Why don't we have any? Jews have Synagogues. Christians have Churches. Muslims have Mosques. Hindus have Temples. But where are the Places Pagans can go to worship their Gods? Yes I know that we usually worship in nature, but would'nt it be nice if there was a place we could go, an indoor area and a garden full of insense, candles, statues of our Gods? A place to go and worship like our friends of other religions. A Pagan Temple, like our Ancestors had. If any one knows of any, please tell me where they are. blessings xxx xx x
The true gods never had need of buildings...and, interestingly, church comes from kirce..was a pagan sacred clearing. There were temples in the mediterranean area...and one in Upsalla, but never really took up north. Temples are the trappings of man, the gods do not need them. I keep a godyard on the side of my house...all that is really needed.
yeah no dont worry, i believe that too, but just like, even a special outdoor place, a special grove, just somewhere specific. xxx
That looks a good deal like my friend's back yard. Fire pit, log benches, log altar or two, few shrines about. Hard to beat that with an indoor temple for feel. (Even when Yule is -20C and you had to dig yourself a path) There's always so much problem with the word Pagan... The concept of capital P paganism that abounds now did not exist in our ancestor's day. The Hellenics had temples for their Gods, as did the Egyptions and Norse(only one but it was built). They were all built by societies in which their religion was the majority and were hard-polytheists. Today we have Paganism. It's such an incredibly broad term that it makes it difficult to rally around. Despite any claims of tolerance, half of most pagans have attitude towards other pagans that make organization and compromise difficult on a temple scale and really, I don't think compromise is fair to force on someone's religion. A hard-poly shouldn't have to sit through someone white-washing their deities and an aspecter shouldn't have to be condescended to because they're on a different path. If you're wanting an all-encompassing place where community can happen and worship in a broad based manner then you might as well just hop on with the Unitarians who are already established. I knew of a Pagan Temple (that's actually what they named their community) who used to rent space from the U's but it all fell apart eventually and one of the reasons was.... $$ Pagans are freakn' cheap. You're not going to find enough of them willing to put out the cash for something like this. Our ancestors had temples because taxes fund churches, in any era. Also: the bigger the community you have, the more politics and most of us can't be arsed to have politics tangled in with our personal spirituality.
Once there become places of worship then comes organized religion and then comes laws, rules, and a head of "church." The cool thing with paganism is that there is much freedom and no laws, rules, doctrines or a dude in a pointy hat sitting on a throne in Rome dictating what we must do and how we must behave. But, it would be cool if there were temples like in Greek Myth where you can go and leave offerings but not for organized services and such. However, personal altars have taken place of such temples.
That is where you are wrong. The Elder heathenry was based in every aspect of life...so the rules of your folk were the rules of your faith...neopagans are all about self...where elder pagans were all about theod (tribe). Paganism is not about self freedoms and such...but about living true and balanced, which is based largely in natures law...but sometimes based a lot in cultural law. So...there isn't so much of that freedom and lack of law that you think in paganism...but that weird little thing that is very modern that people like to call paganism? yeah...theres lots of it. And there were definite priest classes...though not like the southern gods priests, the heathen priest class (thegn or Þegn in OE) served the people not "led" them so much. But there were organized cults and large scale rituals...so anyone who thinks that paganism was never "organized" is misinformed.
There is a nature sanctuary in southern Indiana, where folks of all classes, colors, and creeds gather to drum and dance. There paths back through the woods and shrines or alters in cerain places. I guess you could call that a pagan place of worship.
Many 'old world' and indigenous tribal people have often used caves and underground rooms as their place of worship. It represents the inner world and the womb and body of our mother earth. I'd suggest finding something of the sort if one needs a physical place to identify with their worship.
