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Hello. I'm not really pagan, I've been atheist all my life in a 70% catholic country where the most common way of paganism is Yoruba and Christian witchcraft, from which I've kept my distance because they sacrifice animals to their saints, sometimes stealing house pets to sacrifice them. However, I love the Norse myths and as I started to learn more and more about it I got very interested in Mead, now I'm making my own Mead and I love that. IDK if Norse Paganism might be compatible with my form of atheism (don't believe in anything super natural, but willing to follow certain deities in a symbolic way, for example, I am a satanist atheist), I know very little about it, but because of the Mead I'm interested in learning more about the rituals associated to Mead, if there was any. I think learning and doing a proper ritual might link more closely my Mead making with it's cultural significance (yes I know Mead is not exclusively Norse, far from that, but still is what got me into it). I've read that sometimes Mead can be offered in altars. But I wonder if the old Norse had any ritual specific to it, or maybe something to thank the gods for the Mead, and what gods might be the main ones to offer it, Odin? Kvasir? Ægir? Freya? Sorry if I'm way over the line, again, I'm willing to learn and follow advice. If you have some ritual instructions could you help too? Thanks in advance.
I don't know exactly how to describe it, but I feel like the universe or something within os trying to tell me something and I'm so close to getting it. I'm going to start meditating for therapeutic reasons, but I was curious if there are ways I could better listen to whatever it is that I feel. I know openness is important, but I don't really understand what it means to open up like that.
Sorry if this is a sore subject, I'm just looking for somewhere besides Reddit to peruse for entertainment.
publicação cruzada de: https://hexbear.net/post/1739942 > Well, some days ago, when I was about to sleep, I had a hypnagogic experience with Abzu in his form of Abyss/Deep Waters/Void, and I felt the same as I felt when I had my NDE with the Abyss/Void in 2018, except I was fine. And I was able to AP (bilocate) to the Abyss, and it was weird, I felt good, but I felt like a deep waters fish and like one of the Children of the Abyss. > > > > I don't know if that's normal, but my experiences with Abzu/Abyss/Void are kinda turning me even more nihilistic and like whatever to stuff that happens with me at micro level, but I still have a strong resistance with stuff at macro level (National Brazilian politics, BRICS+ politics, US-NATO politics, World politics etc), yet, I can see I'm becoming even more nihilistic and more contemplative about the world and about nature and the universe, more into Black Hole worship and stuff. > > > > I also have lots of experiences with the Abyss/Void black holes (spiritual/astral black holes), and I don't know if that's normal, but sometimes I feel like I am very detached of material stuff and I am like whatever about material stuff, as long as I can have a good life and good living conditions. > > > > And also, I can even feel how much stuff like logic and rationality are as abstract as mathematics and metaphysics, despite I am very atheistic sometimes, I am aware of how metaphysical and abstract logic and reasoning are, maybe some kind of Abzunian/Abyssian/Voidian/Voidist version of Weber, Marx, Levi-Strauss, and Bookchin (if that makes sense for others). > > > > And also, I often have lots of experiences with the Abzu/Abyss/Void when I take my antipsychotics (risperidone), yeah, I often had lots of experiences with gods and stuff with risperidone and still do, but nowadays it is all within the Abzu/Abyss. > > > > Maybe there are some other people right there who are also like that, so that's the why I made this post.
Yes, Zionism is folkism. You can't say you're for anti-folkism if you're for Zionism
cross-posted from: https://feddit.it/post/4364185 > [Found on FB](https://www.facebook.com/1438946130/posts/pfbid0K59dpXqMg7QhPocLJmiTTbK95PzxfnN3fYFRLdmWf2WDLhnh5YNH6hJnjn3wAsAXl/): > > I-know-all anti-Catholic: "Christmas? But Christmas, like Easter, like all your other holidays were pagan celebrations! Don't tell me you don't know?" > > As I am about to upload the historical-philological broadside on the original authenticity of Christmas, I pause for a moment, reasoning. No, not this time. > > I take a breath and... > > Me: "That's right. We got them all. And if you keep complaining, we'll also take Spring Break, OktoberFest and the Furniture Show." > > I.k.a.a.c: "Ahah! Then you admit it... Wait, what?" > > Me: "You got it, smartass. We're a bit rusty, but you said it yourself: for centuries we appropriated all that barbaric junk and turned it into traditions thousands of years old and beyond, shaping Western civilization on the necropolises of antiquity. Not one has been saved, not one that has survived Christian reinterpretation: Romans, Greeks, Germans, Celts, Slavs... It's all our stuff. And those would slaughter us in the arena or eviscerate our evangelizers! You people slaves of consumerism complaining on Threads think you're a challenge?" > > I.k.a.a.c: "But what do you think..." > > Me: "We're already the main promoters of that environmentalist Earth Day trinket, it would take us two seconds to move our Day for the Care and Custody of Creation from September to April. Wanna bet?" > > I.k.a.a.c: "You can't...." > > Me: "Too late, you prick, you lost Black Friday, we are already making selections for the Saint Donor who will supplant it." > > I.k.a.a.c: "But what..." > > Me: "Oh, yeah. And say goodbye to Pride Month, we're already re-organizing Corpus Christi month, with permanent Eucharistic adoration of reparation from rainbow perversions. Oh, and your mother has given her availability for the general secretariat!" > > I.k.a.a.c: "Leave my mother alone..." > > Me: "And listen, do you like Shark Week? We just need a companion devotion to the Assumption, and we've left Stella Maris on hold for a while." > > --------- > Yes, in my opinion we should start doing that again.
