Pagan Tropers Unite!

Hi, all. I was afraid that once I got done going through this thread. Norse pagan here. I guess I'm what you'd call a fluffy bunny (can't say I'm fond of the term), but I'm working through it.

Happy Imbolc (or late Imbolc) to the Celts.

And hello to the new person! Why would you think you're a fluffy bunny?

Edited by Sharysa on Feb 2nd 2019 at 11:48:37 AM

All right, so yesterday was a BIG TRIP thanks to the Universe finally giving me a sign that I'm not going crazy, and I am shook right now.

Link to tumblr post.

Happy late Ostara, to the pagans lurking around! My birthday on March 20 was uneventful aside from lunch with my best friend, and that's how I like things.

Happy very late birthday. Mine was March 19.

I was under the impression that anyone who'd been Pagan for less than 3 years was considered a fluffy bunny.

Wow, super late response and I'm so sorry!

Fluffy bunnies are more "personality type" than "time spent being pagan." Generally if they talk up a lot of New Age stuff or "love and light," they're a fluffy bunny.

Wikipedia has a pretty good description of it.

Edited by Sharysa on Jul 11th 2019 at 11:39:39 AM

Fluffy Bunny (tl;dr) = Someone with a spicerack and some "pagan" (read New Age) books who thinks they know all about "Wicca" and "Majick/Magik/Majik". Tend to cast some very dark gods as all peace and light.

Some dead giveaways - anything by certain authors that reeks of Dan Browned or Artistic License – Religion, mentioning the "buring times" and talking down to "Xtians" and those who do not subscribe to their superficial definition of "Wicca" and who didn't read the above authors...

Edited by TairaMai on Jul 16th 2019 at 10:56:12 PM

Anyone know where I can order oils and incense online? All of my favorite shops out here are either closed or too far away.

Shops that do sell incense and oils that are near me are sketchy as all get out. There is one in a local mall that left me felling like I was either going to get harassed or wakeup in a tub of ice minus a kidney....

Maybe search for "incense and aromatherapy/essential oils?" You'd get some pretty fluffy results, but apparently people are starting to hop on the "essential oil and incense" bandwagon.

I will give it a try!

Question to those who use/like tarot cards: I'm pretty interested in them, I find the symbolism fascinating and have been thinking of learning more about them. I've been also considering getting my own deck, the only thing in my way is that I'm unsure how often I would use them and I don't want them to just be laying in their little box/bag.

What would you say, how often should someone plan to use the cards to justify buying a deck? Or am I overthinking it and everyone starts out with a deck for learning?

Yeah, everyone starts out with a deck for learning. A lot of people start collecting decks and really only use a few of them, so don't worry if you end up not using your first deck too frequently after you've learned the basics.

Ok thanks! Most that I read about getting a tarot decks usually boils down to "pick one where you can feel a special connection", would that also apply for your learning deck or may you be better off getting a classic Marseilles or Rider-Waite deck to learn the basics because the pictures for those, as far as I saw, are deeply symbolic which helps with learning the meanings (like the magician having all four symbols of the Lesser Arcana suites)?

Edited by akanesarumara on Aug 4th 2019 at 1:54:58 PM

I'd say a little bit of both methods—pick a deck with at least SOME connection so you get motivated to learn, but try not to pick an overtly themed deck (especially if you mainly like the artwork), since the meanings will often be specific to that particular deck. Artists naturally go hog-wild with deck symbolism, so a deck might really stunning or well-thought-out, but it's not always a good choice for beginners.

To those who believe that Tarot decks are alive, decks usually have personalities—for example, some decks are more "blunt" than others and will give really harsh/alarming readings to get the point across, and that's not a good idea for a client who just wants a general "what will happen in my future?" reading.

The Rider-Waite deck is often a good choice for beginners, but there are lots of interpretations of the Rider Waite that play with art and symbolism, but without going full-throttle "Ultra Themed Artwork with Very Specific Meanings."

Back when I was starting out, I bought the Cachet Tarot (a huge and artistically-weird gift deck that you'd use for a display) because it was the only one I could find AND afford at the moment. It got the job done information-wise, but being a GIFT deck, it's both physically high-maintenance and doesn't like being used for regular readings, so one day it basically told me "GET THE FUCK OUTSIDE AND STOP ASKING ME SHIT, PLZ" and I just went to the shopping district and wandered around one of my used-book shops until I found the Arthurian/Hallowquest Tarot. It ended up being the opposite extreme in that it LOVES being read and it's very nice, but it also exhausts me sometimes with all its extrovert energy of "HEY YOU GOT SOME QUESTIONS??? ASK ME SOME QUESTIONS, PLZ!!!"

So my Cachet Tarot is perfectly happy sitting in a box for months on end, but my Arthurian is like a really energetic puppy and I always feel bad about seeing it on my table and not reading it for the week.

I might need to find a third deck that strikes a good middle point, lol.

Thanks for the tips ^^ In the end (before I saw your reply, sorry :(), I got the Shadowscapes tarot, which is... well, pretty fancy (gilded edges, fantastic artwork) and sort-of aloof... though maybe we're just getting to know each other/maybe I'm just too at the start of the learning period. The artwork kind-of reminded me of the Fade from Dragon Age. I leaf through the cards once every day-every two days or so to get acquainted. The base is the Rider-Waite (I have to admit I got it in a normal bookstore and not in a specialized esoteric shop) and it came with a booklet about the meanings and such. Gonna be curious how it turns out :D

Let us know how your learning curve goes! I learned the Major Arcana pretty quickly but for the suits, I go on their general "feel/mood" and usually have to dig through the book for specific meanings.

