Blocking people is self care! Especially toxic ones!
I hope I didn’t imply that my practices are the same as in modern Hungary. My practices are entirely my own, developed from what my great grandparents taught me. They immigrated here as children close to a century ago, and were Catholic on paper when they did.
The culture in my family that survived americanization is slovak and Hungarian in nature. My mother failed to pass most of the culture her grandmother tried to pass to her, so I’m doing my best to return to my roots.
I commune with the old gods, Mokosh, Veles and Dazhbog. I try to listen to the world and take cues in action from nature. I practice herbalism, rejecting western medicine for most purposes.
Gods, plural. But believe is a weird word.
I commune with the ancient gods of my ancestors, whether I believe in them is complicated though. I spent most of my life atheist after the christian church failed to grab me. I learned of my ancestral religion from my great grandmother and my great aunt. Grandma was Catholic on paper but still recognized the old gods. My aunt called herself a druid.
I choose to commune with the old gods because I have to believe in something. I’ve felt the call of spirit, the gaping void in my heart where spirituality was meant to be, but I do not trust organized religion. I don’t trust the churches. I don’t trust those who would hold power, enforced by faith, over those who do not know better.