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Hello
Dec 16, 2017 16:42:16 GMT -1
Post by antlerslikeforests on Dec 16, 2017 16:42:16 GMT -1
Hi!
I'm Alex, and I'm never certain what to put in these things! I'm a Gaulish-focused polytheist, but given the significant overlap I'm also interested in Brythonic things. I've recently moved from Yorkshire to the North West, and am currently reorienting my practice and relationship with the land accordingly.
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Hello
Dec 17, 2017 17:05:04 GMT -1
Post by lorna on Dec 17, 2017 17:05:04 GMT -1
Hello Alex and welcome to Brython I'm in the North West - Penwortham in Lancashire. Whereabouts are you? I'd be interested to hear more about your practice of Gaulish polytheism in the northern British landscape and how that fits. I guess you've found there's quite a bit of cross-over between Gaulish and Brythonic polytheisms with many deities, such as Maponos, and Belisama being Gallo-Brythonic? Which Gaulish deities do you have relationships with?
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Hello
Dec 20, 2017 0:58:45 GMT -1
Post by antlerslikeforests on Dec 20, 2017 0:58:45 GMT -1
Hi Lorna I'm in Preston actually! Small world I'm predominantly a Cernunnos person, in all honesty. I make quite a bad polytheist because so much of my practice is focused on that relationship, but I have/am building relationships with Epona, Rosmerta, and Gaulish Mercury/Lugus. I am also intending to build a relationship with Maponos as well. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that Cernunnos is not attested by name in England, I would probably consider myself Brythonic rather than Gaulish - I have my own theory that he may have been worshipped by the Parisi in Yorkshire but there's no way of attempting to prove that one way or the other. I know that I've found he's more immediately present there than in any other part of the country. But the reason that I've focused on Gaulish religion is that Cernunnos is found there. I don't usually consider that my practice is based too much on my surrounding landscape until I move - and then I find that I miss the spirits of the river nearby my house, and the spirits from the moors. For me that element of practice builds fairly quietly, so it becomes more automatic than anything else.
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Hello
Dec 20, 2017 10:46:57 GMT -1
Post by lorna on Dec 20, 2017 10:46:57 GMT -1
Hi Lorna I'm in Preston actually! Small world I'm predominantly a Cernunnos person, in all honesty. I make quite a bad polytheist because so much of my practice is focused on that relationship, but I have/am building relationships with Epona, Rosmerta, and Gaulish Mercury/Lugus. I am also intending to build a relationship with Maponos as well. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that Cernunnos is not attested by name in England, I would probably consider myself Brythonic rather than Gaulish - I have my own theory that he may have been worshipped by the Parisi in Yorkshire but there's no way of attempting to prove that one way or the other. I know that I've found he's more immediately present there than in any other part of the country. But the reason that I've focused on Gaulish religion is that Cernunnos is found there. I don't usually consider that my practice is based too much on my surrounding landscape until I move - and then I find that I miss the spirits of the river nearby my house, and the spirits from the moors. For me that element of practice builds fairly quietly, so it becomes more automatic than anything else. That's a coincidence! Similarly I'm near-henotheistic in the fact that my primary devotional relationship is with Gwyn ap Nudd and it's my service to him as awenydd that is the core of my path and permeates all aspects of my life. Some folk think Gwyn and Cernunnos are the same horned god. It's my intuition they may be the same - Cernunnos is his name in Gaul and Vindos/Gwyn in Britain. I sensed this in the image on the Gundestrup Cauldron and the link came through in an unpublished story I wrote. Yet others admanantly disagree! I'd be interested to hear your opinion. I connect quite strongly with our local river goddess Belisama when I'm out and about and with her 'daughters' the local spirits of the streams of her watershed. If you want to find out more about her there's an article on our website - www.dunbrython.org/belisama.html Aside from Nudd/Nodens, who I connect with each night as a god of dreams, most of my other relationships are more sporadic and tend to be focused on deities connected with Brython festivals or callings to do some research or write a poem or some other task for them. I've written a bit on Lancashire lore on my blog in case you're interested - lornasmithers.wordpress.com/lancashire-lore/If you want any help finding local Pagan groups let me know. I'm in a Druid grove and attend a monthly shamanic drumming circle and know of other groves and am aware of the moots and covens. Unfortunately there are no polytheist groups around at the moment but I'd be happy to meet up and chat about polytheism
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Hello
Dec 20, 2017 10:47:52 GMT -1
Post by lorna on Dec 20, 2017 10:47:52 GMT -1