“Serving” man, surely cannot mean being tortured, killed, uselessly shot and otherwise misused; while it is almost needless to explain the word “renovation.” Christians understand by it the renovation of bodies after the second coming of Christ; and limit it to man, to the exclusion of animals. The students of the Secret Doctrine explain it by the successive renovation and perfection of forms on the scale of objective and subjective being, and in a long series of evolutionary transformations from animal to man, and upward. This will, of course, be again rejected by Christians with indignation. We shall be told that it is not thus that the Bible was explained to them, nor can it ever mean that. It is useless to insist upon it. Many and sad in their results were the erroneous interpretations of that which people are pleased to call the “Word of God.” The sentence “cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren” — generated centuries of misery and undeserved woe for the wretched slaves — the negroes. It is the clergy of the United States who were their bitterest enemies in the anti-slavery question, which question they opposed Bible in hand. Yet slavery is proved to have been the cause of the natural decay of every country; and even proud Rome fell because “the majority in the ancient world were slaves,” as Geijer justly remarks. But so terribly imbued at all times were the best, the most intellectual Christians with those many erroneous interpretations of the Bible, that even one of their grandest poets, while defending the right of man to freedom, allots no such portion to the poor animal. >He [God] gave us only over beast, fish, fowl, Dominion absolute; that right we hold By his donation, but man over man He made not lord; such title to himself Reserving, human left from human free. — says Milton. But, like murder, error “will out,” an incongruity must unavoidably occur whenever erroneous conclusions are supported either against or in favour of a prejudged question. The opponents of Eastern philozoism thus offer their critics a formidable weapon to upset their ablest arguments by such incongruity between premises and conclusions, facts postulated and deductions made. It is the purpose of the present Essay to throw a ray of light upon this most serious and interesting subject. Roman Catholic writers in order to support the genuineness of the many miraculous resurrections of animals produced by their saints, have made them the subject of endless debates. The “soul in animals” is, in the opinion of Bossuet, “the most difficult as the most important of all philosophical questions.”
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/1004918 > Epiphanius of Salamis talks about the birth of Dushara from a virgin (Panarion 4th century AD) and some scholars have concluded that the figurines could represent Al-‘Uzza and Her son Dushara, although this suggestion was not adopted by other scholars. Its more likely that Epiphanius's account is of Dushara and His mother Allat, not Al-'Uzza, since Allat was given the epithet "Mother of Gods" and Al-'Uzza seems to be Dushara's consort, not mother. That being said, here is Epiphanius's report: > "The leaders of the idolaters … in many places hold a great feast on the very night of Epiphany… First of all, in Alexandria they hold festival in what is called the Coreum, which is a great temple, namely the sacred precinct of Core. They stay awake the whole night singing hymns to the idol to the accompaniment of flutes. They keep it up the entire night, and after cockcrow torchbearers descend into an underground shrine and bring up a wooden statue seated naked on a litter… They carry the statue in a circle seven times around the very center of the temple to the accompaniment of flutes, kettledrums, and hymns and thus reveling carry it back down to the place underground. Asked what the rite means, they say: Today at this hour Core (meaning the virgin) engendered Aeon. This is also done in the city of Petra ... in the temple of the idol there. They sing hymns to the virgin in Arabic, calling her in Arabic “Chaamu”, which means Core or “virgin”, and the one born from her “Dusares”…The rite is also performed in the city of Elusa on that night as in Petra and Alexandria." > > The festival occurred at the winter solstice on the 6th of January and was celebrated as a mystery in several Mediterranean cultures. The birth of Dushara can be compared with the birth of Jesus as the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ took place on the 6th of January in the East until Justinian, who in 560 AD urged the Christians in Jerusalem to adopt the earlier Roman date. This brings us back to solar imagery for the cult of Christ was often identified with the Sun among early Christian Arabs; Christ had risen at sunrise and the resurrection was equated with the rising, the second coming was expected from the east, early churches often faced the east. The birth of Mithras also occurred that night. The winter solstice was a birth of light and expressed fertility, the rebirth of vegetation. The continual rebirth of deities makes Them immortal. The concept