Question for all Pagan Jedi

How does the Force realate to your own beliefs in Diety and Magick? More or less just curious and trying to get a discussion going, lol.

To me, The Force is not a God, but just \"a force\" that's still with us, penetrates us, it i the force that keeps us alive and \"going\". You know what I believe in? In believe in what was said by the muse Serendipity in Kevin Smith's Dogma: It's not about what faith is the right one. No religion made it out. All the religions are too starched to admit that it doEesn't matter WHAT you believe in... but what matters is THAT YOU BELIEVE.

So I picked the stuff - that I think it's \"trustworthy\" - from every religion I learned of. It's right to me and BTW, if you do it like me, such decision makes you being able to be above that. But that's just my opinion.

I trust and believe in The Force. I think it can be helpful - even if you cannot feel it yet, e.g. like me. But I know that if I really proceed well in my lectures about The Force (from TOTJA and its headmaster Starr), I'm gonna be a good Jedi.

And for now - as Miranda Priestley said - \"That's all!\"

\" it doEesn't matter WHAT you believe in... but what matters is THAT YOU BELIEVE. \"

Embrace your myth is what I always say. Very nice view there. Imagine if more people would do just that in this world today.

I have been looking at this question for a while on here. I have wanted to say something yet I haven't for fear of coming off too simple. But I have come to realize there is no need for that fear. This is what I believe.

To me the force is energy. Every living thing in this universe has an energy. To me that is what makes up the force. Every person, every animal, every plant. The weather. To me it is that simple and on the same hand not simple at all.

I hope that made some sort of sense.

well, to me, the Force is best described by Master Kenobi in Episode IV: \"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field, created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together.\"

earth magic is created in much the same way as the Force. a pagan's ally is earth magic, and a powerful ally it is. life creates it makes it grow. - that may look like an adaptation of Master Yoda's speach, but it really IS how it works. a skilled pagan witch learns to channel such energies to cast great feats of wonder, such as preventing impending rain or influencing the love life of others.

the Force has a unique place when comparing it to a deity or group of deities. in a way, the Force is equal to any pantheon faith had brought to the table. but on the other hand, it leaves a sense of emptiness to some who have become devout to their faiths and attempt to follow Jediism as well. in a world of faiths, there will always be doubt. proving to overcome the shadow of doubt is to become a stronger being who has been enlightened to a higher focus and a more open mind.

i may be a pagan and i may have my likes and dislikes, but i keep my mind open to new ideas and a warehouse of possibilities that could derives from any number of other faiths. as a wise old puppet once said: \"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.\" if we allow ourselves to close our minds to new concepts from faiths not our own, we are the bringers of fear, hate and suffering to the world.

I believe that the Force is just that energy. I have always questioned the conception of man's statement of \"God\", but found comfort in the ancient ways of nature and magik.
But magik is not truely magik if one learns the aspect of it. It becomes a completion of oneself, while to others it does seem like magik.
The way the Force moves can be mysterious but when one learns to turn the page of a book and read, they start to unveil themselves.

That was very lovely. I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.

For me, the way that the Force, Magik, and the Gods are intertwined is that we are all connected, and our actions, thoughts, and deeds affect all that is around us.
The paralells for me does not stop there. I have read about Jungian theory being important to Paganism, and I see it within Jediism as well... archetypes, facing your shadow self, etc.

Christina Krantz
Pagan

Impressive. To confront yourself is one of the hardest things to do. For if you understand yourself and what you can do, well that is sometimes rare.

I too look forward to your future posts.

I became a Star Wars fan in 2002 and converted to paganism a year later. As I said in my hello thread that I made I wasn't satisfied with the religion that I was brought up with (Catholicism) as I though it had far too many gatekeepers that you had to trust and there was no direct access to the Divine.

I started as a Solitary and a part of my found it fulfiling to a point yet because I was by myself it was hard to keep going. I also found it kind of conflicting with Star Wars, until one day I read the novel \"I, Jedi\" and it sort of made sense.

Corran Horn wrote: I was treating my identities as if CorSec and Jedi were left and right, as if I could possibly function with only one side of my body or the other. I was making half of myself oppose the other half, when I should have integrated both halves.

I use a lightsaber (Hasbro one unfortunately) for ritual work and I am currently working on a Star Wars Tarot deck (I have a link to it).

I have long believed in the Force as I know that there is something that is both within and without myself that connects us all together. It cannot be expressed in words, only through experience and knowledge.

well said Katana_Geldar



have long believed in the Force as I know that there is something that is both within and without myself that connects us all together. It cannot be expressed in words, only through experience and knowledge.
Katana_Geldar

i really lik that quote

Campbell talks about this actually, and I had a lecture on gnosis when i studied Assian religions

The wonderful thing about being a Pagan is you are not required to conform to social norms. As a christian there are numerous rules to follow, things you must do to get into heaven. Most christian faiths refuse to recognize the others rules, if you marry as a baptist, that marriage may not be recognized by the catholic faith. I was told when I married my wife now, (actually just before we married), that if we wanted to marry in a catholic church, (she was Irish catholic at the time), that we would have to attend 6 months of training in married life. I'm sorry... I was married once before, I think I will remember the mistakes from my first marriage, and attempt not to repeat them. I refuse to let some person tell me how I am allowed to worship. I believe in my Goddess and Gods, not one single, because in this complicated world I do not feel one God could have ultimate rule. If the christian god is so great, why do we have the problems this world is now faceing. The christian god does not provide my family with food nor shelter, nor the basic neccesities to survive. Mother Earth gives all life... (oh yeah and humans too), all things they need to survive. She provides, not some almighty god that allows his servants, (only the christian god has servants by the way), she provides the life giving neccessities. Why is the world in such a muck of disarray... well look at it this way, if you were given $10 million dollars and squandered it away on absolutely nothing of value, would you not be upset when you were broke all of a sudden. Well Mother Earth gives us much more than that, and we are slowly squandering it away. I would have to say our Earth Mother believes in tough love, and is proveing that point forthwith, I doubt in our lifetime we will see a significant change, but it will come. Humans will learn to live with what has been given freely or they will all die, to reborn again in a time when our Mother has been reborn in a new life and all her gifts are again available for the next life to survive upon. End of Soapbox Sermon.

