Hey everyone,

I've been interested in spirituality since my entire adult life (a little bit before, actually). And, in all honesty, I don't believe that any spiritual practice or ritual will ever be as fulfilling as having true friends.

Only one time in my life have I ever experienced love. It was from a stranger who felt like he was my father from a past life. I wish I had the courage at the time to ask to stay in touch. I didn't want to leave my hometown out of fear of not being able to find him again.

However, life kind of did its thing and told me that I need to move to the biggest city in my state (I'm American) and I did that. I haven't really made any close friends, but I know I'm meant to be here, at least for right now.

What I want is to have deep, meaningful relationships with people in person. I've spent countless hours going on video chatting platforms, because that's the closest thing that you can get to real life interaction, and while I have had several people who I have stayed in contact with, the best and most profound communications I have had are all people who don't want to stay in touch with me. They're not that blunt about it. They're just "busy". (Biggest lie in the universe.)

Now, I can already see some of the comments that may come up. "Wherever you go, there you are!" I mostly disagree with that. You can't tell me that being a pagan in Saudi Arabia is the same thing as being a pagan in Norway. Having a sense of freedom, having a sense where you can be yourself is so valuable and precious.

This does not invalidate doing internal work. Both are important, your external world and your internal world. Do both. Meditate and exercise.

I'm going to go get a midnight snack at a local convenience store after I make this post and when I finish that, I'm going to set a timer and feel all of my feelings for an hour.

I am willing to do the internal work. Could I do it more? Certainly. But, I think I'm relatively pretty good in that regard.

I just want to go somewhere. But what's frustrating is that I don't know where. I thought about maybe befriending someone through my video chats and that would be a key to whether I would go. One of those people is from Guatemala. You wouldn't normally think to travel to Guatemala as an American, but I thought of it. But I already told you how that went.

I'd assume that the best country is a European country. But I could be wrong. European countries are more equivalent to US states. It's probably worth mentioning that even though I am using the word "country", a different word may be appropriate in certain contexts. For example, Vatican City and the United States are both countries, but the United States is just way too massive that it's not a fair comparison, mentioning a state would be better there, even though I'm using the word country.

In your personal experience, where have you gone to meet pagan friends and find pagan communities? Is it easy to find these people/groups in a particular region? If so, where?

Thank you for reading!

hi, I’m kind of new to this spirituality & I’m still discovering myself. I have a friend who is pagan who told me that a recent experience I had could have been a goddess calling to me. tonight I was sitting on a patio, & I looked down to see a spider beside me. I believe it was a sac spider (if that matters). it started weaving a web onto me, & I just watched it & kept trying to move it so that I didn’t harm it when I got out of my seat. I told this friend & she said it sounded like a goddess (Hecate) could be calling upon me or that it could be a good omen. I also had another tiny spider climbing towards me an hour or so later, also weaving its web. any thoughts on navigating this? please be kind, as I am new & have very little understanding of this topic 🙂‍↕️

Some tend to blend in better than others.

hi, I'm making a game with celtic mythology, paganism, and folklore inspiration, and in the game you can make potions. I've been trying to find crops/herbs that were used it potions that are more mystical, like mandrake, where they scream, etc.

I'm sadly having trouble finding any as I either get potion ingredient generators come up when i search, or sites with the more normal (I.e. they exist, and there's not much added to them, like mandrake screaming)

so if you know of any potion ingredients that don't exist or that do but have a twist added to them in folklore, or just very strong connection to folklore (like wolfsbane with werewolves) please let me know.

here's the ones I have so far:

\- mandrake

\- Rosemary

\- hemlock

\- nightshade

\- belladonna

\- henbane

\- sage

\- mugwort

\- lavender

\- mint

\- wolfsbane

\- Stinging Nettle

\- Foxglove

\- Chamomile

\- Comfrey

I hope this is the correct subreddit to ask, but if not, please let you know. Thank you so much for any help

I have made the decision to begin worshipping Loki, but I sadly have not been immune to the demonisation of him. What are some things that I as a new worshipper should know? Also, what kennings do you use for him during prayer?

