OMG this is my first day of vaction & im bored as ?

I live in MD, but i used to live in NYCtheres nothinq funn to do here so any of yuh have any ideas of wat to do? somethinq excitinq like theme parks, or somethinq to do at niqht?

The rituals and deities are not a requirementThe deities are there if you want to connect with them, but you never have toFor me the deities in my life are ones I have a connection with A lot of the rituals centre around the holidays but sometimes they are because of something you are in need of help with (eg healing) or simply to make a deeper connection with the Earth and nature and the God/Goddess To me, the experience that you had with the rainstorm was a ritualYou felt a connection with nature and what could be more spiritual than thatThey don't need to be done a specific way as long as tehy work for you and you feel the connection you wanted to feelThis is how I feel anyway.

I don't see how, maybe you have just been caught by the stereotype that religious means monotheistic and all the rest is atheism, anything different is strange and unfittingI mean look at some of these answers, they make good pointsHow is Paganism any stranger than Christianity? And I don't believe in the myths, I look at the myths as sort of realistic fictionThey involve real characters (ie Gods, Titans,), but the stories themselves are fakeI believe in the Gods as real beings, while others may disagreeAnd I know what you mean by 'ritual', but I don't get what you mean by 'work'? I mean meditation and chants are rituals, I can accomplish them, does that mean it worked? And the reason why I came to Paganism, is because of the Christian dogmaOne God, who's three people, who can do everything at once, looks like something out of some bad fantasy novelEternal torture for not believing, sounds like a scamLiving for another life, not going to take that chance! But, yet I knew there was a God, something out there, but it wasn't the bible GodThus, I found the old Gods from the stories I love, and found that while the stories are false the Gods are real.

For me, the Gods are very realI did not choose the Gods I worship, they chose meI don't see them as archetypes of my own unconscious mind, and I don't see them as different aspects of One GodI see them as distinct personalitiesTo me Paganism implies Polytheism, so Deities are necessary to what I doI believe in several Gods whom I pray to and worshipAs for rituals, every religion has ritualsMy rituals are either religious - acts of worship, or magickal - intended to produce specific resultsI adore the Gods in order to strengthen my relationship with themWhen I practice Magick, I do so within a ritual structureI perform a banishing ritual to prepare the temple spaceI take a ritual bath to prepare myselfI invoke a deity who governs those aspects of life that I need to effect change in, and then I perform my Magick, whether it is consecrating a talisman or summoning a spiritThen, at the end, I thank the Deity (but never dismiss them) and I banish the temple againThen I like to eat something to ground myself with afterwordsFor me, every part of this ritual structure should be present, but it can be as simple or as complex as the situation warrantsBut I practice Ceremonial MagickMy approach is a lot more structured than some other traditions such as Eclectic Wicca, which reject structure altogetherBut each part of the ritual structure serves a purpose and helps move the ritual along.

As a Pagan and Witch my deities embody the Mother and Father and my rituals all deal with my magickThe preparation of the room, preparation of myself, the raising of my circlehelp me to focus on what I am doingI don't do as much magick as I used toOld age I guessI was raised Pagan so everything I do is what was passed on.I've enjoyed my friend's religions, but I haven't seen any that would suit my tastesThe best thing about being a Pagan is that you drive Christians into a frenzy to convert or change youLittle do they realize that Pagans and Witches are probably better Christian like people than they are.We don't condemn our people to hell, our judgement is swift (if we don't like you we will walk away) and we would rather go for walk than close ourselves up in a church or buildingWe also usually clean up behind other people who are too concerned with the afterlife to see or care about the damage and polution that they leave behindHope this helps.

As a Pagan and Witch my deities embody the Mother and Father and my rituals all deal with my magickThe preparation of the room, preparation of myself, the raising of my circlehelp me to focus on what I am doingI don't do as much magick as I used toOld age I guessI was raised Pagan so everything I do is what was passed on.I've enjoyed my friend's religions, but I haven't seen any that would suit my tastesThe best thing about being a Pagan is that you drive Christians into a frenzy to convert or change youLittle do they realize that Pagans and Witches are probably better Christian like people than they are.We don't condemn our people to hell, our judgement is swift (if we don't like you we will walk away) and we would rather go for walk than close ourselves up in a church or buildingWe also usually clean up behind other people who are too concerned with the afterlife to see or care about the damage and polution that they leave behindHope this helps.

I don't see how, maybe you have just been caught by the stereotype that religious means monotheistic and all the rest is atheism, anything different is strange and unfittingI mean look at some of these answers, they make good pointsHow is Paganism any stranger than Christianity? And I don't believe in the myths, I look at the myths as sort of realistic fictionThey involve real characters (ie Gods, Titans,), but the stories themselves are fakeI believe in the Gods as real beings, while others may disagreeAnd I know what you mean by 'ritual', but I don't get what you mean by 'work'? I mean meditation and chants are rituals, I can accomplish them, does that mean it worked? And the reason why I came to Paganism, is because of the Christian dogmaOne God, who's three people, who can do everything at once, looks like something out of some bad fantasy novelEternal torture for not believing, sounds like a scamLiving for another life, not going to take that chance! But, yet I knew there was a God, something out there, but it wasn't the bible GodThus, I found the old Gods from the stories I love, and found that while the stories are false the Gods are real.

For me, the Gods are very realI did not choose the Gods I worship, they chose meI don't see them as archetypes of my own unconscious mind, and I don't see them as different aspects of One GodI see them as distinct personalitiesTo me Paganism implies Polytheism, so Deities are necessary to what I doI believe in several Gods whom I pray to and worshipAs for rituals, every religion has ritualsMy rituals are either religious - acts of worship, or magickal - intended to produce specific resultsI adore the Gods in order to strengthen my relationship with themWhen I practice Magick, I do so within a ritual structureI perform a banishing ritual to prepare the temple spaceI take a ritual bath to prepare myselfI invoke a deity who governs those aspects of life that I need to effect change in, and then I perform my Magick, whether it is consecrating a talisman or summoning a spiritThen, at the end, I thank the Deity (but never dismiss them) and I banish the temple againThen I like to eat something to ground myself with afterwordsFor me, every part of this ritual structure should be present, but it can be as simple or as complex as the situation warrantsBut I practice Ceremonial MagickMy approach is a lot more structured than some other traditions such as Eclectic Wicca, which reject structure altogetherBut each part of the ritual structure serves a purpose and helps move the ritual along.

The rituals and deities are not a requirementThe deities are there if you want to connect with them, but you never have toFor me the deities in my life are ones I have a connection with A lot of the rituals centre around the holidays but sometimes they are because of something you are in need of help with (eg healing) or simply to make a deeper connection with the Earth and nature and the God/Goddess To me, the experience that you had with the rainstorm was a ritualYou felt a connection with nature and what could be more spiritual than thatThey don't need to be done a specific way as long as tehy work for you and you feel the connection you wanted to feelThis is how I feel anyway.