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[marisol]

No, I don't want to.

[Michelle]

Hmmmm, tough one. My reseach suggests that sexuality (in many pagan beliefs) is rather fluid and dynamic. What I mean is that homosexual practice in pagan ceremony and even the basic belief structures is quite common place. Many idols, pagan statues, and imagery is often depicted as a "melding" of both genders into one. A good example is Ba-thomet, a pagan Storm God of Philistine (?) origin. Anyway, he was early on in the piece. Point is he had male genitals (rather large) and female breasts and hips. Let's not even get into the Goat's head part of it. Anyway, the two genders are depicted as one, in a form of balance, male and female both together in a rather beautiful form of physical unity. God and Goddess together as one?

Many early beliefs saw the hermaphrodite and even the transgender as being closer to the divine because of this apparent "both sexes in one" characteristic. The Egyptians thought Transgenders were the bee's knees and so nearly every Pharaoh had one.

Sexual orientation in such a person would be a very personal thing yet would not be (and i would argue could not be) discriminated against lest one fall out with the cross-gendered God or Goddess of the day.

Our views of sexuality are forged through our ideas of todays social norms. However we must all be careful of what politically correct views we put forwards as our own as what is normal today may not be normal tomorrow and vice-versa. Fashion as well as political social norms are just too dynamic a thing to lock in concrete, so an open mind is a good thing.

Me? I'm transgender so I lean strongly to one side (of course). My personal sexuality? Why sleep with only half the population when you can sleep with everyone? I love men, but other girls are so much fun also.

[alyceavary]

I thought Bapthomet (sp?) was not Pagan, but rather what Satanists followed.......am I wrong? I certainly don't follow a deity with a goat head, and I'm Wiccan. Maybe I'm wrong or missed that along the road somewhere.........

[DarkRunes]

Bapthomet is an imagined pagan deity (i.e., a product of Christian folklore concerning pagans), revived in the 19th century as a figure of occultism and Satanism. Often mistaken for Satan, it represents the duality of male and female, as well as Heaven and Hell or night and day signified by the raising of one arm and the downward gesture of the other. It can be taken in fact, to represent any of the major harmonious dichotomies of the cosmos. It first appeared in 11th and 12th century Latin and Provençal as a corruption of "Mahomet", the Latinisation of "Muhammad", but later it appeared as a term for a pagan idol in trial transcripts of the Inquisition of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century. The name first came into popular English-speaking consciousness in the 19th century, with debate and speculation on the reasons for the suppression of the Templars. Since 1855, the name Baphomet has been associated with a "Sabbatic Goat"

[The Pet Goddess]

I certainly don't follow a deity with a goat head, and I'm Wiccan. Maybe I'm wrong or missed that along the road somewhere.........

I don't know much about Pagan deity, but Pan is at times portrayed as having a goat head. 

[DarkRunes]

The Pet Goddess your mostly right he is sometimes but pan well Pan's goatish image recalls conventional faun-like depictions of Satan He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr its theorised that Pan was merely one form of a horned god who was worshipped across Europe by a witch-cult.This theory influenced the Neopagan notion of the Horned God, as an archetype of male virility and sexuality In Wicca

[Serpentium]

"Baphomet" was the name that cropped up during the trials of the Knights Templar in 1307. It was described as being an Idol, a talking head, a cube of stone, and a cat, depending on whose testimony you are reading. (They were all taken by the Inquisition, under torture so this may have some bearing on the 'facts')
But the charges were Idolatry, Witchcraft, and Blasphemy. All bullshit charges laid against them by King Philip of France, who owed the Temple money. Many were burned at the stake, but a significant number escaped the Papal dissolution in 1312, and settled in Protestant Scotland, where they allegedly founded the Scottish Rite Freemasonary.

The Medieval Gnostics used an 'objet de' adoration', to represent the Fiery Body of The Holy Spirit, called Azoth, depicted as the Androgene of Mendes. This was used in the Gnostic Sabbath Rites, and it is this figure, with the addition of the Goat's head of Mendes (The Egyptian Pan) that is the Baphomet of The Templars.


 

[marisol]

Really good Serp, you beat me to it. Interesting isn't it.

[alyceavary]

I stand corrected. Thank you also to dm for the pm with the info. You learn something new everyday.....lol

[DarkRunes]

very nice work Serpentium more direct and too the point than i am lol

[Michelle]

Yeah - WOW! Even I learned something there and i thought I'd researched that one to death.

Good job both of you - Serp and DarkRunes.

[DarkRunes]

no problems it was a good experience for me to serp provided me with a image i didnt have a copy of

[Michelle]

You're going to be a very handy person to have around (Lol).

I used to read, but these days i don't have the patience for it. I have a set of beliefs and values that just feel right for me and i just go with those. When a thread comes up that somehow intersects (so to speak) I'll add a post here and there. other than that I would be the least read person here. Besides (and I hate to admit it) I find most wiccan books a bit all warm and fussy - go hug a tree and all that. The Necronomicon was good and so was The Key of Solomon, but I don't think they would count as being wiccan books.

[naturalpaganmomma]

Wow! I definitely learned a great deal reading this thread. My list of things to research just keeps growing. Very nice. Thank you all. 

As for paganism's view on sexuality, I would surmise the viewpoints within its ranks are just as varied as the viewpoints from without it. After all, pagans are people from all walks of life with different backgrounds.

I know when I first started doing research and attempted to find people in my area, I actually found a group online that celebrates their rituals with sex. Then I found another that doesn't. It's all personal preference. I personally don't care what a person does as long as an innocent isn't being harmed in the process. I think any sexual encounter should be consensual for all parties involved. And I think they should be of a mature enough age to understand what they are truly engaging in.

[dark magus]

Paganism does not have a view on any subject let alone sexuality as paganism is not organized in any way.
Just as every person has their own path to walk, which may be similar to other but not exact, each person has their own view on any number of issues.
 
Wicca is just one path within paganism and does promote tollerance of others beliefs and life styles. But there remains the personal view on all matters which may not agree with the majority or the minority.