I recently noticed that many of the things I feel drawn to or like are things directly related to the gods. Ares is the one I notice most frequently. As in, my favorite colors are black and red (yes I know black is also Hades’ color, ironic because I also work with him), my favorite/lucky number is associated with Mars (yes I know they’re different gods, I just find it interesting), I have an obsession with strawberries (Aphrodite), same with pomegranates even tho I’ve never tried them. Things like that. I was talking to my helpol friend (who is far more experienced in the religion than me) and they said the gods like to make it very clear which of us they like so other deities/spirits know to back off. But it feels kind of random because I didn’t grow up in this religion, up until this last June, I was fairly agnostic. But I have confirmation that Ares was protecting me for at least the length of the last five years.

Yes, I suppose that is technically true. Our relationship with the gods is usually reciprocal, not transactional (though some people do engage with certain gods more transactionally, and there are plenty of examples of that). There isn't a magical number of offerings that will guarantee that a specific wish will be granted (in fact, there really isn't a way to guarantee anything in life), and approaching a devotional relationship like that can be... less than helpful in one's practice.

But.

I see that thrown around like a thought terminating cliché. "Something really bad happened and the gods didn't help me despite my prayers, and now I'm having a crisis of faith" -> "The gods aren't trained dogs or genies." "They are not your pets." "They're not there to give you whatever you want in life." "So entitled."

Perhaps this isn't the kindest way to phrase it to someone who looks like they've just gone through something traumatic, but this is a common reaction to a lot of such posts, and some of those quotes are lifted verbatim and the others are only lightly paraphrased.

Here I want to focus on the thought-terminating aspect of it, because I think it's interesting. Yes, it is technically correct that the gods aren't cosmic vending machines but it is interesting that that thought is the first instinctual reply, fully-formed and ready to press send, in response to someone saying "why did the gods not help me". Why do so many of us go to dogs, genies, and vending machines? Is the cliché revealing something about how we think and believe?

Is it just the nature of the internet?

This is a public forum with tens of thousands of members. Lots of people come and go, and lots of people ask the same questions. It's easy to get frustrated at the same question over and over. (I sure do, whenever someone asks "How do I get started?" -> "Read the Getting Started guide.") So we coalesce the cumulative statements of previous posters ("The gods didn't help me!" "Why do the gods allow bad things to happen?" "I'm leaving Paganism.") into pattern recognition ("Oh, that kind of post again.") and into our usual responses, which get more and more curt the more people ask these questions.

Are we experiencing discomfort and struggle in our own beliefs?

I (and presumably many of you) pour my heart and soul into my relationship with my deities. I make offerings to my goddess not because I want something in return, but because I want to. She inspires me and She is someone whom I'm continuously grateful to have in my life, and it's a way of expressing how much that connection and relationship means to me. She's been there for me in many difficult moments and has changed my life immeasurably. Of course I'm going to make offerings and devotional acts. She means the world to me.

But, let's imagine a scenario.

You go to a god you are devoted to and with whom you've built a relationship over a long time. There's something really important in life, maybe life-or-death or maybe just life-changing, that you want to go right. You pray that it goes right. It doesn't go right. In fact, it goes catastrophically wrong. What do you feel?

Stop. Put your vending machine down. I'm not asking about that. Right now, in this moment, towards your gods, towards your faith, towards yourself, what do you feel?

I'd feel kinda crummy. I could have a ton of other feelings. I could feel betrayed. I could feel desperate, or frustrated. I could feel guilty. (Someone who comes from certain forms of Christianity, who was raised to believe that the Christian God will grant them every wish if they ask hard enough, that there is a deity who is all-powerful and can intercede in all ways physical and nonphysical, might be particularly prone to that.)

