The Mixed Path of a Past Lost One

[Valleeli]

Okay, looks like this is going to be a longer one from me, so I'll try to separate things into separate posts to make things a little easier for anyone reading this over. I'm open to questions, but I ask that you either PM me them for now or just wait until I take the “(Under Construction)” off the thread title. Thank you!

*Note: Most of this will not make much sense to anyone who reads it coming in here with a mindset of “let's just see what she's got going on in her crazy little mind then go back to my stuff.” It makes more sense if you simply view it from the perspective of someone who was lost in the world, started studying different paths all at once, and just built off of what she felt was true in all of them. Because that's basically what I did. It may just be my imagination playing tricks on me, but it is what I believe is the best system for me and I'm sticking to it! (I am still open to suggestions and alterations based on what everyone can tell me about their own Paths since I don't really know too much about any one Path by itself)

Announcements: Okay, I think I'm done, feel free to post any questions or comments you may have!

Updates: (Mar 2) Wow, that was "Under Construction" for maybe about 10 minutes? cat_xd cat_xd cat_xd  

[Valleeli]

Table of Contents:
Thread Intro
ToC
1 ) Deities
2 ) Central Beliefs
3 ) History
4 ) Core Myths
5 ) Ethics
6 ) Sabbats
7 ) Rituals
8 ) Personal Background
9 ) Sources

 

[Valleeli]

Post One: Deities

I've chosen to start with deities because it is important to understand what deities are involved and how they are involved, otherwise nothing will make any sense from here out.

Father God and Mother Goddess: In other words, in my opinion anyway, they're kind of like the ruling forces behind all the other deities and the happenings within their domain (how big that is, I do not know as of yet.) They may be powerful, but they do not choose to control everything, instead enforcing the idea of free will to all, to a certain extent. (Their people should not take their gods and goddesses for granted and should show respect to the world they were given. If this does not happen, then the individuals who choose to not listen will be forced to suffer in the consequences of their own actions.)

I call them “Father” and “Mother” often because they, to me, are the parents of all things. Also because when you think of parents, you often think of a couple who are connected and equal to each other. This is how I view them. They are opposites, this much is true, but they are equal and both on the side of good. Like the sun and the moon, which could be counted as their symbols, they both ally with the good things of the Earth and help them to live and grow. I do believe there is an evil side as well, because another part of it is that there must be an equal balance between all things otherwise the world would be thrown in to chaos, but I don't know very much about the evil side at this time. Basically, the Father and the Mother are the leading deities in my personal Path.

The Elements: There would be four of them (a generalized idea that seems to have stuck with me.) Air, Water, Fire, and Earth. Combined, they would make Spirit, which is why Spirit is not listed among them. I view them as the children of the Mother and the Father, the first four creations that they made themselves. It was most likely these Elemental Children, with the help of the Father and the Mother, who built the Earth. Not necessarily all the living things that currently inhabit it, but the planet itself, built up from the rocks and metals in space to the wonder of nature it is today. Each Child would have it's own personality based on its characteristics, along with general control over their own element and a small army of individual spirits sent out on the Earth to keep watch over their set of balances. Of course, they would all have their limits as well, and they would have their own system of balance to keep everything harmonious, but they would also have a decent amount of spiritual power for themselves to help keep that balance as strong as they could.

Other Major Deities: After the human race evolved (yes, there is a little science mixed in here as well,) other deities formed as well. To me, they all started out as simple religions thought up by humans, but then, over time, the more people that believed in them, the more those deities became real, until they actually became real, and had their own domains and their own powers and were true deities living among the Elements and the Father and the Mother wherever they may be out there.

Spirits: The final item on this list is Spirits. As in spirits in general. Like nature spirits, elemental spirits, and even the spirits in people occasionally. All of these can be, maybe not worshiped exactly, but at least respected, and can have homage paid to them as well, depending on who it is, which spirit it is, and what relation they have to that spirit.  

