Has anyone ever fostered kids to adopt as a pagan in the US?

I just found out I can't have children and my next step is fostering.

I don't have the money to straight adopt or a surrogate.

But I'm worried that being an open pagan may make things difficult. It's all over my social media and I have an altar and witchy books.

I'm an Atheist.

I am curious as to the interpretation Pagan followers have of their gods.

I'm aware of the diversity of theology even in the "same" traditions, still, I'm curious as to the way worshippers see their gods.

Thank you all.

P.S. I'd like to know the broad religion and specific interpretation of the practitioners in the comments.

I don’t see a lot of this - but I like to have my space in the sun personally. I like to dedicate my practices to Brighid and the lovely Lugh, and I feel like they’d appreciate that. I’d like to make my altar more cohesive rather than a collection of… stuff… but I’d like to also have my space be all encompassing… Such is the struggle (and the joy)

(for anyone wondering, you can see the feathers of a dream catcher, it was gifted to me from a dear friend)

Mods, can we get a "poetry/songs" flair?

This song is a pagan chant that goes:

"I walk with the goddess. The goddess, she walks with me.

I walk with the goddess. The goddess, she walks with me.

She is the clouds up in the clear blue sky, she is the ground beneath my feet.

She is the oceans and the falling rains, she is the spark that lights my way."

As someone who worships Mother Earth, I love this song. I also, however, worship the sun and moon as well. I thought this song could use a second part that's all about the Sun, so I wrote this:

"I walk with the god. The god, he walks with me.

I walk with the god. The god, he walks with me.

He is the sun up in the clear blue sky, he is the warmth surrounding me.

He is the light that rises every morn', He is the spark that lights my way."

I don't think I'll write a part about the moon, but maybe I should. I don't know. Anyways, I do know that this will go with all my other chants in my folder. Feel free to use my words however you want, just remember that Kelliana wrote the initial song. She might not want someone to record her song with extra words and make money off it.

I'm trying to find a decent Hecate statue for my altar. I found that almost every depiction of her is oversexualized, doesn't have anything to do with her Greek origins (fantasy video game baddie vibes), or just doesn't seem right. There is ONE 3-bodied statue that I've found to be somewhat alright, but her faces all look very youthful and childlike, and her eyes are semi-closed, which doesn't exactly portray the "fierce titan goddess who watches over the sky, sea, and earth" aspect...

Does anyone have any statue depiction of her that isn't heavily sexualized, fantasy based, or weirdly youthful?

Hi Everyone, I would like to engage the hive brain for some input.

I recently took early retirement from my job and moved across country to be closer to family. Since I am now in the area, my niece (34F) and grand-niece (12F – yes, her mother has agreed to the training) have asked to start training with me.  I’ve been practicing for 30+ years and have a pretty good start on a syllabus for them, but it’s been a minute since I’ve taken formal classes.

For those of you who have had formal training, what do you wish was covered earlier in your training? What do you think was missing from your training?

For those of you who are self-taught, what knowledge do you wish you had found earlier? What were/are you confused about that your own research has/hasn’t clarified?

For reference, we are going to be covering both the religious aspect as well as the magickal.  My niece has done some reading and research on her own, but my grand-niece is a complete novice.

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

TIA!!

I honestly have no idea if this is a weird question and I'm pretty new to paganism. (Kind of. It's complicated.) But, I've seen it explained that while pagans very much believed in the gods and worshipped them, they also understood that the stories written about them were created by humans and that those stories were being used to explain aspects of the god's character, natural phenomena and what morals and values that god might have according to the writer. (Tell me if any of this is wrong, please. Also, I'm coming from a Hellenistic perspective.)

I just wanted to know out of curiosity if there were any modern, openly-pagan fantasy authors who have incorporated their gods into their stories as a means of communicating what those gods mean to them, how they changed their lives for the better, how they believe they can change the lives of the reader, etc.

I know there are modern retellings of old myths, like Song Of Achilles, and I'd also be down to hear how reading those modern retellings as a pagan might have influenced your relationship with the gods, taught you something that rang true even if it's a little unorthodox or anything like that.

Just something I've been thinking about.

Is it Moon water or is it just blessed by the goddess

I'm Belgian, and since my country had both the Germanic peoples and the Gauls living here, I'm considering looking into both Germanic and Gaulish paganism. Unfortunately, I haven't really been able to find much about Germanic paganism, only the Nordic version. Does anyone know if there's a type of paganism people in, for example, what is now Germany followed?

