walk with the green man?

[jimjazz]

is there anyone out there interested in pagan spirituality?

know anything about the green man?

there is a great book called the path of the green man by michael thomas ford, a yank, who has distilled the beauty of paganism into a context that is pertinent to being gay.

the interesting thing about paganism is the fact that it sources its code from a very basic idea which loosely phrased says " so long as what i do doesn't harm anyone, its fine."

now this opens a gammut of possibilities, not least of all the hedonisitic, narcissism that seems to account for many of us, but if you read further into it, there is greater meaning in the idea that one's hedonism can be equally harmful for the fact that it masks pain probably felt by experiences of discrimination or rejection.

i was raised an anglican but have not had any contact with the church in a formal sense for years - apart from weddings and funerals - but an compulsion to expand my spiritual path was calling and this fills a void as it is based in the natural world, works with the seasons and respects the earth. sounds good to me - given our greed and selfishness has overwhelmingly jeopardised not just our species but many others also.

so, if you know anything more or would like to gather for discussion, please contribute here....

jazz

[LANDREWS]

A very old post but hey you talk about paganism and three years later you get a response.....lol.
You say - so long as what i do doesn't harm anyone, its fine." I guess that's equal to Mote Be It!
Im a pagan and have been most of my life. I believe paganism is your soul and forms your personality if nutured properly. I was lucky..... I guess while kids were learning fear of god i was learning about stars and the seasonal environment... a reality to life in which we all live. Funny people look at paganism as a religious faith when in fact it is an exact reality concerning creation, nature and your position within it. There's also lots of branches to paganism being wiccan, druidism ect but in the whole it is centered around the natural world/universe. If I want to be specific I would call myself earth pagan, that is I do not belief in any god but have strong belief in the power of creation and nature. Green Man, Mother earth, Triple Goddess are all good Pagan images that visualise natures workings, they are not gods sitting in judgement. Others may refer to Isis or other mythical gods/goddesses depending on how they follow paganism. I myself refer to earth as mother and have symbols, both male (herne) female (triple godess and mother earth) and green man. When I look at them i think only creation, they are not people - its just easier to segment something so massive into portions that you can relate to. I also see both sexes equally important and one cannot exist without the other. That does not mean I need to procreate during Beltane....lol gay is very much apart of paganism. Beltane is really about joining with one you desire.... kind of drop the attitude for one day and go for the one you desire. A great connection honoring a day within a pagan cycle.

[hazyinseptember]

the term, 'the green man' has been around for a very long time PBJ.. one of the various names/facets of male deity in pagan religion. I always prefered the Horned King.

I abhor fantasy cults.

since when is paganism a 'fantasy cult' and any more or less a valid religious choice? its certainly a less fucked than christianitys many forms.

i toyed with the idea of paganism a long time ago.. now im just an agonistic.

[hazyinseptember]

I'm including all the religions as fantasy cults.

does that include the cult of bitter atheism? :D

[Anthony Mahera]

My Dad's a Pagen
Mum is Church of England (Mother church of the modern day Anglican)
No wonder they didn't get along.
Dad wanted to sacrafic mum to the "earth gods" whilst mum wanted to burn dad at the stake.

[datkindagal]

I come from a strict atheist upbringing and True Paganism is the closest I got to embracing a belief system. Paganism predates Christianity and weren't pagans persecuted by the Christians? Any enemy of the Christians is a friend of mine. Sorry could of looked that up myself however my wikki finger sore.

[Light-Bearer]

I am a Satanist.

[Dsquare]

I am a Satanist.

Only one of the choir? I thought you were the choir master :) .

[Light-Bearer]

Shhhhhhh I keep that card to my chest.

[sheerheartattack17]

I was raised Catholic, but I left the church, and since then was trying to work out what I believed.
For a while I identified as atheist, but it didn't really fit right.

Recently I began looking into Naturalistic Paganism, which works a lot better for me.

[LANDREWS]

Wow, it's great to see all these comments. I hope the original poster gets to see this. I think pagan is in all of us. Paganism is a real empowerment. I saw a documentary once called Sexing Ireland, it was all about the sensuality of Paganism, truly beautiful stuff and much of it involved same sex contact. Ireland was the last stronghold in pagan ways once the christian driven Europeans arrived. I wanted a copy of the show but BBC sold it to the USA. Recently I found it again labeled "Sex and the Celts" and was being sold unsuccessfully as a sex type film. Kind of insulting as sex was nit the centre of the film and the write up was pretty male yobbo stuff. So it kind of sits in limbo ill labeled. I will get a copy soon and write up on it. I do remember I loved the part when warriors played hide and seek in the forests and you had to find your match (using animal sounds) Once matched you screwed each other stupid........ It also reveals a fine display of strong feminism and how it interacted with the male part of pagan society.

[bellsforher]

since we're talking Celtic lore, i prefer this lass - the Sheela Na Gig.
http://laureengriffin.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/sheela1l.jpg

I used to study this sort of thing a lot when i was younger - seeing as we can trace Mum's side back to the Vikings I guess i feel some sort of connection to the whole wild crazy side of pagan Ireland. Oh, and it's way more fun than Christianity. I'm not pagan, but my appreciation for the magic that is in nature is pretty strong.