[Valleeli]

Post Two: Central Beliefs

As previously stated, one of the core beliefs that I have is the belief that there must be a balance between all things, and without that balance, everything will fall into chaos. That doesn't mean someone could have more bad than good in them, or more good than bad, there are actually many examples of people like this no matter where you go in your life. But it does mean that even good people have a little bad and that the worst people do have a little good in them.

Second would be the belief of the elemental balances. Each of the elements must join together in one body to create the soul of a human. This would mean that many animals and plants and such could be controlled mainly by one elemental deity, but they would also have a mix in them. For example, birds would be mostly Air, but also have a little Earth in them as well. Fish would be mostly water, but some could have some Fire in them, or some Earth, depending on what kind of water dweller it is. Plants are more Earth based, but can have other elements in them, too. Like the balance between good and bad, the elemental balance can also lean one way or another. Someone, like me, could have more Air in them than others, but still keep the balance in their souls because there are those other elements in them as well, not just the one. Not to say that animals and plants ect, ect, ect, don't have souls, it's just that they are slightly different than the souls of humans in terms of the natural balance they have.

Of course, there is the belief of the many deities and how they are all connected through the human race and their personal beliefs, which was partly stated in the past post as well. I do still believe more in the Mother and the Father than any other specific set of deities, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in the others at all.

I also believe heavily in Reincarnation, which to me has been proven by the existence of my own soul spirit, Sapphire. Although some would just call her a conscious, she seems to have her own personality and memories separate from my own, which is why I call her my “soul spirit” instead of “just a part of who I (mentally) am.” New souls are created and old souls give up their cycles when ready, and who gets which soul, or who is reborn as who, all is in the hands of the Mother, the Father, and the soul's own beliefs of their past lives.

A few additives to this belief system would be gemstones (and normal stones) and their connections and effects to people. Herbs and plants and their power (after all, they are the medicine before medicine,) and some chakra ideas and other spiritual body systems.  

[Valleeli]

Post Three: History

I'm going to explain this “History” thing as more of a history that leads up to where I come in instead of a history on the path itself. This is mainly because it's a path I've set up for myself and doesn't really have a history beyond me.

This one will be a hard one to explain, because I don't really know all the history that would have happened in my belief system because I wasn't there for all of it (or at least Sapphire wasn't, though she's existed LONG before I was even born)

I believe it goes something like what I've said before....

It started with the Father and the Mother, who both somehow preexisted somewhere outside the Earth. That's the part I know the least about, because I have no idea where or when they would have come from and why they chose to connect and begin the Earth in the first place. My questions of this aside, they appeared, and they created, and they set the balances, and life began.

Here's where the science parts come in. There is no way that all those scientists are wrong about EVERYTHING that has gone on. They have more physical evidence than pretty much any religion does (no offense to anybody, but it is at least a little bit true, they have the fossils and the carbon dating systems and all this other stuff that goes with it.) In my opinion, life would have started similarly to what the scientists say, it probably started out organism by organism, and it evolved up from individual cells into full out creatures, which were created and destroyed based on either pure luck (good or bad) or a guiding hand from above (also either good or bad.) Over time, things were developing nicely, and then that guiding hand appeared again and threw a monkey wrench into the natural order of things up to that point.

(Enter some Christianity nonsense here) The Father most likely was the one who originally had the idea of humans, which is why so many people only believe in the one God, (they don't really know the rest of it, or don't believe it, or it was just left out,) but they must also have been a mix of everything that existed spiritually at that point. To me, that's why scientists can never really find that missing link, because They took something that was already there (in this case, the apes) and recreated a form of it into something that was beyond any natural abilities of the Earth. This is also why there is such a delicate balance inside humans, because not only are they physically here, but they're also spiritual existences that are unlike any other that existed before.

Humans then existed peacefully with their environment for a long period of time, until they started believing themselves to be better than the other creatures around them and started their takeover of the planet. Most believe that was for our own benefit, but I think that the human race didn't need to go so far as to destroy nature to achieve their own ends (again, sorry if this offends anybody.) Life goes on, and that pretty much leads up to the present day. In terms of how long all of this took, probably the 4-point-something years scientists think it took for the Earth to get to where we are now, just in a different way than they think.  

