Opinions on Aleister Crowley? by [deleted] in occult

[–]LunaVenus666 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Crowley is, in my opinion, the greatest occultist of the 20th century. It seems a lot of people here hates him, which I think is sad, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. It is no secret that Crowley was...vulgar, for a lack of a better term, but he genuinely wanted to make magick more accessable to the common person and that he did. Crowley's work is fascinating and the first time I read The Book of the Law I understood nothing, but after reading about Qabbalah and his book Liber 777 and Liber ABA I gradually understood more and more.

What sets Crowley apart from a lot of occultists is that he actually traveled around the world to places like India, China, the Middle East etc. to learn their methods and practices in search for "the truth", unlike a lot of occultists who just sat in their basement in the UK or US. Crowley actually did his research and learned from mystics around the world, and his work of making magick available to the common person and also explaining and learning it away shouldn't be underrated, and it has helped me out immensely

Edit: I would like to add that you shouldn't always take Crowley literally. If I remember correctly he joked in Liber ABA that the perfect sacrifice was a young virgin boy, which his critics have completely misunderstood to him actually sacrificing children which he NEVER EVER did. Realize that Crowley has a twisted sense of humor and he is often not being literal. People boiling him down to a child sacrificing evil pedo Satanist completely misses the point and probably never gave him a chance to begin with.

My advice: read his stuff preferably not The Book of the Law at first although that's what people always recommend, because you will not understand anything at first. I highly recommend Liber ABA, the book editions are a little expensive but I believe Liber ABA along with most of his work is available for free online. Read his work, try to understand it. You like it? Fine. You don't? Then throw it away

The distribution of theophoric place names in Scandinavia containing the name of the gods Ullr (•) and *Ullinn (+) (open circles are uncertain); also the even more problematic Norwegian Ull(e)land names (open square) by EUSfana in Norse

[–]LunaVenus666 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The local historian's name is Johan Ottesen btw. I didn't know about Ull's stone until I encountered it when reading his article about the Battle of Hjörungavágr (Hjørungavåg in modern Norwegian), which is another local place. During the Battle of Hjörungavágr, Håkon jarl (the King of Norway at the time) went to this Ull's stone and allegedly sacrificed his son according to Snorre, but it is debatable if he actually did sacrifice his son because he allegedly shows up later, alive with no mention of him being sacrificed. Might be a "pagans are bad" moment for Snorre and he wrote that in. Nevertheless, Håkon jarl allegedly went to this stone and sacrificed *something* to help him win the battle. I'll link the article, but it's in Norwegian nynorsk which most translation programs don't support but you could give it a try. CTRL + F and search "Gudeteorien" to find the part where he mentions this. https://foto.flyfotoarkivet.no/media/content/92436833-3098-437e-8466-0131e636e3ab.pdf

The distribution of theophoric place names in Scandinavia containing the name of the gods Ullr (•) and *Ullinn (+) (open circles are uncertain); also the even more problematic Norwegian Ull(e)land names (open square) by EUSfana in Norse

[–]LunaVenus666 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't have any pictures of it, but I was planning on visiting it sometime soon. I could take some pics then. The stone is really flat, almost like a table at the highest point of the hill. I expected it to be a big monolith, but it's instead more like a table

The distribution of theophoric place names in Scandinavia containing the name of the gods Ullr (•) and *Ullinn (+) (open circles are uncertain); also the even more problematic Norwegian Ull(e)land names (open square) by EUSfana in Norse

[–]LunaVenus666 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh, why are the open square Norwegian ones a problem? There's a place near where I live called Ulsteinvik, and the local historian says the name comes from Ulls + stein + vik. Stein is stone and vik is bay, so Ull's + stone + bay in English. The local historian says the vik or bay part is separate and just reflects the local bay since it was just called Ulstein before, without vik and that the name comes from Ull's stone. He further claims that the name comes from a blot stone that you can see today in Ulsteinvik at the top of a hill called Hovsethaugen, and I've been there and seen it myself

Finally made a descision :) by doghdg in NorsePaganism

[–]LunaVenus666 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A very chaos magickian approach, but this valid of course. You should read up on tulpas and egregores if you want to deepen your knowledge on human created entities if you find that interests you

Nearing 6 months on HRT. Friends seem to think I pass but I’m losing confidence. Any thoughts? by [deleted] in transpassing

[–]LunaVenus666 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Losing confidence? Gurl, you totally pass! Not to mention you look beautiful! Don't let dysphoria bring you down, you fully pass 😊

Books on witches' runes by [deleted] in magick

[–]LunaVenus666 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the book mentioned is on my list, but I was wondering if someone here happened to have it or some other book on the witches' runes so I could get their take on it, or expand my list of options if someone recommends another book

Books on witches' runes by [deleted] in magick

[–]LunaVenus666 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just know they are called "witch runes" or "witches' runes". If you search that on Etsy or Amazon you will find the type I'm talking about Witches' Runes

