Being in multiple fandoms where the characters are based off biblical figures is so funny.

Like

These are all the same person

my hot take this wonderful pride season is that we should start genuinely celebrating cis, straight, and allo identities. even white/western and christian cultures, idk.

"why on earth would you say this during pride month" i can hear you asking (rhetorically). and the answer is simple. i am fucking sick and tired of being an Exception. i want to raze default expectations to the ground. being cis is just as unique and diverse as being trans. i want cis people to OWN their gender, to go "hell fucking yeah I'm a woman cause i feel it in my bones and I'm proud and I'm happy with my body and I feel so nice in swishy skirts". i wanna hear straight people explaining what it feels like to fall in love with another gender, as if we've never even heard of that kind of attraction before. i want a christian to give me a tldr rundown of what Christmas is and why it's important to them as if they're the token Christian at their workplace and not like, one person from a dominant religion in this country.

this pride, i don't want only the minorites to have to earn their pride. i wanna hear all the details that make cis and straight and allo people happy with their identities, too. i want to hear people's stories with no assumptions about what is or is not a "basic" part of the human condition. i want to hear about trans men embracing their patchy facial hair right alongside cis men that are celebrating their balding. i wanna see the aspecs talking about their unique attraction styles alongside the allos talking about how important their own attraction is to them. i wanna see the agenders hanging out and wishing their funky gendered friends luck with their presentation, i wanna see..... community between the queer and the normative. i wanna flip the norms on their head and make them explain and celebrate themselves.

Submitted June 14, 2023

Some people think the word "gringo" is a slur. It literally means something like "foreigner", someone that comes from another country. But I just realized that when a Brazilian says "gringo!!!!" like they are genuinely happy to see you it's really because they are glad you're here and they want to teach you stuff about Brazil and integrate you to the culture and learn about yours and make friends with you, we are just really extroverted and we love other cultures.

Like, last week I was at a Buddhist temple that had all types of Asian culture related things (even though Buddhism isn't prevalent in every country in Asia, here you will get white christians praying on the temple because historically we incorporated so many religions into our own culture and people think "well, what if it works?" and sensible people don't think it's heretical). It was a also a celebration that incorporated a Brazilian festival called "June parties", that became so popular that they start in the end of May and go until August instead of actually lasting for only June and it was based on catholic beliefs but people from all religions go just to have fun, dance and eat. And then we were doing that, but adding multiple Asian cultures in a Buddhist temple. All at the same time, same place, everybody having fun.

Anyway some gringos were there and they were a bit overwhelmed but really happy to see all the different cultural things going on, when to us it is just another year's festival and sometimes we forget this doesn't happen everywhere. And people were trying to explain to them why we do that, what you can do at those festivals and they were sunburned and everyone just wanted to integrate them to the festival. English was not even their first language and everyone was struggling a bit to communicate but we tried because it's so fun when someone is genuinely interested in the mix up culture/faith/ethnicities we have here.

In some rare occasions, if people say "gringo." and it sounds too serious and they say it with a bit of a condescending tone, you just did something racist or disrespectful and then it becomes something that means "this person thinks they are so superior and they haven't even tried to get to know us", kind of like when people say in English "this is white people stuff" right after they said something racist that shows lack of awareness and privilege. That's what I think might come closest to an English expression in that context.

If you get offended by someone's "very excited that you're here" tone of saying "gringo!!!" then you might get offended by the monotone "gringo." which basically means that you were going racist/xenophobic. Most people will try the "welcome" tone of the word, and they might give you "gringo" as a nickname and it usually means that you are well-liked. Just make sure you are the type of person that will continue to get that happy emphasis on the word and don't say racist shit.

Tldr: it's not a slur and people are usually genuinely interested in you and trying to integrate you into the culture and happy to see that you wanted to come here in the first place. But if anyone is openly racist, and people get irritated, then the very monotone way of calling someone a gringo serves as a warning to other Brazilians that you were saying racist things without even trying to get to know the culture or the people in it. The word exists in both Portuguese and Spanish but I am talking about Brazilian Portuguese since that's where I'm from. It's all in the tone and it's never a slur, and in its negative meaning it just serves to tell other Brazilians that you are saying racist stuff, but it usually has a sort of "hey, it's cool that you're here and I wanna show you some nice stuff to do around here".

reading about gnosticism (historical, christian, "traditional?") has me confused and sad. on one hand, a lot of it makes sense to me and aligns with my own personal spiritual experience, which so far has been lonely and confusing, so the prospect of maybe having some kind of "in group" of any description is alluring, even if it's super fringe and often buried in garbage culty new-age movements which is its own problem...

but on the other hand... I just don't know that I can accept the idea of a big bad evil demiurge, or a fundamentally broken and unsalvageable reality. I reallllllly don't grok that. Maybe I need to read more, and this is just a knee-jerk reaction? I don't like the idea that the "ultimate" goal of life is to... exit life permanently for some changeless unified ultra-perfection. tbh... that sounds reductive and boring?