[Valleeli]

Post Four: Core Myths

Core myths is another hard one to think of. I guess the “myths” could be something like the various religions I picked at to form this Path of mine. I guess I'll just go with that.

The main two, the Father and the Mother, would probably be a mix of Christianity (for the Father) and...maybe Wicca (for the Mother,) (meaning the ancient early similar forms of the concept before the official religion was formed in the late 40s / early 50s)

The Elements can also be based on Wicca, because that's where I took the original idea for those four elements from when I was researching. But the Elements can also be from other religious beliefs as well, so I don't think that one is solely just Wiccan, though it was heavily influenced by it.

The other deities are, obviously, from the various religions from across the globe. To me this is anything that any group of people have or still worship, just all mixed and weaved together into a whole system. Of course, the differences between the deities still remain the same. To their own people, they are what they are and they control what they are said to control, but it's more only to and for their own worshipers than it is for everyone in the world. The beliefs are the key to how powerful each deity is.

There also is a little science mixed in all this, though I'm not sure that could honestly be considered a “Myth” at all. Honestly, a lot of science has very convincing evidence, and I just couldn't completely ignore it when there is so much of evidence from science and so little for my own Path.  

[Valleeli]

Post Five: Ethics

The ethics for my Path are pretty simple, they're the basic rules that everyone should follow as human beings, with just a little bit added and a lot of respect required.

Basically, it is just respect. Respect, respect, respect.

Respect yourself as a human. Respect all other humans. Respect all the creatures that share this world with you. Respect the Earth itself. Respect the Balance. Respect all Deities (even if they are not your own.) (You can respect them without having to worship them as well.) Respect the Elements and the part they play. And above all else, just respect individuality and treat others the way you would want to be treated, even if they're not exactly your best friend or if you even hate them. No one said you had to like someone to respect someone. Also, respect others and their choice of religion, if they chose it for themselves, it's what they believe, and no one should have the right to mess with that.

There isn't really much to be had beyond that I guess, as long as you respect everyone and everything that deserves your respect, then you should have a fairly peaceful and balanced life, or so I believe anyway.  

[Valleeli]

Post Six: Sabbats

This ones another toughy, because since I've mixed up a whole bunch of religions, I don't really have any set Sabbats. Sure, I celebrate most major holidays, but I also celebrate more obscure things like the crescent and full moons, the changes in the seasons (if I can figure out a set date in which to celebrate these,) and other various days which I feel myself are worth celebrating.

For example, I take Saturdays as a day to relax and unwind from the long week, and instead spend Fridays and Sundays doing any other work that I have to, the only exceptions to this would be if I had prearranged plans or if something important enough to take me away from that day comes up. Kind of like how Christianity normally seems to take Sundays as their worship days and days to not work, ect. I don't exactly use those days to “worship” exactly, since I just thank everyone I can for the good days and life that I have whenever I get the chance, but I often use Saturdays to reconnect with my soul and take care of my mental/emotional, spiritual, and occasionally physical needs. I also like to spend Saturdays outside when I have the chance, so I can also reconnect with nature (which can be difficult sometimes because I live in the middle of my town.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that to me and my Path, there are some important Sabbat days to pay attention to throughout the year, but any day can be special to whoever is treating it as a special day.  

[Valleeli]

Post Seven: Rituals

Another section that is kind of an odd one for me. Any rituals that would be done on my Path would generally be created and practiced by the individual instead of a group, though groups who all want to practice the same rituals could practice together if they wanted to.

I don't do many rituals myself. I do make elemental circles when I need to meditate or want to just speak with the Mother and the Father when I need guidance. The only “rituals” I have really done (and I'm not even sure if I did them right) were things like honoring ancestors and late family on Halloween, or simple things like (attempting to manage) a blessing on some object for some use in some way, like protection or peace of mind or whatever else (can't remember all of it) and that's more of an “asking for a deity's blessing (or the elements)” than actually doing the blessing by my own personal power (which wouldn't exactly give it the same level of useful energies even if I did use it)

So basically, to each their own once again. Whoever does which rituals is up to the person themselves, but I'm perfectly fine just using circles, doing blessings, and the occasional prayer to whoever I may be praying to at the time through means that may seem like rituals to some.  

