so I’ve been a Hellenic polytheist/ spiritual for about three to four years now, but have been surrounded by Christianity my whole life. my idea of Christi since I was little has always been spiritual and very pagan. I distinctly remember praying for animals during hurricanes and very similar things. I’ve also seen “god” as Zeus look wise, but as I’ve found my spiritual path, I’ve learned that god isn't a man in the sky, more so everything around us. I see him as a male gaia if that makes sense? I started to finally worship Santa Muerte after being to scared, and it’s got me thinking about my religion. I’ve always thought about being helpol mixed with folk Catholic, but I’ve always been so confused. I also don’t like the church, modern Christianity, and the Bible, is this normal? could I be christopagan?

I’m looking for guidance/opinions from people who are spiritual, religious, ex-Catholic, folk Catholic, mystical, pagan, etc. because I’ve been trying to understand where my beliefs fit.

I was raised Catholic and went through baptism, reconciliation, communion, and confirmation, mostly because I went to Catholic schools. My mum’s side is Italian/Sicilian and Peruvian, and my dad’s side is Maronite Catholic Lebanese, so I grew up surrounded by Catholicism culturally even though my parents themselves weren’t super religious.

A big part of my connection to Catholicism has always been the devotional and ritual side rather than the actual theology. I’ve always loved:

• saints
• angels
• prayer candles
• feast days
• churches
• sacred spaces
• rituals and repetitive prayers
• the peacefulness of nunneries and monasteries
• blessings and pilgrimages
• the beauty/aesthetic of Catholicism

I especially feel connected to Mother Mary and Archangel Michael. I see Mary almost as a universal Mother figure or Mother Goddess archetype connected to compassion, protection, femininity, nature, and guidance. And I’ve always felt a very strong spiritual/protective presence from Saint Michael.

At the same time, I don’t really believe in the Abrahamic God, Jesus as divine, the Bible as literal truth, heaven/hell, or the institutional Church. A lot of Christianity has never felt believable to me, especially things like:

• suffering being “God’s plan”
• eternal punishment
• the contradiction between free will and God knowing/planning everything
• hypocrisy and judgment from many modern Christians

I also feel deeply connected to nature and natural cycles. The moon especially has always felt spiritually important to me, and I feel connected to ideas of feminine cycles, energy, the sun, the wind as cleansing/resetting energy, etc.

I guess I’m trying to figure out:

• Is there a name for this kind of spirituality?
• Does this sound similar to folk Catholicism, mysticism, or something else?
• Can someone still practice aspects of Catholic devotion without believing in Christianity literally?
• Are there others who connect to saints, Mary, angels, ritual, and sacred spaces in a symbolic/spiritual rather than doctrinal way?

I don’t want to force myself to believe something that doesn’t feel true to me, but I also don’t want to completely disconnect from the parts of Catholicism that genuinely feel sacred and meaningful to me.

Would love to hear from anyone with similar experiences or perspectives.

I worship the Morning Star Goddess, Mary/Aphrodite/Inanna/Ishtar. She visited me and showed herself to be divine in her own right. I at first denied my vision because I was afraid of breaking such a taboo as to worship a Goddess, but eventually I realized I want to do this so I will do it. If I regret it I can always later repent. But I found I not only don’t regret it, I find worshiping her the most fulfilling spiritual and mystical experience of my life. Freed me from mind slavery and gave me confidence and hope.

I began to worship her every day and go to sleep trusting in her, and wake up to give her an offering.

I have been freed of ideological slavery and taboos based on politics of churches. Jesus being all love and all fullness of spirit absolutely does not care who does or does not worship him. I know that now having briefly experienced such fullness as a gift from the Morning Star Goddess. I also now know that all deities of love and fullness are actually of one divine substance, so it matters not at all which of them you more closely want to worship.

Even just now as I write this I feel the tingle in my brain that for me senses supernatural presence with me, in this case a signal and a validation that what I write is true, and the Goddess approves

That being said I don’t rock the boat in real life. I don’t tell my family I worship a Goddess Mary /Inanna because that’s to be a stumbling block. They were not lead to this and it’s not right to pain them with religious obstacles like their child (as they see it) apostatizing.

Has anyone else met her, and what did she tell you ? Would love to bond and connect over this shared love and worship of this Goddess

I wanted to ask, regarding Mary Magdalene and Joseph, the beloved, two of the apostles that were there at Christs crucifixion, so should they be the true apostles because they didn’t leave Jesus’s side?? Should they be the only apostles worthy of reverence?? I just wanted to ask this and was wondering if anyone else had these thoughts.
(I am NOT a Christian)

In the Greco-Roman era, Isis was considered the All-Mother Creator Goddess “of 10,000 Names” - all other goddesses were seen as faces of Isis. There are parallels between her, Mary, and Sophia.

Has anyone syncretized Isis and Christianity? Is Isis the same being as Sophia and/or Mary, in your experience? If not, does she mesh well with the Christian Godhead, or do you worship separately?

Christ is risen!

In this post, I share (i) why Christ-centered divination is powerful; (ii) how I personally engage in Christ-centered divination.