If the demiurge is an emanation of the true, best, nicest, purest, 100% good god, that demiurge therefore reflects a desire (Sophia) originating from the true god, and while it's flawed (dualistic, multifaceted, a standing wave) isn't that... the point? Isn't dualism how literally everything functions, how material reality is made, which is the only way a perfect unified god could ever percieve and experience itself? that's not bad or evil. In order to experience, there has to be difference. Otherwise it's just nothing and everything all at once, which is effectively a void of potenetial with no realization, which might be great for an eternity inside a moment (a big bang, lets say) but wouldn't you rather spend the OTHER half of eternity having experiences? All the experiences? Maybe we can indeed do both at a certain level of consciouness. Reunite in that infinite instant of absolute unity, then start it all over again, all at once, all the time. We just don't remember.

A LOT OF CREATION SUCKS, don't get me wrong. So much of experience is cruel and senseless and yes, even evil. But plants are right there. Art and love and family and waggy dogs and music and flavor and and and...

IDK. I've got more reading to do.

tldr; If I am "gnostic" in any conventional sense, I'm probably a demiurge apologist lmfao

Putting this under a read more bc it's gonna be long, TLDR; I love TBAGG, Greta Van Fleet, and I'm overwhelmed about this new era.

TW: Mentions or religion, death, personal experiences with the baptist church, my pouring out everything I've delt with since 2020 cause I need to let it all out.

I'm feeling so many emotions right now and I'm having trouble processing it all. I knew TBAGG was deep but after listening to Meet The Master I'm not reflecting on how deep that album really goes.

There's a new level of pain mixed with strands of falling in love. It's like I'm seeing the story of the album in 4k now.

When I first discovered GVF I was in the early stages of my deconstructing process as a Christian. I'd just recently made the decision to leave the church and really focus on myself and make my spiritual journey something more personal. The church I attended thrived off of taking people's testimonies and making them a an example. Stealing away the personal aspect of a testimony and molding it to be a sermon. That's why I was so drawn to Stardust Chords, cause I experienced it first hand. That song spoke to me the most after experiencing what I have.

Nothing and nobody can take away how I feel God has personally spoken to me though through Greta. I don't talk about my spiritual beliefs a lot as I don't want to make it seem like I'm shoving it down someone's throat. But, I would love to share this with you all.

in 2019 leading up to 2020 I felt drawn to pray to God to prepare my heart and strengthen me before I attended a 3 day conference called Passion. I didn't know why but I prayed and prayed and i felt so at peace about it. I've never felt closer to God. Passion is held at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta so just imagine a stadium PACKED with over 60,000 people worshipping the Lord. It was such a powerful thing. The whole trip I was telling my church group, "They're gonna open the dome I can feel it!" and they would all shoot me down, "They won't", "do you know how much it would cost them to do that? they aren't gonna open it!". After a while I let it go cause maybe they were right.

Well, when Kari Jobe and her husband Chris Carnes came on stage to perform, I was into it, totally drawn in. I feel a tap on my arm from my friend and he tells me to look up, as soon as I did I was hit with the BIGGEST gust of wind that could have rushed through that stadium, it was cold but comforting. It wasn't windy in the slightest that day, but above me was an open dome and a beautiful blue sky. I was moved to tears and so was everyone around me. We felt it, we knew what we'd just experienced.

Later that evening I open instagram to see a post from Kari that I'll link for you all. I was floored and had a new wave of tears flow through me. God heard me. He heard my prayers and he communicated that to me in those moments.

Kari's Instagram post

Little did I know that God was preparing my heart for all the stress and pain I was yet to endure. Days after I get pack from Passion, my Grandaddy is taken to the hospital, upon arrival we see my Great-Aunt there in the ER waiting to be admitted. They were both on the same floor so it made it easy for family to go back and forth. My Grandfather had an ulcer in his stomach, the cauterized it and clamped it. The problem was he couldn't eat anything till he passed the clamp and that could take up to two weeks.

After he started aspirating into his lungs, they ultimately told us there was nothing else they could do and it was time to call in hospice. I felt my world crashing down around me. My Grandaddy was basically my Dad. He stepped up to the plate when my Dad left and helped raise me. A few days after we moved him to Hospice, we heard that my great-aunt had blood clots on her lungs and wasn't going to make it. She passed at 3 am the following morning, my Grandaddy passed almost 8 hours later in Hospice. I had to watch him starve to death, it was the more horrifying things and I'd never wish it on anyone.

Nothing can prepare you for the pain of watching someone you love so much slowly fade away.