of rebirth and resurrection was common to many ancient Semitic religions. This was particularly prevalent in Phoenician religion, where it was a part of the cult of Melqart. Melqart was often Hellenized as Adonis, and was related to the ancient Sumerian Dummuzi, biblical Tammuz, where rebirth and resurrection figured highly. > Like the mysteries at Eleusis and those of Isis and Osiris the festival must've been a profound experience. Gathering at the temple of Dushara in the evening of the 5th of January, staying the whole night, and singing hymns to the accompaniment of flutes and drums. Perhaps they partook in some entheogens or fasting or perhaps the long hours of singing and music was enough to induce a mystical experience or trance. After many hours, the first light, the Morning Star, and the rising of the sun announces the birth and epiphany of Dushara, indicated also by revealing the baetyl, which then is carried seven times in a circumambulation around the temple to be presented to all worshippers, making the epiphany public. > > 
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/7690740 > A tablet from nineteenth century BC Anatolia mentions a Puzu-Ishtar ‘the Tadmuraean’ (Palmyrene) as witness to a contract. But there are very few references to Tadmur in historical texts until the first century BC, when it grows into a substantial settlement. Because of its central location on the route between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, the city was always in danger of being conquered by greater powers. It finally was conquered in 20 AD by Rome. It became thoroughly Romanized getting a senate, magistrates, theatre, colonnaded streets, etc. > > When the Sassanians captured the Roman emperor Valerian, Odenathus son of Hairan son of Wahb-Allat son of Nasor, a leading citizen of Palmyra and a Roman senator, stepped into the power vacuum and took up Rome’s cause. He was of mixed Arab-Aramean ancestry. His name, the name of his father, Hairan, and that of his grandfather, Wahb-Allat, are Arabic while Nasor, his great-grandfather, has an Aramaic name. At that point Arabs have been in Palmyra for centuries. They migrated to the city in the later half of the first millennium BC and formed a significant segment of the aristocracy. Two hundred years prior to Odenathus there was Sheikh Zabdibel, who aided the Seleucids in the battle of Raphia and was mentioned as the commander of "the Arabs and neighboring tribes to the number of ten thousands." The Arabs introduced their Gods to the city and built temples and wrote inscriptions in Their honor. This makes Palmyra an important city for understanding Arab polytheism. > > **Ba'al Hamon and Manawat** > > Ba'al Hamon was brought to Palmyra from Canaanite lands by Arab tribes. The worship of Canaanite deities among Arabs should not surprise us as [the oldest Arabic inscription](https://www.academia.edu/18470301) invokes Malkom and Kemosh and Qos, all Canaanite Gods of the Iron Age. In 89 AD the Arab tribe of the Bene Agrud built a sanctuary in Ba'al Hamon's honor on top of Jebel Muntar giving Him the status of the God of the high place of Palmyra. The inscription commemorating the dedication of the sanctuary consists of three lines: > > "To Ba'al Hamon, Moqimu son of Moqimu son of Zabdibol ‘Arima and Yarhibola son of Malku son of Lishamsh son of Hannibel ’A'abai, at their own expense, have erected this sanctuary, and the portico of alabaster which is in front of it, and the portico which is below, and all the ceiling, and its door, and the Srgb’ in bronze. And they have also offered the sanctuary of [Manawat](https://lemmy.ml/post/1977316) and its portico, and all its decoration, for their lives, and the lives of their children and brothers for ever. In the month Iyyar, the year 400 (May, 89 AD)" > > Ba'al Hamon was identified with Bel due Babylonian influence. The mountain sanctuary of Ba'al Hamon stood as the dwelling place of Bel on the basis of a parallelism with that of the Mesopotamian God who had a temple on top of the ziggurat and another one at its base. Ba'al Hamon is often paired with Manawat, Goddess of time, fortune, and destiny, though it is not known if They formed a married couple. Manawat was also popular in Hegra, the southern extend of the Nabataean kingdom. Inscriptions tell us that She is a Goddess who appropriates gifts to Her worshipers and presides over chance and luck, like an Arabian Nemesis or Tyche. Ba'al Hamon and Manawat were the Fortunes (Gads) of Bene Agrud. > > **Ba'al Shamin** > > The cult of Ba'al Shamin at Palmyra was also brought into the oasis by Arab tribes that came from the Anti-Lebanon or the Hauran. Ba'al Shamin, a weather God, a patron of farmers and shepherds, was adored along the Levantine coast in the second millennium BC, and His cult became the religious patrimony of the Phoenicians in the beginning of the first millennium BC. The epithet Ba‘al Shamin, “Lord of Heaven,” can also be used to denote the supreme God of any local pantheon, such as [Dushara](https://www.arabianpaganism.faith/wiki/%E1%B8%8Eu%C5%A1ar%C4%93) among the Nabateans. Lord of Heaven, signifying the God to Whom