing myself and the church, hitting a breaking point, and then instead of turning away, letting guilt and shame drag me back into "trying to do better".

I started to read everything I could get my hands on, from any religion...and after a while began to settle on the path that I am now.

Does that answer your question?

Thank you for sharing!

So did you try a lot to pump Mormonism to the Pagan board to seem interesting?

Not that this would make sense but, were you doing that?

Double binded?

Hmm...to a certain degree.

I'm wasn't the only non-pagan member of the board, and the leadership was always very encouraging of people who were different starting a thread to talk about their beliefs(various branches of pagan belief, voudoun, Satanist, Muslim, etc, etc). I actually still run the thread, even though I make it very clear that my opinion differs from what a fervent Mormon would say (if nothing else trying to show both views).

I never really tried to convert anyone, though. An early eye-opener was seeing pics a girl (who I'd thought might be interested) posted in another thread of her very phallus-oriented alter to Dionysus! No...I figured out pretty quick that most people who found there way there were very happy as themselves. Except for me...oddly enough. Took me a couple of years to figure that one out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2011 07:56PM by vasalissasdoll.

I completely understand your reticence to come out because of the White Supremacists. They piss me off for a number of reasons, but for this thread, they piss me off because there are quite a lot of folks who would like to follow the Norse Gods and/or Asatru but are turned off of it because of them.

Is that what drove you to that board?

That would be interesting to know the truth about.

Not that this is or would be wrong or I would pass judgement.

I guess the Catholics would have burned somebody regardless and they wanted no "connectedness to the earth" via paganism.

And why, under all the stars, would you think that LDS and Pagan belief have a lot in common???



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2011 05:59PM by Heidi GWOTR.

I guess your thinking I am getting to Ed Decker about this.

Let me say this.

Although some say the temple rights are Judaic/Christian etc.

Masonry and paganism have a lot in common.

Five pointed star upright and upside down.

I know they were Christian folk magic symbols.

Ram horns full of consecrated oils,blessings of body parts...celestial stuff Kabbalahism.

Mormonism has just about everything in it.

I will come back with some stuff in a bit.

Gotta' get some work done!

You're talking (primarily) UK-based old hedge magic at that point, though....the sort of thing discussed in Early Mormonism and the Magic World View.

You'll find that pagan beliefs span a very wide range, and most heathens do not practice magic. For them, the emphasis is usually kin(whether blood or close personal ties), and a handful of formal situations, usually involving oaths, poetry, and sharing beer or mead with your kin and the gods. There is also often a very pragmatic stance on deity(if you even believe in their existence--many do not): no bowing and scraping, no being a supplicant, no begging like a small child for every favor. You tell the gods what you wish to accomplish, and how you plan to do it, and ask them to bless you if they support your endeavor.

Nice to hear of another, Heidi :)

I agree...with the emphasis on my ancestors that I grew up with, it hardly surprises me that I've wanted to know what my danish/german/saxon ancestors believed before Christianity. It makes it very hard, though, to either find groups in a more rural area that aren't white supremacists, or to explain to the few I do run into what exactly my background is.

I don't want anyone else's philosophy, dogma or belief. I like my own. They have evolved naturally. My beliefs lean toward paganism with some Yoga stretches, my own interpretations and good old home spun love. It's working for me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2011 05:59PM by wine country girl.

Odins got you on his FB?

You shuld write a book about this.

(I've seen another person posting as "James" so I am now "JamesL".)

I left Mormonism and gravitated back to where I belonged all along, the path of Druidic Paganism. I had been attracted to it long before I joined the LDS church but wasn't aware that there were others who followed such a path. (Very sheltered upbringing.)

SCA has the same fascination with a western European past, without the self-importance.

As for being tight with Odin, that's right up there with believing god doesn't like people who like coffee. And there are about 38,000 Hindu gods who are insulted at being dismissed out of hand.

My mental image of Odin looks like Yosemite Sam.

Of course, my image of Elohim looks like George Costanza.

http://www.workplacewellbeing.com.au/2010/11/05/the-george-costanza-myth/

Well, you have a right to your own opinion, and hey! I'm not out trying to convert anyone.

I have no intention of being self-important, and apologize if it came across that way. My experiences are personal, and my own. There's no reason for me to need to apologize for those, especially since I haven't tried to shove them in anyone's face. Yes, I know it's different...but I thought the whole point of leaving the church was so that people weren't telling you that your different ideas were crud...wouldn't you agree?