#gaulic paganism

[thevixenwitch]

I had a strong calling to Cernunnos very recently while reorganizing our main altar and making it a more deity-centered space. People are right when they say he’s very straight forward, wanting to guide personal growth, communicating clearly through the cards! I actually did work with him very directly some time ago, though I knew him as the Wild God at the time. I was young and inexperienced lol But had a distinct sign occur earlier today that confirmed it! It feels like coming home to settle with him again, it makes my wings shimmer! Very excited to see where he leads on my path.

[rosemaryonthehearth]

What are some deities that you've struggled to find information on, whether historical sources or modern practices?

There's two for me, for different reasons.

Belisama, the Gaulic-Celtic goddess of fire, lakes, rivers, and crafts. There is not a lot of historical references to her worship as not much of the Gaulic traditions survived, similar to the other Celtic deities. The Roman sources equate her to Minerva, and she rules over the River Ribble in the UK.

The other is Wepwawet. He is often mistaken for Anubis and sometimes is portrayed to be gray/silver and a wolf or jackal. He is known as the Opener of the Ways, controlling the Opening of the Mouth in mummification rituals. He is sometimes depicted at the head of Ra's sun-boat or as a scout, leading the way in war. The main problem is Ancient Egypt lasted so long that there were many, many different deities, and the historical sites were looted often for the valuables and building materials.

[ihearhercalling]

Please like or reblog (ideally reblog so other people in your sphere can find the post) if you post content about any of the following. If you reblog, please say which, or if you just like please reply and say which! I want to be more active on this blog and need people to follow.

- Celtic polytheism (Irish, Welsh, Brythonic, Gaulic, any really)

- Celtic witchcraft and folk magic, particularly Welsh

- British folk traditions

- Druidry

- Proto Indo-European polytheism

- Venus, Aphrodite, Ishtar and Inanna worship

- Actual genuine Wicca as opposed to the random stuff that gets passed off as Wicca in mainstream book shops

- Feri tradition

- Goddess-centric paganism (Dianic tradition, Deanism, Filianism, Reclaiming, Avalonian) and female mysteries

- Arthuriana from a pagan or feminist perspective (or pagan/feminist friendly)

- Sacred sexuality and tantra

- Herbalism, particularly with herbs native to the UK

[oldgoddetective]

What happened to the Old Gods?

For thousands of years, humans of various cultures, nations, and peoples across the world worshiped an equally amount of varied gods. And then suddenly, at least in Western Europe and the Americas, the influence of these gods waned. In this post and over the next few posts I will propose that a plurality of gods coexisted and worked with nature and humanity to maintain balance and that the community of the Western gods suffered a period of collapse in which the Western God achieved his current hegemony. In a future post I plan to talk about how there is a current movement of rebellion or upheaval in the heavens, as well as about the relationship between the gods, nature, spirits, and humans.

I am approaching this with a careful but honest belief that the divine is real and that God, Jesus, the Western God, and the so called "pagan" gods are (or at least were) real. I will also be focusing on God, Western Europe, and the Americas (here and throughout the blog), as these are the areas I am most familiar with. Lastly, I stand by the truism that history is written by the victors, so while I may use the Bible as a source, I will approach it with academic skepticism. With all that out of the way, let's begin.

Before the rise of Christianity, once could find a diversity of gods across the world. These were seen as tribal or local gods. That is, their worshipers largely recognized the existence of other gods that ruled over the same aspects of nature, but that were distinct from their own gods and belonged to other regions and people. Examples of this are Hades and Hel, from Greek and Norse religion respectively. These two gods ruled over similar realms (the realm of the dead), but were limited in their jurisdiction by geography and by who their followers were. We also see examples of gods spreading across regions, sometimes adopting different aspects as they do. One way in which this happened was when people colonized an area and brought their gods with them, as was the case with Ancient Carthage being ruled by Phoenician gods. If a god and their people had enough influence, they could also expand to new regions, although this usually caused them to undergo changes as they were adapted to and by the new environments they encountered. Such was the case when Ares took over the aspect of war in Rome and became Mars, and similarly when Gaulic people adopted Mars under the name of Albiorix. These were likely all the same entity, but rather than be worshiped as one god, it chose to, or was forced to, adopt different aspects that better suited the cultures it encountered. Thus we see a world where various gods existed within a changing landscape of realms and personalities.

