@Cat_LeFey So when I answered originally, I think I selected one or two, but I've realized it's actually more than that. Definitely started with Wicca, moved on to a more dragon-flavored Wiccan practice (please don't ask) before shifting to more of an Eclectic Witchy practice and then falling hard into Norse paganism.
And even though I don't consider myself purely a Norse pagan any more and have been calling myself an Eclectic pagan, I kind of feel like I'm back at the edge of the woods that is the large Pagan umbrella and trying to figure out if where I am is where I want to be or if I want to wander further in and see if something else fits better.
@quietcatatelier The dragon-magick to Norse-pagan pipeline is real, I've actually met a few of you, lol! I like that all the comments here are confirming how everyone jumps around.
@Cat_LeFey Wait, seriously? 😮 I've actually never met anybody else who went that route, so that's really cool to hear.
Also, if I'm being completely honest, the Norse paganism was a surprise to me when it happened. When I finally let myself start exploring, I expected to wind up somewhere on the Kemetic or Hellenic side of things since those myths made up a good chunk of my formative years, but that... definitely wasn't what happened.
@Cat_LeFey Now, see, Nidhogg and Jormungand aren't dragons I ever approached, but also.... considering Nidhogg's constantly gnawing on the roots of Yggdrasil, that felt a little like something I shouldn't do, along the same lines as trying to interact with a specific Kemetic Nope Rope. >>
@Cat_LeFey My solitary path has taken me through mysticism and quakerism to practising as a hedge druid, a hedge witch, and a dedicant of the Morrigan.
@Cat_LeFey@DavidBridger when my mom started her practice (late 60s) hedge witch had a different meaning. It was any witch whose magic extended to her hedge. Yard witchery. It entails animal husbandry, plant growing/herbalism, stones, runes, kitchen witchery. Somewhere along the timeline the definition changed.
@Cat_LeFey eclectic to green witch to some bizarre combination of both with heavy leaning into Celtic practices. I’m not easy to define as I’m a solitary practitioner who reads a lot to learn.
@MyrddinEmerys Sounds valid to me, you're in the same boat as most of us! I've always thought a lot of these pagan sub-group labels are more to define ourselves for others, to find other people, and not necessarily an identity for ourselves.
@Cat_LeFey well as I have often said my mom is Pagan and a witch. She taught us magic from the get-go but as far as the spirituality aspect of it we were free to explore whatever we wanted to. My first deity was the goddess Bastet. I was extremely close to my cat and I felt a strong spiritual connection with her and I just learned a lot of cat magic in the beginning. And then I started to really get into aspects of the Moon and I fell in love with Diana. I also started exploring other Moon deities. I eventually really embraced Lord Mercury simply because I am a Virgo and Mercury rules over Virgo. And I really really just felt good about it like it feels right. But as far as Paths go like I've read books on wicca of read books on Straga. I've explored Celtic stuff Norse stuff, Egyptian stuff, Buddha, I've read the Tao Te Shing. My path is pretty much learn everything that exists keep what makes sense and discard what doesn't. I consider myself a child of the planet and all cultures are my cultures because the world is its own culture. All magics are my magics all deities are my deities. When you are a child of Gaia the world is your oyster.
@SavahRellcast Little bit o' everything, doing what feels right, yup, sounds like the way of a life-long pagan. You could be our pagan poster-child, lol!
@Cat_LeFey I am always so delighted when I see other witches and pagans raising kids. The real unsung heros are the parents who bravely say to their young, you do you and I've got your back. 😉❤️🥂
@Cat_LeFey I'm not really sure how to quantify it, haha. I definitely started with Wicca, but it was eclectic Wicca, for sure. Outside of that I've kinda explored different topics and followed my intuition and the messages I receive to find where my beliefs and path lies, rather than explore a specific tradition (though Druidry calls to me and that may be in the cards some time, but so does Hedge Witchery and Traditional Witchcraft and Heathenry... :'D)
@Cat_LeFey been a bit all over the place in almost 20 years: a brief time with Thelema (longer with occultism more generally); forays into Celtic, Greco-Roman, and Norse polytheism; and finally settling into Druidry (OBOD) as I start working on my own path through the forest.