the heavens belong. Ba'al Shamin is thus neither the Moon God nor the Sun God, but rather the equivalent of the Greek Zeus or the Roman Jupiter. Ba'al Shamin is already mentioned in the first part of the fourteenth century BC in the treaties concluded between Shuppiluliuma, king of the Hittites, and Niqmadu II, king of Ugarit. At the Hittite fortress of Karatepe He heads a list of deities described as "the whole group of the children of the Gods’’ indicating that He presides over the assembly of the Holy Ones. Josephus, writing around 100 AD but quoting from reliable sources preserved in the archives of Tyre, asserts that the cult of Ba'al Shamin was current in that city in the tenth century BC. > > A Greek bilingual inscription from Palmyra calls Ba'al Shamin "Zeus Most High and the One who listens to prayers.” This is translated to Aramaic as mare 'alma, "Lord of the World/Eternity” which is translated into Greek as Zeus megystos keraunios "Zeus the Bearer of Thunder." In the Hauran epekoos (who-listens-to-prayer) was an epithet of Ba'al Shamin exclusively. He is styled the “Most High” (hypsistos), an epithet which was translated into Latin as summus exsuperantissimus "the Most Superior" in order to indicate that He was superior to all other divine beings. He is the sixth most invoked deity among Safaitic nomads and there's even [an inscription that references the Ba'al Cycle](https://www.academia.edu/16094901/Al_Jallad_2015_Echoes_of_the_Baal_Cycle_in_a_Safaito_Hismaic_Inscription). Ba'al Shamin's cult spread toward the arable lands of Syria, and His preeminence as a supreme weather God was acknowledged in the Hauran and in the Anti-Lebanon by Arab tribes. It is from these buffer zones between the coast and the Syrian Desert that the cult of Baal Shamin reached Palmyra. The tribe of the Bene Maazin seem to have owned the temple of Ba'al Shamin. In 62 AD a member of the Bene Maazin offered an altar to Ba'al Shamin, Durahlun (dwrhlwn), Rahim (rhm), and the Gad (gd) of Yedi'ebel. Greek bilingual inscriptions identify Ba'al Shamin and Durahlun with Zeus implying that They weren't separate entities. > > Ten out of nineteen inscriptions found in the temple of Ba'al Shamin mention His name followed by that of Durahlun, which most probably means Du-Rahlun, i.e. “the One of Rahle.” Durahlun would have been the supreme God of the region of Rahle, on Mt. Hermon. The earliest inscriptions from the temple of Ba'al Shamin call Him and Durahlun "the Good Gods" and "the Good and Bountiful Gods." This association of Ba'al Shamin with Durahlun, the tribal God of the Arab group that migrated from the Anti-Lebanon to Palmyra, indicates that the God of the Rahle region had been accepted by the priests of Ba'al Shamin because He was thought to be a sort of "avatar" of the Lord of Heaven. Before migrating to Palmyra the Arabs tribes must've been influenced by the religious traditions of the Phoenicians and the association at Palmyra of Ba'al Shamin with the God of Rahle, on the Hermon, is a remnant of this. Ba'al Shamin also has angels. Inscriptions mention the “Holy Brothers” or “Holy Angels” of Ba'al Shamin, Malakbel and Aglibol. This triad echoes an Aramaic inscription from about the fifth century BC, found in Cilicia, which invokes Ba'al Shamin, “the great,” the Moon/Dawn God Shahr, and the Sun God Shamash. > > **Shamash** > > Shamash is the God of the Sun, justice, and oracles. In ancient Mesopotamia He committed law to kings, guided living creatures rightly, bore witness to oaths and is called is called the Lord of Oracular Decisions. The earliest reference connecting Shamash with the Arabs comes from the Iron Age. After revolting Arabs were defeated by the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, their priestess queen, Teelhunu, was forced to settle in Assyria. When Esarhaddon reinstated Hazael as king of Duma, he was willing to return Teelhunu to the Arab monarch in view of her position as priestess. Esarhaddon consulted the oracle of Shamash to learn whether he should return the priestess to her country. The oracle said yes and Teelhunu was allowed to return to Arabia. Its possible that Teelhunu introduced the worship of Shamash to the Arabs after this incident. Shamash was worshiped in the Arab quarter of Palmyra at least since the first century BC. There were two other solar Gods in Palmyra, Yarhibol, Malakbel, but they could not have all been the Sun God. Very likely Shamash alone impersonated the Sun God to the Arab ancestors of the Palmyrenes, Yarhibol and Malakbel having been associated with the sun only by the theological reasoning of priests. > > Strabo says of the Nabateans that "they worship the sun, building an altar on top of the house, and pouring libations on it daily and burning frankincense" although mentions of Shamash in Nabataea are rare. Shamash was also worshipped by Arabs living in Hatra and on its coins Hatra presented itself as "Hatra (sacred enclosure/fortress) of the Sun God, Shamash" which suggests that the whole city was dedicated to Shamash. The Hatrene ruler Nasru was even the high priest of Shamash and so were his descendants. This parallels the