Finding your own path within the pagan community

[TheDeadlyEntity]

I have a question and I hope you wont think its just plain daft because its something I have been thinking about for a while now. I have been studying paganism as well as other religions in the hope of finding something that feels right to me. I was raised as a Christian but its never felt right to me, then I moved into spiritualism however I still found things I could not believe.

I don’t rush into things and I like to know everything before I make any divisions. However, I have decided I am a pagan (I probably always have been). It has to be the aspect of an energy universe that attracts me, as I have always believed this to be true.

My next step was to look at the areas within paganism eg Gardnerian, traditional and Hedge-witch etc I cant say I fully agree with them, I have managed to find things within them all I cant relate to, is this normal?

I suppose its fairly normal or there would not be as many different branches around.

If I had to select a named path way for myself right now, I would have to choose Georgian Wicca for the sole reason people within this group pick and mix aspects from other groups and no two Georgian’s are the same.

Anyway, I just wondered if everyone seems to be on a different pagan path so to speak or are their far more people that just accept the fact that aspects of there religion don’t agree with them?

[Elem]

From the looks of things, you appear to have been mainly researching Wiccan / Witchcraft belief systems.

Don't forget that there are others out here that class ourselves as 'Pagans', but who do not follow a Wiccan / Witchcraft path . I'm an Elementalist - Which is a term I use to describe a belief system I have founded and based solely on my experiences and practical research. I don't cast spells, I don't believe in deities, and I don't perform any kind of rituals.

I guess my main point is to not forget that there are many other paths out there (I'm sure others will fill you in, since I'm not that familiar with a wide variety of other paths!) aside from Wiccan / Witchcraft paths, that are also defined as 'Pagan'.

Hope this helps, and you find your path soon .

Elem

[thatguy]

My next step was to look at the areas within paganism eg Gardnerian, traditional and Hedge-witch etc I cant say I fully agree with them, I have managed to find things within them all I cant relate to, is this normal?

Sounds normal to me. I think it's also normal if you find some tradition
in which you agree with everything.

Anyway, I just wondered if everyone seems to be on a different pagan path so to speak or are their far more people that just accept the fact that aspects of there religion don’t agree with them?

I haven't considered myself a pagan, but based on the definition
offered in this forum's 'What is a Pagan?' thread I'd have to say
"yes, I'm a pagan".

As far as the 'path' I pursue, it mainly involves practicing a group
of qigong meditation forms that come from traditions in Mainland China
which were passed to my teacher by his teachers. Unlike in the movies,
although there are specific styles of qigong (and as well as with martial
arts) it's your teacher and the line of teachers who taught your teacher
which associate you most closely with other students. I don't
belong to a particular group other than as a student of my teacher.

The forms and techniques which I've learned have their roots in Buddhist,
Taoist and other traditions with each master picking and choosing
which forms to keep and which new forms to incorporate into his style.
A master will usually add or change a thing or two or perhaps
develop a new technique which can be shared with a student with
similar aptitudes. This is very Chinese and is also the norm, not the
exception.

There are instructions as to the sorts of things you should do and
should not do; these are more like kind advice and there are no
explicit consequences. There is no religion whatsoever.

This 'path' feels absolutely 'right' for me, this was not the first 'path' I
pursued nor was it the only way I was exposed to. I also abandoned
this path for a number of years. I admit that when I was younger and
was exploring this sort of thing part of the allure was the whole 'mystique'
of Eastern "mysticism". Now I recognize it as the way I choose, I have
no compulsion to convince others to join my way; I feel very good about
this.

Now this is only my opinion, but if you fundamentally don't feel right
about something that's canon in a particular path, I don't see how this
path can bring you any benefit.

That's my two cents worth, no refunds!

T. Guy.

[fatalism]

Well, you might want to look at what aspects of paganism you're most interested in. Is it the emphasis on magick? If it is then you might want to look into something that is more secular (though works with deities) like chaos magick, which, admittedly, isn't strictly pagan (or anything else for that matter). Is it the deities? Then you should evaluate what you think of deities and go from there. Perhaps you believe that all deities are manifestations of one primal source? Is it the idea of energy that appeals to you? Well then you might want to look at beliefs that emphasize energy the Universe as energy (Taoism, Buddhism, etc) instead of the more Western religions (Stregheria, Wicca, etc).

If you have issues with the moral systems of the Wiccan strains, you might want to look at some of the other religions like Asatru or Stregheria. If you're interested in attaining enlightenment, I suggest Thelema as the closest Western source. If you're interested in spirits as opposed to gods, then you might want to look into Shintoism.

Others: Modern Satanism, Voodou, Santeria, Hinduism (sometimes this is only arguably polytheistic), Modern Druidism, any number of Native American religions.

Certainly there are a lot of different types of polytheism in the world. Many of which, aren't even commonly published about (religions of Borneo, the Azande, the Shilluk, etc).