There is one more way in which gods expand and replace others: warfare. A famous example of this is found in the books of Exodus and Joshua, where the followers of God conquered the people of Canaan and slowly tore down their gods. The relationship between humans and the gods is not the focus here, but it is well known to be symbiotic to some degree. With believers gone or dwindled, the gods are weakened and easier to depose by another god.

The various gods were, according to the Bible, organized into an assembly of gods or a divine council (Psalm 82 NSRV). It is unknown what God's position in this council was or how many gods belonged to it. But it does reveal that the gods were in some sort of community with each other and that some sort of order existed. This same psalm claims that God has the authority to hold judgement, but as this is an account written by God - even if indirectly - we can not take for granted that this claim of a position of leadership is accurate and that it wasn’t made to legitimize his rule. I will take a detour into the realm of speculation and say that this council likely did not include all the gods on earth or in existence, but may have been limited to those over which God already had authority. That is, the gods God had defeated through conquest and the lesser gods many call angels. If this is the case, this divine council was a prototype for how the Western God would achieve his current hegemony.

Now we turn to how the old gods “went away.” I’m not talking about how their cults were persecuted or their beliefs syncretized into Christianity, although this did play an important role in the Old God’s demise. Instead I am talking about the deities themselves. Here we can only make informed guesses, so here is what I believe happened. A new god, Jesus, arrived on the scene deriving his legitimacy from his claim to be the son of God. Whether this claim is true or not does not matter for our purposes, although it has interesting implications. What matters is that it allowed him to have a head start in the follower gaining game. Whoever Jesus was before the incarnation, he was already a relatively powerful god. He was likely a member of the aforementioned divine council. Following his death and resurrection, his following grew, which in turn gave him more power. Through some clever maneuvering he came to gain influence over the Roman Empire and become its dominant god. Eventually the gods of the Roman pantheon would be weakened, exiled, or incorporated into Jesus’s divine council. The behavior of Christianity from this point forwards indicates a change to the previously egalitarian and regional workings of the divine council into one that was increasingly centralized. With the power of the divine council and a great number of followers, he was able to create the infrastructure that would give rise to the various organized Christian churches.

Then something went wrong. We can’t pinpoint when, how, or why, but at some point Jesus lost control of the divine council, and the Western God took over. This explains the rapid changes to Christianity, including a practical abandonment of its peaceful and loving ethos that remains unpunished to this day. Human activity was likely both a symptom and a cause to this change in heavenly leadership. Ultimately, the chaos in heaven caused or worsened the fall of the Roman empire. It was during this period of upheaval that the gods of the germanic tribes tried to stop the growing power of Jesus or fill the power vacuum the Western God’s rise to power was causing. In the end, it was the Western God who prevailed over Jesus and the other “pagan” gods. Unlike Jesus, the Western God learned from his predecessors and did not rule as one, but rather adopted various identities among the various Christian sects and allowed other gods to wield authority as angels or saints of the divine council.

Most of Christian history has been led by this Western God who usurped Jesus’s place and derives his legitimacy by using the identity of Jesus and of the son of God. I will talk in a future post about how this hegemony has been changing for centuries now and what the new cosmic order could shake up to be.

[zooterchet]

Shakespeare's Medicine (Preparation of Steak)

Shakespeare, worked through Puc Lascerdes, "Puck", "Romeo", and "MacBet", a Montague, the Palestinian Khanate.

A hitman, a doctor, with a trade practiced age 18-20, then adapted for blue collar mastery of prior family, with contemporary trade atop it, the day job, a "thespian" by night, an assassin modeled to make the trade of medicine (fatality of account by force) compatible with trade practiced as adult, within the trade practiced in study.

Physician, healing, female apothecary, sales of opiate through same condition suffered, and no more, of course.

