The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

So Ive been writing down my question and now I think I've got enough so here we go

So, first thing! Having a bunch of question about pretty different topics can be overwhelming to try and answer.

This forum doesn't limit how many threads you can start, so usually it's easier for people to read your questions and help you if you do multiple threads - one for each question, or each group of related questions. For example, you might group your two questions about deities together, or about resources like documentaries and teachers.

Chances are pretty good that most people here will have comments about a couple of your questions, but not all of them, and may or may not follow a thread that's discussing a wide range of topics where they would follow a thread more closely about a topic of more interest to them.

That said, let me tackle your questions here briefly, and if you decide you want to start a new thread for one or more of them, that might be a good idea.

Is there a pagan concept for sin?

Paganism isn't a religion - it's a group of religions or a socio-cultural grouping. (You might find an article by Darkhawk, on her website, useful here.)  

Because of that, there's no 'Pagan concept of sin possible'. Individual religions in that grouping may have that idea, though usually not in the form that's more familiar to people coming from Christianity.

I actually follow a concept of sin that I learned as a Catholic while in college, which is the idea that sin is that which separates that from the divine. However, because I'm a polytheist with different relationships with a number of deities, what that means doesn't necessarily have a simple answer.

I mostly define it as "Things that affect my ability to do the work of M'Lady (the name I use in public spaces for the deity I'm primarily committed to) in the world." So hurting people is a problem, but messing up on planning my life, so I can't do my paying job well is also a problem, because that's part of my work for her.

Can it be seasonal thing? Like be really active during spring and then on other months be less active?

Many people find that their practices have seasonal variation, yes.

In some traditions and paths, this is actually an expected and planned thing. For example, in witchcraft traditions that follow a more seasonal focus for the wheel of the year (rather than a myth based one or an astrological one, for example) will often have periods explicitly for rest and introspection (normally between Samhain and Imbolc or Samhain and Yule, depending on definitions.)

If you'd like to expand this, this might be a good question for its own thread, if you're curious about how that works for different people.

I need a list of all deities that are connected to nature? if thats even possible?

Not really possible, for a bunch of reasons:
- How do you define nature? There are many deities, for example, who are associated with natural items (water, lightning, various animals, etc.) who aren't necessarily tied to natural cycles like seasons or times of day.

- Some religions within Paganism have thousands of deities (Kemeticism, for example, which focuses on the practices of ancient Egypt.)

- In many cases we know there were deities, but we don't know their names or a whole lot about them. Up above, I mentioned that I refer to my primary deity as M'Lady - she's one of probably hundreds of British Isles water deities, some of whom we have inscribed offerings for or other names, but many others we just know about from items that have been found, etc.

Also if anyone who sees this honors Artio, or at least knows alot about her can you tell me everything you know?

I've done some research into her, because I have a recurring bear thing, but digging pouring out that research on demand is not something I'm up for at the moment.

If you're curious about other people's research, it's helpful to let people know what you've already looked at or learned from, and maybe a little of why you're interested (for example, if you've had an experience in dreams or ritual or meditation, you don't need to give details, but mentioning that much will give people a different direction to talk about than "I ran across the name once and haven't dug further" would.)

Can you be a nature witch and not use herbs?

How do you define nature witch? How do you define using herbs?

I'd think someone who had a strong nature-related practice that wasn't, say, mostly elemental in focus, who completely ignored plants (including herbs) was missing a potentially important piece. But herbalism in its more complex forms is not something everyone's interested in or up for at a given stage in their life.

Is an altar a must?

It is for my tradition and practice, because it's a fundamental tool for us. It might not be for yours. But at its most basic form, an altar is 'this tool that we use to put things on so we can do ritual more effectively' which is usually pretty handy.

In some traditions, it has a larger esoteric or magical role, of anchoring the energy of the ritual (i.e. charging items on it during ritual, being a focus for the working, being a place where the representations of deity can be honoured or the deities can have a place to 'sit' during ritual that is set aside for them.) It's pretty common for many traditions that some of these things apply in different ways in different rituals.