May The Force Be With You Always

Not a soap box sermon at all but basic truth. Conformitity based on religion is stupid. I quite agree Glenn that if the christian god is hell bent on sending its own creation to hell for lack of faith (justifiable punishment according to many christians), then so freaking be it. I refuse to believe in a one all power god, but like you choose to believe in many. Religion is responsible for some of the mess in this world, but to kill in the name of a god, to rob or rape in the name of this god is shameful and wrong, but yet they happen. Christians and other religions talk about peacefully observing each other as \"god's creatures\" but does this come into play when one religion kills over another, no it doesn't. As for Gia, she will do what she must when she must, for I believe it is not first time that Gia has had to do something like this. Everything around calls for release from nature to human, it is there and only time will tell if others recognize it like we have.

The Force is way more than 1 simple energy. I'm doing energy manipulations since 20 years and there's countless of energies surrounding us (or accessible to us with lill works).

but,
-for a shaman/druid, the Force will be animal spirits, land and plants spirits
-for a reiki user, the lifeforce will the Force
-for a wiccan, it'll be the God and the Godess
-for a christian, Yhwh and his love will be the Force
etc...

As humans (or whatever), we tend to use a very tiny fraction of the Force energy to suit us, the ones we have more connection with. But the Force is way WAY bigger then this. The Force is the collection of all energies, all "forces" united into "THE FORCE", as the suprem balance of all. The Force is'nt white or black (comparing to magic arts aka white magic etc.) because the Force is balanced. The light side of the force is how peoples using the Force(neutral) for "lightfull" purposes... the Force have no specific color, in fact the Force have all colors within her, blended like a firework.

As it the Jedi order is an alliance of various Force users who use different aspects of the Force, in a lightfull way.

MTFBWY

p.s. i did'nt intended to make any faiths smaller or anything, if i offend anyone, i'm really sorry

If you get to know me, you'll learn that I'm a bit of an English nerd, and that I tend to take alot of my references from famous works of literature. If you ask me, The Force is very similar to the belief in a "cosmic chain" like in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. It's similar because it involves a bond between all living things that if unaligned will cause a major rupture in the universe, hence "a disturbance in the force" I also believe in the "Everything's Connected" theory, which also ties to the Butterfly Effect in that every interaction that a human makes with something ultimately affects the rest of the universe in some way. A good example would be Einstein and the Holocaust. I know that this is a very touchy subject for some (My grandmother was a Dachau survivor) but If you think about it, Albert Einstein fled to the USA because of religious persecution, as he was of Jewish ancestry. After he arrived in America, he soon began work on the Manhattan Project a.k.a. the first atomic nuclear bomb. But, If Einstein would have had no reason to flee to the United States, hence the Holocaust, Einstein would have stayed in Germany, and probably would have built the bomb for the Germans during WWII. If this had occurred, not only would Germany have had the ultimate weapon of mass destruction for use in the war, but Japan would have never been bombed, so the Japanese would have never quit as they find it of the highest dishonor to surrender in a fight. Germany AND Japan would have had the utmost advantage, and the USA probably wouldn't be the world superpower it is today, all because of the Holocaust never having occurred. So like I said, everything is connected through interaction and timing, and that connection is known as The Force. If anyone wishes to build on this, please feel free because I'd love to hear your opinions on this subject matter.

Lividius (Josz)

I am sort of an Ecclectic Pagan. My beliefs have an Egyptian theme to them, however. I've studied several other Paths, which is kind of nice because I love doing research.

I believe that the Force is within and without. In all things and in the very space we occupy. It is the energy of life and death. It is up to the individual to decide for him or herself what the Force is and how it relates to their beliefs.

For me,it's really just a matter of 'seeing' the energy in my life. Think of it as watching a rose bloom, or a butterfly moving through the air. *sighs* I'm waxing poetic, sorry.
I knew I shouldn't be doing this without proper caffiene.

Well, as a Greek Polytheist Reconstructionist I don't really do much with magic. Magic is, more often than not, a sign of hubris. That being said, there are some acceptable forms of "magic." These would be talismans and protective symbols. One might even argue that sacrifices and votive offerings are a form of "magic" as they allow contact with the Gods and form an exchange with said deities.

Using the Force, on the other hand, does not qualify as "magic" per se for me. The Force is the fundamental energy or possibly "Aether" present in all things and the very air around us. The Gods are manifestations of the Force just as we are. Borrowing from this primordial flow of energy is not "magic" as its a natural extension of the abilities we are given simply by being a part of the Force. Magic would be attempting to attain abilities beyond normal perception and manipulation of the Force so as to elevate oneself to deity or deity-like status. Also, it depends on intention and one's attitude while "working with" the Force.

*shrug* The Force fits well with ancient Greek belief systems. The pneuma or aether are two concepts that fit with it. Possibly even nomos or some such conception.