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Old 01-02-2015, 12:07 PM   #1  
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Default Paganchicks General Chat?

I suppose this forum is fairly inactive for a reason. Perhaps we don't feel the need to talk about our religious lives in the way other religions encourage/require, perhaps we fulfill pagan community needs elsewhere, the pagan umbrella term is a bit wide, who knows. However, this subforum must have started for a reason and I would like to propose starting up a general discussion thread for the Paganchicks of 3FC if others are interested!

Personally, I have no pagan support group in my area, I'm basically in hiding for fear of my very Christian parents' reactions, and I like being able to discuss my dieting as well.

So if anyone else is interested in a Paganchicks general chat thread feel free to post. It's a lovely partly sunny, snow-covered day out here in Colorado and I'm very thankful for the return to above 0 temperatures.

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Old 01-05-2015, 10:33 AM   #2  
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Ha, okay, this looks like a no!
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Old 01-09-2015, 07:23 PM   #3  
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Hey atmos, I've been away from this board for a couple of months and just saw your post. I'd be happy to join the chat thread (probably sporadically, like nearly everything else I do in life!).

I don't have much of a support network in meatlife either, although it's nice to belong to a UU congregation and be able to say that I'm a polytheist without getting a blank stare. Sorry to hear about your parents not being accepting. Do they belong to a particular denomination?

Western PA is also quite snowy and chilly at the moment, brrr! I go into hibernation mode this time of year and become a lazy lump.
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Old 01-12-2015, 11:20 AM   #4  
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They are ELCA Lutheran. It's a pretty accepting Protestant denomination, closer to Catholic than what others may think of as Protestant, such as the born again and fundamentalist movements. But accepting of transgender, all sexual orientations, different races, etc. I like it, it's just not in line with my belief system anymore.

It's cold out here in CO too! It was warm for a couple days, but today when I walked to work there was a thin layer of ice over everything. I'm a bit nervous about driving to dance tonight with the snow forecast, I hope everything improves. These super cloudy days are looking more like the Great Lakes region than the Front Range!

I celebrate Imbolc, which is coming up in a few weeks. It's so hard to look forward to spring when it's a snowy and cold Feb day!
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Old 01-13-2015, 11:43 AM   #5  
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Staying inside as much as I can with some nice hot chocolate.

Seems like the cold is sweeping everywhere. Stay warm!
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Old 01-13-2015, 02:47 PM   #6  
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Hot chocolate sounds excellent, Ciao! Fortunately it will be warming up for me soon with highs in the low 50s for the weekend. I'm a bit nervous about snow potential today and trying to drive to my class but at least it isn't freezing drizzle like it was for last night's class!

In a couple weeks I'll be going to an Irish dance competition (feis). I'm a bit bummed that only 3 people are signed up for my beginner reel, and you need 5+ people for a competition to count to move up to the next level. I have reel, hornpipe, and traditional set left at the beginner level. There are more than enough people for the last two, but they also combined with novice so I'm not expecting to score high enough to move those up. Sigh. I want to earn my right to wear a fancy solo dress so I need to move up those last three dances!
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Old 01-15-2015, 11:49 AM   #7  
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I hope everything works out for your eventually, atmos, even if it's not what you're getting right now.

Sorry if this sounds cliche, but I'm always one to believe everything works out as it should be. One time my husband and I went to this dealership and fell in love with a car that had been sitting on their lot for 5+ months. The SAME day we went back to buy it, someone had bought it (we actually saw them test driving it as we were pulling in.)

Well, the dealership wanted us to buy a newer, more expensive car, but we opted out because we didn't want it. Went to another dealership and not only did they have a similar car to what we wanted, it was also cheaper and we can pay it off in a shorter time.

The universe will work itself out, no doubt about it.
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Old 01-15-2015, 06:30 PM   #8  
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atmos, I hope your drives to class this winter are uneventful with all of the blergh weather. I have two left feet and absolutely no rhythm so kudos to you for doing something as challenging as Irish dance, that's great! Is it a good workout?

Ciao, I agree that sometimes things seem to work themselves out in the long run.

Life is pretty busy at the moment (counting down the weeks until a coworker returns from medical leave and I get relieved of the extra work) and I'm feeling a bit lost, spiritually speaking. Disconnected. I'm not sure if that's just the stress though. I'm an introvert who does a lot of work with customers and I'm absolutely fried by the end of the day.

I've been consuming a lot more media than normal on my down time and I think it's because I'm so tired and raw after work that I'm looking for a way to distract myself and tune out. If that makes any sense. :/
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Old 01-17-2015, 09:22 PM   #9  
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Ciao - That's a good point. I could definitely use more time to perfect my reel! I'll put my focus into my hornpipe and especially my traditional set and hopefully I can score in one of the top two places and move up. The traditional set especially doesn't seem to have many participants. Another well-attended feis will roll around in June. If I don't have enough people by then my teacher might just choose to move me up anyway. The perils of being an adult competitive dancer!

LovesToTravel - I thought I was a horrible dancer too until I tried Irish! I've got a science mind, and Irish dance is very precise. You are to follow a very specific choreography, there are certain correct ways to do all the moves/feet placements, and most choreography is a set of general principles combined in various ways. That's why it worked for me. It's definitely a good workout! You're basically jumping up and down for an entire class. I read a study somewhere that it takes more energy than sports such as soccer. It's more a series of sprints than a sustained cardio activity, though.

