Chev
Junior Member
Struggling to learn and grow.
Posts: 97
Pronouns: She/Her
Religion: Oh, ain't that the question
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Post by Chev on Jan 27, 2015 11:47:04 GMT -6
Is or was, really. Just how you approached your deity then and/or now. Good, bad, mistakes, and general bonks on the head/learning?
With this I mean how you may work with an altar, communicate with your... group? I guess. Just how you approach your religion.
I know my one fear is the casual approach that Christianity taught me. The "Hey, what's up?" kind of casual.
When I thought that it was Shiva who had taken an interest (He may have, but I may well have confused the reason), I was very worried about my tone toward Him though I was later reassured by someone that it was fine. Manannan I'm a bit worried about, but at the same time I feel like "Naaaaah, he doesn't care. He has other things to care about."
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Post by brimstonne on Jan 27, 2015 13:04:41 GMT -6
Speaking from a Gaelic viewpoint, it is generally believed that the Gods are not omnipresent. They are not like the Christian God who is always there to watch over you, unless you are a devotee of them. But I have never heard of a scenario where they did not come when someone prayed to them. Manannan does have other things to care about, but that doesn't mean he also can't care about you.
As far as tones go, it can be as formal as you (or your specific Gods) want. For example- I'm working on oathing myself to the Morrigan, we have a great relationship, yet 90% of my prayers to her a very formal. With Lugh (who I don't have much of a relationship with yet) I'm very casual. He made it clear to me that he did not like me stumbling over my words trying to be formal. What I would recommend is starting out your prayers in a semi-formal tone, and trying different ones to see what feels right.
(UPG Alert: Manannan can be a bit of a diva since he is a trickster, but Ive found that praying to him while holding something from the sea or a lake helps me connect to him so much better, almost as if he's toned it down a few dozen notches. Ive prayed while holding sea-shells, or while touching either sea or storm water. Theres really no one way to pray, the best thing to do is to try a bunch of different ways and see which one feels best to you, which are you most comfortable doing? The best thing about Manannan is that its always a constant journey, and to me at least, he seems to realize that those take time and patience on his part. Anyways hope this helps! )
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wickedlittlecritta
Full Member
A tempest in a teacup
Posts: 169
Pronouns: she/her
Religion: Gaelic polytheist
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Post by wickedlittlecritta on Jan 27, 2015 13:25:04 GMT -6
(UPG Alert: Manannan can be a bit of a diva since he is a trickster, but Ive found that praying to him while holding something from the sea or a lake helps me connect to him so much better, almost as if he's toned it down a few dozen notches. Ive prayed while holding sea-shells, or while touching either sea or storm water. Theres really no one way to pray, the best thing to do is to try a bunch of different ways and see which one feels best to you, which are you most comfortable doing? The best thing about Manannan is that its always a constant journey, and to me at least, he seems to realize that those take time and patience on his part. Anyways hope this helps! ) Oooh, that's a really good idea. I've prayed while fiddling with my alter, but never while really holding anything. I'll have to try that! TBH I'm still working on my whole approach. Formality makes me super uncomfortable so I'm probably overly casual and I'm still trying to work myself out of the mentality that prayer is a "dear god plz bring me a pony" thing, and since that's always been weird for me I just...don't really pray that much. Now that I actually have time to play around with things I'll hopefully figure stuff out though. I want to try writing some of my own prayers, and do more for festivals since I won't be working during all of them this year.
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Post by brimstonne on Jan 27, 2015 13:32:00 GMT -6
I also have a small journal of prayers and poems that I use, and try to write things down to figure out what exactly Im trying to say before I say it. Otherwise its more of a 'uhhmm...hello? uhhmm it its me? but I guess you know that and uhmm' so that helps too
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wickedlittlecritta
Full Member
A tempest in a teacup
Posts: 169
Pronouns: she/her
Religion: Gaelic polytheist
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Post by wickedlittlecritta on Jan 27, 2015 13:39:20 GMT -6
Yeah so far all of my prayers are basically "Hey dude I got you a thing hope you like"
I even have a journal for prayers and stuff I just need to put more things in it.
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Post by saintfelicity on Jan 27, 2015 13:41:23 GMT -6
This is definitely something I've struggled with, and continued to struggle with, a lot. When I was Catholic and then later Baptist, I would ramble to God before falling to sleep. As a Gaelic Polytheist, I'm trying not to do that. I have a relatively casual tone of relationship with Brigid and she's exceedingly tolerant, as I'm really uncomfortable with overly formal ritual or prayers.
I've been doing three kinds of things depending on what I want/need to do at a given time:
1) If I'm giving a simple offering for honor, or doing a little blessing before I start work, or something like that, I actually just don't say much; I light my candles and place my offering, and say a quick "I offer this with respect, a blessing of blessings on all Three"
2) If I'm feeling pent-up and need a longer rambly prayer, I'll make Brigid some food or tea and offer them to her in thanks for listening to me, and then I'll sit in front of my shrine and blab
3) To take the place of rambly pre-bed prayers to help me sleep, I do free association stream-of-consciousness using epithets and aspects of Brigid or Flidais. It'll come out something like "Lady Brigid Shining Brigid, Brigid shining like fire, fire in a smithy, Brigid is a smith, shining Lady Brigid" (this is really embarrassing typed out, ha) - I think this works a charm because it's purely for honor, but also brings me the singular focus I need to chill out my anxietybrain without expecting her to listen to everything!
