Thread by @Sarenth

@thelettuceman I will put my response at the end of the feed and respond from there on to hopefully keep the thread somewhat organized. I am glad you have brought this up because I think all these questions and thoughts are worth thinking on.

@thelettuceman To your first question:
In terms of resistance, no. Our religions are not made to oppose Christianity/monotheism, our religions are for the worship of our Holy Powers. Our religious identity puts us in resistance to monotheism/colonialism by theology, by our ground of being. 1/?

@thelettuceman I think that polytheists by and large stand against monotheism and colonialism by default merely by existing. 2/?

@thelettuceman Any special interest in decolonizing and dismantling of the overculture comes out of our religious identity and through the Gods, Ancestors, and vaettir as They may call us to act, and from there, personal proclivity. 3/?

@thelettuceman In regards to the dichotomy of colonizer v colonized, I think about what John Trudell had to say in his speech Tribes of Europe: If we look back far enough we will see the poison the Europeans drank was the same they then spread around the world. 4/?

@thelettuceman We cannot decolonize unless we embrace our own indigenous worldviews. For us as polytheists I believe that means fully embracing and living in the world through the polytheist worldviews we have. 5/?

@thelettuceman In a sense, white polytheists 'pass' because we're often looked at as fellow 'believers' or 'colonizers' even though we may feel a sense of profound alienation and loss with the overculture...6/?

@thelettuceman ...whether looking to our lost polytheist beliefs, rituals, religions, relationships with the Gods, Ancestors, and vaettir of our various paths, etc. that were lost to Christian hegemony/colonization and the destruction of various Native European religions, genocides, etc. 7/?

@thelettuceman We occupy a very weird, uncomfortable place where we are not actually welcome in either category because our very views are at odds with the way things are. 8/?

@thelettuceman Most of us, being white and Christian/monotheist/atheist converts, have benefited from white Christian/monotheist/colonizer privileges while also being put into a position where we may *still benefit* by these things... 9/10

@thelettuceman ...so long as we do not live in accord with our beliefs, work against the status quo that demeans Native/First Nation/aboriginal peoples and our own religious rights and cultural perspectives.
10/?

@thelettuceman It's the same bargain our Heathen Ancestors had to make at one point. Do I take the ample trade in hand for conversion, take my practices underground and not speak of them, or do I stand up and proudly say "No!" and accept the consequences?
11/?

@thelettuceman I have often heard from Native people and groups that we need to decolonize ourselves, and part of that is in embracing our own indigenous mindsets, our own Holy Powers, our own ways of doing things. Polytheism *requires* decolonizing to do well. 12/?

@thelettuceman In order to embrace our Gods in Their own ways we have to set aside and dismiss Christian/monotheist/overculture ways of interacting with our Gods and meet Them on Their own ground even if some of that ground is similar to those we knew... 13/?

@thelettuceman ..eg kneeling in prayer may bring some to be reminded of Christian upbringings but it is worth pointing out the sources that show Heathens in different times knelt, prostrated, etc without embarrassment or loss of face to the Gods. In fact, you did wrong if you didn't do it. 14/?

@thelettuceman Whether folks do or don't kneel aside, being part of their own Hearth cultures and religious imperatives or not, we are still in the process of building up what the hell our identities are beyond "I worship Gods" and "I worship these Gods in this way". 15/?

@thelettuceman This is why hearth cults, Kindreds, and family practices are so damned important for us because this is where the rubber meets the road for reviving and enlivening our practice. Home is where the heart is and the heart of polytheist religions are, generally, in the hearth. 16/?

@thelettuceman So whatever our religions look like the growth and the sustaining of them will still be found here, and what decolonization will look like will vary from religion to religion, group to group, hearth to hearth. 17/?

@thelettuceman I do not think we deligitimize decolonization work by Native peoples (nor could we) nor do we simply drop our privileges because we may do the work of decolonizing in our own lives. 18/?

@thelettuceman In answer to the second question, how and where we enter into the conversation as Heathens is as between. We don't quite belong to the overculture but we also are not free from it. 19/?

@thelettuceman I don't think we can or should shrink or shirk from joining the conversation. Rather, I think we could have a powerful effect on the conversation and need to mind our voices that we are not speaking for or overriding the ability of others to hear Native voices. 20/?

@thelettuceman I think that much of the work we need to do as polytheists is a lot of sustained *work* within our religions and communities, our hearths and ourselves. We need to embrace as dear, clean, and clear as possible our worldviews. That alone will take a good deal of work. 21/?

@thelettuceman I think we can decolonize ourselves, live well with our Gods, Ancestors, and vaettir, and be good allies and neighbors with Native S/spirits, peoples, and causes.
I could write a good deal more on this, but I think I'll stop here for now.
22/?