What brought you to paganism?

Question

Just curious as to how others came across paganism? Here's my own little story. Even as a child being raised Christian...it never felt right (I was always in trouble in sunday school for asking the wrong questions). In college..."Wicca" kept crossing my path. I ignored it because it involved "Witch's" and I saw my share of movies (LOL). In the army after college, I made friends with a guy who ended up being a Wiccan Priest. Again...held on to the past even if it had never felt right. It "wicca/paganism" kept crossing my path...and I would ignore it. Then one week several years ago...I had some VERY VERY life-like dreams about dragons. I had always been facinated by dragons and fantasy novels but the dreams were "VERY" intense. I started really looking into dragons. I came across Dancing with Dragons by DJ Conway...the rest is history. My beliefs have taken their own route but the best way to sum them up is to say "I'm pagan". Just curious of others stories

Jasmine808...here ya go. But first, what brought you to paganism?

My parents never went to church...the only time I ever saw them pray is at dinners such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Even then, they made me do it (and still try). I however, as a six year old, decided to go myself to my grandma's (catholic) AND grandpa's (baptist). I ended up staying with baptist when I was 8 until I went to college.

Again...yes I prayed on a regular basis, especially with my grandma (grandpa died when I was 7).

The biggies: 12 disciples...why not a book in the bible for each? Jesus' missing years? Dinosaurs? Why God killed so much? "King James Version"...where's the real version? All from the mind of a 7-16 year old that to this day hates the answer "because".

That was when I realized EVERYTHING christians believed...was based on a book that had multiple versions through 2000 years! Still considered myself christian (just didn't believe the bible) until I found my truth.

guraqt2me...same thing. What brought you to paganism?

And I disagree 100%. I AM a believer, I just don't believe the same as you. And I'm fine with that. Good luck on your chosen path.

Answer 1

Paganism seems to have brought itself to me, lol. I was always a child of nature. As far as my upbringing is concerned, my mother was Southern Baptist (although non-practicing) and the man who raised me was Catholic. I grew up in a predominately Catholic society, and admit that it held some mystery for me up until I was about 12. At that time, I began to question the aspects of Christianity in general, and my doubt grew along with my intellect. Several things did not make sense to me, and, being partly of Native American descent, I wondered then, what happened to my ancestors who were not Christian? And my other ancestors who of Celtic descent? They had beliefs that were very similar to eachother, which had spanned thousands of years prior to Christianity. What of all the killings of mine and many other people's ancestry "in the name of GOD?", ie the Crusades, the near genocide of my ancestors, etc. So then, an "enlightenment" of sorts came to me and started me on my path. I tinkered with simple candle spells of my own making at age 13, then began to educate myself on every aspect of the "occult". I began seriously practicing the craft at age 17. I am now nearly 31. As far as your dragon dreams are concerned, a dragon is a very potent totem and should not be ignored. Dreams are often symbolic as far as the visualization aspect is involved, but the meanings are very real. As far as my "label" I am not ONLY Pagan, I am a Witch. So, to conclude my ramblings, lol, Merry Meet, and Welcome.

Answer 2

Personally, my upbringing was, well, odd in a Christian way. It started out rather laid-back, not too strict, but very apparently Catholic. When my mother left the picture, my father got stricter, but married a VERY easy-going Quaker woman.

What "brought me to" paganism, as an Hellenic Polytheist (ie: "Greek pagan"), were a few things:

1) Christianity never "fit". Never once. I never had a problem with Christianity per se, it just never fit right.

2) When I was about eight or nine years old, I got a BIG picture-book of Greek mythology. It was the D'Aluire(sp?) book. The Gods of the ancient Greeks fascinated me and as I grew older, they really resonated with me, and I can honestly say that I've always felt their spiritual presence.

3) Despite Item #2, I spent several years trying to ignore their presence in my life. I tried Druidry, convinced that since I was Irish that it was better to stick with something relatively Irish. That didn't fit, either. I read some LaVey, and while his invented Atheistic religion looked "cool" and "logical" on paper, my involvement with that was little more than teenage posturing.

