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Real-world magic, paganism and Earth religions

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Jitter:
Following several intriguing but not page-relevant discussions on the page comments, Róisín and me have noted that among the fanbase there is interest towards real-world paganism (including, but not limited to, Nordic faiths asatru and Finnish faith) and magic traditions.

This topic is intended for discussion of these. The intended main focus is on practices and experiences in the real world, both in the present day and in history. The main point here is not to speculate about the religious or magic systems in the comic although comments on that, especially when they tie with the topic discussion, are of course allowed. Personal weird and/or spiritual experiences are also relevant here if you feel they are related to the topic.

This topic is intended to discuss and provide information about the traditions and practitioners. It is not intended for ritual content. So please refrain from posting any spells, prayers etc as the sole content of a message (an excerpt to illustrate a point is ok).

EDIT This topic was started as a thread, got merged with the Global Mythology thread and went missing at least for me. Now that we have a board I feel like several more limited threads might work better so I took the liberty to resplit it here. I hope there will be further discussion here!

Jitter:
I’ll copy what I wrote on p171 (A2) comments as it’s easier to find here. On paganism in Finland nowadays.

The practitioners of old Finnish faith have an officially recognized religious community Karhun Kansa. They have about 50-60 members and they have for example the right to perform official marriages.

There is also an association named Taivaannaula, who collect and preserve the old ways and customs but they are considering it as folklore rather than practicing the faith. They also cooperate with and collect traditions of the peoples related to the Finns, most of who live in present-day Russia.

On paganism in Finland more generally. one page estimated there are ”thousands if not tens of thousands” practitioners of various pagan faiths and traditions, but frankly I’m rather doubtful.

Karhun Kansa is the only one officially recognized as a religious community. Traditional Wiccans tried to get registered some years ago, but they were refused because the responsible Ministry of Culture and Education didn’t view them as having an established tradition so I think it was more about them not being a coherent community rather than it not being a religion. According to some sources various organizations have about 500 members total and that would be estimated to be about half of the practicing pagans. Of course there are also solitary practitioners the number of which is hard to estimate.

There are cooperative organizations however, Pakanaverkko (the Pagan network) and Lehto - Suomen Luonnonuskontojen yhdistys (the Holt - Association of Earth Religions in Finland). So it seems they are ecumenical here too!

Róisín:
Jitter, thank you so much for setting this up! I should nerve myself to explain where I fit.

First off, I am in Australia, which has its own gods and its own magic, different to that of Europe and Asia. Adapting and learning to work with what is there has been a long process, and very strange, but nowadays I can generally manage well enough. I have become one of the people involved in the endeavour of adapting European magic (in my personal case, a particular strain of Irish Celtic paganism and its associated magic) to the Australian landscape and its own energies. The job is likely to be endless, but we plug away steadily.

I should also explain that not all magic is flashbangkazowie stuff. In the real world, much of what a serious mage of any tradition does involves a lot of learning, listening, careful observation and waiting. Especially waiting. For my part, I am a very small power. Where I am most useful in community endeavours is that I am one of those boring people who remembers all the words, can carry a tune and maintain a rhythm, and has luck, stubbornness and very good endurance. Also patience. Added to which I am moderately capable in the bush and around farms, okay at calming people down, and can make a decent cup of tea.

Much of what we work on here is healing damaged land, which is also an endless task. More later, but that is a start.

Jitter:
Would you like to copy your recent story about how you took someone’s personal items to their ancestors’ (??) cave? It was a cery vivid example of feeling the land spirits. Not to mention an interesting story!

Róisín:
Haven’t time now if I intend to get any sleep tonight, and unsure how to copy it across to this thread. If you know how to I am happy for you to do so, or maybe we could ask one of the people who manage the Forum (maybe Wavewright?)

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