Those pair, notwithstanding, to place taught fiction, the art of philosophy, doctrine, within medical care, the university degree necessary for work or labor; unless military, the argument's victory insisted outside trial of jury, the belief in dog's tongue, Arabic, instead of Urdu, justice of courts, against Hebrew, the linguistic for reversed tongue of guilt.

There are three moves, for the consumption of steak, the trade of the doctor.

Scalpal: The knife from the side, the placement of a piece of meat, on a flip.

Scuff: The knife lifting from the front, the knuckles, having placed the meat, under sight.

Hook: The placement of the knife, into the top of the meat, for the fork, from the left hand, only possible in confidence from the sinister, the royal, the benevolent. Otherwise, the knife switched, the less confident, the evil man, the dexter, creating more work, per the order indicted; the fatass, the right handed.

On top, we have five forms of meal.

Worcestershire: The placement of Scottish sauce, on the steak, so the desired, will not be played upon requested, from the purchasing party.

Pasta Sauce: The placement of pasta sauce, as a fundament, beneath the pasta placed, for proper mixture, so the sauce, will not interfere, with consumption of grains, the boiled substance of pasta.

Kosher: The mixture of beef and lamb, instead of with pork, the additive of parsey, lamb's meat, instead of taschim, veal, for the prodigal son, the Jew's meal at age 18, unless in presence of anti-Semitic sponsor met, the veal of baby cow eaten, to slay woman of same gene as anti-Semite, the man or woman striking on head, buttocks, or back of hand.

Palestine: The pure pork hot dog, ordered with ketchup, found and hidden at seafood restaurant, if serving the people, not the "snob", the common "snort' if spotting "Gentile", that individual in casual dress without shaped identical of child, the common bigot that insists on likeness of parent and child. Often on a children's menu, if mixtured with thyme and garlic powder on thumb after meal, liquor enjoyed, then removed of heart fixture, for healthy blood, the common assassin.

Frankish: The enjoyment of a custom industrial lathe, in defiance of Gaulic homosexual, long replaced since German induction of France and Italy into Holy Roman Empire, prior to the poor days of the Reformation, the Lutheran anti-Semite. A cooking method, enjoyed at home, custom to own needs and own reason, without the monitoring of outside forces, the privacy in home. The poor's opposition to state, within heterosexual marriage, with the violent challenge to those opposing freedom of homestead, in favor of control by military; the latter the pagan, the common molestation of child.

[theeyeofsatori]

Pan’s Lullaby, love when I get to see Pagan gods, doing what they do best!

[ristoria]

There’s an online conference coming up this weekend! I’m teaching on Sunday about fiber arts and witchcraft - it’s called Spin a Magical Yarn. :D All the info is below. 

