What does Pagan parenting mean ?

luckat

There's also the question of what pagan parenting means. What exactly do you mean when you want to bring up your children as pagans? Do you want them to have love and respect for the earth and all that live on and in it? Do you want them to think carefully and feel lovingly about every question that they encounter?

Not a book, but (oddly) a Christian hymn would be what I'd suggest to start with - it's The Deer's Cry, a prayer said to be by St Patrick, which seems to me to come directly out of the pagan tradition. There's a version of it they often play on Lyric, but I'm afraid I don't know the name of the CD.

Here's a translation of the original poem - I think you can take it that the "Christ" and "God" in the original was probably a replacement of older concepts:

I arise to-day
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise to-day
Through the strength of Christ's birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise to-day
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preachings of apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise to-day
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise to day
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in a multitude.

I summon to-day all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me to-day
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise to-day
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

Aha, here's a version of it: http://cdbaby.com/mp3lofi/coconnell2-01.m3u

larryone

I know I'm wavering a bit off topic here, but

luckat wrote:

which seems to me to come directly out of the pagan tradition.

really? this prayer seems to me to be filled with anti-pagan fervour

luckat wrote:

God's host to save me
From temptations of vices,

The idea of a vice was developed mostly by Christianity to include things like sexuality, blasphemy, and heresy - which all pagans were considered guilty of... (and no, I'm not one of these anti-christian pagans who harps on about it for hours, i'm merely explaining my interpretation of a piece of writing)

luckat wrote:

Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,

These 5 lines I see as being particularly anti-pagan.
I cant really see how it would be toward encouraging diversity of thought with regard to spirituality in young children.

I would think encouraging alot of diversity of thought is a good idea, as (although it can be lacking in focus) it can help to move away from the more traditionalist and very one-sided views of God (please replace by whatever noun(s) you feel are appropriate) and more towards a broader (sortof an abstracted) idea of God. From there encourage whatever spiritual path feels right for them - and maybe even if lack thereof is what they feel more comfortable with. This is a generalisation of the approach I have in mind.

Nevyn

I would not consider that to be a pagan pray by any stretch of the imagination just becuase it mentions in one small section which is less then 1/4 of the prayer

Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.