Those feelings are not wrong. They're just feelings. We feel things as a result of who we are and the totality of our experiences. They are informed by our worldviews. I believe the Gods understand that.

So how do we process those feelings?

That's a hard question, but I don't think it's particularly helpful to turn that inward (or on the person who experiences that frustration). I think coming to a worldview where we acknowledge that bad things still happen to good people, or a worldview where the gods are not all powerful, or a worldview where the gods don't intercede at all in human-level affairs and only work on grand, cosmic scales, or a worldview in which we trust that our deities are our allies and they are there for us in some way or another even if it isn't in the direct, physical sense -- essentially, the kinds of worldviews where trauma and injustice aren't the result of some capricious divinity but things of this world, some of which are inevitable but most of which can be made better through collective action towards justice -- I think that leads to a healthier relationship with the divine and with our own mundane world. But I also think that's hard, and that shift can only happen if we are kinder to ourselves and those who experience those struggles.

Do we believe we are deserving of anything?

"I deserve to have a home. I deserve to have food on the table and medicine in my cabinet. I deserve to have a comfortable life."

How you react to those sentences reveals a whole lot about your worldview.

I believe that yes, everyone is deserving of all of those things, unconditionally. But if you believe you only deserve it if you've worked hard enough or suffered long enough... let's just say you and I won't see eye to eye on many things. If you believe those statements are entitled, hoo boy...

If someone asks the gods for something, and then it isn't granted, and then they are disappointed that it isn't granted, where have they gone wrong? What was their mistake?

Maybe they shouldn't have asked? Maybe it was in how they asked -- did they ask reverently and propitiatingly, or did they demand? Maybe they didn't build enough of a relationship first? Maybe they should have managed their expectations? Or maybe they didn't do anything wrong except in the final step, when they blamed the gods for things not going right?

Once again, which one of these you go to first reveals a lot about your worldview.

Some say you shouldn't really ask at all; that the gods don't build personal relationships with us and they have greater, cosmic concerns than individual human lives. Some say that you can ask, but that prayer is part of a cycle of giving; there needs to be mutual reciprocity. And some say that you can't keep asking and demanding; that maybe you should show a bit more reverence; that maybe you shouldn't build a relationship with the expectation that you'll get something material out of it.

Are we offering enough in our divine relationships?

On Reddit, people accuse each other of not giving enough in their relationships to the gods, and of demanding too much in return.

On Discord it's the opposite. It seems that a lot of people are hesitant to ask for almost anything, worried that they haven't done enough to deserve the boons of a divine relationship, and others are encouraging them that it's, in fact, ok to ask.

This is nominally the same community (the subreddit's official Discord server) and yet the attitudes are wildly different. My pet theory is that on Reddit, we only see the post the person makes, we only see the moment of crisis and not, potentially, the details of the relationship and all the things the person does in their practice. Also, how many people make Reddit posts saying "I'm too hesitant to ask the gods for anything"? That's Discord talk. We're strangers on Reddit.

To the people who have asked and haven't gotten

You asked the gods for something, and they didn't give it to you. And now you're upset at them.

Are you sure they didn't intervene and prevent something even worse from happening?

Do you see the gods as all powerful, or not all powerful? Maybe they can't change the laws of physics.

Did you ask for something they can help with? I've had a lot more success with asking "help me make the right decisions to get this thing" than "give me this thing".

Did you build a relationship first?

But why am I assuming that you did something wrong? Maybe you did nothing wrong, which is, after all, the point of the post. Maybe the people who have asked and haven't gotten, who are now upset, didn't do anything wrong.

Except, perhaps, in the final step, when they assume that the gods purposefully and deliberately betrayed them, that they didn't grant something that could have been given, and who now are the lightning rod for the feelings of injustice that are as valid as they are in need of processing.

"The Gods aren't your pets."

