why are you pagan?

Question

seems like a dumb question. but i would like to know. why did you consider the faith you are? whatever pagan faith you decided. did you feel a longing to change your faith, and one particular pagan faith called to you. i'm curious. why did you decide to be pagan? and in being so, how did your beliefs change?

Answer 1

I was raised Roman Catholic. I always felt out of place in church. I disagreed with a lot of the dogma, and I always felt that if there was only one God, why would it be male? Not to mention the various unanswerable questions that come along with "How can God be omnipresent and omnipotent?" To be honest, I always thought the miracles performed by Jesus were exaggerated too.

So even though I allowed myself to be convinced into getting Confirmed, I never truly believed all of it. I believed in nature spirits, but I wasn't quite sure what I belived about the Divine. I tried out Wicca for a short time in High School, but it didn't quite fit with me either.

For a long time, I wasn't any religion. At best, I could be considered a Diest, but that's not totally correct either. A couple years ago my brother married a pagan woman, and I learned that there was more out there than just Wicca. I was growing tired of just wandering aimlessly. I got to thinking, and decided to look around paganism, to see if there was anything that felt like where I belonged. I bought Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler. A wonderful book. Very interesting, and I learned a lot about the many and varied forms of Paganism. I happened across a section on Asatru, and my curiosity piqued. I went online and did a little more research on it and that curiosity became a flame, and I realized the Gods were calling me. It felt like home. This is where I belong. It makes so much more sense to me than anything else.

Answer 2

After years of trying to get Christianity to fit, it never did. I wanted to be a Christian badly but never felt that "born again" feeling. I found alcohol but that didn't help much. I found paganism in 1983 after reading "When God was a Woman" by Merlin Stone and realizing that goddess worship made sense and answered some of the longing I was feeling.

I became an elder in the pagan community in part because I'm a research junkie. We were general in beliefs and deities but worked hard at not "calling" on deities that wouldn't work well together. Over ten years I researched and tried some various paths within paganism - Celtic, Shamanism, and such. I still felt a longing that wasn't being fulfilled but knew paganism was more than close.

Then I found Asatru and taught myself (it was early in Asatru history nationwide) and several friends followed and got active with me. We found a group 300 miles away that was part of a national organization. My kindred has gone up and down in membership but there's always a core group over the last 10 years.

I'm not sure why Asatru called but I know it fills my need for honor, loyalty and something of a warrior mind-set. One reason I am a United States Marine Corps veteran - I needed that sense of honor and loyalty.

Answer 3

After leaving all organized religion and deciding that I simply didn't think atheism was correct, I decided to be Pagan because it made the most sense to me and allowed for a lot of exploration and experimentation within the faith.

I first entered Wicca because it's what I discovered first. After I had been in Wicca a while I had an experience with Artemis. After that I began to look into ancient Greek religion more and found a lot of very interesting and appealing things about *certain* aspects of it. (Like any religion or culture, there are always some bad things. In ancient Greece this included sexism, slavery, etc, which I discarded as backward.)

How my beliefs changed... over time, after thinking and experimentation, these things changed:

I went from monotheism to atheism to Wiccan male/female archetypal dualism to polytheism.

I stopped being afraid of considering "forbidden" ideas. That doesn't mean I'll engage in the activities these ideas are about, but it does mean I no longer fear thinking about any and all ideas to see whether they have anything good in them or not.

I've become comfortable with uncertainty and more knowledgeable about what can or cannot be "known."

I'm not willing to let someone else dictate how I should relate to the Gods. I prefer to take my cues from the Gods themselves, thankyouverymuch. In the process I have taken much more responsibility for my spirituality than ever before.

DJ.Hatchytt: Very good. In discovering those things about the Rede you took a very important step. There are in fact further steps beyond that, too. If you don't consider yourself to be Wiccan now, I am curious about what you do consider yourself to be.