Hi Lorna I'm in Preston actually! Small world I'm predominantly a Cernunnos person, in all honesty. I make quite a bad polytheist because so much of my practice is focused on that relationship, but I have/am building relationships with Epona, Rosmerta, and Gaulish Mercury/Lugus. I am also intending to build a relationship with Maponos as well. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that Cernunnos is not attested by name in England, I would probably consider myself Brythonic rather than Gaulish - I have my own theory that he may have been worshipped by the Parisi in Yorkshire but there's no way of attempting to prove that one way or the other. I know that I've found he's more immediately present there than in any other part of the country. But the reason that I've focused on Gaulish religion is that Cernunnos is found there. I don't usually consider that my practice is based too much on my surrounding landscape until I move - and then I find that I miss the spirits of the river nearby my house, and the spirits from the moors. For me that element of practice builds fairly quietly, so it becomes more automatic than anything else. That's a coincidence! Similarly I'm near-henotheistic in the fact that my primary devotional relationship is with Gwyn ap Nudd and it's my service to him as awenydd that is the core of my path and permeates all aspects of my life. Some folk think Gwyn and Cernunnos are the same horned god. It's my intuition they may be the same - Cernunnos is his name in Gaul and Vindos/Gwyn in Britain. I sensed this in the image on the Gundestrup Cauldron and the link came through in an unpublished story I wrote. Yet others admanantly disagree! I'd be interested to hear your opinion. I connect quite strongly with Belisama, goddess of our local river, the Ribble, when I'm out and about and with her 'daughters' the local spirits of the streams of her watershed. If you want to find out more about her there's an article on our website - www.dunbrython.org/belisama.html Aside from Nudd/Nodens, who I connect with each night as a god of dreams, most of my other relationships are more sporadic and tend to be focused on deities connected with Brython festivals or callings to do some research or write a poem or some other task for them. I've written a bit on Lancashire lore on my blog in case you're interested - lornasmithers.wordpress.com/lancashire-lore/If you want any help finding local Pagan groups let me know. I'm in a Druid grove and attend a monthly shamanic drumming circle and know of other groves and am aware of the moots and covens. Unfortunately there are no polytheist groups around at the moment but I'd be happy to meet up and chat about polytheism
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BritishCelt2017
Baedd
Secular Celt who studies Cumbric and historically reconstructs Celtic Religion :)
Posts: 16
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Hello
Dec 20, 2017 12:07:18 GMT -1
Post by BritishCelt2017 on Dec 20, 2017 12:07:18 GMT -1
Hi there, I'm from Manchester- guess we're not too far apart in terms of geography. I'm new here too
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Hello
Dec 21, 2017 12:07:52 GMT -1
Post by antlerslikeforests on Dec 21, 2017 12:07:52 GMT -1
That's a coincidence! Similarly I'm near-henotheistic in the fact that my primary devotional relationship is with Gwyn ap Nudd and it's my service to him as awenydd that is the core of my path and permeates all aspects of my life. Some folk think Gwyn and Cernunnos are the same horned god. It's my intuition they may be the same - Cernunnos is his name in Gaul and Vindos/Gwyn in Britain. I sensed this in the image on the Gundestrup Cauldron and the link came through in an unpublished story I wrote. Yet others admanantly disagree! I'd be interested to hear your opinion. I connect quite strongly with Belisama, goddess of our local river, the Ribble, when I'm out and about and with her 'daughters' the local spirits of the streams of her watershed. If you want to find out more about her there's an article on our website - www.dunbrython.org/belisama.html Aside from Nudd/Nodens, who I connect with each night as a god of dreams, most of my other relationships are more sporadic and tend to be focused on deities connected with Brython festivals or callings to do some research or write a poem or some other task for them. I've written a bit on Lancashire lore on my blog in case you're interested - lornasmithers.wordpress.com/lancashire-lore/If you want any help finding local Pagan groups let me know. I'm in a Druid grove and attend a monthly shamanic drumming circle and know of other groves and am aware of the moots and covens. Unfortunately there are no polytheist groups around at the moment but I'd be happy to meet up and chat about polytheism Curiouser and curiouser! When I was trying to figure out exactly who it was that I'd been building a devotional relationship with - long story there, but essentially as a baby pagan I'd had an impression of antlers and assumed it must be Cernunnos/the Horned God/the Green Man as he's popularly seen in pagan communities, and gradually came to realise that he had almost nothing in common with that figure - I thought for some time that he might be Gwyn ap Nudd. Certainly I would say they are very similar. For some time I gave up on using a name for him and called him simply the Huntsman in the Night, which is a title that I suspect could equally well be applied to Gwyn. The question of whether gods who became separated from themselves by geography remain the same god is one I'm not quite certain how to answer. I can easily believe that they were the same god once, but what that means for them today I don't know. I've seen this question raised with respect to Brigid/Saint Bridget/Brigantia without, to my mind, any very satisfactory conclusion. I think I could speculate on the nature of the gods for a long time, but probably nothing very coherent would come of it! I'm always happy to meet other polytheists and chat about the gods and I'd like to get involved in the local community in some way, so would appreciate pointers towards groups as well!