That was only January! In February I planned my Grandaddy's funeral and we had his celebration of life. I don't remember much of it since I was under such a thick cloud of grief and depression. Days later, my friend Terra passes away from child birth complications. I'd known her since I was 15, we basically grew up together despite just being online friends. She was like a big sister to me and I admired her so much. I still miss her so bad and wish I had her still to reach out to. She always knew how to comfort me best.

Please stick with me I promise Greta ties into this hell.

In March I was sexually assaulted and almost raped. And then the world shut down cause of covid. Let's just say I'm surprised nobody Baker Acted me.

In 2021, my Uncle passed. He stepped up after my Grandaddy passed to be there for me and I'll forever be grateful to him. The last words he said to me just days before he passed was 'I love you' and I'll always hold that close to my heart.

In 2022, my Mom lost a very dear friend who I always called my aunt, and two weeks later her brother, another uncle of mine, passed. It was all very sudden and unexpected.

For three years I've been plagued with grief and sadness. It's crazy how everything is connected though. If it wasn't for all these events happening I wouldn't have discovered Greta. I downloaded tiktok during the pandemic desperately looking for something to make me laugh or distract me. I wouldn't have had any interest in that app or spent as much time on it if it wasn't for everything. I wouldn't have stumbled across their funky lil SNL performance several times before caving and looking into who tf they are.

I wouldn't have taken the jump to make this blog, make friends, or have this connection that I do to this band. I'm so glad that Josh questions everything. I'm so glad he picks people's brains to find a deeper meaning to life. I'm so glad he and the rest of the band translate all these questions, thoughts, and feelings into songs that I will never ever forget.

Meeting the Maker is so much more to me than a new single. It's closure. It's my light at the end of the tunnel and I feel like I can breathe. This band came into my life when I needed them the most but I didn't realize the depth of that till this morning. The lyric "It's my time to go home" sit so personally to me as that was the last thing my Grandaddy said to my cousin. He told her he was going home to Jesus and he was ready.

This song felt like a final hug from him and I can not put into words what that means to me. The message of the song for me was "I see you! I see you grieving but rejoice! I'm going home to my master! The master is good!" and boy is he ever. I see the Garden as their own interpretation of Heaven, there's no pain, no battles, no darkness, just vast amounts of light, peace, and healing.

In these three years, almost four, I haven't had a moment to process any of the loss I've suffered. Work and other responsibilities didn't stop just cause I wanted to.

This new album Greta is about to release if going to bring me to my knees and I have a feeling they are going to help me experience all the healing I've been begging for.

Nobody can take away what this band means to me.

why are non delusional and/or psychotic people so. Rude?? like LOL be nice

like i’ll go ”hey, i have delusions & paranoia around X, please don’t and they’ll go ”oh cool do X more? get my friends to join in? and justify it bc of mildly-squint-in-the-right-light-problematic stuff you did as a child <3”

the intersection between mob mentality cancel culture snd sanism is so strong and fucked up

- clownie anon on the wrong keyboard again rip

sane (and abled) ppl tend not to take mental illness nd disability very seriously. typically if they can make a joke about something (especially something that makes them uncomfortable) they will do it 10/10 times, because they don't care about us, only themselves/their own comfort. i tend not to tell people i'm schizophrenic because, well, it's rarely relevant to them, and also because they often react poorly; "you're not ACTUALLY psychotic, i know psychotic people, they kill people" "REALLY? (thinks im lying)" "[insert some intrusive question]" "but you don't look schizophrenic? (sorry lemme just *shapeshifts into a werewolf*)" "a mutual friend of mine in highschool had a psychotic break and [something horrible happened to them]" basically just... equally unwanted reactions. super inappropriate stuff to be saying to me - implying i'm violent, faking my trauma, shouldn't be alive/should be institutionalized, etc.

however, when the day comes that a republican-christian tells me the devil is inside of my head/i need an exorcism/theyll pray for me.... i am going to whip out slushpuppy at the speed of light and tell them to look into the devil's eyes. satan is real and he is my plush dog /j. i mean seriously, my plushes talk to me, are u really gonna tell me my pink, glittery plush snail is a demon? LOL!! i also have a spiritual delusion of being a messiah so uh. ironic that ur praying 4 me... LOL /lh

i consider myself lucky to have never encountered this sanism, and i personally attribute it to never sharing my triggers (absolutely not victim blaming! it is not anyone's fault if they get harassed because they share their triggers!! sharing triggers =/= invitation for harassment, just talking about personal my experience) but even so, internet culture has a big problem with fake-claiming which i think plays into this sort of behavior a LOT. their perception of psychotics is... the things people say to me, above - we're violent, visibly psychotic, etc. even if someone is faking psychosis on the internet (which doesn't happen on purpose, i see misinformation leading to mis-self-diagnosis every once in a while but its not malicious or purposeful) it's still not justified to harass them or try to trigger them on purpose. it's not the funny joke they think it is, obviously. triggering people on purpose is evil /srs.