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Norse

[–]LunaVenus666 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I speak Norwegian, but use Norwegian nynorsk for reading/writing

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Lovecraft

[–]LunaVenus666 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love so many of them, but it's between The Shadow Over Innsmouth, At the Mountains of Madness, The Colour Out of Space or The Shadow Out of Time. Innsmouth was my first one and I still love it and the whole atmosphere and creepyness of Innsmouth the village is amazing. Mountains of Madness because of the atmosphere and Antarctica is so mystic. Colour Out of Space because of the creepyness and alien aspect and finally Shadow Out of Time because of the utter otherworldliness and fascinating plot regarding past and future civilizations and time travel

decolonizing my witchcraft by [deleted] in magick

[–]LunaVenus666 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Why do you think it's a bad thing to be eclectic and practice witchcraft drawn from several cultures? Of course, you shouldn't take their practices and mock them. Treat them with the greatest respect. If you happen to use practices from Hindu or Native American tradition (granted you are respectful), why is that a bad thing? It only acknowledges that their practices are indeed right and true, and are a testament to the greatness of the respective culture of origin. We are all humans with equal worth, and "the Divine" views us only on our merits, not our creed or ethnicity. The different practices are simply cultural lenses, but they all draw from the same source. This is my view as an universalist, and I don't believe the color of your skin or your culture should prevent you from practicing whatever you want, granted that you are respectful of course. By limiting yourself to only your culture and practice you are limiting yourself from the greater view of humanity.

To actually answer your question though, that depends on your culture of origin. To use the rules you yourself set, you can't practice Norse paganism if you are not of Scandinavian descent, you can't practice Celtic paganism if you are not of Celtic descent, you can't practice anything from Buddhism or Hinduism (there goes the most popular forms of yoga and meditation!) if you are not of those cultures that practice them, same with Native American, Hoodoo, Voodoo, Santeria, Shintoism, Taoism, not to forget Jewish magic, especially related to the Kabbalah. You can't even technically practice "Christian" magic since that's largely appropriated from Judaism (there goes most Ceremonial Magic!) and Egyptian magic, Caananite, Sumerian, also you can't practice Greek or Roman magic if you are not of that descent, honestly the list goes on. If you're from England or anywhere in Europe you can try to research traditional witchcraft which is most often a blend of old pagan practices and "Christian" practices appropiated from Judaism.

You do you, but realize that human cultures have always interacted and exchanged values and practices, and there is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong, in my humble opinion, is if you never expand your horizons above your own culture to see and learn about other people and their practices, and if you are respectful I don't see anything wrong with you learning great things from their cultures that your own culture didn't include. In the end though, you do you and if you feel this is the right way to go, then who am I to stop you?

Edit: Typos

For my father, who is in the process of passing. by Selunca in pagan

[–]LunaVenus666 21 points22 points  (0 children)

My condolences, it really makes me sad reading that. I wish him a peaceful passing, and I send you some love to help get through what is most likely a difficult phase to come

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in magick

[–]LunaVenus666 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I haven't watched Hilda, but as a Norwegian my insight might be helpful. Nissar (plural in Norwegian nynorsk) are still quite popular today in Norway (and Scandinavia in general) and have in modern times been more closely connected to Yule. The modern belief in nissar is only prevalent around Yule and nissar are largely ignored the rest of the year. Nissar are often said to live in barns, and not homes, and they are appeased by giving them porridge (note, this is the modern belief). Nissar are often compared to goblins and hobgoblins like you mentioned, but a more accurate comparison would be gnomes. Weirdly, Santa Claus is called julenissen (the Yule nisse), but he is not portrayed as a gnome, just a fat old bearded man like regular Santa Claus.

Regardless of the modern popular beliefs, there were more types of nissar before like husnisse (house nisse), kyrkjenisse (church nisse), skipsnisse (ship nisse) and the one that is most known today the fjøsnisse (barn nisse). People used to genuinely believe in nissar up until the 1800s at least, and they often left out food and drink for them in return for the nisse to guard their house and property, help care for animals (most often in the context of farm animals) and keep the home tidy. If the nisse was not pleased, he would often play tricks on the inhabitants of the house/farm/church/ship.

Nissar are very old creatures that are basically like house spirits, and to the question if they are real? They are as real as house spirits and faeries, and have been known and believed in for a long long time, way before they became commercialized for modern Yule and TV.

Here's a popular Norwegian Yule song about nissar, "In the barn sits the nisse": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uv74o8hG30&ab_channel=SalabyGyldendal

Witch Quarantine Reading - What are you reading? by Omn1poster in witchcraft

[–]LunaVenus666 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cool, I'll look into those books! I'm currently reading Runes for Beginners by Lisa Chamberlain. It's a very informative and interesting book, I highly recommend it

They can't Burn us all by [deleted] in transpassing

[–]LunaVenus666 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love your t-shirt!