Cyber Cauldron

Many pagan paths will have a pantheon of gods and goddesses; Polytheistic religions have much historical and contemporary evidence supporting them. In polytheistic belief systems The divine source becomes a family of Godsheaded by a God Head and Goddess Head whose children created in divine splendour or Incestuous relationships or even from relationships with Humans or animals. The Gods and goddesses in Polytheistic religions have Buy Cialis Online “what Jung would call architypel human natures”and their trails and tribulations are laid down in stories. These stories will often have a moral outcome and are used to teach understanding of the not only the nature of the Gods but also that of humans.
Many of these stories will contain a hero such as herculescharged with a task that will get them immortalised in myth, gaining a place in the heavens so insuring that they and the gods are remembered, and act as examples of the Gods on earth.
The types of deities found in polytheistic religions fall in to the basic categories Celestial, Cosmological Category contains the Godhead and Goddess head and the Heavens the thing complete outside the realm of humans
· Creator
· Moon
· Sky
· Sun as father
· Weather, rain, thunder, lightning
· Time
Chthonic category contains all the things that the gods have direct control or dominion over
· Earth crop and the hunt
· Night
· Ocean, water
Human sphere contains the gods and goddess, which have direct control over human existence or are guardians of human needs and desires.
· Death
· Father, mother
· Fate
· Fertility, love, lust
· Health, healing, medicine
· Household, hearth
· Hunting
· War
· Knowledge or wisdom
· Thresholds, doorways
· Trickster
Demigods, Deified Heroes category contains the humans that would be gods through their deeds and heritage
· Cultural or local heroes
· Sacred king
· Imperial cult
Followers of Polytheistic religions will not see all the gods as equal and may worship with one deity making them Monolatry or may worship different deities depending on the time of the year making them Kathenotheism,
Some of the most common or well known Polytheist Religions are Shinto, Hellenic polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism, Slavic polytheism, Chinese folk religion, Mahayana Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism,and Neopagan paths.

Originally posted 2011-02-14 15:38:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

There are 5 basic pagan degrees, corresponding to the elemental path towards unity towards the Godhead. Adding to this is the neophyte degree, corresponding to the time the neo-pagan begins to study The Path until the time of his or her initiation. The circle is open to the neophyte but they may not participate in the Eucharist, initiations, or major festivals.

The 5 Degrees are –

First degree – Earth

Second Degree – Air

Third Degree – Fire

Forth Degree – Water

Fifth Degree – Akasha or Spirit

The degrees correspond with the four basic magickal types of man- the thinking, the feeling, the sensing and the intuitional.

1. Thinking Man (Fire) this type classifies, analyses, synthesizes, argues from premise to conclusion, and traces the reason for this and that.
2. Feeling Man (Water) This type also makes judgements, but in a totally different way. He is not concerned with reason, but with the values. The standard by which he / she measures us not logic but worth. “This I like” they say, “That I do not. This is good. This is bad. This is morally right. This is morally wrong”.
3. Sensation Man (Earth) This type, like the intuitional type, works by perception, but works entirely in the field of facts, and nothing but facts. It (perception) sees what is and what is not. Its weakness is that it cannot conceive of any other way in which one may look at life.
4. Intuitional Man (Air) This type, like the Sensation man, works by perception, but in this case the perception is of something beyond the facts – the imponderable, the intangible important impossibilities, the events beyond the horizon and the shape of things to come.

Spiritual Man is a man / woman who has mastered all facets of the other four aspects. It is true that within ourselves exist all these qualities, but it is the spiritual man who has brought them to the surface, and integrated them into his / her personality, able to command their usage at will.

There are colours assigned to the five degrees. Robes, cords, clothing at festivals and other coordinated items should be the colour of the degree. If black robes are chosen, and they are recommended because of general usage, then Lamens [1], and other items of accent, should be of the colour of the degree.

The Colours of the Degree

Earth – Yellow

Air – Blue

Fire – Red

Water – Silver

Spirit – Black or Indigo

The traditional Tattwa [2] symbols are associated with the degrees: Earth- Square, Air – Circle or Disc, Fire – Triangle, Water – Crescent (points up) and Spirit – Egg shaped.

During the time in the first degree, the pagan must learn what his / her life path is to be and how to keep themselves upon it. It is the degree of the purification of the mind and the body. He / she must set himself / herself on the road of self-understanding and correct all habits and faults that obstruct him /her from uniting with nature as represented in ritual. He / she must harmonise the qualities with in himself / herself so communication is possible with cosmic forces. This is no easy task. For many it is a period of introspection, and for this reason no time is set for the first degree. He / she is expected to know the mythology and to understand it inner meaning to himself / herself, but also to other as the myth apply to humanity as a whole.

Symbols and tools are to be understood, constructed, and used.

Much of the work described above is work that is directed to the inner self, and once the centres are open to power, the motion is set, and the inner self gains much from ritual and from greater outer universe using psychic methods removed from seemingly “actual” work. However, the path must first open directly by the worker, and it is to this that the first degree is dedicated.

[1]Lamen is a general term for a magical pendant worn around the neck so that it hangs upon the breast over the heart.

[2] Tattwa are geometric images From India. they are symbols that can be used in mandala.

Source – A Book of Pagan Rituals – Samuel Weiser inc

Related articles

• European paganism (vmohanty.com)
• Pagan Symbols & Meanings (brighthub.com)
• 2011 Pagan and Wiccan Celebration Calendar (christophersmark.wordpress.com)

Originally posted 2011-02-23 14:24:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter