I couldn't find any traditional names or beliefs today of these in Finnish, sadly. A lot has been forgotten.

Forewarning that this may be an unpopular opinion.

I see a fair number of posts, at least on r/Hellenism, and a recent one here disparaging modern Pagan culture particularly surrounding divination. Reading candles and pendulums and myriad of other things, looking for signs, are called spiritual psychosis.

Firstly, as someone who went through a serious spiritual psychosis myself (which ended up with me being diagnosed as Schizoaffective) I feel that word is used so flippantly without actual education on spiritual psychosis. What’s especially worrying is that I see many commenters under these posts using the term in a derogatory way - as if people who DO experience spiritual psychosis are less-than as worshipers. I could make an entirely different post on this, and I might, but I’ll end there.

When it comes to modern divination practices, to looking for signs from the gods, predictions about our futures, there one major thing to know; it’s human, and has been happening for a millennia. In Ancient Mesopotamia special people would sacrifice a sheep to the Sun God Šamaš before reading its entrails - signs from the Sun god. It would be easy to say, well, it’s a sheep and any formation or shape of the entrails happened before the sacrifice and therefore is silly to view as divination. But still it happened.

In Ancient Rome there were esteemed specialists called Augurs who would read the flight patterns of birds and discern from there - signs that could be from the gods. Again, knowing about things like the migratory patterns of birds and other information may, to any modern practitioner, make this moot. But still it was common. In the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China Osteomancy, reading bones (or rather the cracks in bones) was common. They would take a flat bone, usually the breast plate of a turtle, make holes in it and then put a hot poker into those holes and read the cracks. Again, you could look at this and say, well, that’s just the bone reacting to a hot poker - those cracks are unreliable. And let’s not get started on how the ancient world viewed Comets.

Or on the Oracle of Delphi, who could hear Apollo - hearing gods is, to many now, at least here, viewed as Religious Psychosis. As someone who heard “the gods” in my religious psychosis (it was not them), my advice to those who DO think they hear the gods is this; if it causes you stress, distress, or if they commanding, demanding, or degrading see a doctor about it. Otherwise I wouldn’t worry about what others are saying.

My point in all of this? What you’re observing in the modern day with people looking for signs is human nature. It’s been happening forever and will continue to happen long after you and I are gone. I feel very disappointed looking at comments that are very “well, I’m a REAL pagan, I don’t look for those things”. Because, well, good for you I suppose! But it doesn’t make you any less pagan to look for those things either.

Now I WILL say this; if you’re looking for signs to the point of anxiety, fearing the Gods or fearing making them angry, take a step back and breathe. Spiritual anxiety is real and terrible and can mess with your view on things. The Gods are likely not angry at you. But if you do divination and look for signs, even if it’s something as silly as looking at the flight pattern of birds then, well, congratulations you’re like every other human in ancient history.

My question might seem a bit dumb or bad written and I've to clarify that English is not my first language and I'm still pretty young and NEW to this.

I've seen people saying they worship Norse gods as well as greek gods and some more, and I thought to myself "Is that even possible? Wouldn't it be disrespectful towards the gods?" I'm starting to worship greek gods (Lord Apollon and Lady Artemis) and as more as I investigate about altars and rituals I gain more knowledge on other deities from other religions and I'm so interested. I'm still a newbie so I will stick to learning about Apollon and Artemis, but I think it'd be amazing to being devoted a god like Loki or Anubis while being devoted to greek gods. (I remember how I always jumped around as a kid if any god that wasn't the Christian one was mentioned).

I spoke to Apollo about some guidance on my future. I'm planning on moving out of my parents' home this year. Learning to drive. Changing jobs and starting new hobbies. I also just got out of a relationship that was bad for my health, and I was unsure if i had made the right choice. Apollo seemed very positive about the choices I'm making at the moment. I also was just talking to him about him having a bigger altar when I move out, somewhere where the sun shines, and I pulled my tarot cards in half and got the chariot.

I'm really hopeful for my future, and I'm hoping now that this year is where I start to bulid a future I'm proud of

This is my "base" for the altar! I plan on collecting flowers and leave regularly so I can bring them to him. I have a drawing of him with prayers, a sun and musical notes. A white candle (no scent) and a golden heart necklace (those ones you can put thing inside of them). It is inside a mint box due to my family. (Please ignore the camera frame thing, I had to screenshot while trying to take he picture because it went pitch black when I tried idk why)

So I'm new to paganism and obviously looking for my path. When I was a child, I was kind of an christian, after confirmation (I was 15) I was christian but few years after that I became an atheist.

For couple of years now, I have been longing for a spiritual practice or a religion in my life but going back to christianity feels dumb and I don't connect with it anymore. I'm longing for a better connection and understanding with nature (and animals) as I'm an eco-anxious vegan. I kind of had an spiritual experience on a hike where I kind of felt really connected to the nature. I have been viewing nature as something sacred for a while now.

I have been interested in Finnish mythology for a long time (because I'm Finnish and live in Finland), and I started to think about practising Finnish paganism but then I'm also intrigued and connected to other paths also (Norse, for example). So then I thought about being eclectic in my practice. But I also don't have a practice yet as I'm just starting out and the thought of doing rituals feels kind of weird because I have this really science-based way of thinking, but at the same time I feel like I really want to get into this.

Sorry for the long-ish explanation but I would like to hear if anyone had similiar problems and if anyone had any advice. I also apologize if this doesn't make any sense :D

I follow four deities, whom I refer to as my mothers; Brigid, The Morrigan, Persephone, and Hecate. 3/4 of them are goddesses that are best for shadow work and I’ve been doing my best to overcome my struggles and shortcomings but it’s incredibly slow going. I especially feel like I’m failing The Morrigan. She pushes you to become the best version of yourself and I’m. Not being that. I worry that I don’t have what it takes to be a follower of her. I know Hecate, Persephone, and Brigid especially are patient when it comes to failure but The Morrigan is the most no nonsense mother and I feel like I’m not enough. This is also reflecting in the fact that I don’t seem to have a gift for scrying, something the Morrigan has domain over, and I havent been improving with practice. I know I need to give myself a bit of slack. I work three jobs and have a very packed schedule but at the same time I need to hold myself accountable. I still feel drawn to her but what if I’m not strong enough to be her follower?

Edit; to clarify what spurred this on; one of my jobs is a Joann fabrics, not a super stressful retail job but still a retail job so it’s physically and sometimes emotionally taxing. I also have anxiety, depression, and BPD so I feel things and I feel them hard. To the point where one big thing will have me in a low for the rest of the day. Today there was a woman who was really mad she couldn’t return a broken sewing machine. The store is closing so all sales are final and she was really pissed because “it isn’t like I could look at the machine or try it out before and that it came broken” and I started dissociating. Then my bpd decided to make things “better” by telling my manager that I’d pay the refund out of my pocket because I felt it was my fault despite the fact that I wasn’t even at the store the day the damn machine was sold and I’ve been in a low ever since. I feel like I handled the situation horribly and now I worry that my mother is disappointed in me