Pendaric wrote:
Ok then, it's all down to the individual.
What do you, jess, individually believe to be true?
Do you believe in the literal existence of gods and godesses, either in the past or here and now?
A few posts above I sorta answered a similar question. He's a C&P.
jess wrote:
Ok, I can only answer for me, because I hope you've noticed, pagans are a slippery bunch. Like Christians, only instead of occupying only violet and blue on the spectrum, we go from ultra violet to infrared...
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Are the goddesses literal, or more symbolic?
Yes.
Personally, I feel that the majority of gods and goddesses exist(ed) literally, at least at some point. Regardless if they were heroes who were deified in story, ancestor spirits who became deified, or came into being as a human need I don't know. But each is also a symbol of a human need or desire, and as such, have power.
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Do you believe they possess/possessed supernatural powers and that you can get them to intercede for you in some way?Quote:
Same question for the rituals? Do rituals HAVE to be done?
Yes.
As for ritual--- I view it sorta like eating. You can do a formal ritual, with china and crystal and a 10 course meal, or you could cut to the chase and gnaw the meat off the bones standing over a pail. Ritual is the trappings, that can make things more satisfying, but they are not the whole of the matter.
You have four pagans in this thread. You'll get at least 8 answers...
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I believe that if god/desses exist, then they should be able to be implored to interceed. Whether or not they have the power is a different story.
I'd rather believe my deity is impotent than believe s/he is cruel or ambivalent.
Do you believe that you can carry out a ritual of some sort and have it cause an effect which cannot be explained by normal science? Specifics?
Not really. I believe it may be possible, but I don't count on it, or expect to see it in my life.
Except for Hex's runes. They prevent me from being
really and completely skeptical.
What are your beliefs regarding an afterlife?On good days, I believe that something lives on. I never believe that we merely continue to a heaven and remain with our personalities. But I do think something may continue.
I'm not sure where I stand on reincarnation.
What are your beliefs regarding the creation of the universe?I do not believe in the Catholic 'as it was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall be', if that makes sense. Even if I believed that gods literally walked the earth, I would not believe that a silly anthropomorphic thing could create the universe.
I do seem to think of the universe as a mass in and of itself, something like a colony of algae or fungus--- not thinking, not self aware, but connected somehow. And we are part of that, even if we appear to be parasites sometimes. But I do not believe a 'god' 'created' it. The Big Bang works for me. Same with evolution, etc. Science is a pagan's tool--- even the most fluffy of us (oh no, I'm sure that's wrong!) will delight in anything science can explain, because magic is just science undiscovered.
There are a bunch of threads in Kuan Yins where people have discussed their beliefs. Please feel free to necromance any of them you'd like.