ceallaighcreature

[ceallaighcreature]

General reminder to the pagans out there:

Making a supreme goddess figure part of your spirituality? Great! Worshiping a mother goddess? Wonderful! If that brings joy and meaning into your life, excellent!

"Once upon a time long ago, people all worshiped a great goddess until THE PATRIARCHY conspired to overthrow her and replace her with a CRUEL PATRIARCHAL GOD" - that's pseudohistory and conspiracism; there's literally no evidence for it whatsoever, and it can and does drag people down the new age to alt right pipeline.

[ceallaighcreature]

Being a norse pagan and interacting with other heathens online is a constant cycle of "oh my god their content is so cool!! Let me follow th- oh shit one sec I have to quickly scroll through their profile and make sure they're not a nazi... Hmmmm......oh there we go! They have a fuck nazis post. Follow!"

[ceallaighcreature]

My most controversial take is that I think if youre going to be any kind of culturally based polytheist, you should a) learn the language and b) learn to do scholarly research.

I wont use the word "must", and call me a gatekeeper all you like, but there is so much misinformation out there that if you care about your practice being authentic/culturally sensitive AT ALL you need to learn how to sift through the centuries of romanticism and neopagan-speculation-sold-as-fact (looking at you, Wiccans).

Not saying your practice must be reconstructionist in nature, but if you can't tell what is supported by the data, what is conjecture, and what is outright fabrication, you are doing the material, your practice, and yourself a disservice.

[ceallaighcreature]

I often see people lamenting how difficult it is to research norse myth. No story seems quite consistent through time and space, no interpretation is exactly the same, no pre-Christian group even believed in exactly the same way… Would it not be easier if nordic religions came in one, monolithic package— all fossilized together into a single block? But one comes to realize that they don’t, and it’s proof of their wonderfully diverse nature. Oral tradition in Scandinavia, dating back long before the Viking Age and surviving into the christianization period, was unbelievably alive and organic. And taking it all in is a joy in of itself— not necessarily seeking to acquire a single answer to every question we as heathens find ourselves pondering, but rather, appreciating the myths for what they were: ever-evolving, ever-shapeshifting.

[ceallaighcreature]

As a reminder, we have a page dedicated to learning about antisemitism, particularly how it appears online. It includes:

Slurs

Numerical Dogwhistles

Dogwhistles

Terms

Common Conspiracy Theories

Christian Specific Antisemitism

Antisemitic & White Supremacist Imagery

General education on how to identify antisemitism

If you're online, you need to be able to identify antisemitism and root it out wherever it festers.

[ceallaighcreature]

so in light of the shift in focus of this blog

if you post about:

heathenry, norse polytheism, polytheism and religion in general

archaeology and anthropology

magic, folk magic, witchcraft, etc

or anything related to this

like or reblog this so i can follow you, my dash doesnt have quite the same amount of this content as it used to

[ceallaighcreature]

Semi-regular reminder that Gaelic polytheism is not a closed practice. You do not need to be from Ireland, Scotland, or Man or have any “Celtic blood” to worship the Gods, Ancestors, and Spirits

Anyone who tells you different is misinformed at best or probably a racist at worst

[ceallaighcreature]

Does anyone know where I could find a Brighid’s cross pendant with only three legs? Something like this:

But in a small dainty silver or gold necklace like —

It would mean the world to me since I lost my old cross and would like one that is less likely to be mistaken for a christian cross!

[ceallaighcreature]

This might not be the most popular of opinions, but I believe it’s crucial for us as neo-pagans to consider the cultural & historical context behind deities, or certain pagan paths as a whole. While it’s not necessary to know everything there is to know about them, I can’t stress enough how important it is to research facts. We can’t go along with what pop culture has taught us, whether it’s created favorable or unfavorable bias. No matter the case, it’s created bias, and it’s important to detach oneself from it in order to form wiser, more personal opinions. And more importantly, to better understand the historical context of the spiritual traditions we seek to learn from. Paganism is not an aesthetic.

[ceallaighcreature]

Recently saw somebody on Tiktok refer to Mabon as the "pagan Thanksgiving" and all I have to say is... don't. Just don't. If you do this, please stop now and do some research on American Indigenous peoples history.

[ceallaighcreature]

Witch Safety Tip:

Don't burn cinnamon or cassia. I know it smells delicious. I know it has the cleansing power we all dream of. But cinnamon is a SEVERE respiratory irritant. Even if your lungs are healthy, it can cause lung scarring. If your lungs are less than flawless? Disaster.

That includes cinnamon oil.

Cinnamon scented candles are fine, because they're stabilized.

Heating cinnamon or cinnamon oil up is fine.

Just don't burn it.

Bonus Tip: don't put cinnamon on your skin. ESPECIALLY NOT CINNAMON OIL. We use cinnamon oil to strip varnish from furniture. Back in ye olde days of the 2010s, people mixed cinnamon powder with water to give themselves a facial peel. They peeled their flesh right off! Cinnamon can give you third degree chemical burns.

[ceallaighcreature]

Before you say “religion”...

Take a moment and ask yourself a few questions:

- Do you mean just 1 religion? 

- Do you know enough about the all worlds religions to make a potentially harmful generalization about all of them?

- Are you making assumptions about other religions based off of your experience with one religion?

- Are you making assumptions about other religions and cultures based on your limited experience with a single person or group of people from said religion or culture?

- Are you taking out your valid frustrating, anger, hurt, and pain with one religious group on people who have nothing to do with it by making a generalization?

If you don’t actually mean the every single one of the vast, diverse, multi-faceted religions in the world, don’t make a blanket statement and list the one(s) you mean specifically. This also goes for using ‘grouping’ labels that do not apply, like Abrahamic, etc. 

[ceallaighcreature]

Modern Paganism's Translation Problem?

Do books on modern paganism have a translation problem when it comes to Celtic sources? A discussion with Kris Hughes on an important subject. Or listen to this episode as a podcast:

[ceallaighcreature]

Lúnasa sona daoibh!

[ceallaighcreature]

Wishing everyone a good harvest of whatever kind this Lúnasa.

[ceallaighcreature]

[ceallaighcreature]

Recently, I've noticed an interesting idea rising in pagan and polytheist spaces: fear as an essential, or even comfortable, part of worship. So I'm curious how many people agree with this/include it in their practice.

***Disclaimer: This is not meant to cast judgement on others. Please do not start discourse over this.***

Please reblog for a bigger sample size! 🧡