4) A few years ago, I was in Virginia for some reason (let's just say it seemed like a good idea at the time) and had a small emotional break. Ended up praying to Zeus and had what I'd call a mystical experience. Things just kind of went from there.

Answer 3

I was raised in a mildly Christian household. I grew up reading a lot of nature books and such and was fascinated by mythologies and ancient stories. I became Atheist but things kept happening that let me know there is more than just this existence. So really I started following my own path - and then found that others had similar beliefs to mine. I am close to Wiccan, but have some significant differences. So depending on who asks and their understanding I will say I am a Pagan, Wiccan or just Witch.

Answer 4

I was born Catholic. I still have a great respect for the faith. But it just wasn't for me for no other reason then I have WAY too much damn pride to confess on my knees. My family was Old School Catholic too. So we moved to TN which is full of freaking Baptist and I started going to a church with my then boyfriend and was saved. For about a week I felt at peace. Then I returned back to the inner turmoil that had always been with me. I drifted away from the church and the farther I distanced myself, the more I saw the flaws(for me personally) with in the faith. Having been raised in Christian American I thought you had two choices. Christian or atheist.
I chose atheist.
After a few years of some pretty intense personal stuff I realized I believed in a higher power, I just couldn't my finger on what it was. It sure wasn't the Christian version for me, that much I did know. Fast forward to a little over a year ago, I met several pagans but I didn't realize that they were. At the same time I stumbled onto a pagan education site and when I started reading I couldn't stop. I kept going "Hey I beleve that. Wow that is so me. Damn I believe that too!" I put two and two together, asked my friends if they were pagan, which they were and took off from there.
When I started I knew I was NOT wiccan. Don't ask me how I knew. But it was not up for discussion. I have nothing against Wicca, my sister followed the trad, but I knew to my bone that wasn't where I was meant to be. At the same time, I didn't know what path I WAS meant for. So I went to the Egyptian gods as asked permission to learn with them. While I felt a connection it wasn't the one I was looking for.
Funny thing, I came here. LOL Everyone in my life aways told me when I found my trad it would hit my like a ton of bricks. I stayed "eclectic" for a while and was even getting frusterated at not being able to find what I knew I was looking for. Even funnier it was BoarsHearts answers that really started speaking to me. (Never told him that, now you know my friend :P) Finally one day, driving down the highway, it hit me like a ton of proverbial bricks. I literally almost drove off the road. When the question was asked, my above mentioned friend said "Blood Calls." I swear to the gods I still get the chills when I think that.
Long story short...or not.....I'm Heathen. I've never felt more at peace and more connected to the gods in my whole life. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt every single step of my spiritual journey was leading me here. The gods have laid out so much for me in the area to learn and connect to Heathens. I have such wonderful contacts and friends who have led me in the right direction. I feel truely lucky to have heard thier call. My blood lines called me and I answered. Ok no more cheezy.

Answer 5

When I was 17 I started becoming disillusioned with Christianity and so began searching around for other religions. I came across some articles on Paganism and they caught my eye. Then in the bookstore I happened upon a copy of Scott Cunningham's "Living Wicca". Up till them I had started practicing some Pagan stuff based on the information and descriptions I read in the articles...I set up an altar basing it upon the description of one I read in one of the articles and started praying to the Goddess and had been practicing pretty much following intuition, making it up as I went along. Cunningham's book helped put a cohesiveness to my practice. I did Wicca for awhile and then left it a couple years later to explore other paths. Then a few years ago a new Friend came into my life....a redheaded Trickster bastard who told me I was His and now 3 years later I'm a Norse Heathen with no sign of leaving anytime soon.

Answer 6

I was raised in a no-faith home, and believed certain things about the earth, creation, and other such spiritual questions. I read an article (randomly... my mother brought it home, and hates the fact that I am now a Pagan lol) about paganism and wicca, which interested me. I did some reasearch and discovered that it meshed very well with my own beliefs. The rest is history.

