I'm curious to see how other folk live their pagan lifestyles daily i.e through their craft, witches, wiccans, heathenism, druidism etc etc.

I'm asking as I am hoping to further mine own, i don't do any formal ritual ceramonial rites, my own ritual is firstly seeing to my babies in the morning, feeding the dog and cats then walking daily in the woods (which i'm lucky as its just 2 minutes from home), communing with the energies there.

My whole day really is limited as I suffer from M.E. but pushing myself to get out into the woods is not enough for me anymore. I'd like to know what and how others live their pagan lifestyle daily. I think through my disability i've kind of become a lazy witch and feel that i could do more!

I am pagan and, um, that's it. What I mean is that I don't do any rituals on a daily basis, I just go about my daily business and it happens to be the daily business of a pagan rather than specifically "pagan" business. If that makes sense?

I tend to my cats, I tend to the apple trees in my garden which is a service to Pomona, I care for my garden - and I use the word "care" to mean that I don't just tend it, I love and cherish it actively rather than abstractly. I've got little altars dotted around that I tend. I mod this site and interact with other people with the same kinds of beliefs as me Magick is just done as and when it's needed.

That's it really, there's no self-conscious "I am going to do something pagan", it's just me being me.

Noranti, like you I am now disabled and I think you're right it can make you lazy. Its hard to get motivated when youre in pain or completely and utterly exhausted isnt it?

I used to do daily "devotions" and regularly "do" rituals of a sort, but these days I'm afraid my craft is more of a mundane nature, but I try to give a part of myself to everything I do.

So for instance I dont just hoover or dust (when I can) I do it with a real thought to "cleansing" and I do it ritualisticly (sp?).

I also knit and when I knit I sometimes craft the stitches and try to imbue my work with magic. But again that doesn't always work because when you're tired its hard to imbue anything.

I also cook and craft other things.

I like spending time with my dog and I often just sit in the garden when I'm really exhausted. Just being outside even if its lying down can make me feel nearer to things.

But when I REALLY feel out of touch with my witchy side, then I will do a ritual and try and get back to basics, but its honestly quite hard at times. So I do know how you feel

IF there is something I need to do, or if someone asks me to do a working, then of course I will make time for that. Even if it means doing nothing else all day. In that respect I would never allow my witchy side to suffer. The house and the cleaning, yeah. The witch, never

Finally most nights I try to meditate before I sleep and I thinks its then that the real magic happens

I hope that helps a bit

Yeah and what she says

Thanks for that folks, especially Comfrey as having a disability like myself.

I think that maybe i'm putting too much pressure on myself to be doing 'witchy' things. I do tend to proscratinate alot about doing things and nowt gets done in the end, even pushing the hoover around the front room leaves me completely exhausted. The mediation before bed is something that sounds like something I could do and record my dreams.

Thanks again for that!

I dont know about you, but when I was well I never worried about doing witchy things, it was enough just "being" if you know what I mean.

But since I've got ill I do feel more pressured and its as if I feel guilty for not being well. Do you feel that?

You know I reckon its enough just to acknowledge who you are and how you feel sometimes and I rather think it us who are pressurising ourselves, more than actually the need to "do" anything specific at all.

Hard aint it

So true Comfrey!

Much like Pomona I dont do things on a daily basis, its a much more fluid, day to day thing. It is what I am and I suppose that colours how I do some things. My inner witch gets fed because I work as a tarot reader and have my own site selling stuff.

Where I feel a lack is more about where and how I live as opposed to practices if that makes any sense?

I think if you have to think about it and scrape up the energy to do it you probably are. Give yourself a break.

I've never done magic or rituals on a regular basis apart from at festival time. Most of my devotion, like Comfrey's is of the common or garden household variety: a blessing over our food as I prepare it, the cleansing of a room as I clean, a prayer for protection for my husband or son as I sew their buttons back on.

I've recently been trying to honour our local land spirits by trying to tackle the monumental litter problem we have (see my blog), and I do study the Runes and ancient lit. when time allows. But it's hard with my little boy to get everything essential done in the day, let alone time for myself. I congratulate myself at the end of each day if we're all well, fed, clean and safe - anything more is icing on the cake

Personally I think the best offering one can make to one's own PTB is a life well lived, with honour and courage.

