What are you?

Evil Phil

After reading this post I've been wondering what people would describe themselves as, if they would describe themselves as anything. Personally I'm a Pantheist.

Talliesin

I normally describe myself as a Witch. There are some semantic debates about whether "Wiccan" means the same thing as "Witch", or a particular subset of Witches. By some definitions that come up in those debates I'm a Wiccan, by some I'm not.

As such I'd also describe myself as "Pagan", "pantheist", "polytheist" (those two aren't necessarily exclusive) and "religious".

pepperkin

I just call myself an Eclectic Pagan and leave it at that. If anyone inquires further, I tell them I'm a Cherokee Celt and let them muddle through it on their own
It's true of my religion AND my ancestry, so it makes perfect sense to ME....

Bard

I'm someone who identifies with Paganism in a lot of ways but still remains merely a 'curious outsider'.

ll=llannah

I usually say Wiccan to keep things short, but if i'm in a conversation where the person seems interested, i tell them that I am a wiccan with a lot of the old druid beliefs thrown in. That sums it up pretty well for me, but i constantly find things i like and that i believe in and things i'm not so keen on. It's really a continuing process for me.

Evil Phil

I suppose its more of a question of who you are than what you are? For me compassion is one of the strongest (and hardest) parts of my spirituality - I´ve learned most of this from Buddism. I also see divination and magick from a scientific point of view. I believe in them but I don´t believe in the supernatural. Now I´m starting to waffle ... :rolleyes:

ll=llannah

i understand what you mean about magic.
I've always believed in magic- not your stereotypical "watch me turn this pencil into a cat" magic- but an essence and a connection between things that causes things inexplicable in scientific method. The example for that thought which i usually give is a spider web. We're all connected right? i mean, beyond the food chain, we're all reliant on the same basic things- food, air, water, and, some might say, love and nurturing. But, anyway, we're all connected. And just as the whole web would reverberate if you pull one strand, things are effected by other things. fairly straightforward. but the fact that we're all so closely inter-dependent makes me think that it is possible for someone to pluck a strand, planning out where the reverberation will happen and influence something in a way which might not seem logical from a scientific standpoint. that's just a taste of my reasoning, anyway- not nearly all my thoughts on it.
just thought i'd share that.
anyone else have thoughts on the immense topic?

pepperkin

Hiya Twix_girl

Funny you should use a spiderweb analogy, I was just talking about the human psyche the other day using a spider web as an analogy...twang one thread and the whole vibrates and reacts.
Humanity is like that too, on the whole.

In my view, we're connected by more than a need for air, food, water, love, etc....we're connected on subconscious levels as well. We're such a social species, that we become interdependant upon each other for mere validation of our existence at times, or proof that we really do exist.


Just so I see if I have it straight, your post kinda points towards making magick by pulling a thread here or a strand there to influence the web as a whole, and change the patterns it follows? (have you read the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony?) I am not the brightest blonde in the chandelier, so I like to clear up my understanding

To me, it's about energy. I like using some stonework in my magick-working, because I find that I can focus better. Science has discovered that certain stones and crystals resonate well with certain energy waves. I find the same works with me. "I just concentrate on my crystals and they glow!" *bouncing head off shoulder pads*. No, just kidding. But I do find that certain stones resonate well with my energy....auric energy? Ephemeral energy? Magickal energy? Willpower energy? Whatever it is, it works.
Humans produce immense amounts of undefined energy subconsciously, along with electricity, a defined energy. I produce so much electricity, my watch batteries die within a month or two of getting them, guaranteed. Undefined energy just leaks out all over the place, stamping on things...I practice a lot of psychometry, so I feel safe in saying that So if we focus that energy we produce, and aim it, it's bound to have some effect. Rather like harnessing electricity, we can harness and focus our personal energy. It's still unpredictable, tho, chaos theory holds true in energy and with water. Even with serious scientific study and manipulation, we still can't truly predict what either will do.
So if we twine your theory and mine, is it the gathered and focused energy what is pulling the thread? Or something else? Cool thought Very plausible, too.

I suppose I believe in magick wholeheartedly, but I also believe in things I can't understand. I can't understand, in it's entirety, how magick works, because there are parts of it that are too infinite or infinitesimal to understand, just too far beyond the limited neurons of my limited brain. I don't need to understand HOW my modem works to hook it up to participate with my idiocy in threads like these It makes it easier to fix it, should it be broken, if I understand how it works, but in magick I just try and understand MY part in it and see how it works, how *I* work, and work from there. If my concentration was disrupted by the $#@%!*% cat jumping on my head in the middle, well, I know the problem! (I also know to lock the cat in the bathroom.)
If it was outside of my own influence, I'm left wondering...Will of the Goddess? Subconscious sabotage? Someone elses focused energy bouncing off mine in the aether somewhere? Who knows...
Since I'm an eclectic Solitary witch, I don't tend to discuss it much with other people. I enjoy my Solitary workings, however it comes up wanting when I want to wail "I THINK I did it all right, Help me figure out where I went wrong!!" On the whole, tho, I suppose I do alright. On the other side of it, I only have my input to toss in here, which hasn't been distilled and refined through discussion.

"You believe in what you see..." I believe in the supernatural simply because I grew up seeing and sensing ghosts, and it hasn't changed. I believe that the solid world we see with our eyes is only the top layer of an onion of things we can't see with our eyes, but sense if we pay attention. "There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (I think I misquoted that, but the point stands. I think I got the gist right.)

