Wanderer🍃

I don't know if I just haven't encountered it yet, but I haven't really seen anyone talking about or acknowledging something that's neither Unverified Personal Gnosis or Shared Personal Gnosis, but rather a third thing: Personal Group Gnosis.

PGG emerges from a small group of people having similar experiences to each other, which may or may not resemble anything that people outside of the group are experiencing.

This isn't inherently a bad thing. But among those who lack critical thinking skills, it can lead to some real trouble if they conclude that their similar experiences means that they're uncovering an actual objective truth, regardless of whether it's congruent with anything anyone outside of the group is experiencing.

One thing that many people fail to account for is the fact that they and their group generally share many of the same preconceptions and biases. For example, a group of younger Wiccans are very likely to believe in now-debunked ideas such as the great goddess hypothesis and the witch cult hypothesis. They'll believe in the existence of pagan gods, but they'll probably have a Christian-influenced understanding of divinity and morality, with little to no comprehension of the role that animism played in the development of pre-Christian traditions, nor with any real appreciation for how different values influenced the stories that people told about gods and other spirits.

They might even be exposed to similar media, which gives them all similar ideas about gods, spirits, and history. Even if they don't directly engage with the most popular media, it can still reach them through second or third hand exposure.

They're also likely reading the same spiritual, occult, and esoteric writers; or at least, reading people who have very similar ideas to one another.

And finally, since they're most likely friends and therefore trust each other, they are naturally biased toward accepting each other's experiences as valid, and working them into their own mental maps of the spiritual or metaphysical world.

In short, they're all primed to have very similar experiences to each other.

Without awareness that exposure to similar ideas can influence similar mystical experiences, it's very easy for a small group like this to generate a sort of shared map of reality that they feel justified in regarding as absolutely, objectively true.

It's at this point that people begin to feel confident telling you that if you just talked to your gods about what they're claiming, your gods would absolutely confirm them to be true. And if they don't, you were never really talking to those gods.

Having one's entire internal map of reality dictated by Personal Group Gnosis can be incredibly dangerous. It alienates you from the rest of the world by making you feel as if the only people you can trust are those who agree with your PGG. It can make you see outsiders as spiritually inferior, especially if they disagree with you outright. It can even encourage conspiracy thinking, because attributing what outsiders believe (or apparently believe) to the actions of a malicious conspiracy is a very common rationalization.

In other words, this is how you get a cult.

Now, a lot of people won't recognize it as a cult (and some will vehemently deny it's a cult) because it might not have a clear leader (though there's almost certainly a small number of people who have the most influence), and it probably doesn't have a financial goal. However, the destructive capacities of small groups of people living in their own reality cannot be denied. Members who don't go along with the group's accepted model of reality are often treated harshly, and are frequently targets for harassment. They may say that if you don't like it you can just leave, but let's be real, that's no simple matter if you believe that these are the only people with a real grip on reality, or if these people are basically your only friends, or even just your only friends who share your spiritual beliefs.

(If you're in this kind of situation? My advice is to start making more friends outside of this group. You don't have to cut yourself off from this group cold turkey; you can just start hanging out with other people more.)

Now, I'd like to emphasize that none of this is to say that PGG is inherently bad; I am only pointing out that it can be incredibly dangerous for people who lack knowledge, perspective, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, a group where there's a lot of this going on can be very dangerous for those who desperately just want to belong and get along, and push themselves to adopt their groups popular beliefs for fear of consequences.

Just like a single person's UPG doesn't dictate reality for everyone, neither does a single group's gnosis. PGG isn't inherently any better or more "correct" than UPG.

Hot take. But just because something is an open practice or religion, it doesn't mean you shouldn't look into the history and context of worship and respect the culture and rituals. Yes, even if you are an eclectic pagan.

Example, even if you just want to worship/work with Ra or Osiris, you should absolutely respect the 42 Laws of Maat. And if you are a greek polytheist, you should absolutely look into miasma and respect the customs when it comes to it as much as you can in modern day society. If you are a roman polytheist, you should cover your head during rituals (correct me if i am wrong on that one!).

Gods will also appreciate your effort to worship them accordingly in this society that looks down on pagan religions and waters them down to "mythology".

Of course, you don't have to do everything 100% the way it was done in ancient times, but it's the thought and effort that counts.It's NOT a great mindset that you can do whatever you want with open religions!

“nobody is making you do this” i am driven by unnatural forces you will never even begin to comprehend

Astarion sneakily getting a peek of Tav's sketchbook to see multiple drawings of the same guy and he's like "ooooh someone has a crush 😏" and then Tav just kinda has to sit there like "haha yeah sure do 😳"

This is just such a funny concept to me lmao

He takes a look at the drawings and is like ".... is he a vampire too...?" Everyone else is just trying not to fuckin burst out laughing

I wanted to put a more positive spin on the popular skeleton leaving meme

An important lesson we can learn from plants, especially those considered "weeds", is that if a system does not work for you, grow around it.

Dandelions cannot thrive trapped under a concrete roof, so they twist and spread and sprout between the cracks.

Tree roots will find their way through foundations and bricks to feed the tree.

Brambles will climb up and over fences designed to keep them out, if what's beyond let's them grow.

A sunflower in a pot will face the sun, not the room it's owner so desperately wants it to decorate.

Do what you need to do to thrive, irregardless of what others think you should do.

Maybe if I was prettier. Or maybe if I was more horrifying actually

being self-taught in any type of practice will eventually lead to you having to seek out formal learning resources to bridge what you think is a trivial knowledge gap and realizing that you've been operating similarly to that french guy who went about his daily life unknowingly missing 90% of his brain