Besides, always loved unicorns, and love the fact that I'm in a religion that believes that they exist/existed.

Answer 7

I'm just curious... Were your parents the sort of Christians who went to church on Sunday but that was the extent of their faith? Did you pray regularly with your parents? What sorts of questions would you ask in Sunday school that got you into trouble?

Thanks for answering my questions. In this section, it can be difficult discussing religion because people get very defensive, sarcastic or disrespectful about what other people believe. As a teen, I was curious about paganism (and other religions) but I've always been drawn back to Christianity. I am a Christian now.

One of my interests are to find out why people leave the Christian faith and whether these individuals had a solid Christian support system -- at least one person in their lives who exemplified what the faith should be. Something else I am learning about is how to talk about my faith. I haven't thought about the questions you had about Christian doctrine. This is of particular interest to me. So, if you don't mind, I'll message you sometime in the future -- not in the attempt to convert you -- but to have an intellectual discussion.

Answer 8

I'm a lifer. Pagan and Witch since 1954.

It is rewarding to hear about what caused other people to turn to a religion that you have taken for granted all your life. I had actually thought about becoming a Christian until I started asking questions. I asked all those questions that you read about that Christians can't answer. I heard that I was the devil's advocate so many times that I really got very tired of it. My thought has always been, if you want people to join your religion, then don't treat them like trash.

BB's

Answer 9

I was already a Taoist. One day there was a show on the History channel about the origin of Christmas symbols. Now, some things I kind of already knew, but it really struck me how profound some of the meanings were. That year, Christmas (as Yule) became a whole new experience for me. I wasn't doing anything different, but I saw a lot of things differently.

In researching the origins of other holidays, I came across the below site and was irrecoverably hooked ;-)

Answer 10

Well, when i was 10 my parents divorced and that ended my mothers obligations to the catholic church... she detested it.. but you do what you do when your in a bad relationship. She told me to find another religon. I was like ok.. that was kinda confusing for a 10 yr old. So i started hanging out at a local christian youth group and i hated it because they were very very anti gay and my mothers best friend was a gay guy named Kris King, he died when i was 12 of aids and we miss him still. So i floped aorund to diffrent christian religons because i didnt know of any other ones excep satanism and judisim... I went threw the following. Baptist, lutheren, methodist, non denominaltion christians, and one very very short stint in jehovas whitness... now not all of them were anti gay or anything like that, they just did not call to me.. i felt empty there and i didnt like the people because they were contsantly obsessed with other peoples actions.. always making judgments about people and back biteing one and other. They also didnt really like me.. picikig on the new kid because half her family, (grandparents and cousins were atheists and agnostics)(((isnt it funny how things work out??))) were completly non christian and wouldnt sitt there and let my new friends tell them about the wounderous powers of christ... But anyhow, after about a year of that i was 12, kris died, and his partner at the time was a wiccan. I looked it up, and immediatly dissmissed it for not my thing. I was trying really really hard to make friends, and being the odd one out as a witch would have made it a thousand times harder. Was this childish? Of course, i was a child. I looked in to buddism, hindu, islam, atheism, and animism. When i say looked into on those last ones, i mean i read about them... I never knew any anything other than catholics and atheists.. When i was 14 i got to go to a phycic fair with my mom and i read a bunch of flyers and tings about book ignings and the word paganism poped up somewhere so i decided to look back into the mysitcal side of religon. I feel like i was finally mature enough then to realize what i was reading was making me feel good about religon. So I took off, meet a bunch other wiccans in high school, fell in with some cult-types of idiot magick users, fel back out o the idiot pile because i dont like to hurt people, married in to a very big pagan family, then divorced. I have been a pagan since i was 15, i been through a lot of diffrent siduations, and never once have i felt alone or abandoned by my gods. I feel them all time time like a happy glow... Heres a werid analogy, ever seen those sickeningly happy mormons? its like there never sad, i feel that way in the pit of my stomach right now even, when i think of being a pagan, and how that links me in a truly holy way to the earth, sky, and all things in the world.. Good question, it made me smile.