Yeah the Major was pretty straightforward to me too, I'm learning them all at the moment and got a vanilla (plain original pictures with slight recolouring) Rider/Waite deck too to help study and boy is that deck more energetic xd Also for me easier and plainer to read. With the shadowscapes one I think it'll take much more learning to get as clear.

Which reminds me, I found it a bit hard to get a deck because so many decks that I found were more oracle cards than tarot cards (different number and kinds of cards, different meanings) and even those that were tarot cards proper so to speak often rename the suites to fit their theme.

Edited by akanesarumara on Aug 20th 2019 at 9:07:00 PM

@Taira Mai: Thanks for the explanation on fluffy bunnies!

@akanesarumara: Good luck! I'm in the middle of a crash course with Tarot as well. I got the Starman deck as a gift, because everyone knows how much I love David Bowie. I agree, the Major Arcana are easy enough, but the court cards are giving me trouble.

I definitely agree that decks have different personalities. Starman is my only Tarot deck, but I have a Lenormand deck and a Celtic Tree Oracle, and I use them for different things.

Mostly though, I find them mostly useful for meditation. I'm not saying that they can't give you a heads up (my Lenormand helped me out of a tight jam recently), but I personally attribute that to the universe sending me a message in a way I'd receive it.

As for what you can do with it, daily draws are pretty common. I like to ask my three decks what I need to know for the next day.

Thank you ^^ And yeah the court cards, especially the differences between knights and pages, can prove to be a hassle.

The oracle cards sound nifty too ^^ maybe I'll get one after I'm more comfortable with tarot.

Wishing everyone a felicitous Ganesh Chaturthi. I respect that the politics surrounding the history of that holiday are specific to the mainland, and have read of Hindu polytheists (for lack of better term) preferring not to be classified as pagan.

It's just that between discovering evidence of a pre-colonial Philippine version of Ganesha, my passing an exam that has given me closure on a decade and a half of personal tragedy, and repeatedly losing and finding important borrowed keys with an elephant on the keychain...I figure that I'm getting thwapped, and owe somebody or somedisembodies a canang sari at least.

And Anagolay too, of course.

Edited by Faemon on Sep 2nd 2019 at 6:20:48 AM

So, I had an interesting experience this weekend that I'm still processing. I was at the store and found packages of canned wine (Prophecy wine, if you want to know). I got the sense that I should buy some for an offering, so I got two cans. One for Freya and one for me.

That night, I made the offering and drank my can. Then I meditated and went into a trance. I found myself in a vision, walking up a snow covered mountain. Soon, I saw Valkyries riding boars through the trees around me. One of them picked me up an we road to a battlefield. The Valkyries were fighting an army of monster, orcs is the best analog I can come up with. Freya was there,laughing wildly as she fought, covered in blood. She saw me, gave me a sword and I joined the battle.

We must have one, because next thing I knew we were in a great hall. Sessrumnir, I guess. Freya was at the head. I was at a table off to the side. The celebration turned physical and that vision ended.

I've been working with my runes and I've been putting myself through mental trials before I let myself use them. I meditated again and was in the place where I argue my case for getting a rune (Ansuz, this time). Before meditating, I thought it would be easy, but in the moment it looked like I wouldn't get it. Then Freya showed up. She didn't say anything, but I knew she was there to support me. When I got the rune, she cheered and kissed my forehead. And then the trance ended.

Through this, I confirmed a recent suspicion that the woman who used to visit me when I was very young was her. I barely remember it, but a blonde woman in a blue dress would sometimes stand in the corner of my when I was 4 or 5. I used to think she was the blue fairy from Pinocchio, because of the passing resemblance. But I remember the imaginary friends I made up and she wasn't one of them.

Like I said, I'm still processing what this all means, but I had to get it out and tell someone who wouldn't think I was crazy.

I'm not very active with the Norse pantheon (thank you, Loki, for being a dick) but Freya is very personable, so maybe start giving more offerings and see if she shows up when you call her for a meditation?

Honestly, the few times I've been to Valhalla have been terrible despite Odin's best efforts, and that's keeping me from talking to him as much as I'd like. Sure, I'm very committed to a social "war" against injustice, but I am nowhere near a PHYSICAL warrior and taking a small female bard into a hall full of soldiers twice her weight is NOT A GOOD IDEA.

Freya's war aspect is similarly keeping me from talking more to her, because I don't want her to take me to HER hall and accidentally have the same thing happen.

Edited by Sharysa on Sep 11th 2019 at 12:12:11 PM

I'll try that with the offerings, thanks. I've probably been too influenced by another forum that pushed limited communication with their patrons, but there's probably a reason that group isn't around anymore.

And I hear you about Odin. I've been keeping him at arms length, because while I think I could learn a lot, I think the experience would encourage too many of my negative traits.

I see your concerns about Sessrumnir and I didn't stay long enough to know for sure, but I have a suspicion that a lot of nuance has been lost over the years. Odin isn't expecting to live past Ragnarok, so he's picking warriors for a suicide mission to save the earth. None of the goddesses, so far as I can tell, are going to die. So Sessrumnir probably isn't just for warriors, but for other people who'll be needed to rebuild.

Fluffy bunny has got to be the oddest insult I've ever heard.

One duck's reaction to fluffy bunnies.

EDIT: Fixed.

Edited by TheShadow on Sep 11th 2019 at 9:50:59 AM