TLDR, i'm angry with you clownie. i'm sorry this happened to you, and every other person it's ever happened to. whether someone is "faking" psychosis or not, they still deserve safety and kindness. this sort of thing will probably continue to happen until non-psychotics start to take us seriously and listen to us.

I was splashed with "holy water" without consent at the catholic hospital I work at and I'm actually really frustrated about it. via /r/atheism

I was splashed with "holy water", without consent, at the catholic hospital I work at and I'm actually really frustrated about it. Hello all. Ive been a redditor for a few years and have only commented on the subreddits that I've joined, but this is my first time ever posting something. That being said, I'm an active member in my smallish hometown's subreddit and I don't want anyone figuring out that it's me that's posting this (hence this throwaway account I just made 5 minutes ago) so I just wanted to preface all that. I work in the ER/ED of a catholic hospital that I live 5 Mins away from. I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in biology just over 2 years ago and, having only worked in restaurants my entire life (Im in my 30s), thought it would be a good idea to work in a hospital setting to build my resume bc i want to go to med school/ PA school. So I've worked in this catholic hospital for almost 2 years as a tech since it was the only hospital that would even give me an interview. That being said, in the interview I was assured they were inclusive of all religions etc. Since I'm a pretty outgoing person, most people know I'm extremely anti religion/ Christianity/ catholicism whatever. I even have a pin on my badge that says "maybe today Satan". Fast forward to the event- one of the deacons/priests came to our unit about 10 mins after we had all gotten on the floor and said "everybody huddle up I have some holy water I would like to say a prayer and bless everyone". So I kind of snuck out of the area in order to not be around this witchcraft thing. I just went to the nutrition room, grabbed a coffee and waited about 2 mins for it to be done. I come out of the room and I'm walking to the area I need to be in and I see the priest walking down the hall towards me with his potion, spraying the area as he walks along. As I walk by him, he sprays me with it and I go "are you serious? Why would you do that I didn't want that on me and frankly makes me uncomfortable". To which he replied "oh relax you're not going to sizzle up or catch on fire I know you're a good guy" (he doesn't know I'm an atheist). And then proceeded to splash me AGAIN with this super sacred water. I legit was just in disbelief that it happened and I just stood there for a second and walked to my other coworkers and immediately starting saying what happened and that it bothered me that he didn't ask me for permission nor respect the boundaries I had quite explicitly laid out. My coworkers were like "he's just trying to bless u blah blah holy water is a good thing" etc. Am I overreacting? Probably. I feel like I am but it just seriously bothers me that I tried to avoid the situation and then he just disregarded me asking him to not do that. Yes, I'm aware of where I work and all that but this is a giant catholic hospital network in multiple states and they're accepting of all faiths (or lack of) and so my thought process is what if he did that to someone who was Muslim or Buddhist or something else? I really shouldn't be surprised I suppose though I mean it's not unheard of for a catholic priest to not care about consent with altar boys or anything. Tldr: splashed by a priest with holy water while walking by him at the catholic hospital I work at, asked him to not do that and he proceeds to do it again. Submitted September 21, 2023 at 06:18PM by LeftMountain5968 (From Reddit https://ift.tt/r0mNK9s)

Genuine question: do you actually think BDSM is problematic? Like inherently, even consensually?

This is the only question like this I'm answering because this is my biggest trigger for trauma reasons, I also ask that you be patient with me here. I am likely to sound defensive, intense, or to struggle staying coherent and that is because when I start thinking about these topics I start dissociating and it becomes very difficult for me to communicate what my actually thoughts are. But like... it's complicated?

I don't agree with any of the SWERF bullshit idc about morality or whatever but so much of the fetish has to do with things that are just... never really healthy? As an abuse survivor it is always going to read as sexualizing/romanticizing my trauma and that makes me really uncomfortable.

Some of it is completely fine Ig but like idk I don't understand how someone could genuinely, completely healthily, consent to being genuinely hurt (especially considering roleplaying actual abuse is a big part of the alleged appeal???? If you haven't been abused then wanting to is...weird. And if you have been abused then that's more likely to be a form of retraumatization than anything) I'm not saying that it's never happened or it's never possible but as a sexual trauma survivor I feel like there's more factors than just consent.

Like, when I grew up being groomed by fundamentalist Christians I fully consented to the things that I was going through, and yes a lot of arguments can be made that I was not able to actually consent to anything in that time of my life and that would be true but like... what about later? After I left? When I was an adult???? Do the effects of my upbringing and what I've had normalized suddenly not affect me anymore?