I don't regard it as "doing Witchy things" (<-- whatever they are!) rather as being Witch. It's a way of being for me. e.g. I never kill moths etc, chasing them and popping them outside, stuff like that. Sharing, being kind. Teaching. Nothing at all evangelical - perish the thought!
Recycling and being aware of the environment yes, but that's not just the proclivity of Witches. Being aware. And reverance.

And a ps - watching...

The biggest one for me at the moment is learning to be "still" in life. To really immerse mysef in what is ging on around me, rather than the (pardon the pun) ethereal, gloss-over things perception. It sounds so easy when people tell you to stop trying and just be... But its never quite that simple

I am also disabled, with the badge and car sticker and all that, but you won't ever see it. I do more than most, cut my own firewood, practise archery, write stories. I ALSO DO NOTHING, sometimes for weeks on end and I never apologise to others for that. I vacuum the floor once a year, I clean the windows once a year apart from the one I sit at most.

Set your own standards and agenda, conserve your power (all kinds) and be good to yourself, then others if you have any spare. Even being nice to others takes energy. It is all about energy. Lay in the sun, dream in the moonlight. Keep warm, don't overeat, allow yourself love. You must love yourself enough to have will to carry on, you need no more than that.

Then be brutally honest with yourself. Do not allow any weakness and self-pity to creep in, never give in to such imps as they become demons quickly. But that honesty also means you know when to stop and comfort or reward yourself.

I have ignored your seeming question about how to be witch or pagan when disabled. Doesn't make any diference. It is after all what you are and you will be it if you survive and thrive, if you learn to focus your will to live and your purpose. Aye and learn to fail gracefully.

No witch needs a ceremony or a ritual, ever. They are indulgences by choice if and when you have the spare energy and motivation. They may be for thanks, for socialisation, for focus or for joy but are not what you are.

If you doubt yourself, PM me. You are not 'disabled' as a witch, ever, it doesn't apply, so be a witch and give up being a mere pagan or just disabled!

I agree with, although I've altars around the house that I tend, and I try to meditate when I can, I meet once a week at a learning circle, I honestly think the best 'offering' is through the service which is my work. We're all chidren of the PTB's and I look after the rascally ones. Sometimes it's joyous and sometimes she want to repatedly beat yourself over the head, but my PTB's appreciate the effort I put in.

Q

I'm sorry but I have to reply to this. In saying something as sweeping as this, you will just make people feel guilty for being disabled.

I agree there is no need to wallow in self pity and I actually understand what you are attempting to say, but I would suggest if you can do all those things you say then maybe a blue badge is wasted on you.

I know people (myself included actually) who have not been given such who cannot even get out of bed some days, let alone chop wood and practise archery. Or ride a motorbike.

I think in this instant perhaps the words you have used are contextually inappropriate

what I am doing atm is trying to feed my family with healthy food - I get a real buzz out of that. I am experimenting with organic food and I have noticed the difference in appetite -people are less hungry/greedy cos they are getting the right stuff.

I know its a basic thing but its really important to me.

fizz

I must agree with Comfrey on her response to this post. It seems ( and I could be very wrong) a case of making a virtue out of martyrdom as well as suggesting that all are behaviors can be controlled if only our 'wills' are strong enough.

This is a dualist approach which separates 'mind' from 'body'. But they are not separate and will operate in accordance with each other.

A small example. It is well known that a reactive depression follows many types of viral infection. If one is in of these 'biologically' mandated depressions,and that someone strikes out at someone else or barks at someone they love, is that a reasonable response? If one is in a depressed state it will seem so. If they are well, no, it is not. Who among us can always divine their 'true' state at all times?

If one is doubled over in pain, is one expected to just 'will it away' and not give in to it and somehow that makes them NOT disabled by it? If one lacks bladder control and loses that at an important public function , is self-respect and pride ( however shallow that may seem to some) so easily set aside so one can act 'gracefully'? People are complex, their emotional responses are complex and will be effected by what effects them and how others react around them. Many times such things are not in our control .