[Valleeli]

Post Eight: Personal Background

Here's where things get interesting (or just a little weird depending on what your view on it is.) I apparently have a fairly long history following Paths similar to or exactly like this one, though I didn't even really know the first thing about the first thing until about the 4th grade, and then didn't pick up anything really important until 9th. Anyway, back to the story here. Please don't criticize me on this (beyond questions and an alternate point of view, haters will not be permitted), because it's what I believe, no matter how completely whacky it may seem to you.
Okay, here I go.....

Apparently, I have been reincarnated They only know how many times since before the Earth even existed itself. This goes back to the “history” section of this really long thread on my Path (which just seems to be getting longer and longer as I go....) Mostly the part that goes along with the Elements. According to the self that is my soul (a separate being from myself though we technically probably share a body and soul), she agrees with the name “Sapphire,” she is an ancient elemental spirit from WAY back, probably from around the time the original Elements were created if she is not one of them herself (which I'm not to sure about that part, it's too early to tell with her) Anyway, her element is Air or Wind, and she brings with that elemental power a strong connection between it and me, almost like an affinity if you will. Meaning, I am deeply connected with the Elements, Air in particular, and sometimes feel like I can almost hear (or sense, I guess) the voices of the other wind spirits as they blow by.

Sapphire herself existed before the Earth's creation, and has some small memories about it's creation and much of Earth's history as an existence in it inside of her, which sometimes have come back to me as myself in this life so strongly that I can just feel that they're real, sometimes so real I could swear they were my own. Most of these memories are scattered and very short, and many of them are about the past deaths she has gone through, but they are still there, and I can sometimes tap into them. She's been reborn so many times even she can't remember all of her old lives and old names, which is a little exciting for me because I can sort of remember all sorts of things that most people couldn't even if they were there in their past lives. I attribute the entire memory process between us to her spiritual power, not my own. So even if this sounds a little like bragging, it's more Sapphire than it is Me, so it's not really Me that I might be bragging about if I am bragging.

Sapphire also quite literally has a mind of her own. When I've seen doctors (for other reasons besides this whole thing) they've called her my “conscious” because she's like a separate thought process in my head outside my own that I can converse with, which would normally be a sign of insanity, but she only tells me what she knows of the past and about things I normally would know nothing about on my own, and she always guides me in the direction she thinks is best. She can have quite the attitude, however, and sometimes it is really obvious that she's different from me, even though I'm the one in charge of the body and she's more of the soul part.

Why does this all relate to my Path? If you haven't guessed already, it was Sapphire who guided me to research more into other religions, and has brought her version of a Path into my current life, even though some of it is Me and some of it is Sapphire, it's all still coming from my “soul” so to speak, so I feel it's as close to a real answer to my truth of the beyond as I'm going to get.

I seem to just be dragging this on, but I know quite a bit more about Sapphire and things relating to her (mostly from Sapphire herself) and it would take me forever to type it all out and I doubt anyone is going to read all of that (I somehow doubt anyone will get this far into this mess anyway....) So if anyone has any questions for either of us feel free to PM me or ask them openly on here (after I'm done fixing it up.) We're open to questioning, as long as you are polite and respectful about it. (again, no haters please, If you don't like the way I do things then you don't have to read this/respond to it, I won't bug you about it so you don't have to bug me)  

[Valleeli]

Post Nine: Sources

Um... I don't really have much outside of Sapphire and the Internet (and a little TV), and the sources for what I've learned from other websites have kind of been lost forever in the void that is my ancient crappy laptop. I'll post this here anyway in case I do eventually come up with some sources sometime then you can all see them! (Also, kind of hard to find sources for a Path you pretty much arranged for yourself.)