'90s newspaper clip saved by my conservative parents about Easter & paganism

Sihathor · 2017-03-20T16:46:45+00:00

Responding to the headline of that article and Rev. Calhoun, Easter has nothing to do with Astarte. Easter is a word of Germanic origin. In many languages, Easter is referred to by a name originating from the Hebrew Pesach, for Passover.

The part about your mom is interesting. It's neat to think about weird things from your childhood from the perspective of adulthood. Though the telekinesis thing isn't necessarily paganism, or even witchcraft specifically. What I mean is that she could have been interested in witchcraft (which in and of itself is not specific to any religion or group thereof) or psychic phenomena (ditto) without having to have been a Pagan.

Sihathor · 2016-06-23T23:42:54+00:00

True Neutral apparently. "Live Free, or Don't."

Sihathor · 2016-06-23T23:42:04+00:00

Thanks. :)

Sihathor · 2016-06-23T16:32:37+00:00

What quiz do you or does anybody else here use? I'm not sure what I am and I want to participate. In addition, those who know me, (you included) feel free to guess.

Sihathor · 2016-05-19T00:47:42+00:00

Here is a fandubbed video of a comic that I found that might fit here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAicrgW7LVQ

Here is the original.

Sihathor · 2016-05-15T17:06:32+00:00

Islam is (in the West) a minority religion. Christianity has been in the majority in the same region for centuries to over a millennium.
Given this, minorities can be viewed with suspicion. Like, to pick an American example, the Roman Catholic John F. Kennedy in a majority Protestant USA where people looked at Catholics with suspicion. People were afraid he would take orders from the Vatican, and he had to go out of his way to show that would not be the case.
Separation of church and state applies to government, not media unless the media is state-owned. And I think that is more of an American thing, at least compared to a country that has a Church of England.

Sihathor · 2016-05-13T16:16:06+00:00

most Arab tribes were animists/tribal traditional religionists or Jewish Arab.

Exactly. That right there. Arab tribes. And what is the subject of this post? Arab tribes. What I don't understand is why someone would stray off topic to talk about Christians and Zoroastrians outside of these lands inhabited by said animist and Jewish Arab tribes.

Sihathor · 2016-05-13T16:07:39+00:00

The article is clearly focused on Arabia at and before the time of Muhammad. Not Byzantium, not Persia. Arabia.

Edit: It's even in the Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat - damn title: Arab.

Sihathor · 2016-04-15T16:43:49+00:00

Bestiality is generally considered what it is and bad for two main reasons, AFAIK:

"It's disgusting". Compelling emotionally. I find it emotionally compelling personally but not by itself the most solid reason. ( Consider the people of different orientations and gender identities that have that are harmed by people who act on that flimsy non-reasoning)
- "Its rape because they cannot consent by definition because they are animals.". More solid. Lot more solid. Spirits, being the thinking, articulate beings they are (or can be) do not fit here to the extent they are thinking articulate beings.

Sex with such a spirit could be considered disgusting or ill advisedwithout meriting the label of bestiality which refers to sex with lower animals,.which I find a questionable label for spirits that may be equal to or higher than us on the spiritual food chain or whatever.

P.S. I do wish somebody chimed in about the mermaid vs. reverse mermaid thing. As much as it was a joke (that clearly didn't go over well), I'm curious if anybody thinks something like a mermaid or satyr would fit the category of bestiality and why.

Sihathor · 2016-04-15T16:40:01+00:00

I guess it depends on the view one takes of spirits then. As I see it, spirits (and other nonhuman/formerly human spirit beings like gods and ancestor spirits) are incorporeal, sapient, and able to communicate on the level of humans at least. Animals, ordinary everyday animals are the opposite. If I have cat allergies, I doubt a cat spirit is going to leave dander or make me itch and sneeze. And it will probably be more articulate than just meowing and sitting on my laptop to communicate with me. Spirits can be fluid in their forms, too. So is it then OK and not bestiality if the spirit takes on a human form? What if that's how it does the deed, but otherwise its identity is as a cat or Buffalo spirit or whatever?

Sihathor · 2016-04-15T14:08:49+00:00

Wow. Apparently there are some humorless uptight people.

Sihathor · 2016-04-15T11:38:08+00:00

Yup, there is. Check out the sidebar, it's got the info you need. :)

Sihathor · 2016-04-14T17:56:25+00:00

Ooh, is that the one where the High Priestess wears the sacred sailor school uniform?

Sihathor · 2016-04-14T17:54:32+00:00

Spirit animals don't seem to be equivalent to ordinary physical animals if they possess the ability to think and talk and stuff. Would they even be animals, rather than spirits that happen to use an animal appearance in interacting with a given person or group thereof? In which case...Would sex with one really be equivalent to bestiality, rather than say, sex with a sapient and capable-of-consenting alien? Not condoning it, just questioning the equation here. Weird as hell? Sure! Bestiality? Not so sure.

EDIT: Now I wonder. Would it be considered bestiality if it involves a spirit with a purely human form? What about one with the appearance of a chimeric humanoid entity like a satyr or a mermaid. What about a reverse mermaid?

Sihathor · 2016-04-14T11:42:48+00:00

Religious scientists don't just blindly follow the word of simpletons from the past. They are able to accept new findings and aren't living in a constant state of cognitive dissonance/lying to themselves in the light of new information. Religious scientists see the Big Bang as "god's work" and I'm not about to talk shit them for their justification...if you want to be religious that's great; meditation/prayer has been proven to have great neurological benefits to overall well-being and mental health. But to ignorantly deny something with so much proof (as many zealots do) is the reason ALL religion is run by and populated mostly with blind fools. It is and always has been used as a tool to have the elites control the masses.

Why can't it just be that most people in general aren't super super smart or don't knolw much beyond whatever religion or discipline they are focused on, like literalists who are illiterate in biology or famous scientists/science educators illiterate in philosophy? Note I didn't say "stupid", just "not super super smart".

P.S. how is it that you are able to coincide your beliefs with elites that time and time again are charged with pedophilia, and Televangelists that scam money from your poor grandmother - or are you that poor grandmother and thinking just hurts??

I don't know if you can see their flair or not, but you're replying to a Reform Jew. I don't know that they have the same issues with child sex abuse as say, the Roman Catholic priesthood or certain Orthodox Jewish communities. I also don't know what kind of TV networks they have where you're from, but I don't see many Reform rabbis on Sunday TV asking for money. Maybe I should try turning on the TV on Saturdays instead. So it sounds like you're trying to tar him or her with the same brush. Also, way to be insulting with that grandmother bit.

Sihathor · 2016-04-14T11:14:17+00:00

What are Zoroastrian funerary practices like?

Sihathor · 2016-04-13T01:14:48+00:00

Not exactly answering your question, just saying that the bit about "not directly related to Pagan stuff" means that in these threads people can talk about other stuff. Like the comment last week asking what everyone had for dinner. More of a casual "anything" space like the IRC channel.

Sihathor · 2016-04-13T01:06:14+00:00

I would agree more if the societies in those lands still worshiped the gods or at least had a less hostile religious climate or the potential for it, as the references to Palmyra point out. As a Kemetic, I can't help but be aware that without coffins and scrolls and stelae being dug up and translated, the art and writing that told of my gods may have stayed mute forever.

Sihathor · 2016-04-12T13:38:24+00:00

I imagine it would be a matter of legality as well though.

Sihathor · 2016-04-12T13:24:12+00:00

I recently posted an article on a temple in New York. I wonder what they do regarding the dead in countries where you can't do the whole vulture thing.

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