What about those who are mentally disabled? A person in various states of mental impairment might not even understand let alone direct their 'will' to overcome their state or their actions. Someone suffering from a debilitating disease may only have enough 'will' to try and survive , they may not even at that moment consider their status as a 'witch' - it may mean nothing to them.

It's NOT all about energy. It's about the state one finds themselves in and many times, 'energy' is not available to even organize one's thoughts.

This is of course only my opinion and I congratulate you that you able to 'rise above' your disability. Many can not and should not be condemned for it - to do so is, IMO, cruel and judgmental.

The disabled people I have known live with 'brutal honesty' every day of their lives.To be tyrannized by bodily dysfunction is a most heinous position to be in.

I salute them and what they are able to do even if what they can do seems pale and weak to others. At least they try and I honour them for it. So many cannot 'socialize', so many have no reason many can see to even keep alive. Yet they do. To me, that is strength beyond most peoples comprehension.

To all such , I give my humblest and greatest respect.

Marto

Maybe you are just thinking too hard Comfrey, or even being a little resentful? If you do understand what I am saying then you wouldn't criticise, and the comment about the badge was inappropriate perhaps? I have been registered permanently disabled for fifteen years after a broken back, disc injury (three levels and five discs collapsed) and with a compromised nerve, trapped inbetween the overgrown bone from the break. I also have wasted muscles in my legs and upperbody from inability to exercise hard. I didn't walk for six months and was told I would be in a wheelchair all my life. The pain was agony and consistent and I was deteriorating, not improving fro a couple of years. Crawling everywhere, couldn't lie down, couldn't stand, couldn't sit. And it was particularly bad as I lived alone in the bush without electricity or running water and lost ability to share custody of my children. Psychologically I was often depressed and at times, very close to suicide. Then I decided to use all my experience as a witch and forget the drugs and treatments. It would take a page to say what went on before I succeeded in healing and overcoming, I might do that another place than in this thread.

But I do my firewood on my knees, archery with a girls bow etc. I haven't bought a motorbike yet but have ridden one or two and I use my legs as shock absorbers and accept the pain and risk for the joy and freedom I get. It is about attitude and using the skills of detachment, will, focus and, well, the magick, that witches have at hand. Thus I am not disabled, just have a bust back and other conditions. I said I sometimes do nowt for weeks, as I can hardly walk but still I survive, relying on little but my own resources. And I only applied for the parking badge a short while ago after fifteen years, I am now 57 and that is catching up with me too, I use the car parking badge etc. just when necessary, not just as an easy way or privilege for me.

There is a very great joy and power in being a witch, using magick and commonsense that overcomes so much. Disabled still isn't a term that applies. I hold to that and repeat again what I also said in my post, anyone who wants the whole story can PM me.

Oh for goodness sake Jape I wasn't having a "go". I was merely suggesting that you saying on one hand that you are disabled enough to get a blue badge and then on the other that "you wouldn't know" it COULD be taken badly by people who are so disabled they cant get out of bed. There is enough guilt as it is.

I understood EXACTLY what you meant, but thought your wording badly constructed as others could take real offence.

Nor am I resentful, of you or anyone else. NOR do I feel the need to get into a "I'm more disabled than you debate" it rather negates the point you were attempting to make in the first place.

Oh and I am more than well aware of the "great joy and power" (if you need to use such terms) of being a witch. But we are also human being and human beings hurt sometimes !

Clear?

This is not just a debate about disabled witches, I think that I am very fortunate and there are those worst off than myself. I have to agree with Comfrey from the sound of Jape's reply, I thought 'Whys he got a blue badge, if he can do all he says?' My friends daughter is 36 and crippled with arthritis and has to crawl on her hands and knees to get up stairs and they wont allow her DLA. Anyway i'm going off on a tangant there!

Anyway back to the topic.........How do you life your life as a witch or pagan?

You know I hear all the time about this and I dont live my life as either. I just am.

I am a witch (or at least thats the nearest label I can find) but I'm not a particular brand of witch and dont "do" group things. So I just do what I've always done Noranti, even before I had a label (got to hate them labels) and I dont care if it seems "witchy" to others or not.