situation in Emesa where Arab kings acted as priests of the Sun God Elegabal, a God assimilated to Helios in later times. Although Elegabal was worshipped as a mountain God by the original inhabitants of Emesa He became a Sun God after Sampsigeramus ("Shamash has decided") had established his rule there. The cult of the Sun reached its climax under the Roman Emperor Elagabalus, who was of Emesene origin, and had been a priest of the local Elahgabal. The heliolatry propagated by Elagabalus succeeded in merging the cult of the emperors with that of Sol Invictus. Under Aurelianus the cult of the Sun became a state religion. The Arab cult of the Sun which had flourished in many Syrian cities during the Greco-Roman period was transformed by the Roman philosophers, and the Sun became the ever-present image of the intelligible God. This is clearly stated in Julian’s [Hymn to King Helios](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hymn_to_King_Helios). > > **Arsu, Azizu and Mun'im** > > Another city where the cult of the Sun God excelled was Edessa. Here, the traditional cult of Sin, the Moon God of Harran, had prevailed ever since the beginning of the first millennium BC. In the early centuries AD Sin is still called "Lord of the Gods” but the increasing influence of the solar theology had already engulfed the Edessenes, for when Emperor Julian delivered his oration on Helios at Antioch he said that the Edessenes worshiped the Sun flanked by Azizos and Monimos, two deities to be identified with Ares and Hermes, according to Iamblichus. Thus Monimos is the planet Mercury, whereas Azizos is Mars. Azizos comes from the Arabic Azizu ’’the strong one” while Monimos comes from Mun'im "the favorable one." A tradition similar to that of Edessa is found in the Hauran. An altar in the Museum of Sweida represents the eagle, symbol of the sun, standing with its wings fully spread on a bust of Azizu. Some scholars believe that in the Hauran, Azizu and Mun'im stood for Phosphorus, the Morning Star, and Hesperus, the Evening Star. The Edessean theology may have developed as a result of the popularity that the cult of Helios/Shamash gained in the Levant. > > At Palmyra, one relief shows Azizu together with Arsu. They are called the "Good and Bountiful Gods" and Azizu is called "the good and compassionate God." Arsu is seen riding a camel and Azizu a horse. The camel is Arsu’s animal as protector of caravans. The Greeks saw Him as an Ares, the God of war, as shown by a bilingual inscription from the temple of Ba'al Shamin. On some tesserae Arsu is associated with Hermes/Mercury, no doubt in the latter’s role as the patron of merchants. The epithet of Arsu is r'yy’ or r'y' i.e. the one who loves. It must be emphasized that there is only one occasion so far discovered on which Arsu and Azizu are associated at Palmyra, and that on other reliefs and inscriptions each is associated with other deities, or appears alone. There is no evidence of Arsu having a similar relationship to Azizu as Mun'im does, and no evidence of the conflation between Arsu and Mun'im as some earlier scholars have attempted to prove. There is also no evidence of any astral association, either. Just because Arsu was conflated with Ares and associated with Hermes does not mean that Arsu was associated with the planet Mars or the planet Mercury. > > **Rahim** > > Rahim was worshiped together with Shamash and Allat in the temple erected in the western quarter of the city. The name Rahim (rhm) is probably related to the attribute rahman, ‘‘the compassionate,” often applied to the Palmyrene Gods. The Quranic epithets of Allah, ar-rahman ar-raheem, ‘‘the Merciful and the Compassionate,” are also good parallels to the Palmyrene name. Rahim may be the epithet given to their God by some Arab tribes of the oasis long before they settled there. The inscriptions show that the devotees of Rahim were also worshipers of Allat. The Bene Maazin and their associates, the Bene Nurbel, excelled in this devotion. The worship of these two deities was essential in the religious life of the Arabs in Palmyra. Rahim is also mentioned in three Safaitic inscriptions and the name also often appears in the Mishnah and the Babylonian Talmud as one of the names of Yahweh. > > **Jinn?** > > Some divine beings in Palmyra are frequently called gny', ginnaya, plural ginnayi, namely, genii. This Aramaic term is cognate with the Arabic word jinn, which means "to conceal." The Palmyrene ginnaya may have been conflated with the Latin genius. Greco-Roman writers acknowledged the existence of deities who were tutelaries of people and places. In petitions and oaths Romans often appealed to the "genii” of the persons addressed. The concern of these genii was to take care of human lives and enterprises. The Palmyrenes worshiped Them everywhere and gave Them the epithet šbb' “close,” meaning that the beings were guardians of people. The Palmyrene genii were frequently invoked in pairs. Some scholars believe that certain pairs of divine beings stand for the Roman Dioscuri but there is very little evidence for a cult of Castor and Pollux at Palmyra or in the Palmyrene region. They