Does it have to be a fancy altar? Nope. Does it have to have expensive things on it? No. But if i'm doing ritual, and I want to charge water in a cup, and I want to maybe put on some perfume to remind me during the day of my goal, and maybe I have a representation of my current goal or magical working? That's an altar right there.

(If it's currently holding things for mental reminders but I'm not using it as a tool, then that's a shrine, in my tradition's practice. More on my website about altars, shrines, things that might be helpful, etc.)

How can I practice magick if I spells dont come easy?

Magic is a skill like any other. I find it's sort of similar to cooking or maybe knitting.

There are lots of ways to make food for yourself. Some of them are probably more successful than others, but probably you have to learn some things over time - starting with, say, "heat up things in the microwave without exploding them or cooking them too much" and moving on to "boil water" and then simple stuff, and then maybe more complicated stuff.

Magic - in the way most people use it in the broader Pagan community - has some core skills that are common to a lot of practices (though not all!) like centering, grounding, visualisation, moving and managing energy, directing and releasing energy for specific goals.

Chances are some of those skills will be easier for you than others : it took me a couple of months to learn centering and grounding and shielding, and it took me years to learn how to do visualisation that involved actual visual images (though I got tactile sensations and sounds much faster.)

This is, again, just like cooking, where someone might have great skills with a knife cutting things up, but be prone to burn things in a skillet, or be great with making bread but not so much cooking meat, or great with one type of cuisine but lousy at another.

Someone who wants to be a really flexible cook will work to figure out how to get better at the stuff they're not as good at. Someone who just wants to feed themselves and is focusing on other parts of their life will figure out how to feed themselves with the stuff they're decent at (or prefer doing) and ignore the rest of the skills for right now.

Magic's the same way, really - many people start with the core skills (for a bunch of reasons), but then figure out what kind of magic they enjoy, seem to have a knack for, or prefer, and focus on that. Sometimes people will focus for years, and then decide to expand to something new, which is also fine!

Is there a specific way to do sigils? does it differ from religion to religion?

Sigils can have religious uses, but they're mostly a magical practice. More of the issue is the question of how you form them, and the context you're forming them in. This would be another particularly good queston for its own thread.

Any good documentaries i could watch? if thats a thing?

There aren't that many - partly because people tend to be somewhat private about their practices, and because various people who've done documentaries in the past have been exploitive or missed the point in various ways. You'll tend to find more about more cultural aspects or individuals, rather than practices.

Some people find things on YouTube (videoblogs, etc.) useful: I find video my least efficient method of learning, so don't have recommendations.

(In fact, I'm writing this answer while procrastinating on watching the next lecture for a class I'm taking that I'm really enjoying. The lectures are actually really good, I just find them exhausting to watch and take notes on.)

Anyone looking to mentor anyone would be great? I learn best by one on one conversation with a personal connection

In general, asking for mentors is something to be cautious of - as a general rule, the people who are actually decent mentors and take it seriously are not wandering around looking for more to do, and already have busy lives, are working with other people in magical settings, etc. The people who jump up and say "Me! I want to mentor!" can be very well-meaning, but there's also a noticeable number who are in it for the power trip, or who don't actually know what they're talking about.

Plus, mentoring someone (if it's done right) is a time commitment for the mentor, and usually experienced teachers will want to see if there's a good fit for what they do before taking someone on (which usually means you getting beyond basic questions, being able to identify what things you're specifically interested in learning more about, and maybe picking one to three topics to focus on immediately.) "Teach me everything" is really exhausting, and out of most people's scopes.

For people getting started, I strongly recommend asking questions on a forum like this one, where you can get multiple points of view (and read threads and comments from people - work your way back through reading the archived posts if people aren't posting on topics you're interested in at the moment). If there's someone who's perspectives or approach you're particularly interested in learning more about once you've got basic concepts down, then that's a time to ask about more pointers to the things they do.