Part of the reason I'm against violent fetishes is because we live in a society that forces those things on us, and I don't mean in the like "oh the degenerates are hurting the children(tm) way" but in like. For example maybe surprisingly kink is really common in certain fundie christian circles because so much of it is just getting off on violence, I was raised not really so much like a person as I was a sex object for cishet men in the church, I was taught from the time I was a little kid that somewhere in the world was my "future husband" and once we got married I had to like whatever he did to me.

BDSM was discussed in those circles, and I heard about it growing up and it wasn't ever really condemned around me. In relation to queerness, kink is always going to be used to excuse homophobia and I'm not okay with that at all especially because cishet people are every goddamn bit as violent, if not more so, as queer people.

And when I say that it's problematic I don't mean it in the sense that I think that it should be censored, made illegal, or that people's private sex lives need to be dictated by someone else. But I simply am never going to feel like it's able to be a healthy practice when the most prevalent attitude on sex that I've seen, both in queer communities, and in cishet ones is that sex is NOT to be questioned. People's motivations for getting off on certain things should never be unpacked or considered impacted by their past experience, what has been normalized to them, and what societal expectations of them are.

I have OCD and my own relationship to sexuality is extremely complicated and it's incredibly painful. When you've been abused it can be very difficult to identify what actually feels good to you and what actually makes you happy and what is just residual from being abused. I just cannot support the BDSM community until something is done to unpack how much abuse is normalized and encouraged within it.

When we can have the conversation, "when is consent impacted by trauma/bigotry" and "how can we ensure that no one is genuinely actually being hurt by this" then it'd be less of an issue for me.

TLDR: it has nothing to do with morality and I think people should be allowed to do whatever the fuck they want but as far as I'm concerned it's very unhealthy and most importantly interacting with people who find sexual pleasure in the things that have traumatized me and ruined my life isn't going to make me feel safe, listened to as a survivor, or confident in my recovery.

I really hope this isn't too personal if so feel free not to answer but did you always know you wanted children? When I was a little kid and even until my early teens I always knew I wanted to be a mother, but when I got to be like 15-16 I would follow a lot of mother or pregnancy things on instagram (I know I was a weird kid) I know it probably wasn't their intention but a lot of the mothers made it seem like they wished they didn't have a kid or their whole life was over or ruined and the father even when they were married like barely helped? Like what the hell it's his kid too?? Or they just lost their entire personality and hobbies and became only a mom when their child was born I started doubting if I would be a mother my biggest fear is that I will regret a child not for my sake but for theirs they would deserve a mother who loves them. I worked at a daycare and felt horrible for the neglected infants and always gave them special care I loved them like if they were mine so I thought surely if I had a child I would love them instantly but I know it's a lot different. I thought maybe if I have 1 and don't like it I'll just stop but I also don't want to just experiment with someone's life, I don't dislike children I just have an issue with certain age groups like 5-11 I never know what to say to them.😭😭 Like I'm not sure if I feel like I'm personally not suited for parenting or if its just my lifestyle, like obviously I like anime and videogames I'm pretty vulgar and dress...out of the ordinary, I like weed and shrooms (Sometimes y'all shrooms are a lot be careful with that shit)basically I'm a radical leftist 😭People always say make sure you're ready but like how can I know 100% that I'm going to be a good and loving mom, if I'm not sure should I just not do it?? Here I am 19 having a crisis about being a good mom to my nonexistent children 🤦🏾‍♀️ Anyway sorry for dumping this on you, At least it's nice to know not everyone has to fit into this pure definition of having no hobbies outside your kids and being like a pure Christian mom or something.

okay lovely, first off HI and THANK YOU! it’s so so sweet that you’re thinking about it so much, im sure if or when you decide to become a mother, you’re gonna be great ♥️

when i was in school all I wanted was to be a mum! i wanted to be a sahm (stay at home mum) and look after the house and cook meals and bath my kids and read them bedtime stories and play lego and ponies and Pokémon!!! but that changed when i hit like… 15? let me preface this with: I am a very selfish person a lot of the time. I’m an only child. I’m bad at sharing, I’m a brat, I need alone time… but having children just changes you.

yeah at times it can feel like you lose your identity, but… if I didn’t tell you I have kids, would you have known? there are moments when it’s a LOT and sometimes the thought might cross your mind that “I shouldn’t have done this” but when I tell you the LOVE I have for these little humans is the strongest emotion I’ve ever felt, I’m not exaggerating. I would fight a BEAR for my kids. I’d run out in front of a car!

you’re only 19, my love! i work at a kindy right now, and I totally understand your need to shower those poor neglected babies with love; and it’s so great that you did that.

I could probably talk about this all day, so if you have any questions that you want me to elaborate on, you can dm me or find me on discord!!