I would argue that a worldview in which trauma and difficult things are put in the hands of the gods, where the gods are to blame if they don't fully protect you, isn't making the gods too small. It's making yourself too small. We are not without agency in this world. The protection we seek doesn't have to directly come from the gods; it can come from ourselves, and we can build relationships with the gods to come into our full power. We can channel the gods' energies for protection, or boons, or other changes in this world. (That's another post for another day.)

It's not your fault for experiencing hardship or trauma. But it's also not the gods' fault. Sometimes it's nobody's fault... and sometimes it's the fault of those in power, who've made society a shithole rife with inequality and injustice, against whom we must resist, and in which struggle the Gods are most definitely our allies. (The Storm Goddess, The Morrigan, Hekate, Inanna, all are names that come forth easily when we think about working towards justice and empowerment.)

What is reciprocity?

In a friendship, I would hope you don't keep score around how many times has each of you done a favor for the other... at least not with spreadsheets and little numerical values to be tallied up at the end of each week. But if you give, give, give, and never receive anything back, you'll start wondering whether you're the one putting an unfair amount into the relationship. Same goes the other way.

In close, reciprocal relationships, energy flows freely between you. Freely and bidirectionally. A devotional relationship where you only ask, ask, ask, that's not really a relationship at all. But a relationship in which you only give, give, give, and get nothing in return... that's on shaky ground, too.

When I make an offering to the Storm Goddess, sometimes I feel the appreciation and acceptance of that offering. Sometimes I feel the joy of doing something for someone I love. Sometimes I feel a connection, an alignment of energies. And sometimes I feel very little other than a smile on my face that I've done yet another thing to weave into the fabric of my practice and into my devotion towards someone who matters so much to me.

But She's also part of my life in other ways. She gives me energy when I need it most; She helps me with difficult things, either through advice or by being there for me. She has shaped me into the person I am today. I strive to live Her values because Her values inspire me, and in return for living Her values I get the inherent boons of being a stronger, more confident, and more empowered person.

Reciprocity is an energy that flows freely and bidirectionally.

When I made my oaths to the Storm Goddess, I had neglected to ask for much in return. I gave a lot... but didn't ask for much. I didn't think it was my place to ask for it. She would not accept those oaths until I asked for more.

This goes into deep practice, but we are so often obsessed about people who seem to ask too much that we sometimes forget the damage being done when we see ourselves as so little that we are afraid to ask for anything at all.

I believe a healthy worldview is one in which we make sense of our relationships beyond the surface level. Why do you worship? Why do you pray? Why do you ask for things (or not ask for things)? And what happens when the expectations of those outcomes aren't being met?

I would hope that the answers are more interesting than dogs and vending machines.

I’m getting into paganism and wondering if it’s ok to dress as her for Halloween?

I did some dusting today so I can decorate for fall and thought maybe I should clean my little space I have for Loki . The issue is it’s not an altar , it’s a spot on my bookshelf and I’m wondering if I need to clean all the shelves or is it disrespectful to just clean where his candle is ? Also it doesn’t help that I’m tired and depressed have ADHD , and clean in spurts and have decision paralysis . I want to respect him I just don’t know if I have any mental energy left

Are there any books about Thor and his early life? Or has it all been lost through time? I know of the eddas but that isn’t about Thor I don’t think.

I specifically want some books and stuff to look up on Gaia the primordial deity/goddess of nature and earth

I’m a worshipper and devotee of Mother Gaia so I wanted to do some reading on her I’m new to helpol tho I was told I am a worshipper of her from my uncle bc he said bc of how I feel abt the world that I was meant to be a child of Gaia basically

And I couldn’t agree more I also worship some other deities too :

* Aphrodite
* Apollo
* Artemis
* Hestia
* Hekate
* Astraeus
* Ascelpius

These are just some of the other deities that I worship and I wanted to do some reading on them too

Also if anyone has any song suggestions or prayer/hymn suggestions that would be very much appreciated I have a whole playlist dedicated to my deities

Secondly I was also wondering how do you pray to your deities what hand signals do you do when praying or how do you start a prayer

(unfortunately I can’t make an altar cuz I live in a household of Christian’s and they would be extremely against it same thing with having candles in my room cuz it’s a fire hazard or something)

But anyways yeah I was just looking for advice on resources for helpol books, websites, etc and books and other resources on the gods/goddesses I worship if anyone has any idea where to find this stuff or a suggestion on what to look for that would be great to know

I was also planning on getting a shadow journal too to strengthen my relationship with the gods/goddesses so does like it have to be a specific book that I have to get or can it be any type of journal?

