Welcome to Gaia! ::

Could possibly call him Meditate Nate razz

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone for being tolerant with me. I know yesterday was a bit off, but on the whole it's been good here. I've been trying not to seem like a tyrant, but I wanted to cut something in the bud before it got worse. I'd like to keep the peace here, but don't be afraid to talk to me. Like I've said, I don't know everything, but there are some things I do know that I try to help out with.

Umm, I would be posting this in my Thank You thread, but it seemed to have disappeared.

It's ok, it's just that it has to be handled maturely, and not taken into context that would abuse the Gaia Terms of Service, or give minors ideas they shouldn't have yet, that's what I was worried about.

One good place for teens to check out is CUUPS (not sure if there are chapters in the UK) I have the link set up in the links subforum. There are teens that come and go in the chapter I go to, it's open to the public, and it's more open than a coven. There are other Pagan religions featured besides Wicca and Celtic-based Paganism.

And don't worry about typos. They're just the manifestations of Pytos, God of Typos.

Neo litrally just means newage i think. so a neo pagan is someone who follows a reconstructed pagan faith. which means a pagan religion that is new but based on the old ways. Wicca is a Neo-Pagan religion. so any practitioner of wicca is a neo pagan.

A eclectic is someone who has no set gods and will use any of them from different pantheons. a pantheon is like a era and culture. for example all the Greek gods are one pantheon and all the Egyptians are another

So a neo eclectic technically is a person who follows a reconstructed pagan faith using any gods and not only a set pantheon. a example would be a eclectic wicca practitioner.

You do not have to fully believe in them. my personal belief at the moment is that the gods are just incarnations of natural power and humans using the gods name and thoughts about that certain god is what makes us able to connect to that power. really all there are only a few gods but they have many different names depending on the pantheon. also because of that they can have different personalities due to the different pantheons. it is something very hard to explain but to honestly answer no you dont need to believe in them but you will most likely have to work with them weather you believe in them or not.

Do whatever works for you. if you do not wish to use gods then do not however there are not many you can learn from that do not use gods. even hailing to watch towers you are invoking the god/goddess connected to it and inviting it to your circle

That is a perfectly good belief and kind of near my own just worded differently. using a name and idea of a god/goddess i feel helps humans connect to these spirits.

Think of it this way. that the gods and goddesses are those spirits you believe in but just another form. one that humans are able to connect to by personifying them. if you can think of it that way then you will be able to get your head around the idea of gods and goddess allot easier

Did you understand when i said about the pantheons. there are not that many gods in reality. different cultures in history and over the world just have different names for the same gods. for example there is always a god /goddess connected with fertility. in one pantheon it will have one name and in a different one a different name.

Gods/goddesses are in no way human. The reason humans personify gods and goddesses is because otherwise it would be to hard for us to be able to connect and comprehend them. humans try to make them like humans in our heads so that we can try to understand them better.

No god has your whole future planned.
My personal belief is that we have set events that are destiny to happen but in between we have totally free will. think of it a a piece of rope. along that piece of rope are knots every so often. those knots represent destined events in our lives that we have no control over. be it the gods that control them i don't know but they are destined to happen. in between those destined events we have complete free will.
Now think of it as a spiders web of rope where every choice you make sends you down a new strand of the web where there will be different knots.
This is what in my path we call WYRD which is where the word weird was derived from. its the web or pool that connects us all. for every thing we do we will in some way effect someone else. like the ripples in a puddle. or think of it again like a spiders web of rope. every knot is a person. when you do something your actions effect the next knots surrounding you this in turn will make them effect the ones around them. therefore everyone is effecting everyone who is one there own webs of life with destined events that will change depending on there choices because of free will.

So you could say there are two webs. the one web for you and your personal choices with your knots of destined events and then the one that is where you are a knot that effects other people by your decisions and in turn theres effect you.

Again in my path this is what we call wyrd. which is also what allot of fluffy people have come to call a blank rune which has been added to rune sets when they use them. When i use runes i do not use this new rune.

I know that it is really hard to get your head around but the web of knots and rope was the way my master explained it to me and i feel it is a easier way of explanation.

Another thing that he used was what was going on around us at the time. We was in a old pub in the old part of Coventry by the cathedral (in other words picture a Victorian street)
As we looked out the window we spotted and was looking at a man walking past. my teacher then said heres a example from us looking at that man for more then the average glance he may have then been thinking is something wrong have i got mud on me or something. due to that he could be put into a negative mood or be on edge. this even though a small thing can be the trigger that will make him snap at someone which in turn will slowly effect other people. us looking at that man for more then a average glance and he noticed us was like dropping a pebble into a pool of water and effects are the ripples traveling from person to person. we will not know what the effects are but no matter how small they will have been there.

I am glad my explanation helped you to understand.

Haha well the pagan lifestyle will certainly beat the laziness out of you for there is no room for it. I myself struggle to keep my life balanced in everything i am trying to do and keep a social life.