  A Year with the Witch Arts & Witchcraft: Arts, Crafts and Witches! An Online Polytheist Conference Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? - Mary Oliver Land, Sea, Sky Travel is proud to host our third year of curated online conferences. Over the course of the year, we will be hosting eight conferences. Each conference will hold a specific theme relevant to Irish, Welsh, Gallic, and Devotional Polytheists and Magic Workers. The conference will provide a balanced mix of hands-on, devotional, and experimental practice with academic and lore-based studies. In addition, a chat room will be provided to facilitate building friendships and meeting other polytheists. Each conference will feature at least five presenters, providing a mix of well known faces and fresh voices in polytheism today. The conference may be accessed from any phone, tablet, or computer. To help make it accessible to all participants, especially those who cannot commit to attending the full eight hours, a recording of the entire conference is included with your registration ticket. Participants will also receive a digital welcome packet with exciting content from each of our presenters, along with other offerings from polytheist groups, small businesses and community members. During the conference, we will be giving away items such e-books, books, tickets to a future conference in this series, and other exciting surprises. Full and partial scholarships will be offered for the conference, along with discounts for group viewing parties. Registration will be offered for free to individuals under the age of twenty-one or over the age of seventy-one and all women of color. Pricing and Compensation In alignment with other Land, Sea, Sky Travel programming, we strive to be as accessible as possible. In our attempt to do this, we now offer all conferences on a sliding scale. The following scale applies: $35 – $70 Access to Arts & Witchcraft Conference - $150-450 Year with the Witch 2020 Pass Access to all conferences in the 2020 Year With The Witch season. - $300-$500 Year with the Gods 2018 & 2019 Pass Access to all welcome packets, including audio and video recordings, from the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Please choose honestly where you fall on the scale. Your financial support is how Vyviane and many of our presenters, priests, hosts, and staff make their living and support their families. If you are new to a sliding scale, or unfamiliar with the process behind it, we recommend you read the following to help you decide where you fall on the scale. Scholarships Available To apply for a scholarship, please email us a note, including why this conference is important to you, and what you hope to get out of it. There is no need to provide financial reasons for needing a scholarship. You may apply to other conferences in the future, even if you have received a scholarship from us in the past. Wisdom of the Ages Hearth Pass: Our conferences are free to individuals under 21 or over 71 at the time of the conference. Women of Color Hearth Pass: We would like to invite all Pagan and Polytheist Women of Color to attend our upcoming A Year with the Witch Conference Series for free of charge! To qualify you simply need to identify as a woman of color. For either hearth pass, please email us at vyviane@landseaskytravel.com and ask for your tickets. You may request a specific conference or a year long pass. We honor your voices in our community and would like to do our part to make sure we keep hearing them. This is offered regardless of financial situation. What's Included in All Passes Your registration gets you into your selected online conference, held on Zoom, to watch all presentations along with opening devotionals.  The day includes giveaways, a chat room, and interactive breaks where you can get to know others in our community. You will also receive a recording of all presentations after the conference. We are very excited to offer a digital download welcome packet to all registered guests. The welcome packet includes all the class notes, downloadable presents from some of our presenters, and various other goodies from polytheist and pagan run businesses. Your conference registration not only helps us fund our scholarship positions, but it also pays fair wages for our presenters, web designers, photographers, coordinators, and myself, for our time and energy. Almost everyone involved with this project is an Irish, Welsh, or Gaulic Polytheist, providing this work as a means of supporting our families and communities. How to Register To sign up, please use PayPal to send your ticket fee to vyviane@landseaskytravel.com. If you would like your welcome packet and ticket sent to an email different from your PayPal email, please leave us a note on the transaction, or email me directly with your requests. All emails go to vyviane@landseaskytravel.com. Thank you for your patience as we get this all together. If you have any questions feel free to email us. Hospitality All conferences will be held in accordance to our hospitality statement which you can view here: http://www.landseaskytravel.com/hospitality/ If you need a special accommodation or service to make our event accessible to you, please be in touch at least two weeks beforehand to secure your accommodations.

[delicatestar]

Image description: A screenshot of an ask.

Text of the ask: "Anonymous said: Hi there, I have a really strange question but is it possible to work with a deity while still being catholic? Im very open religiously, and while I have an altar for Aphrodite, I also wanted to add the Virgin Mary (since I mostly really like her). I believe that Catholicism is pagan, I'm just asking so i don't offend Aphrodite haha thanks."

------------------

Hello! I don't normally get a lot of asks, so this caught me by surprise! Sorry for accidentally "answering" it last night, haha.

Catholicism

Ok first, a quick note about my background. I was raised Catholic, was an altar server, and at one point, planned to become a nun. I'm no longer Catholic, but I do still love the things that connected me with it from the beginning: the rituals and the mythology.

Since Catholicism is based on older religious practices - which were based on even older Greek and Roman traditions, with a mix of Celtic and Gaulish additions through the centuries - all of these religions and their practices are related. Even the rituals in Catholicism are callbacks to those earlier traditions. Instead of sacrificing a person or an animal to the gods, Catholics commune with God through the wine and the bread (the blood and the body of Christ). It's the same kind of ritual, but no one has to physically die in church each Sunday. And there are even more rituals of purification and consecration that happen behind the scenes and feel immensely more pagan to me. So I do think the practices are compatible, even if a priest would probably disagree with me.

Aphrodite and the Virgin Mary

The gods of many pantheon's can definitely exist in the same house and even on the same altar. In ancient times, the deities one worshipped were based mostly on location and the merchants who passed through. Gods from far away were adapted into local gods with local practices. They might have used the same name or similar practices, but they weren't exactly the same gods, either. And their altars and rituals would have been a mix from different places, like India, Greece, and Egypt. (It was super interesting to see an Apollo statue from India at the museum in Delphi - he looked a lot like Krishna!)