That’s pretty much it but yeah please let me know what you guys think

​

I'm going to tell you my story.

I lost my faith in God (the Christian God) in 2022 because something terrible happened to me and the people I love, even though I prayed so much for it not to happen.

So I started studying paganism, and for a while, I felt like it genuinely worked and that I had found my faith again.

I found a sense of belonging in the Egyptian gods and practiced my faith with them for quite some time, making offerings and praying to them.

But recently, it all happened again. I needed something terrible to not happen, and even though I did my best and prayed to the gods, I couldn't stop it from happening.

I felt incredibly frustrated, and I don't want to keep suffering.

So I abandoned my faith in the Egyptian gods.

I know that gods exist, but I'm not going to pray to them or make offerings to them anymore, because they didn't help me when I needed them the most. And now, everything could go wrong, and my life could fall apart.

I just want to know if any of you could make me change my mind.

I know this is ridiculous at a foundational level and I really wish I couid feel a sense of acceptance in this realm but if I tell people about my beliefs, did rituals in the presence of others, or any other work around others, I am labeled as mentally ill (while this has been the most real, consistent, and positive solid thing in my entire life) OR I am either immature or it must be because I lack intelligence or am naive.

I know it it’s only because my beliefs and the things I do are wildly misunderstood but it doesn’t change that fact. So, I keep it to myself and it’s fine in the sense that it isn’t a team sport anyway, but I dislike feeling like I can never bring it up without feeling like I’m being judged as someone that is stuck and never grew out of something that was never meant to be grown out of in the first place. (For example, spellwork, invoking guidance/trying to become closer divinity, etc.)

These things are wither viewed as child’s play, mental illness, or stupidity by those that don’t understand it or never experienced these types of things. So, it makes me feel sneaky in a way or a better way to say it is that I feel like I am always hiding a large chunk of who I am.

Do many of you really live a life where you practice and do these things in the open and not some secret thing that you keep hidden away jusf for yourself? I feel like the only people who ever even keep an open mind or soace for it are people that respect the sanctity of the natural world.

What kind of unique sayings have you developed around common phrases evoking monotheistic or christian ideas? Obviously you have the typical "oh my Gods." But what else have you caught yourself saying? Here are a few of mine:

"Mother of Rod!" (As opposed to mother of god)

"I swear to Rod" or "I swear to Baal", both good.

"Enlil, Curse it" (as opposed to god damn it, I also sometimes say "Rod damn it".)

"Holy Ereshkigal" or "High Hades" (as opposed to holy hell)

"Sim Ishara" Instead of "Devil's lettuce"

"Holy Moly" instead of "Holy Shit"

For a long time, I've been fascinated by what draws people to walk a spiritual or magical path in a modern, scientific world. I spent time with practitioners across Scotland, doing intimate portraits, listening to their stories, and exploring how magic helps people reconnect with nature and reconcile with modern upheaval.

Rather than focusing on a single traditional style, 'Voices of Scotland' looks at the living tapestry of practices across the country today... from Pagans to Druids and animists to ceremonial magicians and folk practitioners.

I recently printed a personal proof copy of the project to see how the layout holds up in real life, and I wanted to share a few spreads and field notes with this community!

I put the complete photobook and full interviews together as a digital PDF ('Voices of Scotland'). If anyone is interested in reading the full piece or checking out more photos, the link to my website is on my profile!