There is also eclecticism, where you can 'pick and choose' so to speak, your religion. Or you could just be areligious to begin with. Some people don't ever really connect with any one religion or discover that religion isn't what they're most interested in. Perhaps they decide that religions are a waste of time, that beliefs don't matter in the long run as opposed to, say, magickal growth. That too is entirely possible, especially since being attracted to an energy model of the universe is much more philosophical or spiritual than religious in nature.

It's entirely okay to be without a definite religion and there's no need to feel as if you need to find a religion ultimately. Plenty of people have their own beliefs on what happens after death, etc but have no established religions. You can be spiritual without being religious.

[TheDeadlyEntity]

I really thought I had looked into many of the main religions however, there is a number of things there I know nothing about. Thanks for the information.

I think my main problem is I know exactly what I believe and Im looking for a group that fits my very rigid view (that will probably never happen!). As I have read and spoke about paganism, there have been many aspects I agree with.

I was highly interested years ago and went though every religion I could relate to, I never looked or even thought about Satanism until a friend told me they were not as bad as people made out.

Yes, I even related to many of the aspects they believe however, it came across as a selfish religion to me (please don’t take that offensively if you are one). I settled with an interest in paganism (and I will be honest here) because of the magic at first! Not because I wanted to practise it however.

I will try to explain with a couple of experiences…

I was very interested in mediumship and spirits when I was younger, this was an aspect that has never left as I have grown. But I left all forms of religion a long time ago, convincing myself it was all in the head I turned to science and started a paranormal group (The Truth Finders, however, this convinced myself even more that nothing existed).

I don’t believe in god as in a dude sat on a cloud watching over us and I don’t believe in spirits in the same was. I believe in an energy type of god and goddess 100% (I believe in balance so there has to be both and I believe they are equal) and I believe in “thought forms” (living thoughts) so my view of spirits, deities and other religions gods would all fall into this area. The way I see it no religion is wrong, by believing in something, it then exists.

As for magic, I believe this fits into the same area as thought forms, I believe everyone is practising magic everyday of there life’s they just don’t know it or want to accept the fact.
I became interested in the subject as a kid mainly because I noticed things I wanted came to me and things I didn’t seemed to disappear as if I was controlling them my self. I don’t come from a line of witches or anything like that (or at least not that I know of).

However, I do believe I can manipulate the universe in-fact, I even tested the theory and based my parapsychology essay on the subject. What I did was to create a person in my mind (A man that had died on my dads side of the family, in a wheelchair but with no information to give). At the time, I was highly interested in spirituality (I was a member of the local church) 2 hours after my small and not very long meditation that was done while I was having a bath and talking to my partner. I turned up to church (the only person that new about my experiment was my partner and she was at home).

The first message given out in the church was given to me and went something like this, I have a man on the furthers side of your family, he is in a wheelchair and wants to be acknowledged, the lady then tried to get more information for me but could not get anything from the entity. This was a turning point for me and I next moved onto occult information. (occult really isn’t the right word in my view but covers the subject I think).

I started with something many people didn’t believe in the nocronomicon (I am well aware of its background but under my understanding this is irrelevant and because of its use today it still contains a lot of “power?” wrong word again but it fits for now).

At this time I was in an awareness group developing my own mediumship I picked an entity from the book scraped the ritual (making my own mental one) and called for help to develop my ESP. I thought nothing happened, but 2 week later, I was sat at an open circle when the medium running it started going round and telling people what guides they had and who was with them. She got to me and said your gran is with you and your guide is …………. O I will come back to you in a min (she never did and I forgot to ask about it before I left). A couple more weeks passed and I was back with the normal group and a different medium, when she started to say the same things telling us all what are guides are. When she got to me the same comment came (I will come back to you in a min) she did come back to me after she had gone round the rest saying my guide was not male or female in-fact it was not even human. She said it was a highly developed entity. (this is were my usual login name comes from “TheHigherEntity” even though I do use “TheDeadlyEntity” depending on my mood).

Now I have bored the hell out of you all I will explain the relevance, all of the above and a lot more have given me a clear picture for what I believe in, this is why I find it so hard to select a specific path.

However, Does all this fit into paganism or am I an outcast setting the pathways for my own religion or at least my own belief-system?

[[Ebony Rose]]

Unless you belong to a coven or group that has specific guidelines, such as Seax Wicca, or a specific coven you are initiated into, you may choose your path to fit your own unique set of circumstances.

This is the whole idea of being a Solitary. You can pick and choose what you want from whatever path you choose, combining different religious beliefs including Christianity if you want. Then modify the information you like to fit how you believe and how you want to practice.

For instance, my beliefs combine Native American Shamanism, Wiccan, Witchcraft including Kitchen and Hedge, a bit of Buddhism and Taoism, and some Traditional Chinese Sects such as yoga and Feng Sui. I use what I like, and discard what doesn't seem to fit my beliefs. My area of 'expertise' if you will, is healing with crystals, and herbal medicine.

There is really no right or wrong way to worship on your own. The difference is you only need to answer to/for yourself, not to a coven, high priestess, or leader of a group. What you do is between you and your higher power, whatever you call her/him/it.

[TheDeadlyEntity]

thanks for the info, it makes a lot of sense