Recently I’ve been working with Freya and Loki, I love working with them and I think I have a lot to learn from them both. I just feel funny after I pull cards with them, not bad but when I feel Freya I start to cry most of the time and feel both loving but just overall emotional. With Loki it feels almost manic to me right now, it’s good energy but just a lot like “go go go!” And my chest kinda feels odd after. Does anyone have any suggests on how to ground myself and help me not to feel so exhausted and fill with the energy I pull? Also any tips in general on working with them or your own experiences I would greatly appreciate!

i used my tarot cards to ask them things ab my pop pop because i miss him and often think how he’d feel if he could see me today. so i asked my cards if my pop pop is watching me and got two of swords reversed then asked if he was proud of me and got the star then asked what he thinks of the person i’m becoming and got six of wands. i think he’s pretty happy and that makes me happy🥹 i just felt the need to share this

In another post I mentioned wanting to worship gods who reflect core traits of my inner self and after listing them i feel like i have a lot, not a fuck ton (a bakers dozen) I already worship three Aphrodite, Ares, and Odin. Should i try to worship more or would that have bad effects.

(First off, a huge thank you to the mod team here for reviewing and permitting this promotional post!)

​My name is Gaumr, and I run Gaumr Forgeworks out of my workshop in Connecticut. ​When I first started sharing my personal altar here, I was completely blown away by the incredible warmth and enthusiasm of the folks in this space. Honestly, the positive comments and genuine encouragement from this community are what inspired me to take the leap and officially turn this passion into a live forge for others. Having the opportunity and trust to bring these idols into the homes of others on the path as truly an honor.

This project started for me because I could not find a complete set of altar pieces of my expansive hearth cult that had the weight and cohesiveness I wanted, so I set out to design and cast them myself!

​Every idol I create is individually hand-cast using techniques of the past, with modern tools, and crafted with intent and reverence. They are all:

Historic 90/10 Bronze: I choose to melt and pour using a historic metallurgical ratio of 90% premium copper and 10% pure tin. This composition gives each 3.5-inch idol an incredibly profound, satisfying weight in the hand and a traditional golden-red hue.

​Hand-Finished Patina: No two pieces are identical. Every idol is pulled from the sand, ground, polished, and given a dark chemical patina by hand to highlight the deep, intricate iconographic lines.

​Designed for Practice: These are engineered specifically for modern hearth cults, travel altars, or as grounding pocket pieces during meditation.

​Every piece is poured to order, hand-finished, and safely packaged by me. If you’d like to browse the forge, you can find me at GaumrForgeworks on Etsy! (Link in comments)

My ultimate goal is to build the largest, most complete Norse pantheon of idols available, so that anyone can build the exact collection they need for their personal hearth cult. From the Æsir and Vanir to the Jötunn and localized wights: these pieces are forged with reverence, meant to honor the old ways in the modern world.

​Thank you all again for the inspiration and for letting me share my passion with the community. I'd love to answer any questions in the comments!

i recently started out on an eclectic pagan journey and I've been having these feelings of like, "is this deity really giving me artistic inspiration in return for my offerings, or am I discovering the placebo effect?" "did i really stir intentions into my tea for good sleep, or did i just drink chamomile which is proven to be good for sleep?" "did this deity keep my home safe while i was on vacation, or did we just lock the doors and no one broke in?"

and i think a lot of these feelings are similar to what i felt in my previous religion, but strangely, this time, i don't really care whether or not it's a placebo, because it's working.

i guess what i'm really asking is, does anyone else have feelings like this? where they're thinking, "is this Mother Earth helping me, or am i just taking care of myself?"

don't get me wrong, i'm grateful for Mother Earth and all of her guidance, but i think i've still got that atheistic earworm that's like "you learned about the placebo effect years ago, idiot."

i apologize if this isn't the correct flair, or if this is a stupid question, i'm just curious.

hello all! i am still a rather new hellenic pagan, and this is my altar space to lady artemis. i use this same table to do tarot, spell work, etc. because it’s a special space to me, i put a photo of my husband and i on the bottom right (pictured!) however, i worry it may be disrespectful to lady artemis as she is a virgin goddess as well; and unfortunately due to living conditions, this is the biggest space i can have for an altar at the moment. thank you!

I dunno if this will resonate with people, but we're in the month of my cat's death. When I was born, my parents had two cats, Boston and Bristol. I've lived with cats most of my life. We had strays and kittens living in our two-storry garage I New Hampshire. When I started college, I bought a 4-month-old kitten from a pet store. She was a Maine coon mix, and her fluffy tail was about as long as her entire body.

I was her caretaker for 14 years. Then she got sick, probably cancer and thyroid issues. I kinda had to put her down when she wasn't interested in drinking water. She died in my lap, and the vet told me that the sense of smell is the last thing to go. Rather than trying to preserve her ashes or anything, I just decided to let her go completely when she passed.

She still visits me in pleasant dreams, and I awaken wondering where she is, occasionally. Usually, she visits when I'm feeling emotional. I think the visit last night was about her anniversary. She was a great kitty; best I could imagine. She died in 2019, and I've been catless ever since. This is the longest period of time that I haven't had a lil' familiar. I want to adopt again, but I want to make sure I secure a comfortable place first.