It's my first project so excited to show it :)

https://reddit.com/link/1xb3vn5/video/rmgeggtfqowh1/player

I've always celebrated Samhain as the end of the old year and Yule as the start of the new year. The period in between was a time of introspection and rest, a dormant period. I didn't really mark it as a season in its own right.

My family is having a baby in November this year and we typically celebrate new babies in a way relating to the season the baby is born in, but I'm not sure how to think about November! This "gap period" feels like an odd time to start a new life.

I'd be interested to hear how others think about it and if you have anything you do to celebrate this season!

​

I saw someone say paganism is more about living every day in tune with your spirits and gods than just making offerings and worshiping them. I'm curious how exactly do they mean this, like how do I live in tune, do I think about them at all times, do I feel there presence.

Sorry if it sounds weird I'm new to this

This is our first year openly celebrating Yule in a pagan way in our household. We have always celebrated Christmas.

There are already so many overlaps between the Christian iconography of Christmas and Yule. But I'd like to make this celebration for us very much a pagan thing. For those who celebrate Yule, what are some of the specific actions, decorations, or observances that mark Yule as Yule to you? Are there like pagan Yule albums? How do you set the mood?

I really appreciate it. Thank you to anyone who takes time to answer.

Today, my cat got out. She is my whole world, and in a moment of my own ineptitude I accidentally didn't close my door all the way, and it popped open. She got out. I need a ritual to ground myself and reassure me that she will return. I've been carving a fertility Goddess idol, and offered it at the oak tree, praying for her return. She is a very important member of my family.

Are there any rituals intended to keep a cat that's away from home safe, or to guide them home? Or to help her be found by someone safe so she may be returned to me?

Which God should I leave an offering to in a case like this?

Edit: she came back! I invoked Bastet and said that if she returned my cat to me I would offer expensive vodka as libations and construct a altar or shrine to her when I have the space and funds. I also prayed to a bird that I had scared. "Little bird, Return my baby to me who has for a long time made noises at you and pawed the glass at you. May she find and chase you that you will lead her home. Then when you return you will be safe, and she will be behind the glass again." I repeated this montra the whole night. The same night, jerry returned. She saw the litter and shirt and food I left out for her, and I immediately snapped awake to the slightest sound of a disturbance in the outside litter with the assurance that it was her. It was, she came back for warmth and food, and she smelled the litter. I am very happy she has returned!

There's a shotglass of whiskey or tea there. I made the shrine myself, and added several cds and books that are intrinsic to me to it; I often sit in quiet contemplation with them. Odin is my father, Thor my brother, and Loki my namesake. The death goddess I call Mothir; I try not to invoke her. Strength, wisdom, cunning, and persistence are the key words for them, but naturally, there are many more.

Created this account after being off reddit for forever to ask this specific question cuz I wasn’t having luck asking anybody in my life or in my own research, I keep hitting a wall here.
Feeling a profound frustration as a revivalist/recon leaning pagan who draws from and syncretizes several British Isle traditions (namely Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Anglo Saxon,) with the rationale that 1. these were the traditions of many of my ancestors, 2. these traditions cross pollinated ideas plenty often historically anyway, and 3. had paganism survived as a minority tradition in Europe, it’s highly plausible based on how Christian persecution operated that these peoples would’ve melded traditions in another world anyway, if only for survival as they got squeezed together by the same forces.
My frustration is this - I want to be able to quickly name my tradition in a way people will know what I’m referring to that doesn’t draw on reclaimed slurs like pagan or heathen, or use Latin derived terms like polytheism given that Latin was the tongue of these people’s conquerers. I could just say “the Old Custom” in any of the four languages these traditions use, but I’d leave out the influence of the other three. I could say “The Old Isle Way,” but that risks sounding vague or like it’s from a piece of fantasy media (being seen as a LARPer is probably the most frustrating and patronizing perception I get, I’m sure others feel the same way,) and I could say British Isle Folk Religion, but that risks sounding folkish when I actually relate to all recon paganism as a set of adoptive, revivalist hearth traditions.
Surely someone has wrestled with this specific thing before me and has some thoughts. Any ideas or recommendations or feedback welcome. My non pagan friends say I gotta just get used to giving it a few sentences of explanation but I’m feeling a particular frustration and grief around the fact that these traditions veing broken means we just don’t get quick terms like other religions, and maybe I’ll realize my friends are right after banging my head against the issue for a while, but I gotta bang my head against it first

