Why did you choose Paganism?

[DharmaCatLamp]

Howdy howdy! They call me captain howdy!

So I was just curious why those of you who have chosen to be pagans chose paganism? How did you choose what type of pagan you would be? Did your ancestry have anything to do with it or were you drawn to this path for other reasons. A lot of pagans I have met in real life just worship whatever their ancestors would of worshiped for instance.

Thanks.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Well, Western philosophy is pagan as Greek. So I am in effect a pagan, since I don't believe in a theistic God and do morality differently than theists in general.

 

[amorphous_constellation]

Howdy howdy! They call me captain howdy!

So I was just curious why those of you who have chosen to be pagans chose paganism? How did you choose what type of pagan you would be? Did your ancestry have anything to do with it or were you drawn to this path for other reasons. A lot of pagans I have met in real life just worship whatever their ancestors would of worshiped for instance.

Thanks.

Well for me, I have identified sort of as a 'pagan' off and on, but I don't really know how much I care for the term. My background is just as a white american, having ancestry from sort of the four corners of europe. I guess the thing is, I see that the Christian writings are only part of western story. There also is a very rich store of writings from non-Christian philosophers, and non-Christian mythology, in the western tradition, much of which can either be inspiring or moving.

For example, a year or two ago I had read a large volume of Seneca's letters and other writing, (and there's more I haven't read from him) and also some Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus. These were all pre-Christian folks, and their moral thinking was incredible. I will re-read some of it, if I have time. But as a young person, I wasn't really exposed to any of those thinkers: instead my mom just said to read the Bible.

And there's also 'non-western' reading that I find inspiring as well, and I don't shield myself from the influence of any of that either. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that the relationship between me and spirituality is 'complicated.' It has gotten that way as I got older, and read more. But if anything, maybe I would say that I am headed toward being a 'philosopher,' rather than a follower of religion.

I am also a Tarot reader, apparently. It's a highly curious thing

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

that the world is animistic seemed obvious to me even from childhood. Being raised in and embracing Christianity early on did nothing to reduce my sense of the cosmos NOT being of the commonly accepted Christian cosmology and cosmogony.

Even my family name is etymologically related to the word "pagan"...

 

[The Sum of Awe]

that the world is animistic seemed obvious to me even from childhood. Being raised in and embracing Christianity early on did nothing to reduce my sense of the cosmos NOT being of the commonly accepted Christian cosmology and cosmogony.

Even my family name is etymologically related to the word "pagan"...

Do you mind if I ask your family name?

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Do you mind if I ask your family name?

Paine, although for various ancestors it was spelled Pain, Payn, Payne, Pane...I think a function of illiteracy...

 

[Quintessence]

So I was just curious why those of you who have chosen to be Pagans chose Paganism? How did you choose what type of Pagan you would be?

It was a process with an inevitable destination. In that I'm not sure it was so much a choice as a recognition and expression of who and what I already was. The process was coming out of ignorance - learning that the destinations even existed to begin with. The destination is who and what I am within the context of a network of relations, shaped by the fates and thus an inevitability.

Put in less esoteric language, I like all humans am a product of my environment and past experiences and I am who I am because of those fixed fates. Those inevitably meant Druidry is where I was going to end up, once I became aware it existed. Specific factors that made Druidry an inevitability:

• Spent a lot of time in the woods as a child which resulted in deep connections with the Spirits of the Land before I understood that's what was going on
• Studied a lot of natural science, especially life sciences and ecology which again emphasizes connections and relationships among all things
• Practiced creative arts a lot, in a wide variety of mediums, which cultivated deep engagement with the otherworlds and taking it seriously from a young age

There's probably more things here and there but those are probably the big ones. You don't grow up in the woods, study a lot about natural science, and read lots of fantasy fiction without becoming a bit witchy.

 

[syo]

Howdy howdy! They call me captain howdy!

So I was just curious why those of you who have chosen to be pagans chose paganism? How did you choose what type of pagan you would be? Did your ancestry have anything to do with it or were you drawn to this path for other reasons. A lot of pagans I have met in real life just worship whatever their ancestors would of worshiped for instance.

Thanks.

I am a pagan omnist. I worship any pantheon I can understand.

 

[Sand Dancer]

I love nature and think it's spiritually imbued.

 

[Aštra’el]

I did not choose paganism. I chose myself. I chose my gods. If my thoughts, choices and actions make the term “pagan” an accurate label then so be it.