TLDR having kids is definitely life-altering, but you don’t need to be super mum to be a mum, and you don’t have to change who you are to become some weirdly proactive Instagram mum ✨

Something I relearned today

Cishet, able bodied, white, well off, educated, neurotypical, christian/a-religious* men, and this goes for cis/het/NT/able-bodied/white christian/a-religious, well off, and educated women** too, will never understand the pain that those who are different from them go through, and they will generally think your claims of bigotry, persecution, and attacks being leveled against you are being exaggerated, because they have never been attacked for existing the way you have.

Never let that dissuade you from speaking out, calling out injustice, taking action when it needs to happen, and being unrelenting in standing up for yourself when at all possible. When people call you a liar for exposing injustice, hold your head high, and cut them from your life with no regrets.

To my siblings of color and other minorities: are not obligated to tell anyone anything to prove your experience as a minority is valid. You should not have to defend your voice in spaces when it belongs there.***

Those with privilege who do not actively try to embetter those who suffer are part of an oppressive system. If you have privilege, you are obligated to help others, because having great power comes great responsibility and having the ability to help and choosing not to and that inaction leading to suffering puts the blame in your court.****

EXTRA THINGS TO NOTE BELOW:

* a-religious just means the general deist/agnostic/atheist etc.

**People who are some subset of the privileged I listed above obviously have different amounts of privilege than someone who is all of the above types of prigileged, and women are generally less privileged than men of the same race who have the same other categories of privilege, meanwhile, a white cis woman inherently is generally more privileged than a black cis man etc.

I am in none of these categories of privilege outside of education, and I only have that because I got scholarship haha and I might not even get to finish college due to illness and money. I'm a trans, asian/pacific islander, bisexual, Neurodivergent (autistic/schizophrenic), disabled, poor, and Sikh but also looking into Jewishness as an exploration of my adopted family's ethnicity and religious background (I personally don't feel like any one religion holds all answers for me, plz don't start discourse with me abt that on this post this isn't the place)

*** this is in reference to gatekeeping people, not, for instance, people claiming to be things they aren't for clout. For instance, people (mainly goyim) have attacked me for saying I'm of jewish descent because my adopted family is Jewish. (Which would imply that they don't see me as actually related to my own family) Jewish beliefs through the ages have mixed opinions on adoption, but MY JEWISH FAMILY had me take their last name (which did but no longer sounds jewish because it was anglicized for... Well they immigrated in the early 1900s so take a guess), and I have been told by multiple people of my family as well as other members of the Jewish community that especially as I'm exploring the religion and have Jewish parentage, I have the right to say I am Jewish. I shouldn't even have to say that but this is Tumblr and someone's gonna take this out of context someday on my resume lmao. But anyhow. Don't gatekeep. This goes for white passing poc, closeted people, ace inclusion, people with invisible disabilities and illnesses who want accommodations, etc. They are all valid and members of their communities.

**** If that was worded weirdly, basically, if let's say someone knew someone was dying and was the only one who could save them, and knew this, and still actively chose to let them die, they would be responsible for their death. Same concept.

~ being poor/uneducated/disabled is a weird issue because it's something that could happen to anyone, even white, able bodied and or educated people, especially with our medical system, but it disproportionately effects bipoc/poor/disabled people and often intersects them and is because of one or both things. White people can be poor and be an oppressed group due to it, but their poverty is NOT due to their race, which is an important factor. It's the poorness that's oppressed not the race.

~ if you are white or otherwise privileged and feel that this post is calling you out for treating your bipoc/disabled/lgbtq+/etc friends poorly, it probably is, and you should step back and rethink your internalized prejudices~

There is no TLDR. Because people need to read and fucking understand this. To be a good ally you don't just reblog posts that say "fuck terfs" and "I hate nazis" and "eat the rich" you amplify minority voices, you aid people when you can materially or even by giving time or emotional support if that's your capability (EMPHASIS ON IF YOU CAN. IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO DUE TO A VALID ISSUE I'M NOT GUILTING YOU). And above all, you let the people in your life know that you are there not as someone who will silence them when they say uncomfortable truths or call out injustice, but boost them up and help them and defend them as they make the best of a world determined to tamp out the lesser privileged.

[Note from Paula: I don't feel like commenting on this other than to respond to the TLDR; just because the laity believe it to be Christian, doesn't make it a Christian practice. What matters is what the AUTHORITIES of the Church say. So no, the authorities of the faith and the magisterium of the Church and the big T traditions of the Church, have not co-opted pagan practices. The rest of this post is submitted by another user.]

This kinda became, longer than i intended so I'm not doing it via anon messages.

I'm not surprised you didn't find anything about St. Gregorjevo. Because it's Sveti Gregor. (If you google it, you are most likelly to find settlements named after the saint.) The "jevo" is like "'s" so calling it Gregorjevo is like calling it George's.