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harpinghawke
Newbie
Posts: 43
Pronouns: ze/zir
Religion: Dedicant of Cernunnos, Road Witch
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Post by harpinghawke on Jan 27, 2015 13:54:55 GMT -6
Yeah so far all of my prayers are basically "Hey dude I got you a thing hope you like" I even have a journal for prayers and stuff I just need to put more things in it. Same here! Unless I planned a ritual [in advance] I tend to be pretty casual with my prayers. It keeps things from getting stagnant.
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ayaad
Newbie
Posts: 24
Pronouns: she/her
Religion: Mormon pagan
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Post by ayaad on Jan 27, 2015 16:02:49 GMT -6
I interact differently depending on the circumstances. My morning prayers are recited and ritualized, very formal. My evening prayers are much more casual and conversational, usually along the lines of "Hey, so this is what's happening in my life and how I feel about it... {discussion ensues}." It's helpful for me to maintain a mix of formal devotion and casual conversation to keep the lines of communication open in both senses. My general rule of thumb is that if I'm doing it at my altar/shrine, it's probably more formal. I guess it's like I'm approaching Them as a devotee, rather than as a daughter. And considering that I generally start my casual prayers with "Dear Heavenly Father and Mother" and my formal ones with Their actual names and a few titles, it reinforces those roles.
I'm really not sure what I'm going to do when I start expanding my worship to other deities, since I won't have that familial relationship with them for casual prayers. That's probably not going to happen for a while, though.
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Post by Allec on Jan 28, 2015 3:03:35 GMT -6
What it boils down to is what polytheist tradition you are approaching, which deity, and yourself.
There are specific ways to pray in Konkokyo, for example, so if you were approaching Kami-sama you should abide by those rules. In Gaelic Polytheism, though, there hasn't been a specific way to pray left to record and that leaves a lot to be interpretation and left to the individual. I've approached Lugh both formally and informally.
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Post by Intaier on Feb 22, 2015 13:54:52 GMT -6
I haven't been "casual" with Jesus, or Virgin Mary. Always kept the prayers formal. Also it's worth to note that in Russian Orthodoxy praying with your own words, not with written in prayerbooks, is heavily discouraged. But, I've been quite casual with Saints I had good relationships with.
Now, it depends. Because I may make a hour-length formal ritual with "very serious" hymns and praises, and after that, immediately turn to casual "chatting". And, there is Always time for such kind of casual chat "Hey, that's what happening in my life, here's what I'm thinking about". This conversation may turn into prayer and get back to "chatting" again. May be it's not a "non-stop" prayer, but it's keeping a Deity in heart and mind, always. So I know and feel that I can just start talking to Djehuty in any moment and he would listen :) For others, though, it would be better to call upon their attention in more formal way.
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GreenAsSin
Newbie
I don't believe in a Bleak Horizon
Posts: 13
Pronouns: She/Her
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Post by GreenAsSin on Feb 25, 2015 17:41:49 GMT -6
At this point in time I'm entirely casual when I speak to my pair without any kind of formal or ritual prayers or anything. I just kinda send thoughts out if something reminds me of them or extend a general invitation to stop in and chat before I crash for the night since I think it'll be easiest for them to contact me while I sleep until I develop my tarot reading abilities and maybe some other divination methods.
Once I figure out what I want to do about an altar I could slow down and be able to make slightly more formal offerings, but unless me being casual in my speech starts to rub them the wrong way or they want something specific from me then I don't really plan on using formal prayers or anything. I don't really like formal prayer very much so trying to make myself get over that discomfort feels like it would take away from the conversation I'm trying to have.
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Skywalker
Newbie
Posts: 17
Pronouns: They but I don't really mind he or she either
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Post by Skywalker on Feb 25, 2015 18:39:29 GMT -6
I'm extremely casual, especially when it comes to Loki. I think I tried that whole formal thing at first and that was a horrible failure and I'm sure Loki laughed at my horrible attempts. Now, I don't think I could do anything but casual when it comes to him. Normally, it's something along the lines of, "Have some beer." I think I'm probably more formal when it comes to my ancestors, as weird as that may be. But I never was really close with my grandparents, and never knew anyone before them. So they feel a lot more like strangers to me than Loki does.
With other gods, I'm not super casual. Like I at least try to watch my language. But I honestly find it a little awkward when I'm not very familiar with a deity. I'm generally shy and feel like I'm going to make everyday situations awkward, and that feeling gets a lot worse when it comes to gods. Which I think might actually be some leftover Christian-anxiety because I knew I always would be freaking out over pissing off that god if I screwed up one little thing. I don't think my informal approach has really bothered any deity I've ever attempted to communicate with. Even when I swore about a zillion times during a ritual.
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IronBloodWood
Newbie
Posts: 8
Pronouns: She/He/They
Religion: Animism
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Post by IronBloodWood on Mar 21, 2015 13:13:20 GMT -6
In general when it comes to me talking to deities or spirits, I'm not necessarily very formal but very polite. When it comes to Cernunnos he doesn't seem to care that much how I address him, and Flidais just gets irritated if I faff around too much. For me it's just being respectful until you know how they are.
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Redfaery
Junior Member
Posts: 72
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Religion: Buddhist Polytheism
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Post by Redfaery on Mar 22, 2015 9:01:57 GMT -6
I'm totally openheaded. My goddess shadows me a lot. It's hard to be formal when She does that. I *do* remain respectful, though. I think the two are not necessarily incompatible. One of the things my experiences in the higher education system have taught me is that you *can* be quite good friends with a teacher, even though they are not one of your peers. In fact, that's one of the marks of a true teacher, IMO - they don't treat you like a subordinate or an inferior. They take their duty to *help you learn* seriously. My goddess is that kind of teacher to me.
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Post by Allec on Mar 22, 2015 22:19:10 GMT -6
That's a great way to describe a relationship between human and deity, Red!
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