As for being pagan, again I just am, its a belief thing, not a "do" thing for me. I no longer apologise for being who I am.

does that make any bloody sense at all ??

93
I do four adorations of the sun (resh) each day.One on waking,one at midday,one at sunset and one at midnight or when I go o bed whichever is earliest.
I also do an adoration of the moon each evening.
Say the rite of will before each meal and also a daily banishing.
93/93 93

The point is this, I believe that by practising and enhancing my abilities as a witch daily I have overcome what others call and label disabled. The physical injury is still there, others have come to rise since and psychological conditions also from long term disability. What I do that others may not be able to and that many said I never would again, comes directly from being witch. I am qualified both as disabled and as a witch to answer the original post directly as I did. I can also now do things I always thought were fantasy or that I thought I didn't have power enough or ability enough to do.

I was offering help and hope, not anything negative. Why anyone would suggest my post was anything other than positive I am unable, still, to see.

Try doing chainsawing on your own in the bush on your knees, splitting and stacking and carting 15 tons of wood a year, all by hand and always with pain and risk and fear. Try mastering a bow when you cannot stand for more than a few minutes without shooting pains and shaking limbs. Try focussing when your body is screaming, enough to detach yourself, going into trance and finding the flow within of pain and injury and healing it enough so you can stand long enough to cook a meal. Then do that daily for years and you will understand why the daily practise of craft in life is such a boon.

I tell myself daily I am fortunate, not disabled, fortunate that my very real injury and conditions shaped me in a way that I could practise my craft way beyond what I could do before.

If this is 'contextually inappropriate' then bollox.

Some of what I've read here is exactly what I feel and do,I don't do rituals,I do the occasional 'spell'(trying fertility ones at the mo!)try to do something that fits with the time of the year,just be aware of myself and others and the effects I can have on things..try to be kkind and thoughtful,bless my garden,never kill anything if I can help it.Real ritual seems not truly me,so I'm much more informal,nice to hear some similar practices out ther
blessings

How do I live a Pagan life ?

Well, that's really hard to describe, because I have always been pagan. But I have had periods of my life where it has been pushed to the back because of mundane stuff - usually the shitty stuff that life throws at you.

I too am disabled. And it is bloody hard some days to even get out of bed (this morning was a case in point - it was 3 hours before my pain subsided enough to allow me to move) let alone plan and do a ritual. And it is immensely difficult to focus on anything mystical when you are in such extreme pain that even the drugs they give to cancer patients dont touch it.

But your Pagan belief never really leaves you, does it? Especially being a witch, I think. It is always there because it is who you are and we were probably witches before we were disabled (at least on this discussion).

Noranti, i think the words of people earlier on in the thread are the ones I will echo here for you. Just BE. Just BE who you are. And if on one day all that involves is lying in bed reading or watching TV - then just allow yourselof to be who you are that day.

If another day you can jog through the woods - then BE that person, because you will never stop being a witch, that is who you are. That is a lesson I have had to learn since becoming disabled.

And I bet you work enough 'magic' within your life, your house and with your animals and friends without having to do anything special.

Jape - I might have a go at archery on my knees - if I could kneel, but I cant. And if I chopped wood with my spinal problem I would be likely to damage myself irreversibly.

I am not going to argue about this, but your words were loaded with potential offence, even if you didnt mean it to be. And by saying that other witches could overcome what they suffer from is unreasonable because everyone is different and some disabilities are straightforward and others just arent. If you have a definite cause for your disability then maybe, but not all all disabilities are that straightforward or clear cut.

Marto THANK YOU. I just wish more people saw and felt the way you do

To be honest, I found that Paganism simply fits who I am (and have been for a long time). Unlike other religious paths, I don’t feel like I have to be or do something or other to be a “proper” Pagan – I don’t have to make a conscious choice to be more Pagan than I was yesterday.

