Practicing While at School

[Katefox]

I missed this the first time I read through this thread.

I've been looking for a replacement for this for ages and this is absolutely perfect. Better than candles even since ice is basically free if you have or know someone who has a fridge.

What about magic the requires you carve symbols on the candle? Ice is a little hard to do that with and you can't really write on it.

Thoughts?

Food colouring and a small paint brush? I don't even know if that would actually work, but that immediately sprang to mind.

[Jenett]

I missed this the first time I read through this thread.

I've been looking for a replacement for this for ages and this is absolutely perfect. Better than candles even since ice is basically free if you have or know someone who has a fridge.

What about magic the requires you carve symbols on the candle? Ice is a little hard to do that with and you can't really write on it.

Thoughts?

Well, the symbols and inscribed things are a way to focus the intention. There are different ways to do that with ice.

Two things I've done are shape and freezing something (usually a small suitable bead) inside. (I adore the silicon ice cube trays that come in a wide variety of shapes: they make me happy on a day to day basis, but they're also really useful for this kind of work. I have hearts, stars, and triangles at the moment.)

You could also add a couple of drops of an appropriate magical oil to the water - you'd want to be careful how you mixed it (a drop or two of essential oil in water might be easier than actual oil). Or rub a (skin friendly) oil on your hands just before you start the melting process.

[Carnelian]

I recently finished my freshman year of college, where I spent little time with my spirituality the entire year besides article reading, research, quiet prayers, and spending time in nature as much as I could while in a city school. I lived in a double, within a suite. Two of the girls I lived with were very Christian, and than combined with the fact that I hardly knew them at first made me very uncomfortable.

I was wondering how other people, who have gone through this before or currently are, follow a Pagan religion while in college. Do you have an altar, permanent or temporary? How open are you about your beliefs? Have you run into any problems? Do you do rituals in the dorms?

Next year, I hope to have a small permanent altar (with plants!) and be more active.

When I lived on campus in my first year of university, I was lucky enough to have my own (very small) room, and I kept a little shrine in a corner. I wanted it to look really inconspicuous, because not only were most people not very familiar with paganism, a lot of people I knew thought of religion in general as irrelevant to modern society. Being around liberal intellectuals is nice in some ways, but really frustrating in others. None of my visitors ever noticed it, or at least they didn't say anything about it, as it mostly was a candle, incense holder, and pictures of the gods printed off from the internet ant taped to the wall. I did set off the smoke alarm with my incense once, and the whole floor gathered outside my room because of the commotion, which was embarrassing. Be careful when burning things, that's my advice.

For the other three years I just commuted from home, and my parents don't care, they just think I have eccentric taste in decor and complain about the smell of incense.

[Morag]

What about magic the requires you carve symbols on the candle? Ice is a little hard to do that with and you can't really write on it.

Thoughts?

You could write your intention on a piece of paper and freeze the paper inside the ice cube. When it melts, the intention is released.

[Arin]

If this thread is a bit old to reply to, sorry! I just thought I might have something to add.

You could write your intention on a piece of paper and freeze the paper inside the ice cube. When it melts, the intention is released.

That is really clever.

When I lived on campus in my first year of university, I was lucky enough to have my own (very small) room, and I kept a little shrine in a corner. I wanted it to look really inconspicuous, because not only were most people not very familiar with paganism, a lot of people I knew thought of religion in general as irrelevant to modern society. Being around liberal intellectuals is nice in some ways, but really frustrating in others.

Yes. I have a smallish shrine in my room that no one has ever commented on. People sometimes ask me what I'm wearing around my neck (a hammer of Thor) but rarely do I ever say outright that I'm a Heathen. Mostly for two reasons:
1. As Carnelian was saying, people are not familiar with paganism in general, and also it's hard to explain the scope of my belief in a concise way.
2. Again, around university, especially mine, there are a lot of liberal intellectuals, most of whom think religion is 'stupid', 'useless', and otherwise conflict-provoking. It's difficult to explain to people.

So mostly, I just keep a low profile and I'm not very public about it. I do go to the nearby park a few times a week (well, I try to, anyway) and meditate/do ritual, and I feel quite free there, but that is well away from the dorm environment. I would like to be more public, but I suppose the main thing is I don't feel comfortable around so many people. Also, my practice is admittedly mostly research.

[Green Thumb]

I recently finished my freshman year of college, where I spent little time with my spirituality the entire year besides article reading, research, quiet prayers, and spending time in nature as much as I could while in a city school. I lived in a double, within a suite. Two of the girls I lived with were very Christian, and than combined with the fact that I hardly knew them at first made me very uncomfortable.

I was wondering how other people, who have gone through this before or currently are, follow a Pagan religion while in college. Do you have an altar, permanent or temporary? How open are you about your beliefs? Have you run into any problems? Do you do rituals in the dorms?

Next year, I hope to have a small permanent altar (with plants!) and be more active.

I now have my own apartment, but when I was in the dorms I just had to make do with reading and personal meditations. My cover story was that Paganism has awesome information on symbolism (which it does) and that it was the easiest information to find. I do have a bit of an obsession with symbolism, so this helped. Very few people know, and I personally do not mind who knows, just want them to have learned their information from my own mouth

[Cág]

I recently finished my freshman year of college, where I spent little time with my spirituality the entire year besides article reading, research, quiet prayers, and spending time in nature as much as I could while in a city school. I lived in a double, within a suite. Two of the girls I lived with were very Christian, and than combined with the fact that I hardly knew them at first made me very uncomfortable.

I was wondering how other people, who have gone through this before or currently are, follow a Pagan religion while in college. Do you have an altar, permanent or temporary? How open are you about your beliefs? Have you run into any problems? Do you do rituals in the dorms?

Next year, I hope to have a small permanent altar (with plants!) and be more active.

I'm in my second year in my university and I've found being a practicing pagan here not to be a problem I'm originally from Dublin but I find that it is more open and supplies are more available here in the south of the country- which is odd!
Generally in Ireland we usually have our own room in student accomodation so I have my altar set up on my desk at the moment. My flatmates are fine with my practice and don't mind when I borrow the coffee table for ritual XD
There used to be a pagan society years ago but it died out unfortunately.
I've met a few pagans here and my friend and I are planning a solstice ritual together. The chaplaincy of the university has graciously allowed us the use of their multi-faith prayer room (lovely people!) and one of the priests (a Protestant one I believe- the Christian priests are from a few different denominations) seems very enthusiastic about it
The only thing I can't do is burn incense due to smoke detectors but I've found oil burners are a great substitute! :D
I usually stick to tealights and small candles too.