Pagans, did your ancestral heritage play a role in your chosen path?

Answer 1

I don't know. I'm such a mutt. My father's side has everything under the sun but I do feel drawn to the marsh lands of southern New Jersey. The marshes seem alive with my ancestors on my father's side. They come to me often in my dreams. I can't trace his family tree past that area. I honor my ancestors but I don't follow a native American path.

My mother's side is supposed to be English and Welsh, but I've never seen the actual genealogy (I'm a show-me person). But I am strangely drawn to the myths and mountains of Wales. My spiritual path is a Celtic one. It feels familiar even though I have seldom had contact with my ancestors on this side of my family. It just feels like a simple "knowing" in the back of my mind. I yearn to go to Wales someday. But since I can't prove that her ancestry was Celtic, I can't say that my ancestry plays a role in my path.

The pull that I feel for Wales is much different from the pull that I feel for the marshlands. Equally strong but totally different. It'd be impossible for me to describe. I honor ancestors from both but I follow a Celtic path. And that seems to work well for me.

Answer 2

No, churches played a huge role in the path I have chosen, at a very young age the church I went to gave me very ill feelings toward Christianity. Even a kid could pick up on the hypocrisy of it all. Anyhow, I do have Celtic heritage so go figure.

Answer 3

For me it did play a role in my chosen path. I am of Greek heritage and grew up with stories of the Gods (as a part of my cultural heritage)

For my fiance (who is primarily Hellenic path at this time) it was something he was drawn to later

Answer 4

Of course, I am very interested in the Gods/Goddesses in African religions and some Egyptian Gods/Goddesses. I am very drawn to my culture, I've always wondered what our religions were before Africans were brought to the Americas and the Islands. I plan on narrowing it down to region soon, since most AA's in America can probably trace their heritage back to West Africa I will probably start there.

I am an eclectic so there's no telling what I may borrow later lol.

Answer 5

I am more and more trying to find ways to incorporate my ancestral heritage into my spiritual path. Once I have gotten the DNA testing done, I will be able to delve into which American peoples and which African peoples religious practices I should look more closely into.

Answer 6

LOL

Hardly, I was born into a Baptist family but left that faith early in my life when it didn't hold the answers for me that made sense. And my chosen path is a Celtic Eclectic coven and I am only 1/4 Scottish, the rest is Canadian French and German... then again I guess that does make me eclectic.

Blessed Be )O(

Answer 7

Somewhat. It was hard for me to follow Abrahamic religions mainly because I had no cultural connection to the area. It felt like I was going through actions meant for someone else. My middle European heritage may have something to do with it, but I just find Paganism to be much more broad spectrum and interesting.

Answer 8

Only insofar as it was my Norweigan heritage that got me reading the Norse Myths in high school, and my spirituality evolved from that. I'm not Asatru, in fact I don't draw from the Norse pantheon at all anymore, but it was an interest in the myths of my heritage that got me on the road to paganism.

Answer 9

They have all sorts of "roles" but what they are is our elder kin, our ancestors, our extended family if you will. Beings a bit more long lived than ourselves and a little wiser but not omnipotent, omniscient or omnipresent, and they're not always in a good mood either just like you and me. If you want a more specific set of roles you probably wont find many in polytheist systems as most gods within them tend to excell at more than one thing, sometimes overlapping with others, for example Odin is a god of war and so is Tyr and so is Freya. but Odin is also a god of magic, Tyr a god of justice and Freya of fertility.

Answer 10

No traditions or anything passed down but but I think knowing I had a European and Celtic background (and a tiny bit of Native American) is part of what got me interested in the myths and beliefs of those areas and that stimulated (or maybe awakened) my Pagan interests...