What is the hardest thing to write about?

@DaisyGrace

On the contrary, I’m not opposed to going off road a bit as long as it’s meaningful. So don’t worry about it. 😂

Maybe we’ll just agree to disagree on the definition. But perhaps that’s a conversation for another time.

Yeah… it is interesting. I’m glad however that you brought up the word aesthetic. It’s a word I hear often on TikTok, and from my niece (who is apparently oh so much cooler than me) but writing aesthetic…. Hmm. That’s another thing to consider. What would mine be. Now there’s a thing.

I think to answer that question I’d have to ask myself what is most important to me in my human experience, and that would absolutely be my Pagan understanding of this land. It finds its way into the root of all of my understandings of the world around me, the people I meet, my understandings of life, and even how I embellish my home. So yeah. Is Pagan an aesthetic? Imma say it is.

I think it’s a path of growth we go through as humans to challenge ourselves occasionally with what we shy away from. Curiouser and curiouser.

.. I’m gonna be thinking about this in the background of my brain for a while I think 😄

Paganism and aesthetics. Animism is related to Paganism in some ways, in my opinion, although paganism is wider and more broad in its contents. Here in our neck of the wood, we practiced animism until 1950s before Christianity settled in, and there is still many ethnic groups in my community that adhere to animism and the supernatural beliefs and taboos that go with it. I see it as a way of life, and not a religion per se, because there is no worship of a certain deity.  I believe there are aspects of beauty and aesthetics in animism.   Animism as we all know is an ancient belief system that sees the world as alive with spiritual presence. We believe that objects, creatures, and natural elements possess souls or spirits. We believe in spiritual forces, and revere nature such as trees and rivers, mountains and forests etc. We also believe that the four elements Wind, Fire, Air and Water have their own spiritual forces. I think that in itself, presents beauty and  aesthetics, as we see it.
My humble opinion.

That sounds fascinating, Grace! I grew up in Chile, although I also have citizenship in the United States. Back in some parts of Chile, especially near the coast, you get a lot of types of old mysticism and stories and legends that you don't hear anywhere else in the world. My father used to tell me stories that would make great horror movies! A lot of the darkest "weirdness" in them is because when the Spanish came to Chile some of the native peoples were driven to practice their traditions underground. Literally, in some cases, since they held their old ceremonies in caves and remote villages. That was how the legend of the Chilean Warlocks got started, but a lot of the wildest legends about them were because of Christianity trying to impose its' views on the native beliefs and basically trying to scare the natives into converting by making them think that the old ways were sorceries from the Devil. Oh, some of them practiced some types of what you could call magic, but the way they understood it was different than in Christian thinking. At some point, at least one group of native mystics turned to organized crime in order to intimidate the Spanish and they used the things that were being said about them in order to make people really believe they were practicing black magic from the Devil. The authorities pushed back against that group, and they were driven even further underground than they were before, and they became the biggest source for the Warlock stories in the way that we have them today in Chile. So, there are lines between myth and history that are very blurred there, and it all intermixes with ancient beliefs to form a peculiar kind of group of legends that is very much one of a kind. We have, for instance, stories of ghost ships manned by long dead conquistadors, teenage girls who can turn into birds by drinking magic potions and puking out their intestines, warlocks who can take off their heads which can then turn into bats and fly across the countryside, and beings from the sea who are ancestors once revered as gods and goddesses. Me, I have no difficulty writing about these strange things, but when it comes to explaining some of the truths behind the legends it becomes a lot more of a challenge so I simply do not do that. Besides, it keeps the mystique going, and people like a good mystery.

Camilla, that's fascinating and I believe indegenious people the world over have almost the same belief. I have read about the beliefs of Chileans and they are fascinating.  

@Grace
I would certainly say I have an animistic approach to my beliefs. My connection is first and foremost always to the land, and I think that’s what drew me towards Druidry as an element of my own personal hodge-podge of Spirituality surrounding this island that I live on. So yes Grace, I agree with you entirely regarding beauty and aesthetics.

I was also interested in what labrujaoscura said here:

“Me, I have no difficulty writing about these strange things, but when it comes to explaining some of the truths behind the legends it becomes a lot more of a challenge so I simply do not do that. Besides, it keeps the mystique going, and people like a good mystery.”

I think you’ve actually touched on another point regarding what we find difficult to write about - belief. Do we fear writing about personal belief because it’s something difficult to define within ourselves or, in this day and age, is there still the very real threat of persecution no matter what belief system you are?

That’s a good question.

I’m a big fan of this account on Instagram. I think I like it because it cuts through the unimportant voice we’ve created in our heads about writing.

However this particular post stood out for me, especially the word vulnerability. I understand that it’s necessary sometimes, but it’s absolutely one of those subjects that people find hard or shy away from.

However - loving the process… yeah. That’s a big part of working through what we find difficult.

It all just got me thinking again.