Answer 4

I didn't decide to be Pagan. That is just what I turned out to be. I was a Christian for most of my life but 9/11 and the July 7th bombing of London stopped me in my tracks. I saw religion - all religion - for what it was and I knew that my lifelong faith was lost. I have always loved nature and animals and eventually I began to see the Divine in new ways. After much searching I found, by chance, a website written by a hedgewitch and I recognised myself at last. So it turned out that I didn't find the path - the path found me and I have never been happier. I now know that God is both male and female and that all life is sacred. The God/dess is everywhere always.

Answer 5

I was born and raised in a Lutheran family, and just never seemed to fit in with thier faith. So after spending a few years as simply one without any beliefs, I started searching around for a source of personal enlightenment. I tried fitting into many different faiths. Eventually I found Druidism and seemed to just fall into place. Wasn't like I gave up and just picked it, something clicked in me the more I read about it. So now I've been studying and practicing Druidry for the last 5 years. Being a Druid, I've gained a much different perspective on things, especially those dealing with nature. I've gone from "oh well, s#!t happens," to seeing how one event can influence others, sort of like karma. So not only has my beliefs changed, but my entire outlook on everything.

So all in all, I didn't choose to be a Druid, the Druid faith chose me, and I'm very proud to be one.

Answer 6

I found paganism but Asatru found me. Rather loudly. When I was called I felt like I'd come home. I didn't "decide" to be pagan. It spoke to my soul on a level that no other religion had. Naturally I explored it. My beliefs DIDN'T change, that's the point I think. It was what I had believed all along. I just didn't know there was a religion out there to fit it. LOL
I AM Heathen. It's who I am.

Answer 7

I didn't decide to be Pagan, it's what I am. It took me a damn long time to find the name for it. I'm Pagan because I believe in honoring the earth and all that it encompasses, I believe in taking responsibility for my actions, which includes raising and manipulating energy to effect change. I think for myself and question everything and do not like to follow rules when it comes to my spirituality. THe minute someone tries to restrict my ways of thinking, red flags go up. I have a strong sense of right and wrong and hold myself to high standards - MY standards. Not standards imposed on me by anyone else. I believe we are all interconnected, that all life has validity and should be revered, not just human life.

Answer 8

I smelled a good smell, followed my nose to the store that sold it (incense), walked in, and was surprised to find out that it was a store for pagan goods. They also had a "pagan way" teaching circle, and I joined because i knew i was in the right place.

I was never a Christian; I'd learned a bit about various religions and thought Buddhism suited me best, but not well enough. I'd given up on organized religion about a decade before, mainly because it was fear based brainwashing meant for social control to me; I could never accept that God had no female counterpart; and I'd never asked Jesus to die for me ( so I thought -where did Jesus get off doing it and then trying to slip me a bill for his suffering!)

Wicca suits what's important to me- the earth, ecology, animals, plants, harm none, magic, etc.- and has actually illuminated beliefs I had in my subconscious for years.

Answer 9

I am an Indigineous Native of this land...so here as some words from the old one`s...."We had no temple,no synogouges[sp?]...no holidays or churches....Yet STILL we worshiped"...you see,we Natives KNEW what Creator,God,GreatMystery wanted us to do...so we did/do it,regardless of what humankind says is pagan or orthydox,or whatever. Paganism gets a bad rap for NOT following a standard course of belief,but we [Natives] wonder why OTHER religions are so [un-orthydox]...MUST one go into a church or temple to worship?..or any of the many other customs practised?...to each their own,as we pagan injuns say....but to answer your Q, for us,there has NEVER been another way

Answer 10

I did not shop for a faith. I began to live what I knew and believed, based on all of my life experiences. Years later, I learned there was a name for it, and others practiced it too.

I didn't decide to be a certain thing, I decided to practice what I already believed. Nor did I decide to be pagan as a reaction to anything else.

I don't think faith is like an outfit of clothing, that you change into and out of...but more like a style of clothing...you sort of evolve from style to style as you age, learn, grow and are influenced by things around you. One day you wake up and realize you have a lot of a certain thing in your closet and that some things you never take out and wear anymore...because they don't fit your body, or lifestyle anymore. It was more like that.