instead probably have [Semitic roots](https://www.royalacademy.dk/Publications/Low/2084_Hvidberg-Hansen,%20Finn%20Ove.pdf) maybe connected to the Gods of dawn and dusk. > > The Palmyrenes acknowledged the genii as protectors of their caravans, their herds, and their desert villages. Camels loaded with all kinds of products were easy prey for bandits. The caravans had to be escorted through the desert and this, the Palmyrenes believed, was the main occupation of the genii. The tutelary entities are consistently [portrayed](https://journals.openedition.org/syria/1931) wearing what would be the traditional dress at the time. Reliefs depicting the genii have been found primarily in the wadis and outskirts of Palmyra or in the hamlets that surrounded the oasis in Roman times. Here the Arab tribesmen lived as semi-nomads, which was not the case with the Arabs living in the city itself. In the Roman era the hamlets around Palmyra were not only centers of settled life but also relays for the passing caravans. In this environment the cult of the tutelary genii proliferated. They were believed to protect flocks and caravans and therefore shrines were erected in Their honor. The connection between the Palmyrene ginnaya and the later jinn of Islam is unclear. > > **Abgal and His Companions** > > The God Abgal is often [depicted](https://colorsandstones.eu/2021/05/14/relief-from-the-sanctuary-of-abgal-at-khirbet-es-semrine/) as a youth with long hair and mustache, wearing the local costume while holding a lance. Sometimes He is riding a horse with a bow and quiver. An inscription from Khirbet Semrin indicates that Yarhibol had placed Abgal in charge of the village: "Let Abgal, His brothers, and the members of His house be remembered by Yarhibol who gave Abgal authority over this locality forever. Let whoever fears Abgal be remembered." Abgal had a Greco-Roman style sanctuary in Khirbet Semrin where He was paired with Ma'nu. Like other pairs such as Ba'al Shamin and Durahlun, or Azizu and Arsu, Abgal and Ma'nu are called "the Good and Bountiful Gods." Abgal is also mentioned with Aglibol, Malakbel, and "the jinn" in the same sanctuary. > > In Jebel al-Abiad He is invoked with other deities including Bel, Baal Shamin, Aglibol, Malakbel, Astarte, Nemesis, and Arsu. Worship of Abgal is appears late, in the second and third centuries, and He was not worshipped in the city of Palmyra itself but in satellite villages. This indicates that Abgal is a God of the Syrian steppe. Another indication of this is the fact that Abgal being associated with Aglibol and Malakbel is not common and it is much more common for Him to be associated with other steppe Gods such as Azizos, Ma'anu, Ashar, or Shalman worshipped by nomads and semi-nomads of the Syrian desert. These were all depicted in a very similar style, as warrior Gods with long hair, mustache and weaponry. Often riding a camel or horse. They were also all given the epithet "good and bountiful" and often called gny'. Ma'nu was worshipped with Abgal in His sanctuary but He is much more frequently paired with another deity named Sha'ad(u). Ma'an rides a horse like Arsu while Sha'ad rides a camel like Azizu. Ma'nu's feast was celebrated on the 16th of August. Shalman has a sister, the Goddess Shalmanat. They seem to be identical with the Assyrian Shulman and Shulmanitu. > > **Gads** > > Many different Gads were worshipped in Palmyra including tribal Gads such as Gad Taimi and the Gads of cities such as Palmyra and Dura-Europos. They were often depicted as the Goddess Tyche/Fortuna but sometimes also depicted as a male God in native dress. A Gad personified the protection given by a God to specific individuals and groups. Among the Safaitic nomads, the great tribal confederations of Ḍayf and ʿAwīḏ each have their own Gad, but so do outside nations, such as the Nabataeans (Gad-Nabaṭ). > > **Deities that Require More In-Depth Discussion** > > I have already written an article on [Allat](https://lemmy.ml/post/1004917). Its an article I plan on updating/reworking in the future. Shay' Al-Qaum also deserves His own post and there is also much more to be said about Ba'al Shamin and the Gads. > > Further Reading: > > * [The Pantheon Of Palmyra](https://archive.org/details/thepantheonofpalmyrabyjavierteixidorzlib.org) > * [The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia](https://www.academia.edu/45498003/Al_Jallad_Pre_Print_Draft_The_Religion_and_Rituals_of_the_Nomads_of_Pre_Islamic_Arabia_A_Reconstruction_based_on_the_Safaitic_Inscriptions) > * [The Pagan God: popular religion in the Greco-Roman Near East](https://archive.org/details/pagangodpopularr0000teix/mode/2up) > * [Who Are the “Attendants of Helios”](https://mythopedia.info/vanderSluijs-JAOS-19.pdf) > * [The God Gad](https://www.academia.edu/39785481/The_god_Gad)
My partner is currently practicing paganism and I would like to start. I want to surprise her so I'm looking for advice from my fellow **hex**bears on where/how to start. What books should I read? What videos (if any) should I watch? What kind of people should I avoid because I heard that there are a lot of people who base their practice in ahistorical "facts".
