Hello! My name is Meghan and I'm an anthropology MA student conducting research on cultural revitalization and decolonization through indigenous and pre-colonized/earth-based/pagan spiritual practices. Here is some information about the study, which is also outlined in the participation recruitment flyer and form, which I've linked to below.

Aims and Goals of the Study: This research seeks to explore how Western pagans engage in cultural revitalization through spiritual practices, particularly as they reconnect with their ancestral traditions or earth-based practice. The study aims to understand the role these spiritual practices play in identity reconstruction and community formation in response to the alienation felt within dominant Western ideologies.

Methodological Use of the Information: The study will employ qualitative methods, including interviews and participant observation at public events, to gather detailed insights into the personal experiences of modern pagans. The responses will help identify patterns in how participants experience community (both online and in person) and fulfillment through pagan practices, especially when compared to any history they may have with the Christian church.

Purpose of the Survey: The interviews will be collecting data for a graduate-level research project for a qualitative research course I am taking through the communication studies department at Cal State Fullerton. Additionally, it will contribute to my master’s thesis in anthropology, which focuses on how indigenous or pre-colonial spirituality (American and European) can strengthen indigenous causes by decolonizing the Western mind, thereby creating solidarity and potentially redirecting practices which might contribute to colonizer systems of exploitation. The data collected will also aid in exploring the broader societal impacts of the pagan revival in terms of cultural restoration and decolonization.

Target Audience: This survey is intended for Western individuals who identify as pagans or practice elements of the modern pagan movement. The study is being conducted by myself, a graduate student at Cal State Fullerton, as part of an assignment for my qualitative research class, and will most likely used for my MA thesis as well, and no commercial entities will benefit from this research. These studies may be presented at conferences or submitted for publication, but no interviews will be conducted or data collected from individuals without informed consent and all information will remain confidential. Participants’ contributions will help provide valuable insights into the dynamics of spiritual identity and community-building in modern paganism.

Contact Information: participants may reach out to me via mroseblust@gmail.com if they have further questions or would like to learn more about the research.

If you are interested, click the link to the participation recruitment form so I can send you the informed consent and we can get started on scheduling your interview!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfMYGPOu3IehBhU5GUL90DxSl4cva43E-gfkhWJ3mEd5S0ybA/viewform?usp=sf_link

This is the Gofundme page for a family that's providing meals to people right now in Gaza:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/gaza-bakery-feeding-displaced-families

From the Gofundme page:

"As-salaam 'alykum. My name is Mohammed. I am a proud Palestinian from Gaza. Currently living in Belgium. In Gaza, my family owned and operated a restaurant called Bab Al-Hara on the beautiful coast of Khan Younis. We served comfort food to joyful beachgoers in cabanas as the waves rolled. It was our joy and our life.

In 2014, our restaurant was bombed and many people were killed during occupation raids. Our family was subject to catastrophic loss and my cousin Hamdr was killed. Like many Palestinians, we lost our livelihood and became homeless. We struggled to get by for nearly a decade.

Since October 2023, as families sought shelter and safety, we again found purpose in feeding people in the camps. We were able to do so thanks to resources provided by generous international donors like you.

We may have lost our home and our restaurant, but not our know-how and our will to feed others. My mother devised makeshift pastry recipes with what ingredients my father could find, and our family began our project of realizing home through food. We consider ourselves lucky to have found purpose in helping others. Thanks to the generosity of strangers, my family has been able to use our talents to cook hundreds, if not thousands, of meals for displaced Palestinians in Gaza. We plan to keep doing so, but we need your help.

With your support, we will open Gaza Bakery - a living, working space in Egypt where we can continue to feed others and from where we can help break the cycle of displacement. We will utilize the proceeds to help those who have escaped as well as those still trapped in Gaza. We are currently fundraising to purchase the space and outfit it with the necessary elements to achieve our mission."

This is their social media if you want to follow their work.

This is, of course, just a small band-aid on a gaping wound, as Israel continues its genocide with the complete assistance of the US. But a band-aid is better than nothing, and this can at least slow down the starvation.

