paganism

[dragonlady7]

via https://ift.tt/2CBCjYv

I was just at a fast food joint and as I waited for my food I became aware that the song on the tinny PA system was… a Christmas song… about Jesus. Like… I don’t know the song but it was all about how this time of the year is when we celebrate Christmas, because of Jesus. it was very much a direct Non-Holiday song with all the emphasis on Jesus. His name occurred repeatedly. And it was… listen, that’s weird. It’s real weird.

I decided just now, as I have the song tinkling half-forgotten in my head, that I’m going to become a pagan, but not like, a Wiccan type of pagan. No. 

No, I’m going to worship Mithras. I don’t really know anything about Mithras except that he was worshipped largely in mystery cults so there’s a lot we don’t know, right? (I apologize in advance if there’s a large active Mithraic population I just don’t know about; I don’t mean to erase you, but my education thusfar has presented it as very much a mysterious relic of a bygone era.) (I promise, I’ll Google it after this, I just thought it’s funnier if I do this knowing as little as possible.)

What little I know seems appealing, right? He was a young hot dude who wrestled a bull, right? And like, nobody could talk about it? That last bit is very appealing.

But the thing that made me think of it is that “Mithras” scans identically to “Jesus” in songs and such, and I could just do Mithras carols, except then I’d have to kill every listener to keep the secrets, right? but let’s just. We’ll get to that later. 

In the meantime, time for Mithrasmas. 

Comments

[harpers_child]

Not my tradition, but if you want a pagan to float stuff by to check for white supremacy / fake history / flat out bullshit / too much fluffy bunny crystal healing woo / etc I'm available.

[dragonlady7]

It turns out the Mithraic mystery cult went inactive circa 500 AD so it seems pretty safe, in that I wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes. Not that I'd really be all that flippant, but if i wanted to use him to make a point, I'm not going to get myself embroiled either in anyone's grandmother's ancestral shrine or in something fascists put on banners.

I have been actually more seriously interested in actual current self-styled Pagan practices, but sort of low-key, and I do appreciate the offer. I actually went down to my local witch shop tonight and bought a tarot deck, and they do Wicca 101 classes for the curious. I doubt I can make the commitment but, well, I'm a curious mix of interested and disinterested. There does, unfortunately, seem to be a very thick veneer of pure flights of fancy overlaying most of what's available when one attempts to research it.

[harpers_child]

I played at wicca in high school. After a few years finding one set of gods and working exclusively with them seemed like the right path. My current mish mash is "well I'd like to do main land pre-Roman Gaulish stuff but there are barely any records so I'll use a mix of Irish, Scottish, and Welsh names and do a lot of reading about archaeology and just kind feel my way along". I'm allergic to too much fluff and crystals.

[dragonlady7]

I'm very disinterested in fluff and crystals as well.
My main worry is that while I'd love to reconnect with the gods of my ancestors, there's not a ton of information left on them so most of what I can find is speculation or outright fantasy. But I don't feel comfortable glomming onto anyone else's; I want something I have a legitimate inheritance kind of right to, you know? And all I have in that case unambiguously is Catholicism, but that is about 99% the worship of the church heirarchy, which is pretty transparently of this Earth and not really spiritual in any way, and so not useful to me. (And also heavily invested in protecting itself and not me, and also pretty openly hateful to me because I have a uterus and must be controlled more than anything else. Gross!)

Anyhow, there doesn't seem to be any harm in focusing on practical things in the meantime.

[dine]

I wholeheartedly support you in your new conviction. Mithras seems a perfectly sound choice; have fun exploring (or inventing) the mysteries

[dragonlady7]

Yeah, I Googled it and the last evidence of any Mithraic activity was in the 5th century AD so like. I feel like he's fair game for me to appropriate. Like, I'll still be respectful, and all, but at least it's not like those decorative Buddha heads they sell at uhh whatever that place is, the hipster joint in the mall, and it's like... you know that's... religious desecration... of a living tradition... right????
But my homey Mithras is, among other things, not currently adorning any fascist banners, so I feel relatively safe here.

[buttonsbeadslace]

My workplace also has some startlingly explicitly religious music and I'm not sure why. I expected them (and stores in general) to be more careful about that.

[dragonlady7]

It's sometimes sort of shocking. I guess we've backslid; it used to be polite to be nondenominational and now it's Political to be The Bare Minimum Of Polite and so the fucking ice cream store is playing The Holiday Of Christmas Is About Jesus And So We Must Discuss Nothing Else From Halloween Until New Year's Or Lincoln Died For Nothing and it is culturally insane.
I don't know what the song was called or who it was by but it contained a line that literally argued that Jesus was the reason for this entire time of year, and I was like... No, linear time is the reason that there is any such thing as a time of year at all and Jesus is most certainly not responsible for the 11th month of the year being named November, among other things, and what the actual spicy fuck is this song about, but nobody else in the place seemed to notice, and as I don't remember enough of the verbatim lyrics to Google it, I'm out of luck here.