Happy Sun’s Day
Announcements:
There is going to be a format change to the Pagan Pulpit. Most notably that I will be removing two songs and the poem out of it. I want to focus on music specifically in The Skald’s Lyre which debuted yesterday. Poetry I am still deciding what to call that but it will also be separate. Any poem I write myself Goes under Skald Poems. This will leave Announcements, Theme Song, Meditation, Text, Sermon and Parting Thought. Hopefully, this will make it both easier to write for me and a little more streamlined for you. I am just trying to provide some spiritual inspiration here, not dominate your Sun’s Day. To the rest of the announcements.
We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods, goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.
We also don’t take an offering here. We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it. Let’s be honest, offerings are not giving to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it. Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never sees a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.
Theme Song: “Odin” – SKALD
Translation of lyrics: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/%C3%B3dinn-odin.html
A band called SKALD and a song about Odin. It fits my Paganism and a great song to start this series with.
Meditation:
With paganism, each person’s path is unique to them. There is no right or wrong path necessarily. Just a journey.
Text:
“Pagans may be trained in particular traditions or they may follow their own inspiration. Paganism is not dogmatic. Pagans pursue their own vision of the Divine as a direct and personal experience.” – Pagan Federation international
Sermon:
The real problem with getting the dictionary definition of pagan or paganism is that the word has had a negative connotation in common use for so long; those definitions are still colored by that negativity. The observation above is made by pagans themselves and when people ask me why I consider myself a pagan is it because of this basic idea of each pagan chooses their own spiritual path. I have had my fill of religions telling me what to believe, I seek it myself.
For the next six weeks including this one, I want to go over the basic five principles that pagans hold in common. Specifics can vary quite widely. The five principles I see most often are:
- Responsibility of Belief
- Personal Responsibility for Your Actions and Personal Development
- Everything is Sacred
- Freedom of Choosing Diety
- Scope of Consciousness
For myself, I have realized for a long time that religions, in general, are simply that someone did the above and then codified it to a point they discarded large chunks of this until you are left with none of it.
The truth is we all choose our faith, and within that faith choose a path. Some of us choose a religion and that religion limits the paths to a certain selection of choices approved by others. Paganism throws all that off. It says that all paths are valid, the real issue is to responsibly walk the one you are on.
Over the next five weeks of the pagan Pulpit, I will be exploring each of the above principles in detail. I hope you enjoy it or at least learn something about the path of the people who identify themselves as pagans.
Parting Thought:
Yep, highly recommended that you do this from time to time. Don’t let anyone else define this for you, do it yourself. This should include your spirituality.
I remain,
The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.
Skaal!!!
The Grey Wayfarer 