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Hello
Dec 21, 2017 14:46:15 GMT -1
via mobile
Post by wolfgrin on Dec 21, 2017 14:46:15 GMT -1
Welcome! Fellow Gaulish polytheist, here. That said, I'm beginning to be drawn in by the Brythonic gods as well so I should probably say I'm Gallo-Brythonic. Curiouser and curiouser! When I was trying to figure out exactly who it was that I'd been building a devotional relationship with - long story there, but essentially as a baby pagan I'd had an impression of antlers and assumed it must be Cernunnos/the Horned God/the Green Man as he's popularly seen in pagan communities, and gradually came to realise that he had almost nothing in common with that figure - I thought for some time that he might be Gwyn ap Nudd. Certainly I would say they are very similar. For some time I gave up on using a name for him and called him simply the Huntsman in the Night, which is a title that I suspect could equally well be applied to Gwyn. I'd love to hear more about this. I'm currently experiencing something similar - a horned god that could be either/both Cernunnos or Gwyn ap Nudd. I'm still not sure if they are one and the same, and haven't received a clear answer either. Based upon some conversations with Lorna, I'm beginning to think more and more that it's Gwyn that I'm seeing, and he's different from my experience of Cernunnos. But then, that's UPG.
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Hello
Dec 21, 2017 15:37:52 GMT -1
Post by antlerslikeforests on Dec 21, 2017 15:37:52 GMT -1
Welcome! Fellow Gaulish polytheist, here. That said, I'm beginning to be drawn in by the Brythonic gods as well so I should probably say I'm Gallo-Brythonic. Curiouser and curiouser! When I was trying to figure out exactly who it was that I'd been building a devotional relationship with - long story there, but essentially as a baby pagan I'd had an impression of antlers and assumed it must be Cernunnos/the Horned God/the Green Man as he's popularly seen in pagan communities, and gradually came to realise that he had almost nothing in common with that figure - I thought for some time that he might be Gwyn ap Nudd. Certainly I would say they are very similar. For some time I gave up on using a name for him and called him simply the Huntsman in the Night, which is a title that I suspect could equally well be applied to Gwyn. I'd love to hear more about this. I'm currently experiencing something similar - a horned god that could be either/both Cernunnos or Gwyn ap Nudd. I'm still not sure if they are one and the same, and haven't received a clear answer either. Based upon some conversations with Lorna, I'm beginning to think more and more that it's Gwyn that I'm seeing, and he's different from my experience of Cernunnos. But then, that's UPG. OK so opinion time - when we have received clear answers from the gods about other subjects, and are unable to receive them about particular issues, that suggests to me that the answer is itself unclear. I call the god I worship Cernunnos because it gives me a way of discussing him that isn't a grammatical nightmare, and because the answer I received when asking about that name was essentially you might as well I suppose. But for me, getting caught up in the name isn't particularly helpful. Does the character or mythos of one help you to understand the experience you're having? Then, to me, that is valuable. (I talk a good talk about this, but I'm very bad at walking the walk. I've been telling myself to focus more on the experiences than on the name for years, and yet here I am.) I think as well that, because of the wider pagan conception of 'Cernunnos', the initial experiences we have of him might be inaccurate to who he is, being filtered through the understanding of those around us. I'm beginning to wonder whether calling the god in question Cernunnos or Gwyn might be analogous to a Heathen calling on Hangatyr rather than Oski. In both instances they are calling on Odin, but Hangatyr is the god of the hanged/god who hung and Oski is the god of wishes. The god is the same but the experience is likely to be different because they are calling to different aspects.
