How do you judge Unverified Personal Gnosis?

[Scales]

if it's not already shared, then it's not something I should share.\

 
I was thinking about this too. Other people's UPG isn't really my business, and sometimes I don't understand why they're telling me/people (although sometimes I do). But then again, I'm a very private person, so it might just be me not understanding different types of people.

[Adder]

When dealing with Unverified Personal Gnosis(stuff about Pagan things that can't be found in the lore) how do you go about sorting it out as "most likely in your head" and "this might reflect external reality" when it is not super obvious.

 
It seems human nature to contextualize experience as integral to perceiving it, in my experience. So from my point of view this means all experience is going to brushed over with whatever we have seen, and I think this is true for imagination also. To judge it I need to be able to assess its deeper validity to be considered beyond imagination.

I think if we look for intent or meaning behind the diorama of experience we can get closer to the true nature of it. I judge it then based only on its purity (sensation), power (imagery) and accuracy (predictive). I think the various lore just represents a common or agreed upon perspective (ie the tree) and not the actual intent behind the experience (ie the fruit). I try and let the fruit define the tree, and not the other way around.

So in my opinion I would not be worried about being offlore, but try to compare each experience for its deeper meaning and build a retrospective analytic assessment, leaving the real time experience to be more raw and without forcing particular symbolism. I find this better allows a free dialog between your conscious, subconscious and any external reality.

[dionysiandame]

If the UPG is about mystical stories or symbolism, then I consider it in the context of "new ways of understanding Brighid." We know now that our sun is just a star like all the others in the universe and that moonlight is reflected from the sun. So while I consider Brighid a solar goddess, Her purview is now automatically that of "all celestial light-bearing objects." That's partially because of how astronomy has changed over the centuries, partially because of a direct experience I had with Brighid with/as the Lady of the Stars, and partially cause I think celestial symbolism is pretty nifty and almost all my deities get some sooner or later.

 
I think this is where it's so easy for people new to paganism/polytheism/shenaniganism to get tripped up. There exists this idea that the gods are static or locked in the time period in which they were last worshipped such that their associations, expectations, and affiliations haven't changed since the time when they were honored on a grander scale.

Subsequently, UPG that doesn't fit into the old mythos, -doxy, or -praxy may be labeled as "false." When in reality we live in a very different world then such that I could consider Hermes the patron of data analysts and a deity fond of websites, message boards, and even *shudder* Tumblr.

Another thing I've noticed is an air of group-think that can arise when outside validation of UPG is sought after. I think it's great to check-in and see if others have similar experiences but WAY too often this becomes a method of gate keeping. The pursuit of genuine study and practice becomes usurped by whether or not one's arm tingles when so-and-so is present. (Yes, this was a real conversation.)

So I guess I babbled all of this just to agree with Sage and be like "Go with how it effects your life." Lucifer abhorred the lies I was willing to tell myself and eventually it reached a point of critical mass. I was terrified to face the reality of my life, my marriage, and where I really wanted to go in the future but that couldn't negate the sense of overwhelming peace I experienced when I finally started making the necessary moves to break away from a prison I had largely built MYSELF.

Do you. If it's wrong, you'll find out sooner or later but just DO it. Experience that UPG, process it, live in it, and go from there.

[Jack]

When in reality we live in a very different world then such that I could consider Hermes the patron of data analysts and a deity fond of websites, message boards, and even *shudder* Tumblr.

I always figured Loki as god of Tumblr but I can see Hermes too.

[dionysiandame]

I always figured Loki as god of Tumblr but I can see Hermes too.

 
I just had this funny image of Tumblr broken up like Westeros with different deities/entities claiming certain cyber kingdoms of their own. I can definitely see Loki as having a presence there because so many of his..more vocal...followers tend to call Tumblr home and the general chaos and sheer fckery that occurs almost seems too planted to be real. (But we all know it's real.)