The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I'm getting a bit annoyed by the lack of a coherent magical and/or spiritual foundation in my practice.
I have never been comfortable with a whole tradition, and happy with doing things my own way. Recently I started reading about Chaos magic and it felt like things started coming together. Using what works seems like a good idea, but i believe in a lot of different things that I'm not prepared to throw away just because something more interesting comes along.

I'm trying to get all my beliefs and practices to fit together but it's very difficult. Not having a solid foundation makes me doubt what I'm doing is right. On the other hand I can't just pick a magical system because there always seem to be things that I don't agree with.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Does anyone else have this problem?

 
Kind of, but not from the perspective of a magical system. I'm finding that trying to find a way to integrate two different traditions in my life while being rooted in one just. Isn't. Working. I think when we mix traditions and/or practices, we kind of have to have our own "system" in which to work these elements. For example, the ancient Egyptians had their own system that integrated their gods and society. Same for the ancient Greeks. And the Celts. And virtually every other culture in the world.

So, by "system", I guess I mean a religion, or personal tradition. Being that I want no part of that, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place until I can find a compromise that works for me and my gods.

With whole traditions, there are always going to be things we don't agree with. For example, I don't like what I see as sexism in ancient Greek religion. I'm not sure how much I like idea of kingship from the perspective of ancient Egypt. I think we have to really look at those things we don't like and decide if that's going to be a dealbreaker, or if it's something tolerable.

I'm trying to get all my beliefs and practices to fit together but it's very difficult. Not having a solid foundation makes me doubt what I'm doing is right. On the other hand I can't just pick a magical system because there always seem to be things that I don't agree with.

Here are the six building blocks of a worldview:

 1.An explanation of the world

2.A futurology, answeringthequestion"whereare weheading?"

3.Values, answerstoethical questions: "Whatshould wedo?"

4.A praxeology, or methodology, or theory of action.: "How should we attain our goals?"

5.An epistemology, or theory of knowledge. "What is true and false?"

6.An etiology. A constructed world-viewshould contain an account of its own "building blocks," its origins and construction.

I'd suggest answering each of these based on your current philosophy. Then, as you find practices and traditions that interest you, you can compare them to one of the six elements and figure out where they can fit in to your system. The more you know why something has been added to your list and how it relates to other elements within it, the more developed and structured your practices will become.

Kind of, but not from the perspective of a magical system. I'm finding that trying to find a way to integrate two different traditions in my life while being rooted in one just. Isn't. Working. I think when we mix traditions and/or practices, we kind of have to have our own "system" in which to work these elements. For example, the ancient Egyptians had their own system that integrated their gods and society. Same for the ancient Greeks. And the Celts. And virtually every other culture in the world.

So, by "system", I guess I mean a religion, or personal tradition. Being that I want no part of that, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place until I can find a compromise that works for me and my gods.

 
Yes, this is exactly it. If you have a system/foundation, you can integrate practices into it or even make changes. Are your traditions to different from each other to blend, or are there contradictions?

I have beliefs and practices but no system, yet. Or maybe, that's a system in itself .

Here are the six building blocks of a worldview:

 1.An explanation of the world

2.A futurology, answeringthequestion"whereare weheading?"

3.Values, answerstoethical questions: "Whatshould wedo?"

4.A praxeology, or methodology, or theory of action.: "How should we attain our goals?"

5.An epistemology, or theory of knowledge. "What is true and false?"

6.An etiology. A constructed world-viewshould contain an account of its own "building blocks," its origins and construction.

I'd suggest answering each of these based on your current philosophy. Then, as you find practices and traditions that interest you, you can compare them to one of the six elements and figure out where they can fit in to your system. The more you know why something has been added to your list and how it relates to other elements within it, the more developed and structured your practices will become.

 
Yay, structure! This will be really helpful, thank you!

I'm getting a bit annoyed by the lack of a coherent magical and/or spiritual foundation in my practice.
I have never been comfortable with a whole tradition, and happy with doing things my own way. Recently I started reading about Chaos magic and it felt like things started coming together. Using what works seems like a good idea, but i believe in a lot of different things that I'm not prepared to throw away just because something more interesting comes along.

I'm trying to get all my beliefs and practices to fit together but it's very difficult. Not having a solid foundation makes me doubt what I'm doing is right. On the other hand I can't just pick a magical system because there always seem to be things that I don't agree with.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Being a Celtic Recon, there isnt much per say magic involved in my practice. Really it's a more ritualistic type of religion. But I have added Magic to my work, such as traditional Witchcraft and Thelemic Magick as well. It doesnt always line up, so I have to make decisions on where I go with it, but thats a very personal choice. I have found it to be very refreshing to kind of mix things up every now and then.

I think it's okay to hold conflicting worldviews at the same time. At least, I hope it is, since I certainly do :p

 
Absolutely. It means nothing to the average person, but if you get into higher mathematics or physics, you start to see contradictions are not really an inhibitor to the workings of the universe.

See Also: There is No God And Her Name Is Eris.

Well, its not likely. You're not going to have an extreme of "all prisoners should be put to death" wv while simultaneously holding that "no prisoners should be put to death". You'll have a middle ground constructed of exceptions and special circumstances, the rules of which would constitute your personal wv. A checklist can be helpful in discovering where that middle ground is when working with mixed traditions.

 
That depends on the kind of truth you're talking about.

Niels Bohr said "Two sorts of truth: profound truths 
recognized by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth,
 in contrast to trivialities where opposites are obviously absurd."  I think there's a lot to that.