Since Israel blocks the majority of goods coming into Gaza, the price of food has skyrocketed to absurd levels. Like everything Israel has done over the past year, this is not in any way an accident or mere collateral damage. If that wasn't bad enough, basically no one in Gaza has a job anymore, meaning they have no dependable source of income. Basically, the only way people can survive is through outside assistance.

I’m a regular on TheDeprogram sub and even tho I’ve come to enjoy the communist related stuff I tend to be turned off as soon as they start saying stupid stuff like “religion is idealist” and/or “the USSR didn’t do anything wrong when it suppressed religion.” I know the latter one isn’t even true, and was only done to reactionary religious establishments that represented the old order, but that doesn’t change that it sometimes tends to get said in some Marxist spaces.

Even tho I know a Mod in there who insists that anyone who says that “religion is idealist” is ironically coming from an idealist perspective I tend to meet some people in there that do tend to think religious worldviews are incompatible with dialectical/historical materialism and it just tends to get old needing to have the same conversation about this over and over again.

What do y’all think? Can one be an ML and also hold a personal religious/spiritual philosophy?

(I messed up on the title I know)

I made this account today in hopes of interviewing multiple people on their experiences worshipping pagan Gods. Truth be told I'm a Christian and growing up I've always heard about other Gods and what they were like. How worshipping them was evil and the people who worshipped them were lost. However, I seek the truth. For the past 2 years, I've been learning about people who have different spiritual backgrounds. To see if these Gods are demons or just random spirits. If these beings had any ill intent. So far I've heard testimonies of people who went from paganism to Christianity but now I want to know from the people who practice it daily. I'm not a judgmental person and I'm not here to convert anyone. I'm simply here to listen because I'm curious about the spiritual realm and what inhabits it. I want to know the whole scope of it. So feel free to DM me or comment. I want to go around and start DM'ing but since Reddit thinks I'm a bot because of how new this account is I'm unable to.

Have a great day.

Praise Zeus!

Come oh Lord as wind comes to sails

Great is your might, oh Master of Justice

Glowing is your thunderous form

Strike down the wicked and cruel

For they have tormented our neighbors

Comfort the afflicted, for they deserve to know peace

And show us the way to be better

For the sake of all humanity

For yours is the power, and the glory, and the majesty

Genoito

An offering to those who chose the sea, and respect to those who live through their descendants today

Notice how we keep getting annoying reposted content over and over? My belief is that someone wants this subreddit to be unusable, and is using multiple accounts. One goes away, then another one appears. Its a pattern. It's time for us to have an active moderation team that removes irrelevant content. We want this sub to look good for visitors, and right now it's dominated with bullshit.

Free Palestine!

Communism and Socialism will win!

Freedom to the workers of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus!

From the North Pole to the South Pole, humanity will be free!

I like to think of them as early agrarian socialists, such as fair distribution of land (and in the ancient roman society, land ownership was usually equivalent to wealth) and in some of their speeches, they see it as almost a religious duty. So, do you think the Gracchi brothers were early socialists?

https://preview.redd.it/kudj0h0its2d1.png?width=819&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c09aef5c63ccd924960ff97cb8c087a0861d895

Dear comrades,

As you may or may not know, the UK waterways are undergoing a crisis due to the greed and inaction of privatised water companies, who have not invested in or updated the sewage system in more than a decade, preferring to pocket the. This has resulted in massive spillages of raw sewage in basically every waterway in the country.

Here is the data for your perusal.

https://www.rebootonline.com/digital-pr/assets/raw-sewage-dumping-statistics/

Several campaign groups are working towards ensuring that the companies are forced to clean up their act and/or returned to public ownership, and that the waterways are properly restored and rewilded.

On the 8th of June, from 12:30, the campaign group Save the Wye will be at Waterfest in Reading, together with the local Extinction Rebellion chapter, to raise awareness about the issue.

The Waterfest will be held at Forbury Gardens and surrounding spaces (10 min from Reading Station).

StW will bring over the Goddess of the River Wye, which personifies one of the affected rivers in Hertfordshire.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tZRMBgu7YYk

There will be singing, processions, drumming, block printing, and plenty of like-minded people who care abour protecting our waterways.

You don't need to do anything special. Come as you are and share this moment with us.