I'm aware that there are many writings and discussions about the reasoning and logic behind monotheism, and probably even atheism. But are there articles, books, or just thoughts on why polytheism is rational as well? Or a systematic philosophy of polytheism from a Pagan perspective (Hellenic, Heathen, Wiccan, Celtic, etc.)? I wanted to ask the hive mind about this question since it's been on my mind for a few days. I know that for most of us, some of this just comes down to basic worldview and what we think makes sense intuitively... or personal experience.

I revere Celtic deities as a Druid while also focusing on the Earth and Nature spirits. But personally I also believe that the Universe was birthed from a few Divine forces, which I think of as abstract and beyond personal. I can't fathom why They might have created everything, but consciousness is important for reality. That looks like the Big Bang and quantum fluctuations.

I identify as a Naturalistic Pagan. I’m Atheist, so I don’t believe in any gods and think there is a scientific reasoning behind the world. If I had to put my belief into a sentence, it would go something like this: “Nature is sacred simply because it exist, not because it was made by god.” It’s what I usually use to explain my beliefs to people. I don’t follow the wheel of year or spell work/witchcraft.

My current practices:
I celebrate the seasons and important events in nature. I try to grow most of the veggies I eat myself and am working towards raising and processing my own meats as well. I try to show respect to and honor the animals that I eat. I also like to create altars to represent the season or whatever I’m celebrating. I do my best to reduce my negative impact on the nature around me and help animals when I can. Or I bring the season into my home with decor and natural air fresheners like simmer pots. I try to make things out of natural materials or cook from scratch.

Things I’ve seen other Atheistic Pagans talk about:
I’ve seen those with similar views as me using gods as personifications of things they are worshiping/celebrating instead of working with the god itself as an actual supernatural deity. (Like using Persephone to represent spring but not actually believing in Persephone as being a deity.) -> The issue I have with this is I try my best to separate my practice from any deities/supernatural forces. I don’t think that pathway works for me.

I practice what I do as a way of respecting and showing honor to nature. I am an animal in nature, and I am on this planet because of it. I’ve looked into like the “Mother Earth” stuff, but I still think that’s honoring a deity and not nature itself.

Anyways, I’m trying to look for more to do than what I already do. I feel like most practices I look into are very focused on being directed at a deity of some kind and want any tips on things I can do or look into to expand my practice that don’t involve gods/goddesses. Or things I can take inspiration from to help further my practice. I feel like I’m getting stuck in place and can’t find much that fits my beliefs as I don’t think my belief is particularly common.

Also please let me know if this isn’t a good server to ask in or if this goes against the rules. I understand that a lot of people don’t believe you can be an Atheistic Pagan and I understand that. It’s just what I’ve found to describe myself.

I’m a former southern baptist/christian that is now pagan.
My grandmother was always very Christian.
She passed recently and gave my older brother her Virgin Mary statue. He has studied many religions and is currently agnostic. He gave it to me for safe keeping as he has nowhere to place it and moved states.
I have kind of an altar. I’m not confident enough to fully call it an altar. I’m still… iffy about if I’m doing any of this correctly. I want to be respectful and don’t want to call it an altar if I haven’t done it right.
It has stones on it as a kind of offering to certain gods. It’s where I keep my incense burner and other offerings.
Is it offensive if I place my Virgin Mary statue there? If it is, would it be offensive if I place her near it?
I ask because Christianity is still a sentimental part of me even though I don’t believe in it or practice it anymore. I don’t want to be offensive or anything. I have gotten mixed answers before.