A Pagan Pilgram

[TeaDidikai]

How many folks here intend to take a spiritual pilgramage in their lifetime?

Where would you go?
What would you see?

Is there a reason that pilgramages do not seem as popular for pagans as they do for other faiths?  

[Vertigo_Kiwi]

I don't think I'd ever take a pilgrimage during my lifetime. I'm just not a very religious person, I'm not strongly passionate about anything really. I don't know, an apathetic pilgrim just doesn't sound right.  

[PurpleDragonsGems]

I've never thought about it in that sence, but I would like to see alot of the ruins in Greece.  

[Aki Norikaeru]

I'm going to travel the world and try to survive alone for a few years as my pilgramage. It will be in four years so I have some extra time to make sure I want to do this. 3nodding  

[Collowrath]

I want to make a pilgrimage to the Parthenon and to Delphi and the Temple of Apollon Delphinios.

One thing off the top of my head that strikes me as a reason why pagans don't seem quite as big on pilgrimage as other faiths would be the whole Astral Travel deal. Why pay airfare when you can use the astral plane to travel to the ancient temples in their hay day? *abhors*  

[midara the happy banshee]

It's funny that you brought this up. I was just about to make a topic, actually! I have limited funds, but I try to take at least mini-pilgrimages. Once or twice a year I go to the replica Parthenon in Nashville and leave small offerings. When I have the money (far in the future) I plan to go to Greece and see the old temples and oracles.

Maybe the reason that pilgrimage isn't as popular in pagan faiths is that there's a general sense of freedom. "I can worship who I want and how I want. It's all about my personal expression." I don't necessarily agree with this attitude, but I see it quite a bit in the community. There's not much of a sense of obligation or duty among a lot of neo-pagans, and also a rejection of land and blood ties.  

[Pelta]

Bah. I've been to most places I'd ever want to go.

Pilgrimages are often so important to other faiths because they are to places that have specific meaning to their faith, such as Mecca. Many pagan religions do not have such a focal central physical point for their faith and therefore need not travel to it.

Though I suppose if fluff-wiccans started seeing visions of the Goddess in the backarse of nowhere perhaps others would start flocking to it... But then again, fluff-wiccans see visions of the goddess all the time. confused  

[Collowrath]

midara the happy banshee

It's funny that you brought this up. I was just about to make a topic, actually! I have limited funds, but I try to take at least mini-pilgrimages. Once or twice a year I go to the replica Parthenon in Nashville and leave small offerings.

I'm trying to convince my parents to let me drive down there with a friend over the summer. I'd love to see it. I'd have to research acceptable offerings without killing something (I hear incense is/was pretty typical?).  

[maenad nuri]

Romanus

midara the happy banshee

It's funny that you brought this up. I was just about to make a topic, actually! I have limited funds, but I try to take at least mini-pilgrimages. Once or twice a year I go to the replica Parthenon in Nashville and leave small offerings.

I'm trying to convince my parents to let me drive down there with a friend over the summer. I'd love to see it. I'd have to research acceptable offerings without killing something (I hear incense is/was pretty typical?).

incense, objects with personal meaning, or meaning relating to the gods in question, wine --all sorts of things really.  

[TatteredAngel]

I do think part of the problem is a lack of specific direction for a number of us, whether due to fluff or other factors. I have nowhere to pilgrimage to, exactly, not being tied to anyone particular. I'm big on travel in general, and would certainly pay my respects to the locals, as it were, for anywhere I'm going. But as far as particulars... wandering off in the desert or the mountains and listening hard is about as far as I come.

If I could take my dream pilgrimage to some spiritually significant location, I'd want a good Chaucer-style pilgrimage with lots of people and storytelling and banter along the way. I would want the journey to be a very significant (and social) part of it, really, not just the destination.  

[midara the happy banshee]

Romanus

midara the happy banshee

It's funny that you brought this up. I was just about to make a topic, actually! I have limited funds, but I try to take at least mini-pilgrimages. Once or twice a year I go to the replica Parthenon in Nashville and leave small offerings.

I'm trying to convince my parents to let me drive down there with a friend over the summer. I'd love to see it. I'd have to research acceptable offerings without killing something (I hear incense is/was pretty typical?).

The thing to remember about the replica Parthenon is that it's also an art museum, so no food or drink (or burning I'd imagine) is allowed inside. I usually leave a small basket with a few items outside the temple and offer a few prayers. It's nothing huge, but since it's a six hour drive that in itself is meaningful. I always felt that it was more the thought and effort than the actual 'rightness' of the offering.  

[ketchakik]

i would like to go to greece and turkey..the lands of my goddess  

[Pelta]

midara the happy banshee

I'm trying to convince my parents to let me drive down there with a friend over the summer...

Wait... Replica Parthenon? confused

You mean they built the full thing, or is it just a few pillars like the one is in Athens? Did they use Hellenic marble?  

[CuAnnan]

Pilgrimages? I've done one or two, Teamhair for the solstice and Samhain, a special part of the Boyne to cleanse my ritual knife after it was desecrated. Next on my list are the paps of Anú or possibly the cairn of Maedbh  

[Deoridhe]

Pelta

midara the happy banshee

I'm trying to convince my parents to let me drive down there with a friend over the summer...

Wait... Replica Parthenon? confused

You mean they built the full thing, or is it just a few pillars like the one is in Athens? Did they use Hellenic marble?

They build the whole thing as it's believed to have looked. I'm not sure what marble they used, though. http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/