I'm sorry to hear things are so busy/draining. Hopefully it's not going to be too much longer until your coworker returns. Do you have any peaceful spiritual activities you could participate in such as lighting candles or meditating? I've not yet been able to figure out how to meditate properly, but I imagine it would help if you have the time and it fits in your practice.
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Old 01-18-2015, 07:55 AM   #10  
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On the note of lighting candles and meditating, I definitely need to do both of those a lot more.

For myself, I always grew up in a Christian household so there was always that push from the members of the church to help me pray and stay on track spiritually. And since Paganism is more of a self journey, it's much easier (at least for me starting out) to forget to feed yourself spiritually.

It's like I have to go through the process of: okay, this is not something that I HAVE to do, but rather something that I WANT to do. For instance, I always felt like I had to read the Bible growing up, but now I want to meditate, light candles, connect to a god/dess, etc.

It's such a personal growth and for someone who always puts herself on the back burner, I forget to do these things for myself.

ps. I don't have anything with Christianity in general. It just took a long time for me (and many different churches) to realize that it wasn't growing me spiritually and not what I was looking for.
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Old 01-19-2015, 11:30 PM   #11  
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Hello!! Joining your chat!!

So I used to be part of a coven and I left. That situation was very, very toxic. Not the fact that it was a coven, just the members themselves. So now I'm solitary.

My Dad knows about me being Wiccan (Mom died in 2007) and he accepts it just fine, but we don't really talk about it. A few of my fellow performers in my local community are pagans of some sort which is awesome.

My best support is my (this is all the same person) best friend/ex-boyfriend/roommate, who isn't religious himself but is very supportive of everything I do

Other than that, I live in an area where I have to keep very, very quiet about my religious views, or risk being attacked for not being Christian. (the coven was an hour away from where I live) There are very religious people here, but I don't consider them to be true Christians.
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Old 01-20-2015, 11:57 AM   #12  
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Wow Martina! That must be very difficult. I couldn't even imagine.

My family isn't very religious at all but I guess they've defaulted to Christianity so always tried to make that effort to go to church like once every three years. Haha.

Because of that, I had to do a lot of discovering on my own. I tried many different churches and many different secs of Christianity. But no matter what I tried, it just seemed like there were limitations to who people can be.

That's when my friends introduced me to Paganism/Wicca. I absolutely fell in love. It's just been a challenge really connecting myself since I don't have a push from a congregation.

It probably wouldn't be good for me to live where you do since I'm a very outspoken person.

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Old 01-20-2015, 02:26 PM   #13  
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Ciao - I agree about wanting to do something versus having to do something. It should in theory be easier to motivate yourself if you actually want to do it, but in practice having someone(s) looking over your shoulder and feeling obligated tends to get things moving more quickly. I need to work on this as well.

Martina - Welcome! I'm sorry you ended up in a toxic situation but I'm glad you were able to remove yourself from it. I originally began exploring Paganism because I finally came to terms that my birth religion of Christianity just wasn't doing it for me, and a large part of that was due to doctrine. Having fanatical doctrine engrained into oneself can make for a very oppressive atmosphere as you're unfortunately dealing with.

Do any of you do divination? If so, what method do you use and what are your goals when you practice it?

I've started with ogham because Celtic, and I do enjoy it though there is a LOT to learn and for some reason I never get around to reading my ogham book. So far I've mostly used it as a way of communication with the gods/goddesses. I'm not very "emotionally sensitive", for lack of a better phrase, and can't connect well with things spiritually, so I'm trying to use divination as an aid. The ogham doesn't always work well, especially when I'm looking for a yes/no type of answer. On Sunday I was in one of our multiple Tibetan stores in town and walked by a rack of rather gaudy pendulums. A big green one was moving more than the others, so I picked it up and it responded well to me so I impulse-bought it. I'm happy to have a means of doing a simple yes/no rather than the more complicated ogham as the need arises. I gave it a try yesterday and it was responding, though not as vigorously as in the shop the day before. I think I need to create a better atmosphere in my home when I wish to use it. There is always a lot of good, positive energy in the shop.
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Old 01-22-2015, 06:46 PM   #14  
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Thanks for the suggestions, atmos. Funny enough, I've been making plans to rearrange my shrine to function more for lighting candles and praying/meditating. At this point, I'm just trying to remember to breathe (which is always helpful). And I love your description of Irish dancing, it sounds so fun and doable! The workout must be an added bonus.

Ciao, I can relate to how difficult it is to maintain regular practices without that big meatlife support group. I have always been consistently inconsistent with my practices.

Martina, welcome! I'm sorry to hear that you had to leave a dysfunctional group- that must have been a difficult experience. Is the coven still in existence or did they eventually disband? A lot of small groups seem to be short-lived due to the drama certain members create, which is a shame.

RE: Divination. I've read tarot (badly) for about 15 years. I'm as psychic as a brick, but I do still pull the cards out occasionally to help me get thinking in another direction when I'm feeling stuck or lost in a situation. I have a Lenormand deck too, but never got around to doing anything serious with it. Let us know how the pendulum practice goes, atmos. I agree that it could become a very useful tool for simpler questions, definitely.
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Old 01-26-2015, 11:26 PM   #15  
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LovesToTravel - Hope you've been able to find a way to get some calm during your current hectic schedule!

I had my competition on Friday. I thought I had danced fairly well (with mistakes of course) but only placed in 2 dances. However, my treble jig I placed 1st out of 11(!) people. So I was very shocked/pleased about that. I now have 2 dances in the highest level of prizewinner, 2 dances at novice level, and 3 dances left in beginner.

Hope you've all been well! I'm looking forward to Imbolc on Sunday. Does anyone else celebrate this day? It was in the 70s here today and will be in the 50s/60s F most of this week, so it's a bit easier to imagine spring is coming up.
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