Sussy imposter jerma magick
I wanted to learn more about the intersection between religious and communism. I've heard some stuff, but it was mostly from the Christian perspective (liberation theology), so I was hoping to hear more views.
I want to update the side bar to be more inclusive and I would love to invite native and tribal practitioners but I honestly don't know if that would be appropriate or if you would rather not be grouped in with other pagans and magic practitioners.
We really need a /c/magick
Is it possible for a mortal being to become a god?
She started showing up when I was around 16 (late 30s now.) I only see her like twice a year but every time I do the dreams are so intense I spend the next day in that sort of distorted state where I can't quite shake how real it was. Every time I see her I recognize her instantly in my dreams and we have such an overwhelming connection, stronger then I've ever experienced in real life. She feels right, like a mythical soulmate. I've felt since the first time I saw her that she's a real person. She's beautiful but like real person beautiful not Hollywood, and she's aged along with me. I can't shake the feeling the that I'm supposed to find her, like our souls are connected from some past life. I of course have no idea how so in a couple of days she'll fade to the back of my mind again, showing up only in stray thoughts till she pops up in my dreams again months later. Idk I'm just a little worked up today and wanted to share with people who might not think I'm crazy.
A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. While they were reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form. Their beliefs and practices are attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as the Romans and the Greeks. The earliest known references to the druids date to the 4th century BCE. They were described by other Roman writers such as Cicero, Tacitus, and Pliny the Elder. Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st-century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius, and had disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century. In about 750 CE, the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmac, who wrote about Jesus, saying that he was "better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop and a complete sage." The druids appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianized Ireland like "Táin Bó Cúailnge", where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity. In the wake of the Celtic revival during the 18th and 19th centuries, fraternal and neopagan groups were founded based on ideas about the ancient druids, a movement known as Neo-Druidism. Societal role and training The Greco-Roman and the vernacular Irish sources agree that the druids played an important part in pagan Celtic society. In his description, Julius Caesar wrote that they were one of the two most important social groups in the region (alongside the equites, or nobles) and were responsible for organizing worship and sacrifices, divination, and judicial procedure in Gallic, British, and Irish societies. Two other classical writers, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, wrote about the role of druids in Gallic society, stating that the druids were held in such respect that if they intervened between two armies they could stop the battle. Druidic lore consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart, and Caesar remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete the course of study. What was taught to druid novices anywhere is conjecture: of the druids' oral literature, not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived, even in translation. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, the Gauls had a written language in which they used Greek letters. In this he probably draws on earlier writers; by the time of Caesar, Gaulish inscriptions had moved from Greek script to Latin script. Philosophy >With regard to their actual course of studies, the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed. Subsidiary to the teachings of this main principle, they hold various lectures and discussions on the stars and their movement, on the extent and geographical distribution of the earth, on the different branches of natural philosophy, and on many problems connected with religion. - Julius Caesar Druids in mythology Druids play a prominent role in Irish folklore, generally serving lords and kings as high ranking priest-counselors with the gift of prophecy and other assorted mystical abilities – the best example of these possibly being Cathbad. The chief druid in the court of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster, Cathbad features in several tales, most of which detail his ability to foretell the future. In the tale of Deirdre of the Sorrows – the foremost tragic heroine of the Ulster Cycle – the druid prophesied before the court of Conchobar that Deirdre would grow up to be very beautiful, and that kings and lords would go to war over her, much blood would be shed because of her, and Ulster's three