I believe in what I see to be real, and I keep an open mind on things that I don't know about. I'm a "believing skeptic" in that I will believe in supernatural cause and effect, but only after I've ruled out *all* mundane answers. The world is a big, deep place, I won't ever undestand it all. I don't really need to, to appreciate the world in all it's bits and love living in it


Anyway, enough of my babble!

pepper

Evil Phil

Yes, enough of your babble and more of my waffle

For me, ghosts, magick etc don't exist outside creation so they're not 'super'natural. Nature = creation for meself. Everything that happens is within creation. Even heaven/summerland/insert your own afterlife here are perfectly natural places. Just outside my perception at the moment. Em ...

I'll go waffle elsewhere for a while

pepperkin

Okay, I think I see what you're getting at Evil Phil...
Ghosts, etc are within the realms of nature so they're natural? They exist, but within the same boundaries we do?
I can agree with that!

So, by that definition, that would make cloning supernatural?

Evil Phil

I don't know, good question. Do clones have a soul? They must do, after all idential twins or genetically identical. They come from the same genetic 'stock' so I suppose cloning isn't supernatural.

Nevyn

hmm What am I

Well i'd say an electic hedge Wiccan mostly lol.

Most of what i Belive is Wiccan but as I am mostly solitary
there are things that are specific to certain Tradions in Wicca that I would not believe in.

Would clones have a Soul hmmmmm, good question.
There is a beliefr that most things happen with a reason and if you are one who believes that there is big struggle between good and evil , wether or not you see them as incarnate as in God and the Devil there would be only a certain number os souls to go arround. And one would be assigned to a clone for a good reason.

And well then there is recarnation, if we do ( as i belive ) reincarnate then we have lessons or missions each life time arround. So if recarinated as a clone one would wonder what lessons are to be learned or what was it you were meant to do

I dont think cloning is a good idea, i would most definatly not clone any of my children if they became terminally ill and died for it would not be them.

I do belive at all things are connected and that we are all forms of engery that vibrates at differnt levels. ok we are differnt from and tree but at as differnt as we would be from piece of plastic
We all give and take engry wether we consume it or put in into things we make or focus it through prayer ritual or other wise.

just my lil opinions

stormkeeper

I'd consider myself an Agnostic with Wiccan/Pagan tendancies... I'm learning a bit about magic and other things associated with Wicca and Paganism, albeit at a relatively slow rate... Yet, at the same time, I believe in a lot of things, so I guess the best thing to call me is 'confused'

SHAMAN

Unusual that I should find this board at this time(a matter I will not say anything about except this: Oooh, Fate!). Personally I am a Christian but with beliefs that don't fit in anywhere really. I do believe though that there is a "supreme power" in the universe. I have an avid interest in all things abnormal, though I wouldn't be willing to use that word as I'm willing to believe that anything is possible. I enjoy researching demonomancy, wiccan rituals and dream translation, anything really. Also, my name actually isn't influenced by my beliefs, but something else entirel, and I am only willing to say this: Oooh,Fate!
I must say though i expected more people to browse this reguraly, but ye don't seem to get alot of traffic for a website of this size. It took me a while to find this forum.

Nevyn

We're not that much off the beaten track

We were placed in the communtiy section if the hope that , that is what will evolve out of this lil board.

But as all the posts are open to be read by anyone who knows where to point a browser it seem that thier are a lot of shy Pagans out there.

Hopefully the fact we use " Nicks " will tempt more of them out of the cyber broom closet.

I like that fact that what is dicussed here can be read openly and hopefully will teach peope a thing or two about what Pagans are about and not about

Thaed

SHAMAN

Quite true(I'm a man of few words.)

Ixidor

i only seem to "be" what i'm called..... i really have no idea what the i could be described as if there is a term to describe me..... i guess i'm content knowing that i'm undesided..... i wish it made me mysterious.

Brian Houlihan

wiccan

LFCFan

Agnostic. I don't believe in any sort of religion as at the end of the day it's all about one bunch of gobsh1tes telling another bunch of 'believers' what to do and how to live their lives and that everyone else are not to be trusted etc etc. I'll live my life the way I want to, not the way someone else wants me to. Religion has been the root cause of all conflicts on this planet. Enough said!

lordsippa

As regards the views on supernatural as expressed by Evil Phil...
The term supernatural merely refers to things outside of our understanding of physical and tangible nature. Things that are against nature or completely distant from it are under the "unnatural" category.

Hence ghosts etc are rightly supernatural, but not unnatural. Well... I guess *THAT* depends on your views

EKRIUQ

Originally posted by twix_girl
i understand what you mean about magic.
I've always believed in magic- not your stereotypical "watch me turn this pencil into a cat" magic- but an essence and a connection between things that causes things inexplicable in scientific method. The example for that thought which i usually give is a spider web. We're all connected right? i mean, beyond the food chain, we're all reliant on the same basic things- food, air, water, and, some might say, love and nurturing. But, anyway, we're all connected. And just as the whole web would reverberate to pluck a strand, planning out where the reverberation will happen and influence something in a way which might not seem logical from a scientific standpoint. that's just a taste of my reasoning, anyway- not nearly all my thoughts on it.
just thought i'd share that.
anyone else have thoughts on the immense topic?