Having said that, of all the paths, I’m drawn to the witchcraft side of things. I guess that means that I’ll have to start doing new things (or at least focussing on old things differently) as I develop. Even so, I know many of the witches here and elsewhere have just always done the stuff that they do. If that means I can’t ever be a proper witch, then so be it. I’ll just continue along my path as a bog standard Pagan.

I would be very interested as to what actiually constitutes a 'pagan lifestyle'. We know that Christians go to (or should go to) church, that Muslims pray 5 times daily, that Hindus have shrines, and so on. But what is it that pagans (as opposed to witches or Wiccans) have to do to be considered living a certain lifestyle?

Healthy eating isn't just for pagans. Neither is respecting the planet. I would be more interested in seeing how pagans incorporate their gods into their daily lives, because that seems to be the only defining part of every pagan path. Rituals are more to do with magic, spells are really part of witchcraft, but paganism is the overarching term that brings us together.

If we did small daily rituals as thelemite does, then, able or not, IMO we would be living a certain lifestyle.

I'm just living a Comfrey lifestyle WW and I just happen to be a Paganny type person

Which makes more sense to me than people expecting me to do spells or rituals every day, neither of which are 'pagan' at root.

Once we define what it is that pagans do, then we can work out the pagan lifestyle. Somehow I suspect that will be a while coming.

I guess most of the time being Heathen doesn't make a difference: not unless there's a Heathen way of watching TV or ...

hmm. Actually, that 'or' began to get me. My beliefs affect what I eat or use around the house, how I drive (lookkeee - woods! A buzzard! Was that a fox?? - to say nothing of having an image of Ganesh and a wighthame in the car), how I walk in woods, where I live, how I clean (Comfrey's point, and Jape's - most cleaning is either as part of a working or else an occasion for focus), what I say to people and how etc etc

I rarely get out to sacred sites (well, sacred to me), but I guess a lot of life does get affected by it without me consciously thinking much about it.

Maarto, I'm really enjoying your posts, that one back there a ways in particular!

Currently, I'm doing my damnednest to overcome the creeping anxiety, which I know will take me far faster than the bloody cancer. But as you noted, not everyone has the ability (whether magical or otherwise) to manage this. I am hopeing I can maintain it, bit will be first in line for some happy pills to assist matters should I feel the need.

I could also put all my eggs in one rather shoogly basket and rely solely on alternatives to the chemo and radiotherapy that are due to start before they operate - but IMO that would be daft. I'm not too proud to accept all and every approach, spiritual and prescriptive in my fight to BEAT this bugger!

I read all these comments with great interest and empathy. I was treated for cancer 5 years ago. I healed well and have managed to stay clear at the 5 year milestone. However I never recovered my energy maybe because I am older (56). Since then I have developed arthritis throughout my body and am being investigated for Fybromyalgia which I know others of you have. I have also been depressed all my life but have waged war with it for just as long. It didn't stop me raising a family and all the stuff involved with that. Nowadays I have to have a plan . One job a day is what I do. It might only be to clean a cupboard or iron shirts but one job done is an achievement.
My 'witchy' stuff is caring for my cats and feeding my garden birds. I can't manage the garden alone now but I do what I can. I don't do a lot of rituals but I do like to change/dress my altar for the different occasions and spend time reading my favourite 'witchy books'. They always lift my spirits. Any needs to be addressed for me or others is usually simple candle magic. I think witchcraft is in your heart mostly.

I think that cutting through the bullshit that people propagate about ideas and things is, possibly but necessarily, a pagan attitude or one that seems occur commonly with those who are pagan (just an observation but we do seem to have very, very questioning minds).

I think its about living with common sense and not being taken in by gosh knows how much rubbish. The way I see it being pagan is about surviving in the best possible way. but maybe I think like that because of my health problems.

I mean its about eating stuff that doesn't harm your body, its about respecting nature for the food that is available. Its about respecting the land so that there is food available, not just for us but for other living things.

I think its about listening to health care providers advice (okay I know mistakes are made) so that a person can live as well as possible.

to me thats a pagan lifestyle. but I realise others may feel that way and not be pagan. to me spirits/afterlife/ghosts are an extension of who we are.

I have a problem with accepting the concept of deity so I can't really discuss that.

fizz