greatest warriors would be forced into exile for her sake. This prophecy, ignored by the king, came true. The greatest of these mythological druids was Amergin Glúingel, a bard and judge for the Milesians featured in the Mythological Cycle. The Milesians were seeking to overrun the Tuatha Dé Danann and win the land of Ireland but, as they approached, the druids of the Tuatha Dé Danann raised a magical storm to bar their ships from making landfall. Thus Amergin called upon the spirit of Ireland itself, chanting a powerful incantation that has come to be known as The Song of Amergin and, eventually (after successfully making landfall), aiding and dividing the land between his royal brothers in the conquest of Ireland, earning the title Chief Ollam of Ireland. Female druids Irish mythology has a number of female druids, often sharing similar prominent cultural and religious roles with their male counterparts. The Irish have several words for female druids, such as bandruí ("woman-druid"), found in tales such as Táin Bó Cúailnge; Bodhmall, featured in the Fenian Cycle, and one of Fionn mac Cumhaill's childhood caretakers; and Tlachtga, daughter of the druid Mug Ruith who, according to Irish tradition, is associated with the Hill of Ward, site of prominent festivals held in Tlachtga's honour during the Middle Ages. According to classical authors, the Gallizenae (or Gallisenae) were virgin priestesses of the Île de Sein off Pointe du Raz, Finistère, western Brittany. Their existence was first mentioned by the Greek geographer Artemidorus Ephesius and later by the Greek historian Strabo, who wrote that their island was forbidden to men, but the women came to the mainland to meet their husbands. Which deities they honored is unknown. According to Pomponius Mela, the Gallizenae acted as both councilors and practitioners of the healing arts. History of reception In the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC, the Roman army, led by Julius Caesar, conquered the many tribal chiefdoms of Gaul, and annexed it as a part of the Roman Republic. According to accounts produced in the following centuries, the new rulers of Roman Gaul subsequently introduced measures to wipe out the druids from that country. According to Pliny the Elder, writing in the 70s CE, it was the emperor Tiberius (ruled 14–37 CE), who introduced laws banning not only druid practices, and other native soothsayers and healers. The best evidence of a druidic tradition in the British Isles is the independent cognate of the Celtic *druwid- in Insular Celtic: The Old Irish druídecht survives in the meaning of 'magic', and the Welsh dryw in the meaning of 'seer'. While the druids as a priestly caste were extinct with the Christianization of Wales, complete by the 7th century at the latest, the offices of bard and of "seer" (Welsh: dryw) persisted in medieval Wales into the 13th century. **Megathreads and spaces to hang out:** - ❤️ Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow [Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube](https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies) - 💖 Come talk in the [New Monthly queer thread](https://hexbear.net/post/268184) - 💛 Read and talk about a current topics in the [News Megathread](https://hexbear.net/post/274824) - ⭐️ [October Movie Nominations](https://hexbear.net/post/225469) ⭐️ **reminders:** - 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics - 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes struggle sessions over upbears - 💜 Sorting by new you nerd - 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can go [here nerd](https://hexbear.net/post/261657) - 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon [instance toots.matapacos.dog](https://toots.matapacos.dog/explore) **Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):** **Aid:** - 💙[Comprehensive list of resources for those in need of an abortion -- reddit link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Feminism/comments/phrcrn/this_is_a_comprehensive_list_of_resources_for/) - 💙[Resources for Palestine](https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/) **Theory:** - ❤️[Foundations of Leninism](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm) - ❤️[Anarchism and Other Essays](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-anarchism-and-other-essays) - ❤️[Mega upload with theory for many tendencies](https://mega.nz/folder/3GBC1SIZ#zyFsn3bRGxOG1sy-2dOfVA)
Hi just wanted to ask if anyone read astrology charts or placements? Or If any of you keep up with it?
Here's the article if you want to read it. Its kinda esoteric but so is everything quantum physics puts out: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-universe-is-not-locally-real-and-the-physics-nobel-prize-winners-proved-it/ Not super paganism related I just thought it was funny.
I desperately need something to fill the meaningless void in my soul until I get out of retail, but my stupid idiot brain wont let me have fun
I know an ash standing Its name Yggdrasil A high tree sprinkled with stark white clay From its boughs fall the dew drops It grows ever green over Urðr's well