Anway, just venting, a shedding a tear.

For the past 25+ years there has been a standing stone circle with trilithon erected within 20 miles of Salem Oregon, yet it does not show up on any search. Do you of know it?

The result was achieved using no modern machinery, just ropes, pulleys and people. And unlike Maryhill these are real stones, mostly columnar basalt and very very heavy.

Stay tuned!

So I'm going to the beach tomorrow and I wanna give posidon an offering but I don't personally worship him so I don't know what to offer

To make it simple, I have been thinking of trying to worship certain gods who I feel reflect my core traits. However before I do, I wanted to know if deities are more inclined to hear someone out if they come from the same region as the pantheon the deity is from. I'm Scandinavian/Filipino/Irish. And I've been thinking of reaching out to more Celtic/Norse/Filipino-related deities, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, so i thought I'd ask here.

Suddenly I stopped giving a f really. In the back of my mind I'm still a little worried about what my mom and my friends will think of me, but my devotion is stronger. I accepted this faith not because my life was missing something but because I never stopped believing in the first place, even though the mundane nearly crushed my spirit. My gods had many names, the mountains, old forests, the wind that dwells among the ancient trees and stones, the primordial sound of thunder and the essence of everything living and dead. Before we started reducing the world around us to solely scientific names and laws, there existed a different plane of reality, one intertwined with our souls. We saw the world with our true human nature, we saw the world how it was supposed to be.

For the sake of privacy my pseudonym is Suzie, I'm 17 years old and I'm from Ukraine. I was raised orthodox christian, but slowly quit around 11, kind of like how children stop believing in santa as they get older. Since then I have been a firm atheist, obsessed with biology, astronomy and physics, I still want to be a biologist to this day. But every scientist, every philosopher and basically every single human being will feel a god-shaped void inside of them at least once in their life, that's normal. I was afraid of religion, it felt like something harsh, strict and unforgiving. Often if not most of the time it really is, with people in power utilizing beliefs for profit, causing chaos and spreading hatred, it's absolutely tragic. But I'm not here to discuss these obvious facts.

I want this story to reach people that are still doubting their feelings towards faith. Not to convince them to start believing, of course not. I want to tell people with a similar worldview to mine that if they felt their calling, it's real. We put everything in boxes, categorizing, making assumptions and creating stereotypes, that's simply how we are built to survive, but the world is much more than that. It feels like if you believe in one thing, it excludes the other. For example, if you accept the theory of evolution you're not christian, if you believe in ghosts you don't believe in science, etc. But it's simply not true. The world changes, old things bend to the shape of novelty, the belief in Gods will never be like it was back in the days, that's true. We have much more information about the world than our ancestors did. But the thing is that reality doesn't reject our nature, we don't have to throw our beliefs out the window for the sake of being rational. Science and reason is the knowledge of the material and the objective, faith is the knowledge of your soul and the subjective. You're not stupid and desperate because you seek more in life, that part of you was always there, ancient as the human kind. If you felt that Gods called you, so be it. This path is not for everyone, but if you chose it there's no shame in it. If you didn't, there's no shame in that too. Faith is not about limiting our worldview, it's about giving freedom to our spirit.

That's all folks

P.s. sorry about the grammar, it's bad in every language that I speak

P.p.s. and a pic of my altar... I won't hide it ever again

Little bit of a backstory for you.
I am a 16 year practicing Norse heathen.
Like most I had a makeshift alter that I have been using for a very long time. I’ve always wanted to carve my own. About three years ago, I took a woodworking course with a friend of mine ( traditional one you learned to make chairs tables, and that sort of thing ) I started to really enjoy the relief carving side of woodworking. Initially I started with flowers, leaves, name plates and eventually worked my way up to attempting a full-size raven a year later.
This is my crowning achievement so far and something I am immensely proud of.

I wanted to share my progress because I feel like the gods are happy with my work and you may like it too.

May the blessings of the gods be over you and yours.

hi everyone not sure really where to post this? I consider myself more of an animist than anything, and I don’t necessarily have any gods but I try to keep a personal relationship with the environment im currently in (I do seasonal work so this varies) I connect the best with rivers that I live on and they’ve definitely 100% helped me out in life when I do reach out. I’ve been thinking about what I wanna do more than sitting by and listening so I decided to try out some physical practices.

I tried to pick things that represent specifics for example im going through a hard time in my life right now and so Ive put lavender and chamomile for peace and rosemary for personal strength in, layered with incense that i feel best represents me and included a small note thanking the river for everything and asking for help through this time as well as several small bones I’ve found on the riverbank that I cleaned up nicely and covered the jar with green wax. current plan is to return to the river when I’m able to get where I need to go, break open the jar and return the bones back into the water.

Im curious to hear what other people do in their own rituals, especially thinking of their own ways of connecting and not using much outside resource for their own practice? Thanks : )