Citing sources will be, difficult since they are all in slovene and I do not recall any translations in english? For example there is "Praznično leto Slovencev" by Niko Kuret  you could search for "The Festive year of Slovenes" as a potential english title for it, which covers all folk traditions that take place in slovenia, their origins and meaning.

It HAS been a very long time since I read it(i should really buy it at some point) and I don't recall the other books I was reading at a similar time.

Also I wish to preface this that I am not writing to you with any ill intent. I myself had a catholic upbringing, but after my confirmation it seemed like the world did not want me to attend sunday mass and the extra faith classes we had in the year after our conformation. My current religious stance is ???. I'm not pagan, even if i wished to be pagan, the religion of my ancestors is..., unlike ancient greek, roman or norse religions, there's no concrete facts about it, only religious items, traditions and practices. I believe in a higher force/power/being, but I do not have the confidence to put a name to it, as I am a mere human, and I am weak and uncertain. I do have an interest in theology, it is the one big thing that stayed with me from faith class. And at the minimum I have to be educated in it if I wish to have a good understanding of art history, as many great arts WERE made as commissions by the catholic church, or pious rich folk (nobles, merchants etc.)

And above all, I have read your blog. And you seem like a really likable person. You feel good natured and I honestly wish you happiness and that you will be joyful once you enter the cloister and are able to be closer to God and your worship of him. <3

Now to talk more about Gregorjevo, It is mostly associated with him thanks to, well,  it taking place on his name day.

I am not sure if name days  are still an important thing in America? Or if they ever were... Funfact, in Slovenia birthdays didn't used to be celebrated on your, day of birth, but on your name day. The tradition still presists, by people wishing you well when its your name day.

Back to Gregorjevo, since saint names tend to be slovenized in slovene. It's probably named after Saint Gregory the Great. I think. St. George is usually slovenized as Sveti Jurij. (More on St. George later)

On Gregorjevo there are quite a few, traditions to be done so to say.  But they arent done all over slovenia, because again it's folk traditions, small things. One such thing is letting candles float down rivers. Iirc, from slavic paganism, it is the start of spring and a ritual to the gods sending wishes for the new year.  (Another spring related tradition is pust, but its more of a pre-spring, scare away winter type of thing)

How is that connected to St. George the Great? Ummm. Theres a legend that he came to his parents in a glowing boat.

No literally. Thats what the priests say. Its a story I recall being said whenever it was the saints name day in morning mass. I can't find, anything, that implies that that happened to the real St. Gregory, maybe it happened to some other saint Gregor and its just a mix up because of the same name? The candles that go down rivers in some areas are inside small church building boats, again to paint it christian.

Then there is Jurjevanje that happens on Jurjevo. Jurjevo again takes place on spring. St. Georges day. It's an important day, especially for herders  since snakes arounf this time are supposed to wake up and come out from the underground. St. George who is known to have killed a dragon, was then believed to come out again on this day to kill the snakes. (dragon/snakes, etymologically the same thing in slavic languages, or atleast the same root word, zmaj, dragon, zmija, snake). So whats Jurjevanje? Its when a young boy dresses up as Zeleni Jurij (Green George), all dressed in green  he would then go around the village to stick saplings or the like at doors, to bring good luck, to ward off the snakes. Zeleni Jurij is supposed to be an aspect of Svet Jurij. Kind of how Marija zavetnica (s plaščem) (Mary the protector (with a cape)), is an aspect of Mary, specifically the part of her that protects worshipers. Depicted usually with a cape that she opens up and covers ovef the worshipers. But its also very likely that Zeleni Jurij is, Yarilo, (I should have mentioned that j is pronounced like y earlier than this) a slavic god of spring time, especially since he doesn't show up anywhere else.

It is really just local traditions that get this overpaint of Christianity, and since they are so local and small, and rural people aren't that important, there's not really much talk about them outside of their regions.  If you ask any grandma who regularly goes to church, she will call them christian. And so will the priests, they won't call them traditions that are practiced everywhere.  Its like how coloured eggs are prepared differently for Easter in different regions, they are all Christian but a different local tradition. Scholars on the other hand will figure out and look where something might have come from, why do these people do these things, and others do not.

This is getting kind of long and I'm sorry about that. But this topic has really sparked up my curiosity and I will need to do some research again. I also wrote this fully on my train ride home, so I couldn't really double check anything and had to rely on my memory. So I also apologise if there are any grammatical mistakes or if I on accident do not make sense.

Hopefully our villages priest might have some time this weekend, because now I wish to ask him about some of these things. If he doesn't then I will have to remember to ask him on Easter since he always managed to visit my Godfather then.

Thank you for reading this and I hope that you'll have a lovely weekend and have a pleasant All Saints' day.

