Pagan Paths
Hellenismos, otherwise known as Greek Reconstructionist Paganism, is the traditional, polytheistic religion of ancient Greece, reconstructed in and adapted to the modern world. It's a vibrant religion which can draw on a surprising amount of ancient sources. Baring the Aegis blogger Elani Temperance blogs about her experiences within this Tradition.
Synchronicity in religious life
I often get ask how I know Deity exists. I must have some sort of proof to spent so much time on Them, after all. Well, yes, I do. I'm just not sure non-religious people would find it satisfactory.
I find the Gods in the little things and one of those things is synchronicity. Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. For me that means experiencing two separate events and trusting, in my gut, that they are connected--and then making the leap to contributing the second (or both) event(s) to Deity.
I understand this will never convince a sceptic.
The concept of synchronicity as divine or magickal is a prevalent one in Paganism. There are many, many more examples to give than the ones below but I think these give a good idea of what I'm talking about;
- "I've been thinking about honoring Athena for a while and I have started seeing owls everywhere--I think Athena would like me to worship Her."
- "I needed money so did a spell to attract it and suddenly I get a raise in salary. The spell must have worked."
- "I've been having such bad luck since I did that offering to Artemis, perhaps I did it wrong and she's mad?"
Comments
-
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Hudley; you have made yourself very clear. Thank you for your addition to my post. I, too, feel listening and trusting yourself and your instincts is a vital part of religion. I could (and might, in a future post) list a lot of instances of synchronicity in myth. If it was good enough for the ancient Greeks, it is certainly good enough for me!
-
Wednesday, 05 September 2012
I'm sorry, I am usually more dilligent with my links. The mix-tape to Hermes is here: http://baringtheaegis.blogspot.nl/2012/08/mix-tape-to-hermes.html
-
Please login first in order for you to submit comments
Elani, I enjoyed reading your post on Synchronicity. It is a big part of my life. I have studied many religions and find that Synchronicity is more a relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm and is in a relationship between the cosmos and the individual. It is a relative experience and has a nebulous quality to it. The I Ching is an excellent source to use for Synchronicity. I follow Carl Jung's teachings for he coined the term. We all have a way to access this too... it is part of who we are as spiritual human beings. No doubt Hermes knows this... it is nice that you are open to and are attentive to listening....because it seems sad to me that too many human beings are not listening to this way or to their wisdom... I hope I made myself clear ...
Sincerely Hudley