Black Gods, Tribalism and Wiccatru...

[DISCLAIMER GOES HERE!]

Note that I am no expert and this is all my personal opinion based on my relationship with my Gods. Do not assume I am casting aspersions on your personal beliefs/lack thereof. If you assume I’m talking about you, that’s your problem.

Are all things on my mind lately. Still amused at the people losing their shit over Idris Elba as Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie. Last time I will say this: the Thor Movie – Based off a COMIC BOOK, NOT the Poetic Eddas or the Lore. STFU about it already.

The awesome pretzelcoatl posted this link on my Facebook page the other day. I was interested in the perspective of the author until I got to the words Mojlnir and Coven in the same sentence. O_o? Not sure how many of you reading know that I’m Asatru, and I’m still working my way through what this means for me but one thing I’m 100% certain about is that Wicca != Asatru. The words Coven and Mojlnir, Thor and such should not be uttered together IMNSHO.

Now it could just be a semantic misstep by the article’s authors, not knowing what to do with the word Kindred or the author could have actually said Coven. Regardless, it turned me off of the idea that this person was serious in their beliefs. Yes, that makes me sound kind of snobbish, but one thing that’s always stuck with me is the idea that our Gods don’t share with other pantheons. So for me, reading Coven and Moljnir struck me as odd and just not right some how. It rekindled the thoughts I’ve often had about mixing of pantheons and claiming more than one set of Gods/Goddesses.

Which gets into my issues with people claiming pantheon’s but not going all the way in their claims. IE not swearing oaths, living their words and deeds but claiming kinship to a particular path when it’s convenient. I firmly believe that if someone is going to claim a Nordic path then they need to claim it fully, not in a buffet style of grab it, keep it in my pocket until needed, brandish it as needed then put it away until the next time. I guess what I’m getting at, is that I find it bothersome when people lump Asatru, Pagan and Wiccan all in the same group and treat them interchangeably.

I figure if you dedicate yourself to a path that should be your path, and not take bits from each one that suits you when it suits your purpose at that moment. Keep in mind I’m not talking about Unitarian Universalists, I’m addressing specifically Pagan paths in this post. This could be my naivete about how others think of their path speaking or my attempt at keeping something intact as possible for my own use… scratch that last bit.

I guess this turned into a processing post about how I feel about some aspects of buffet style paganism or pantheism and how I’m not happy when people do that. So thoughts on my take on pick a path and stay with it? or don’t try to claim traditions you are not fully invested in and speak upon them as if you are a participating member of X tradition?

*sigh* I know this has the potential to turn into a firestorm so I’m saying it now. If you cannot be civil to people in this thread, don’t bother commenting. I’m not going to referee adults and I shouldn’t have to either.