Thanks to both of you for your answers. Do you believe in angels, esp. guardian angels? (my screen name is about an angel I made in art class, not a guardian angel.) How do your beliefs differ from Catholic ones about angels, and what reading on angels would you recommend? thanks.
Except for, perhaps, Christo-Pagans, Christian Witches, and the like (those who practice a syncretic blend of Christianity and Wicca) most would say that angels are a Judeo-Christian-Islamic thing. Although, some cultures had a similar concept to a guardian angel. In Sumero-Akkadian prayers, for instance, people would often pray to their “personal god” or “personal goddess” (who may or may not be named) for aid. These “personal deities” were understood to be intermediaries between a person and the “high gods” (Inanna, Enki, etc.) although, one could also approach the big gods with things, the personal gods were more concerned with the individual. In Greece, people believed in daimones, the term was sometimes used as an alternative for theos (god) but it was also used to indicate a kind of spirit who again functions as an intermediary of sorts, Socrates had a daimon whom he found was very reliable. In my tradition, the closest thing to a guardian spirit would either be the disir (“the mothers”) who watch over a family line, or the fylgia/fetch (“the follower”) which isn’t really a separate being but a part of one’s soul in animal form. If you’ve ever read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials his daemons are a lot like the fylgia.
Except that they didn’t need to make up the story completely. What is written in the gospels has “happened” in earlier myths. And whoever wrote it down wasn’t an average guy. At least he could write, that was above average,
I’m not sure I’m following you. Why would educated men follow the teachings of a group of average joes if they didn’t believe what those men were teaching and saying?
The first Christians were Jews…the gospels were patterned and drew their inspiration from the liturgical year of the Jews in the first century. The story of Jesus was framed around the Jewish liturgical year…the “passion story” was the first to be used…later on…some 40-80 years after the death of Jesus of Nazareth…the gospels were written by those first Jewish followers of Jesus…the “Jesus story” was a “new chapter” in the story of Israel. The gospel writers used Hebrew scripture images and stories to frame the story of Jesus.
This brings up another question I have for “ask a pagan”.
). The “spells” in Potter look kind of hokey to my un-trained eye, but I would defer to your knowledge of things pagan.I’ve read every Harry Potter book and seen all the movies, and I can tell you that the idea that there are “actual Pagan rituals/spells” in Harry Potter is (to borrow a term from my English friends) ‘bollocks’. The spells are in faux Latin (lumos = light, Patronus = from the Latin for ‘protector/guardian’) in fact, the only references I can recall to things that can be found in “real life” are: some information about the creatures (like the veela/vila), alchemy (finding the Philosopher’s Stone was the whole point of alchemy at one point in time, Nicholas Flamel was a real person), the divination methods (although, as you might recall, the main characters are skeptical of Trelawney’s methods) and there’s a throwaway line in Goblet of Fire in which the characters mention an “Abraxas road”. Abraxas is an aeon in Gnosticism, but the term has since been used in a variety of contexts, see wiki’s entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbraxasThis brings up another question I have for “ask a pagan”.
Lokabrenna: Have you read any Potter? (Who hasn’t, right?) If so, did you notice any spells or texts drawn from pagan ritual being used in Potter? I don’t mean so much references to classical mythology, because those are abundant, but more specifically, that some piece of actual pagan ritual is quoted or repeated in some context. On the order of finding Harry saying the Agnus Dei or part of the Our Father, to put it in a Catholic context. Like, could you point to some dialogue of Dumbledore’s, let’s say, and say: “Oh, that is a common blessing in Gardnerian wicca!”
As you might guess by my question, I’m kind of skeptical (or should I say skeptickal?
How long do the Catholics hang on the Cross at Easter?
Other than those Wiccans that have been heavily influenced by Ceremonial Magick, or practice Christian-Wicca, angels aren’t part of the fabric of the world.
My impression is that either The Book of Common Prayer, or an Old Catholic Breviary was the source of the spells used in that series.
The series is Christian Fantasy. Whilst it wasn’t blatantly obvious in the first two books, by the end of the series, Christianity was being pounded into the reader. It isn’t the sermon that Pilgrim’s Progress or the theology of C S Lewis. Think of it as the different types of Christians that one encounters in daily life. The devout High Church Anglican. The LDS Missionary. The snake handling preachers from the South. The Christian who doubts their faith.
I have only seen the movies, and they are an insult to the audience’s intellect. Esp. the last three, which expect that the audience cannot count to seven…
Well, to be fair, there was a lot of content in that last book, so it was either split it up into two movies and keep most of the content, or have one movie and cut down on a lot (I personally think that most of the scenes with Harry and the gang arguing with each other could have been cut.)
Vanic - pertaining to the Vanir in the Norse pantheon, esp. Njord, Freyja, and Freyr
Christian-Wicca? never heard of that. Also not sure it can be called 'Christian".
I think choosing to follow any religion because it’s “fun” is a poor excuse to follow any religion. Let’s take British Traditional Wicca (that is Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions) for example. Typically, after being accepted by the leadership of a coven, a person studies for a year and a day before even being considered for initiation into the coven. (Amber can correct me if I’m wrong about this.) Even after initiation, a coven member is still expected to grow spiritually independent of the coven, as well as keep secret any oathbound material that they have learned in their course of study. They might not be required to meet every Sunday, but certainly on the full moon (called esbats) and the eight major holidays (called sabbats), and even then, you’re allowed to call in sick if you need to.
Yes, *technically *that was all very well done.
Thanks,