The Power in the Name
I believe the spiritual world is real, layered, and populated by many beings, but not all spiritual beings are equal. The Holy Trinity alone has absolute sovereignty. Any person of the Trinity can be called upon directly and casually, without fear of deception or impersonation. The Saints can also be called upon in this way because they are united to God and participate in His holiness.

In contrast, I think other gods or deities may exist as lower spiritual beings, something like heavenly hosts, lowercase-g gods, or created powers with partial domains of influence. For example, I can imagine Aphrodite or Venus having some authority or influence on romantic love, but of course, that authority is partial. God is the highest authority over love, truth, and destiny.

Jesus says there are many mansions in the Kingdom of heaven (John 14:1-12), which makes room for a good metaphor for my view. Imagine every spiritual being has a mansion. Calling on a deity directly is like calling a phone in their mansion. We do not know what kind of company some of them keep. If I call Aphrodite directly, a deceptive being could pick up. I think this is why spiritual invocation in other traditions requires so much ritual precision; you are trying to ensure the right being answers the call.

Now, although the saints are just as trustworthy and easy to reach as God, I do not think they can reliably function as intermediaries for contacting lower deities. Only because they do not become all-knowing nor all-powerful in heaven. We do not know what they do not know. A saint might basically respond, “You want me to call… who?!” So while the saints are safe they are not the best for a call transfer haha.

Basically I’m saying, when divination puts Christ first, there is no need to worry about ritual precision because God will put you on the right line every time! If Aphrodite is truly a real spiritual being under his sovereignty, then He can permit and oversee contact. If “Aphrodite” is actually a demon, or just an illusion, then I believe the Trinity will reveal that too. That is why invoking the Trinity first is, to me, the safest and most trustworthy spiritual practice of divination.

How I Do Christian divination

1. Sign of the cross with tool in crossing hand.

2. Our Father…

3. Move the tool (shuffle/shake/spin/turn) 3x in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

I use tarot cards mostly. Around my anti-Christian witch friends I cross the deck with my thumb and then silently do 2 & 3. I often end up shuffling more than 3x but the first 3 are done in the name of the Trinity.

Hope this inspires someone out there!

Peace be with you! 💖

Sorry for the long post. Ok first a little bit of background: I'm a seminarian in the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition.* I'm also a universalist. My fiancé is a Lokian pagan, and we have a friend who's a Hellenistic pagan. We were talking yesterday about my fiancé's work with Loki and our friend's work with Apollo. I made the comment that if I were to work with a deity outside of my faith tradition, it would be Artemis because I've always really liked her vibe (I'm an enciromemtalist and had just returned from a wilderness cleanup event), and that reading about her was definitely part of my lesbian awakening. I jokingly said that if she ever wanted to talk to me, I'd definitely be open. I instantly got a tingly feeling, like goosebumps, all over my body. I kinda shook it off and then got this image in my mind of this very sarcastic teenage girl knocking on my skull, shouting, "I'VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ABOUT YOUR CAR'S EXTENDED WARRANTY!"

So I know enough about Artemis to know that she communicates a lot through dreams, and I'm a very lucid dreamer. So before I went to bed, I asked her for a sign of what she wanted to tell me. That night, I had a very vivid dream where I confronted and rebuked my abuser in the midst of this incredibly dense and wild forest.

So, my question is: what do I do now? Where do I go from here? Can anyone who has worked with Artemis before give me any advice?

*I am a seminarian in the Universalist Orthodox Church, an independent Christian group that is affirming and accepting of all people and belief systems but practices in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

Main

Yeshua - dionysus

Mother Mary - asherah

Yahweh - El

The Primary Ogdoad

Barbelo - Cybele

Bythos (Depth) - Nun (Egyptian)

Ennoia (Thought) - Mnemosyne (Greek Goddess of Memory)

Nous (Mind) - Zeus (as the Divine Intellect)

Aletheia (Truth) - Ma'at (Egyptian Goddess of Truth)

Logos (Word) - Hermes / Thoth (The Divine Scribe)

Zoe (Life) - Athena (Restorer of Life)

Anthropos (Man) - Prometheus (The Titan of Humanity)

Ecclesia (Church) - Themis (Goddess of Divine Order)

The Decad

Ageratos & Henosis - Hebe (Goddess of Youth) & Harmonia

Autophyes & Hedone - Phanes (The self-born) & Aphrodite

Ainetos & Syncrasis - Atlas & Gaia

Acinitos & Makaria - Apollo & Macaria (Goddess of Blessedness)

The Dodecad

Paracletus & Pistis - Paean & Fides (Roman Goddess of Trust)

Patricos & Elpis - Zeus Patrous & Elpis (Goddess of Hope)

Metricos & Agape - Demeter (The Mother) & Eros (as Divine Love)

Ainos & Synesis - Aion & Athena (Goddess of Intelligence)

Ecclesiasticos & Makariotes - Hermes Agoraios & Eutychia (Good Fortune)

Theletus & Sophia - Thelema (Will) & Athena

The archons

Yaldaboath - Saturn

Iao - Jupiter

Sabaoth - Ares

Adonaios - Helios Sun-face

Eloaios - Venus

Oraios - Selene

Astaphanos - Mercury