#pnwpagan

The February Full Moon arrives under the name of the Snow Moon, rising alongside Imbolc and meeting us in the deepest part of winter while quietly reminding us that the year has already begun to turn. This is not the bright hopefulness of spring. This is not the rush of visible change. The Snow Moon carries a heavier, quieter beauty. It asks me to slow down rather than push forward, to recognize…

I’m going to respond to both your first two questions at the same time; as for the New Year’s resolutions, I’ll provide the link right here.

I’ve been raised mormon, but as obstinate about it as my father is, he knows the ugly history of the church, and raised my siblings and I up on knowing it, even though he’s also tried to keep us all in the faith. I eventually had my doubts because of the atrocities the church has committed and still commits (from the Mountain Meadows Massacre, to the priesthood ban, to the subordinate role of women, to homophobia); because my political beliefs clash with Mormonism’s ideologies, such as their 12th article of faith insisting that one must obey every single government in every single action, unless God/the prophet gives the okay; and because honestly, it didn’t make theological sense to me, and when I learned of other options, Asatru seemed right to me.

But I’ve explained my issues with Mormonism more than my reasons for being pagan. Monotheism doesn’t make sense to me because I feel that surely, there isn’t a *single* being of such power in the entire universe; I just feel it’s more likely that not even the gods are alone in existence. I also feel that while good gods exist, no perfect, all-powerful god exists; even if their reason for pain being in the world is so people can learn, well, things have gone way too out of hand, and I think some pains ought not to exist in the first place. If an all-perfect, all-powerful god does exist, just like the mormon church or another Christian church says, and he’s just watching all that’s transpiring and telling his true followers to accept being slaughtered or else they’re hateful and will go to Hell… well, I think I have the right to say he’s an asshole. Either he doesn’t exist, or he’s an asshole who doesn’t deserve praise from me. 

So there are multiple gods, and good as they are, they aren’t perfect. Also nature is a beautiful, good thing. The Earth is precious and a thing to be cherished and respected. Life lives even in the stones! So. Polytheist. Animist. Some kind of pagan religion makes sense for me to adopt. Probably from a European culture, so a) I can get closer to my roots and b) not be an appropriative dick. I like Vikings, and I just kinda feel an affinity to Old Norse/Germanic stuff. So I get into Heathenry. Something I really like is that Heathenry encourages its followers to actually fight injustice. It conveniently shares morals I already had, so that’s another reason I turned to Heathenry.

TBH, a large part of the reason I became a Heathen/Asatruar was a friend of mine on Tumblr. She kind of guided me to where I am today both politically and religiously; guided, mind, not manipulated. She helped shed light on the full negativities of Mormonism, and also told me about her faith when I asked, which is when I learned that Asatru was a thing that certainly isn’t only practiced by racist biker gangs. So I learned about that option, gradually explored it, and it became my religion when I was, I dunno, 16? Yeah, 16. It’s kinda funny though because, again, I’ve gone in my own direction with it; she’s a Lokean, whereas I try to be closer to Grimnir; but hey, they’re blood brothers, so it’s more or less cool, even if the blood runs hot between them sometimes! I wonder if I should be closer to Thor, however.

I’ve also considered getting into Gaulpol, Suomenusko, and Religio Romana; however, while I’ll likely branch my faith out in future, I should probably just stay rooted in my core tradition for now. Can’t go too wild, you know? Only thing worse than screwing up with one pantheon would be having four pointing battle axes, spears, bows, and gladii at me! :P In a figurative sense, but still, you get my point.

Also, this is no longer part of the answer to your question, but it’s kinda how I’m doing rn: It was only recently that I told my dad about my faith, and he’s been surprisingly tolerant of it! Earlier in the year, I don’t think he would have accepted me for it at all. He’s even ordered me this Mjolnir pendant for Christmas/Yule. I can’t wait to get it! I look forward to forging a closer relationship with my gods this year than in 2016, when I had to keep two very guarded secrets, my faith being one of them, and the other secret’s depression later on poisoning my faith. 2017 is a year, I won’t lie, that I’m afraid of, but I hope to be better in a lot of respects this year, including my religious practices.

I went through the first few pages of the blog and found nothing that would be considered against what we stand for.

To consider, followers.