#the Lokean community was great at first until it devolved into Snapewives
Text
Personal pagan thoughts
There's this attitude that's circulated in the broader pagan community for quite a while that like... you either have to be a reconstructionist following one single pantheon or a fluffy woo neowiccan. Obviously not all pagans think that way and in more recent years I've seen more and more people step away from that mindset.
BUT
When I was in my early teens going from studying pagan cultures academically to kind of gradually starting to pursue paganism as more than just a niche interest, I was absolutely inundated with pressure to just PICK A SIDE and nearly 20 years later it's still an issue for me.
I've always felt this pressure to just conform and pick a side and be done with it. Put myself into a neat little box as un-offensive in design as possible and all that.
And the truth is I just can't do that no matter how hard I try.
And that's actually the main reason I don't often talk about my beliefs on here. Because while I've used "Hellenic Polytheist" as a label to describe myself and while it is more or less accurate, there's also so much more that goes well beyond that.
Basically... my beliefs and practices are messy. That's probably a big ADHD brain thing.
And I didn't start feeling okay with that until roughly this past year, when I finally started letting go of that pressure to fit into a neat label.
Are the Theoi particularly thrilled that I also have a budding relationship with a few deities outside their pantheon? Eh, probably not, but the feeling I get from them is that they're not terribly fussed about it. At worst I imagine them being like "yeah okay fine you can take my follower out to dinner just make sure you bring them home no later than 10."
Are the Theoi absolutely trembling with rage because I occasionally dabble in my own form of ~magic~ (but without that woooooo special K nonsense)? Nah, at worst they just think it's silly.
Do the Theoi give a shit that I sometimes incorporate imagery and themes from some of my favorite fictional settings into my practices? Again, probably not; those spider lights look damn cool on my shrine and as sad as it is that my khernips bowl broke this year, the spider-webbed replacement bowl is JUST as useful and pretty.
People act like the only legit pagans are the ones that are super serious all the time, NO FUN ALLOWED and like... yeah, okay, I'll admit that pagans can be reeeeaally cringe, but you know, I think it's okay to be a little cringe once in a while as long as you still remain grounded in reality (as in: crystals are not a substitute for modern medicine and sometimes that thing you think is a sign from a god is actually symptoms of a gas leak or something) and don't make a point of being an asshole, so what? Be cringe.
Maybe there's ONE TRUE RELIGION that has all the answer. Maybe NO religion has the answers. At the end of the day, none of us truly know. So why not have fun?
#one of my biggest regrets from my late teens and early twenties is that when I WAS active in the pagan community#I let a LOT of people push me around and define who I was for me#and not only did it not benefit me in any way it also eventually led to me becoming an insufferable asshole#fortunately one of my deities in particular did a VERY GOOD JOB of pulling my head out of my ass#if I hadn't listened to Him I'd be a veeeery different person and not in a good way#anyway point is there's SO MUCH toxicity in the pagan community#and it sucks because I catch myself WANTING interaction and wanting to connect with other people#but it just never works out#there's too much infighting#too much cultural appropriation#too much egotism and posturing#and on top of that a major reluctance in many communities to have honest discussions about our issues#the Lokean community was great at first until it devolved into Snapewives#and this isn't even a dig at godspousing because I don't have a problem with that#but rather I have a problem with how tumblr's Lokean community became so utterly allergic to honest discourse#and it's now at a point where UPG reigns supreme and newbies who have absolutely no idea how to filter information#end up feeling like there is only ONE right way to worship Loki#anyway this is all my long-winded way of saying I may start stepping away from the Hellenic Polytheist label#not because I no longer honor the Theoi (because I still do) but because I don't feel like it really fits me
14 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
