When Deity Tells You No - My Bealtaine Experience

Thank you for sharing your inspiring encounter with Brighid! It sounds like you had a wonderful and powerful experience this Beltane- very exciting! :heart_eyes: I love your posts about Irish paganism. I didn’t know much about this area before- but I am glad to learn! :books::two_hearts:

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I really can’t wait, honestly, but I think that’s just my excitement talking. I need to get myself in the right headspace before I jump into full-on dedication! It’s interesting that you work with Cerridwen as She was a deity that I had been interested in for a long time but never really felt a connection with.

Thank you! I’m still learning myself, too - and it’s difficult being in the states because I’ve never been exposed to much of Irish culture, mythology, or language. But I’m trying!

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It sounds like you are learning a lot- the internet is an amazing place to study and connect with other people and cultures around the world :world_map::two_hearts:.

Are you studying the Irish language? :heart_eyes: I spent a semester studying Scottish Gaelic at uni, but found it to be too difficult for me :sweat_smile: Celtic languages are pretty tough to learn! But so fascinating and beautiful to listen to :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Tá! It is pretty difficult, but I’m taking the free course over on Future Learn and making use of my Mango Language resource I have through the library. I’ll get it eventually. It’s the grammar, syntax, and sentence structure that gets me - plus the pronunciation lol

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Speaking of languages, I thought I would learn a little bit of the Welsh language, I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to learn something so different, but its a truly amazing and a beautiful language. Keep up with the studies it will all eventually come full circle for you! Best of Luck

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Hahaha sounds like pretty much everything about it is tricky! :laughing: From what I remember (very little lol) of Scottish Gaelic, I really struggled with the word order of sentences and definitely the pronunciation. And since I wasn’t in Scotland when I was learning, there really wasn’t any good way to practice speaking outside of class :sweat_smile:
The Celtic languages are gorgeous and I hope you have good luck in your studies! Have you been to/do you want to go Ireland to maybe study or practice your language skills there? :shamrock:

The Welsh language- amazing!!! :heart_eyes: I can’t say I know anything about speaking Welsh, good for you, @Trey! May I ask what drew you to learning this language? :open_book:

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I have a question. Do we pick the deity we want to dedicate ourselves to or does the deity choose you? How do I go about finding who my deity is or am I still too much of a baby? I did have a very clear image of Baphomet and horned god symbol while meditating one day and fell asleep in the sun, (I do that alot) but nothing since. I am feeling very restricted as I have to hide my new journey. Could this be the cause?

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Either or works! It’s different for everyone :slight_smile: It just takes time on working with a deity. Some work faster than others. Just like us, they all have their own personality

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Ireland is definitely on my list of places to travel. I would ideally love to live there, but finances and immigration restrictions are not on my side currently lol

Hey there Katt! So, to answer your questions simply - it depends on your tradition. For me as an Irish pagan, I have a strong connection and pull toward the Irish pantheon but I didn’t go into it with an idea of which deity I wanted to worship or dedicate to. For me, it just sort of happened organically. Dedication is a very complex and mostly-serious endeavor, so I always caution against dedicating too soon.

To find your deity, I suggest meditation first. Have a good understanding of grounding and centering techniques, cleansing, and a basic understanding of meditation techniques. You will want to be able to tell your imagination apart from your meditation.

I recommend following the Meditation Roots course if you’re new to meditation.

In this Audio Guided Meditation Course, you will learn:

:crescent_moon: Scanning your entire body
:crescent_moon: Controlling your breath
:crescent_moon: Grounding your emotions
:crescent_moon: Working with visualization techniques
:crescent_moon: The Power of Mantras
:crescent_moon: Simple Morning Routine
:crescent_moon: Simple Evening Routine
:crescent_moon: Dealing with Anxiety, Sleeping, Healing.

You can also try the Purple Candle guided meditation to gain clarity from your higher self. This could be adapted, too, to gain clarity from your guides and the Gods.

A practical thing you can do is research different deities that interest you. Start with a pantheon and go from there. We have a few different devotionals that may help you figure out who you want to connect with. There are also many resources online for different pantheons of Gods.

Whew - that was a lot, but I hope it was helpful!

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Wow that is a lot but soooo helpful thank you

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The thing that drew me to this language was my ancestry, I wish I knew more than I do of the language, its a learning process but its something I felt I need to learn due to my background

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You’re very welcome @Katt - and let me know if you have any more questions! Feel free to make your own post or topic with the question, too :slight_smile:

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@Trey That’s part of what got me interested in Irish paganism. Once I started, though, it just snowballed from there and now I’m here lol What language learning tools are you using?

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To be honest with you, I just use youtube, I don’t know a whole ton just a few basic things, Id like to get RS or Babbel if it has welsh I haven’t checked, also this is off subject but I just watched your live stream on mental health, I thought it was AWESOME! I struggle with mental health issues myself.

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I think it’s wonderful that you are honoring your heritage by pursuing a new language! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I never got too far with RS, and never tried Babbel- perhaps DuoLingo has Welsh? They’re always adding to their available languages, and the phone app is free! :+1: DuoLingo was my lifeline when I was starting with Polish- it helped a lot! :grin:

If you find a good language-learning site/app in your pursuit of Welsh, definitely feel free to share! :books::two_hearts:

Thank you! Mental health plays a large role in my practice because it’s something I’ve struggled with my entire life. I’m always open and honest about it - and I think that the spiritual community as a whole can do better :heart: I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Also, I would definitely check out any online resources that your local library has to offer in terms of language learning. When I lived in Oregon, my library offered something called Mango Languages that I get for free because of my library card. Mango doesn’t have Welsh, but I did find this website (https://www.learn-welsh.net/) that looks like it might be geared toward children, but the games look fun and would probably help me learn!

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Thanks! Ill check out the site, and as far as mental health goes, I personally went thru a particularly rough patch and my mental health and therapy are what ultimately led me to seek out the craft

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That’s a very common thing that I find amongst those of us who have mental health issues. Often, we seek out something that is unknown to us in the hopes that it brings us solace. Turns out, that’s exactly what most of us needed!

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I agree with that whole-heartedly, Its most certainly changed me for the better, I like where I am at

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I am very happy for you, @Trey! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: It sounds like you had a tough journey at times, but it is wonderful that your practice has led you here and to smoother roads. Blessed Be! :sparkling_heart:

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