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Author Topic: Combining pantheons  (Read 1403 times)

minus

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Combining pantheons
« on: March 04, 2017, 01:15:51 pm »
HI, I have briefly touched on this before, but now I'm more confused than ever.

I have been pursuing the Celtic pantheon for sometime, yet I still feel the calling of Thor and the other norse gods. I am 50% Celtic and 50% Norse/Germanic and I feel that the gods on each side are calling to me.

Ideally I would like to work with the elements that I believe from both sides and combine them into something that fits. However I don't want to do something that causes offense to the gods or makes me look like an idiot.

Is it really unusual for something like this to happen?

If this makes sense, I feel more attached to the Celtic Festivals especially Samhain, I also believe the celtic afterlife is more in line with my beliefs.
yet the Norse gods feel more "real" to me. I just feel that both pantheons are fighting for control and I don't know what to do.

Thanks
Sorry for long post

Minus
« Last Edit: March 04, 2017, 01:17:26 pm by minus »

Darkhawk

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Re: Combining pantheons
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2017, 01:18:57 pm »
Quote from: minus;203413
Is it really unusual for something like this to happen?


Not remotely unusual, especially in the case of pantheons which historically were of peoples who were located right next to each other and had extensive trade and cultural exchanges.
as the water grinds the stone
we rise and fall
as our ashes turn to dust
we shine like stars    - Covenant, "Bullet"

Megatherium

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Re: Combining pantheons
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2017, 04:07:23 pm »
Quote from: minus;203413
HI, I have briefly touched on this before, but now I'm more confused than ever.

I have been pursuing the Celtic pantheon for sometime, yet I still feel the calling of Thor and the other norse gods. I am 50% Celtic and 50% Norse/Germanic and I feel that the gods on each side are calling to me.

Ideally I would like to work with the elements that I believe from both sides and combine them into something that fits. However I don't want to do something that causes offense to the gods or makes me look like an idiot.

Is it really unusual for something like this to happen?

If this makes sense, I feel more attached to the Celtic Festivals especially Samhain, I also believe the celtic afterlife is more in line with my beliefs.
yet the Norse gods feel more "real" to me. I just feel that both pantheons are fighting for control and I don't know what to do.

Thanks
Sorry for long post

Minus


Some people whose practice involves more than one tradition keep them separate; they worship deities from each tradition at different times and try to do so in a way they feel is respectful of the cultural context that deity is understood in.

Such a starting point may be easier than trying to combine pantheons in ritual - your left with the difficult enough questions of how a modern person should interact with old Germanic and Celtic Deities without adding the questions which come with trying to meld two pantheons.

If you are/when you feel comfortable with your relationships with both sets of deities and wish to combine the worship of deities from both pantheons in the same ritual, you can proceed slowly and see what works.
My views are one that speaks to freedom.
-George W. Bush

minus

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Re: Combining pantheons
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2017, 04:41:36 pm »
Ok, I think I know what to do. Tonight, I am going to try and meditate on this and see what happens. I will ask whomever is present to put their case forward and I'll try and take it from there.

Does anyone have any recommendations for this other than to just do it?

Thanks

Minus


Quote from: Megatherium;203419
Some people whose practice involves more than one tradition keep them separate; they worship deities from each tradition at different times and try to do so in a way they feel is respectful of the cultural context that deity is understood in.

Such a starting point may be easier than trying to combine pantheons in ritual - your left with the difficult enough questions of how a modern person should interact with old Germanic and Celtic Deities without adding the questions which come with trying to meld two pantheons.

If you are/when you feel comfortable with your relationships with both sets of deities and wish to combine the worship of deities from both pantheons in the same ritual, you can proceed slowly and see what works.

minus

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Re: Combining pantheons
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2017, 04:56:29 pm »
Sorry, I forgot to add - Before I Start this,  Do the Celtic and Norse pantheons get on or are they rivals?

Thanks

Minus

Quote from: minus;203420
Ok, I think I know what to do. Tonight, I am going to try and meditate on this and see what happens. I will ask whomever is present to put their case forward and I'll try and take it from there.

Does anyone have any recommendations for this other than to just do it?

Thanks

Minus

Darkhawk

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Re: Combining pantheons
« Reply #5 on: March 04, 2017, 05:14:32 pm »
Quote from: minus;203423
Sorry, I forgot to add - Before I Start this,  Do the Celtic and Norse pantheons get on or are they rivals?

 
The idea of pantheons being "rivals" is pretty alien.  They are, historically, neighbors.  Their people traded with each other.  They probably shared people along the borderlands, besides, in ways that are lost to us now.

There is no hermetically sealed pantheon and no hermetically sealed culture.
as the water grinds the stone
we rise and fall
as our ashes turn to dust
we shine like stars    - Covenant, "Bullet"

Tom

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Re: Combining pantheons
« Reply #6 on: March 04, 2017, 07:48:33 pm »
Quote from: minus;203423
Sorry, I forgot to add - Before I Start this,  Do the Celtic and Norse pantheons get on or are they rivals?

Thanks

Minus

 
The form of Norse gods as we think of them now were probably worshiped after what we consider to be "Celtic" lands were converted to Christianity, considering that Vikings tended to raid Christian monasteries in places like Scotland and Ireland. So time-wise, it's a bit of an odd question to ask. If you expand Norse to include Germanic in general, then maybe you can get more of an idea of any possible interactions based on what little archeological evidence from the continent has been found from the period of the Roman Empire.

There's more than one pantheon under the Celtic umbrella mind you and Gallic paganism (the kind that would've interacted more with what is seen as Germanic) is not the same as what one would find in Ireland, Scotland or Wales. Plus there's no clear cut divisions between which area was which, so there was definitely areas where they overlapped, so I assume they mostly got along.

However, the only actual written sources we have on that period are from Roman writers who didn't have that much interaction with the cultures. I know that Roman gods were often syncretised with both Gallic and Germanic deities, so dividing lines were blurred to a certain degree, though I don't know if there would've been any syncretism between Gallic and Germanic deities.

(I personally have a blended personal practice between Norse/Germanic paganism and Slavic paganism, but that's how my path evolved and it's complicated as to how it got there. Religion often takes time and work.)

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