@Cat_LeFey This is a really interesting question, I like it!
My path so far: Wiccan (non-specific/hedge-leaning) > eclectic witch > fallow period > Buddhist (Zen/Mahayana) > devotional polytheist (mostly Greco-Roman, some Norse and Egyptian)
@Cat_LeFey That's reassuring to hear! I'm sure I wouldn't be where I am now without it.
What's funny is that it went from there into a long, slow, steady build into Buddhism. ...Which I then left surprisingly abruptly, lol! And straight back to polytheism (though I'd been dipping my toes bit by bit and trying to figure out how to meld the two).
I like seeing my path spelled out, but now I kind of want to plot it as a graph to get a sense of pace... 🤔
@Cat_LeFey mine was Norse paganism, Traditional Witchcraft, and, since i wasn’t a huge fan of the title of that for it sounds pretentious, at least to me, i now say i’m just what you might call an eclectic witch.
@x I get you. My practice is full of trad craft and folk magic, but I just use the label hedge witch. It might just be me, but I feel like some of the traditional witchcraft online spaces can be a kinda 'gate-keepy.'
@MsHearthWitch Yeah, I feel like a lot of us started with Wicca and then left after getting sick of the hetero-normative bullshit. I hear things are much better now, but I wouldn't go back, personally.
I wouldn't go back either because a religion made up in the 70s by white guys isn't really what I'm looking for. I think for people who actually did the coven/training route vs solitary make it up as you go with some books to help there's a stronger feel that way. Like, actual Wicca vs "wicca", you know?
I don't say that to throw shade, just that Wicca is actually a formalized thing. Whatever the new age blogs may say.
@BluRae@Cat_LeFey Folks there are definitely Terminally Online in all the worst ways.
I did have a nice group of folks and a pretty large account. I got a reputation for giving new witches very no nonsense advice. But it got exhausting after a while. Teens younger than my child telling me my label for my sexuality is wrong. Or the whole queer is a slur bullshit. My patience ran out.
I do miss being someone that younger folks turned to for advice. I liked helping.
@Cat_LeFey For me, it was like 0.2 traditions before the current one…
As a kid, I read a fantasy novel called Ukkosenjumalan poika (“Son of the Thunder God”) in which the ancient Finnish gods send one of them down to the Earth to revive Finnish Paganism, and that idea, and the Pagan imagery in the book, struck such a chord in me that I have identified as Pagan ever since.
Now, back then there was no real revivalist or reconstructionist project of Finnish Paganism going on, and I was just a kid anyway, so I kinda had to create a tradition of my own. It was of course a simple, childish thing, but the sentiment was definitely there.
(Nowadays there is a proper reconstruction movement, and some of my friends are a part of it, but that tradition doesn’t speak to adult me anymore.)
Then, in my late teens, I found Wicca, and that was it. Another chord was struck; I had found my home. 😊
@saruwine Thank you for sharing, so many of us are drawn to paganism through fantasy books and media, it's practically a rite of initiation! Mine was the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey. And then when you grow up and find people actually living these practices it definitely feels like coming home!
@Cat_LeFey@saruwine My draw to Wicca years ago was definitely influenced by books (and the films made from them, cough Practical Magic cough)!
Interestingly, my return to paganism/polytheism the last few years was actually more assisted by video games, especially Assassin's Creed Origins and later Odyssey. I'd been pondering and debating with myself and feeling uncertain. Something about running around temples and rituals and shrines and statues sparked a solidification of desire, as it were.
I'm always glad to see others discuss how media/fiction/what-have-you resonated on or progressed their journey. I've seen people be derisive about such influences, and it makes me a little sad. The US at least is not a pagan society! We'll walk through the gates when they open!
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