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Hello
Dec 22, 2017 9:03:36 GMT -1
Post by lorna on Dec 22, 2017 9:03:36 GMT -1
Curiouser and curiouser! When I was trying to figure out exactly who it was that I'd been building a devotional relationship with - long story there, but essentially as a baby pagan I'd had an impression of antlers and assumed it must be Cernunnos/the Horned God/the Green Man as he's popularly seen in pagan communities, and gradually came to realise that he had almost nothing in common with that figure - I thought for some time that he might be Gwyn ap Nudd. Certainly I would say they are very similar. For some time I gave up on using a name for him and called him simply the Huntsman in the Night, which is a title that I suspect could equally well be applied to Gwyn. The question of whether gods who became separated from themselves by geography remain the same god is one I'm not quite certain how to answer. I can easily believe that they were the same god once, but what that means for them today I don't know. I've seen this question raised with respect to Brigid/Saint Bridget/Brigantia without, to my mind, any very satisfactory conclusion. I think I could speculate on the nature of the gods for a long time, but probably nothing very coherent would come of it! Intriguing your deity gave you the name 'Huntsman in the Night'. One of the epithets that came through to me from Gwyn in my meditations on how he was perceived by the British hunter-gatherer peoples was 'Hunter in the Skies'. I've recently had a poem published by that title in the Samhain issue of Pagan Dawn - paganfed.org/shop/pagan-dawnThese are the first three verses: There is a hunter in the skies halloo halloo halloowith a starlit bow and piercing eyes halloo halloo hallooa red-nosed hound is at his side halloo halloo halloo. The hunter gave me a dream. The hunter gave him a dream. I dreamed I carved a yew-wood bow halloo halloo halloostrung it taut with a dead man’s sinew halloo halloo halloothen fletched an eagle-feathered arrow halloo halloo halloo. The hunter gave me a dream. The hunter gave him a dream. I dreamed I ran with a red-eared pack halloo halloo hallooantlered my brow and silent my tracks halloo halloo halloothe winter wind and moon at my back halloo halloo halloo. The hunter gave me a dream. The hunter gave him a dream. If this rings any bells I can send you the whole thing if you e-mail me at lornasmithers81@gmail.com
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Hello
Dec 22, 2017 9:17:36 GMT -1
Post by lorna on Dec 22, 2017 9:17:36 GMT -1
I'm always happy to meet other polytheists and chat about the gods and I'd like to get involved in the local community in some way, so would appreciate pointers towards groups as well! Ok... This is a link the Way of the Buzzard shamanic drumming circles - thewayofthebuzzard.co.uk/join-circle/ The one nearest to us is the second Monday of the month (although there isn't one in Jan) 7.30 - 9.30 pm at The Barn, Berkley Drive, Bamber Bridge, Preston, Lancashire, PR5 6BY The next one is Mon 12th Feb. This is the Oak and Feather grove I'm a member of who meet in various locations in Lancashire for the eight Druidic festivals on the Sunday nearest to each except for the Winter Solstice which is always on that date - groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/oaf-grove/info Our next celebration will be Imbolc. This is Shared Earth, who are based in Preston and offer training in Wicca - www.shared-earth.org.uk/There's also the Setantii OBOD grove who I think are based in Manchester. One of their members blogs here - meadowgroveandstream.wordpress.com/We don't have a moot in Preston at the moment but there are moots in Chorley, Bolton, Manchester and Burnley I could dig out some info on. If you fancy meeting in person to chat about polytheism over a brew or a beer I posted my e-mail above - just give me a shout.
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Hello
Dec 23, 2017 15:03:58 GMT -1
Post by antlerslikeforests on Dec 23, 2017 15:03:58 GMT -1
Hi there, I'm from Manchester- guess we're not too far apart in terms of geography. I'm new here too Hi! Sorry I missed this in the conversation about Gwyn/Cernunnos things No, not too far apart at all!
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BritishCelt2017
Baedd
Secular Celt who studies Cumbric and historically reconstructs Celtic Religion :)
Posts: 16
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Post by BritishCelt2017 on Dec 24, 2017 10:16:48 GMT -1
antlerslikeforests- Its nice to know when there are other people with similar ideas near you
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Hello
Dec 24, 2017 16:44:09 GMT -1
via mobile
Post by wolfgrin on Dec 24, 2017 16:44:09 GMT -1
OK so opinion time - when we have received clear answers from the gods about other subjects, and are unable to receive them about particular issues, that suggests to me that the answer is itself unclear. I call the god I worship Cernunnos because it gives me a way of discussing him that isn't a grammatical nightmare, and because the answer I received when asking about that name was essentially you might as well I suppose. But for me, getting caught up in the name isn't particularly helpful. That's kind of the same feeling I got when I inquired about a name as well. A sort of indifference. I think the answer being unclear is really an interesting concept. It leads me to all sorts of other questions. I'll be thinking about that for a while!
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