In modern times, with the internet and the availability of books and research, I think people find the deities that help them make sense of the world and connect with them. So if that's both Aphrodite and the Virgin Mary, then I think it's great that you've found a connection!

So I don't think Aphrodite would have any problem at all with you adding the Virgin Mary to your altar. I don't work directly with her as a devotee, but Aela does - and works with Catholic saints and deities, too - and Aphrodite's always around our apartment. She doesn't seem to mind the company at all. :)

Just for an example, my own altar is devoted to a wide range of deities and concepts:

Statues and gifts to the Greek gods I follow

A statue of Hotei (The Laughing Buddah and one of The Seven Lucky Gods)

The Catholic rosary that belonged to my grandmother and represents Jesus (the kind and pacifist aspect)

A triquetra as a reminder of my ancestral Celtic and Gaulic roots

Artifacts related to writing and travel

My only word of caution would be to make sure you treat them with equal respect, emotionally. If you're more connected with one over the other or work with one more often, that's fine, but they should both be shown the respect and courtesy they deserve. So greeting both at your altar, giving them gifts, remembering that one isn't more or less valid than the other. Just something to keep in mind.

Of course, the best advice I can offer is to listen to your inner voice, your gut, your god phone and trust it. I hope this helped to answer your question! :)

[themori-witch]

"Celtic paganism" does not mean just Irish or Scottish.

It's a very common misconception, but the Celts are not people of those two nations exclusively.

The Big Six (6) Nations Whose Cultures Identify as Celtic: Ireland (Gaelige/Gaelic), Scotland (Gaidhlig/Scots Gaelic), Brittany/Bretange (Breton/Gallo), Wales (Cymru), The Isle of Man (Manx), and Cornwall (Cornish).

The Gaulic nations and that of Galicia are considered to be Celtic nations too, as the Celts travelled and settled in many regions, some as far as Turkey.

Each of these nations have their own folklores, some of which share similarities with one another.

"Celtic is a blanket term for cultural heritage that originates in the Indo-European migrations that ended up in Western Europe." - @fivestrings-attached.

[thegreatamericanpagan-blog]

Bloodlines...

I saw on someone else’s blog, and I’ll keep them anonymous, but they mentioned bloodlines and paganism. Bloodlines are or I should say can be important to some people. I’ve done a couple DNA tests and mine is so widespread I got all the religions of the world covered. Make sure you know yours for sure, get a test or two done. Ancestry’s has been shown to be highly accurate, YouTube the triplets DNA tests. If it is important to you in your search for a specific pagan religion to follow please keep in mind how very interconnected they are. That’s what I’m all about, hence the Pagan Universality name and concept. The Greeks and the Celts were very close to one another and thought well of each other. If you’re interested in Norse polytheism, remember they’re Germanic...so were the Slavs...and even the Anglo-Saxons. There has been so much crossover that if bloodlines are important to you, you’re probably still alright. I’ll use my bloodlines as some examples. I’m only 1% Greek but consider myself a Hellenic polytheist first. But I’m also 23% Irish, which is Celtic (obviously) and 1% Scandinavian. But, I’m also 9% Western European, read Gaulic and Germanic, which are Celtic and (eventually) Norse. So there’s a lot of crossover through the generations. I oddly have been drawn to or chosen by my smallest percentage to follow. Culturally, I feel closest to my Celtic family...I’m Irish as fuck really...like ridiculously so. But spiritually I feel drawn to my Greek ancestors. To me that means that that small bit from a distant past is calling to me, and I’ve answered.

[themori-witch]

What's Gaelic Paganism?

Gaelic Ireland

Celtic Mythology

Gaelic Paganism is part of Celtic Paganism - Celtic is an umbrella term for pre-Abrahamic Irish, Scottish, Manx, Welsh and Gaulic faiths.

Gaelic is more geared towards Ireland, my Nanna always said and with hwe being from Co.Sligo I trust her word.