Welcome to Gaia! ::

Easy, don't run to any deity every time something goes wrong, sometimes it's great to have that support but if you rely on it too much...you wont be able to stand for yourself.

Lawl Quote from Manga(but it's true):

"DO NOT PRAY! If you pray, your hands will close together. You will not be able to fight!"


And it is true, if you're constantly turning to a God/Goddess for help for every little thing, you'll lose the ability to fight for yourself, to handle issues yourself. The Deities don't mind helping out, but they want you to stand up for yourself as well, and handle things through your own power, they want to give you some support but not to be a crutch.

Well what I meant was, not to ask help from any god at all, not just your own (at least not all the time) =P.

And what if they are? So what if you're wrong? The Bible DOES say that YHWH is a "God of Love" (exact word for word quote), so I'm sure he would see that you made a mistake and use his "ultimate forgiveness" to give you another chance. Personally I believe in YHWH, but not in the sense that Christians do (ie. isn't immortal, isn't ALL knowing, isn't the one and only creator, and isn't ALL powerful, although is very intelligent, one of the creators, and is very powerful =P ) and I don't worship him xD (Bast and Eris for me).


Side Note: Doesn't the Kemetic religion believe that all of the Egyptian deities are just representations of certain aspects of one god? (Netjer?)

No one can get rid of your doubts but you. If you are having doubts, then maybe that's a sign that you do still have more exploring to do before your settled. Maybe this is a good place to pause and meditate and look for your own answers.

I mean if you believe the Christian message then that's it and if you believe something else that's great too. We all have doubts from time to time. I mean short of personal experience there is no reason to believe one thing over the other.

As for asking and praying to the Gods, I would think it depended on your spiritual path. If for example you were on a path of surrender, perhaps relying in them and placing your faith and safety in them is the way to go. If you want to be more independent then really perhaps its time to put more work into you. I take the middle road really. I pray and ask for help on everything, but that doesn't mean I'm not working my hardest on my end. I'm interested in the extra oomph but I'm sure I could have done it myself too.

Thanks.

I'd still love some more comments.

Give yourself time. Go back to whatever form of Christianity you were brought up with, examine the beliefs and customs, and remind yourself (or figure out for the first time) why you left it for the first time. You can do the same with why you came to Wicca... Maybe knowing where you are and why you got there will help relax you.

If you really have trouble leaving the Christian gods behind, but still want to remain as some sort of pagan perhaps you should read up on some other paths. Within Wicca, for example, I think most, if not all of the traditions view any Deity worshiped throughout history as an aspect of an overall Deity, who is too huge a concept for us to get our heads around. Thus individual covens or Wiccans work with pantheons that click with them. Thus, it is perfectly acceptable to worship the Greek, Celtic or Christian pantheon. People who work with the Christian gods, tend to also incorporate their favourite Saints as well. However, you need to realize that working with Jesus Christ in a Wiccan setting is not the same thing as straddling both religions. That can't be done I'm afraid, there is no middle ground where you can hedge your bets..

Another thing to consider is if Wicca is your path, or is the first one you came too, and you really liked it? It has gotten so much publicity since its creation sometimes people don't see many other paths, that might be more suitable... I don't know what attracts you to Wicca. Do you like living in harmony with nature and cycles? Do you like being solely responsible for whatever happens to you? Do you like being able to learn magic?
Any of those three can be carried out outside of any religious setting. The first two are merely how you choose to walk through life. Likewise the latter is not reserved for any religion. So for example if the things that appeal to you are
(a)being part of an organised religion where there will be other people with you
(b)Having a personal relationship with your gods and being able to turn to them for support or help
(c)Practicing magic

I'm not saying, these are your reasons, I'm just giving an example. If they were your reasons, but you wanted the stay with the Gods you were brought up with you might feel more at home with Santeria and Voodou..

By the way, if being caught with occult books when you were younger inspired parents/teachers/family to have that reaction and threaten you with demons (at least they want to protect you from what they perceive as dangerous) then fair play to you for having the spine to take up what felt right for you again later in life!

Personally, if there is a hell, and despite the lovingness of 'God' I do go to it, which would probably be with a number of others too in that case, then I would totally be on board for causing a mutiny in hell, its not like I'm going to have something better to do...and I'm not counting rithing in pain as something better.

Ignoring that, when you do run to other gods, are there paticular aspects that you can concieve they may represent and that is relevant, or is it really just a random blind search for help? And with that idea that all dieties are just aspects of a greater god, seeming to be the same idea as you're particular religion, then it doesn't seem like you are actually running to "other gods" if thats the circumstance.

Personally, I'm a hell raising counterproductive anti-authority type person, I've had experiences with a hadful of dieties, or so I think, but I'm sure I'll have some issues seeing things quite the same as you might/do and what I say might not be very relevant.

What you said does make a bit more sense to me.