Gothic Paganism?

[Hazel]

Does anyone know specifically if there is a gothic/darker branch to paganism? And if so do you know what this is specifically called?

I'm curious because I feel myself drawn to more darker aspects of the world. Like the full moon, thinking about the afterlife/death and the holiday/celebration of Shamin/Halloween rather then the brighter/cheerier holidays such as the summer solstice.

So I was wondering about the more Gothic branch of paganism if one exists and what is the aspects/beliefs of this branch. I would look at books but I know they can have biased views and I don't have the money to get one at the moment, I'm also having to save to meet with my friends sometime soon. I've looked online about it but it doesn't go into much detail/explanation as I need.

If you respond/explain/point me in the direction of an explanation then thank you. Also thank you if you only wish me some good luck in my search <3

Hazel

[norseman]

Have you looked here www.democraticunderground.com
But the writer no longer has an active account on WitchVox.

By reading around, it appears that Gothic Pagan could also relate to Heathenism i.e. Nordic/Germanic Paganism.
Not sure about any of this, Hazel, but I doubt it actually exists as a movement - more like a cult in US. Could be wrong of course.

[Hazel]

Hmmm ok....thank you norseman <3 i saw a book about Gothic magic once in cornwall and im gutted i didnt get it now though i felt strongly that i should and still do >.< so i'll have to try find it again....

[Jenny Crow]

To my way of thinking the full moon is surely not a 'darker aspect of the world' and Samhain is the Celtic new year as well as the time when the veil between the worlds is at it thinnest

But you might find something of interest here: www.waningmoon.com/darkpagan/lib/lib0022.shtml

Jenny Crow

[Albalida]

"Dark" can depend on HOW you practice, not what the practice IS. You could be a henotheist. That means you recognize that there are many gods, but you only devote yourself to one, and that can be a "dark" deity: Hecate, Thanatos, The Morrigan, or Hela.

A lot of Dianic Wiccans are diurnal in their spirituality, but Diana is a Hellenic goddess of hunting and the moon. It's NOT called "Dark Dianic Wicca" just because you would focus on that, either: it's just plain old Dianic Wicca. It doesn't need distinction.

Hellenic paganism has a few branches that you might be interested in: Khthonic Devotion, which honors Hades, The Fates, Thanatos, and Nyx-- gods of the underworld. Take note that dedicants, the Khthonoi, are not necessarily dark or gothic and the general population dislike it when their spiritual calling is used as a fashion statement or associated with that. I get a big "We are completely normal mainstream Hellenists, it's just that we can admit that death is a normal part of life-- got it??" vibe from those I've met.

There's also revivalists of The Orphic Mysteries and The Cult of Nyx ("cult" meaning something more positive, in that circle.) The Orphic Mysteries believe in surviving texts of songs believed to have been composed by the bard Orpheus. You might remember a myth of him going down into the underworld to rescue his wife. Very little is known about the practices of The Cult of Nyx, but the goddess Nyx was a goddess of the night and even Zeus was afraid of her.

Also note that if you intersect with most other branches of Hellenic paganism, the more reconstruction-based groups hold to a taboo concerning miasma. The gods are immortal, and are honored by keeping mortality (miasma) away from them. Except for psychopomps, being gods of death, of course. Yeah, that confused me, too.

I'm Rokkatru. I've heard that's "dark" but I really don't think it is. It just honors a time back when-- and a major aspect in play today, still-- where the universe was young and raw and chaotic. It's just getting back in touch with the giants as forces of nature, and that can include Hela as the daughter of the giantess Angroboda. Might as well say that Asatru is "dark" just because Odin has dark aspects.

[norseman]

I follow a Crooked Path, encompassing both Dark and Light.

I think that time of giants and titans can be called "dark". In some meanings of course.
Like Rokkatru there is several other faiths who honor giants, titans and other beings like that. Almost every culture have myths about that race before gods, I think it is something real - age of jotunns and titans, other giants. Gods came with order, but they were more chaotic.
Greeks for example have three types of "gods" - primordial gods, then comes titans, and then real gods. I love primordial gods, but titans as well.
I think you should look for something connected with chaos.

Meh, most people who call themselves pagans are all about the light, because they're ever so frightened of being called devil worshipers. Your willingness to work with other aspects of the same culture, doesn't make you part of a specific branch. It just makes you someone who isn't afraid of the hoohoo propaganda that some pagans spew, with their ulterior motives of creating a politically correct religion.

Balls to that.

[Hazel]

Originally Posted by Lightcat

Meh, most people who call themselves pagans are all about the light, because they're ever so frightened of being called devil worshipers. Your willingness to work with other aspects of the same culture, doesn't make you part of a specific branch. It just makes you someone who isn't afraid of the hoohoo propaganda that some pagans spew, with their ulterior motives of creating a politically correct religion.

Balls to that.

I fully agree with you. If people don't like what we practice well why does it concern them? We do as we wish without harming others at all. If they do not like our practices well they don't have to associate themselves with our practices so why does it matter to them what we do and don't do? I know why - because they spend their lives wishing to control every aspect of everyone's lives and making people conform to their opinions and beliefs without any need or true reason to do so

[Albalida]

Originally Posted by Hazel

I fully agree with you. If people don't like what we practice well why does it concern them? We do as we wish without harming others at all. If they do not like our practices well they don't have to associate themselves with our practices so why does it matter to them what we do and don't do?

I concur with the bolded part.

But there's this idea floating around that if you notice something dark or bad, then you "give power" to it or something-- and that's bad in terms of short-term reactions such as grief or panic. Those who go further than mere acknowledgment and see the necessity of death or chaos, even beauty in how they play their part in the natural order of things, must be tEh EBIL!!11!