Tl;dr: its local festivies, ask a priest or grandma and they'll call it and believe it christian even if the vatican doesn't practice it.

What advice would you give to someone who grew up in an atheist household but feels a vague connection to God? My family wasn't for or against any religion so I grew up indifferent but also comforted by religious memorabilia, going in churches, etc. I know that sounds wishy-washy but I'd like to explore it more but I don't know where to start and what to read to learn more, to decide what I think.

There are probably better blogs you could ask about this than mine, but I'll try my best. I’m going to answer this under the cut because it got really lengthy hehe. Also sorry this took so long to answer, I've been pretty busy!

So firstly it seems like we had really similar experiences growing up. My mom was “spiritual” and agnostic, raising me without exposure to really any religion (besides maybe Buddhism and a little bit of nondenominational Christianity—she shopped around a bit). I think this sort of background is becoming more and more common in society, so you aren’t alone.

Because of this non-religious childhood I can also tell you firsthand that there are a lot of bad things out there. For basically the entirety of my adolescence I was involved in witchcraft, paganism, and “new age” spirituality. I’m just going to tell you straight up that this is bad news. Please don’t fall for any of their bullshit. I literally worshipped and communicated with demons for years and it turned me into a horrible, evil person. Don’t fall for the “law of attraction” bullshit either, no matter how seductive it seems.

With that out of the way…

I am still in the process of converting so I can’t give you the perspective of someone who has completed that process, but I can tell you what has helped me figure out a lot of things religion-wise.

Firstly, the most important thing is to ask questions. If you do not ask questions, you cannot learn. If you do not learn, you will never know truth. So ask questions.

You say you feel drawn to churches, so I’m going to operate on the assumption that you want to know more about Christianity. If this isn’t the case then… well… ummmm well I ummummumummm Uh.

You’ve probably heard “Jesus died for your sins” before, but it’s very easy to just gloss over that because the idea is kind of pushed around our society without anyone really explaining it. Like I had no clue what that meant or how it worked before I started asking these questions.

“What are the doctrinal differences between these two religions? What about between these two branches of the same religion?” “Why is this biblical event important?” “How does the Trinity work?” “How do we know Jesus is the Messiah?” Et cetera. Any question you can think of, find out the answer to it. Catholic Answers is a pretty good place to start!

Secondly, as you’re in this “research” phase, I highly suggest immersing yourself in media that deals with religion as a whole. I listened to a lot of catholic podcasts and watched a lot of YouTube videos that explained some very important theological concepts that I didn’t quite understand. It’s not a proper education by any means but it will help you get the basics down.

Ideally, you’d be able to ask someone about this in person and get proper responses (assuming the person is knowledgeable and can explain things well). Like seriously, you should do this. Online stuff is nice but it isn’t a replacement for finding a parish and talking to someone.

I couldn’t really do this because I didn’t have access at the time when I was really becoming curious (pandemic and stuck with anti-theist parents lol), so if you’re in a similar situation, the internet is your best friend. In that stage I also followed a lot of catholic and orthodox blogs so I would be surrounded with that content as much as possible. Kind of like how if you’re trying to learn a language you need to immerse yourself in it I guess?

In my pinned post I have a lot of resources that were useful to me linked near the bottom :)

I highly suggest getting a Bible or AT LEAST downloading a good Bible app. Multiple actually. Or listen to something like the Bible in a Year podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz. I have a study Bible with a lot of footnotes which is GREAT if you love knowing about translations, original texts, and historical context, but not as great if you just want to read the story of salvation itself.

Now you can be the most knowledgeable person on a religion, knowing all the history and all the doctrine, but if you don’t have a relationship with God it means absolutely nothing. The most important thing is to pray. You can’t have a relationship with God if you do not pray. Ask for guidance, ask for assistance in becoming more virtuous, pray for others, just talk to God about anything.

Personally I bought myself a nice rosary once I started seriously considering Catholicism and started to pray using that, but there are countless ways to pray.

The ways that work best for me are lectio divina and the rosary. I can never seem to finish novenas, but those are also nice, and listening to hymns and chant helps me connect to God a lot! ALSO learning about church history and the various saints throughout it. Again, you might be different, so just find what works for you!

LASTLY.

IT’S NOT WEIRD AT ALL TO CONVERT AS AN ADULT!!!!! Speaking for Christianity, that is. For something like Judaism it would probably be a bit stranger, especially since Judaism is so heavily linked to a specific culture and ethnicity.

Christianity however is very open to adult converts. That’s how it got started in the first place. There are countless saints who converted later in life, so please please don’t feel weird about it. The Church is probably the most friendly to converts out of all religions. Here’s an article on the Catholic conversion process for adults!

TLDR:

Ask questions, learn, pray, learn some more, pray even more, go find an RCIA program so you can get catechized and baptized. LOVE YOU <3