Welcome to Gaia! ::

This guild has so much information. I'm glad I joined. Also, you all are very knowledgeable about the different paths one could take.

I know now that Wicca is definitely not for me. For all my so-called research, I had no idea that it was founded by a man named Gardner, or that it was an oath locked religion with the key being the 3 rites of initiation. Or even that it was a fertility cult. I've bought many books on the subject. I haven't read all of them, and the ones I did read now seem to be of the "make this up to make money" sort.

What I believe is pretty simple. I believe that there is a Father and a Mother deity, but that there are also deities that serve them by taking different aspects of their rule. I believe in harming none in everything one does.

I don't really have any special skills. In high school, I was able to listen and give really good advice, that actually worked for my friends. Unfortunately, with everything that has happened since graduation, I've lost my taste for most social situations, and as a result, lost my knack for personal solutions. I'm not sensitive to the paranormal. I believe in it, but haven't had a true encounter of any kind. I can't see or feel energy. Although I can see the effects of concentrating energy on the weather. My fiance has a knack for making the wind blow and making it storm when he's irate. I can read tarot with a decent percentage of accuracy. Enough to read for myself and family, but not comfortably for others.

There are things I would like to learn, like reading energy or healing. It's just hard for me to interact with people in general.

Do you have any suggestions, maybe?

I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for, I just feel lost. confused

Wicca is NOT for everybody. I studied that path at one point but I knew it wasn't for me, there are a lot of reasons why I was not into it. I feel that your religious or spiritual path should be what feels best and right for you.

The way you are talking I would suggest Ecclectic Paganism. You can look into different aspects and find what feels right for you and be on your own path. Of course this path does have certain "rules", and generally it is not appropriate to mix deities of different pantheons, but do what feels right for you. Dragoness is on an eccletic path and could certainly explain her path better than I can. I think she has a few posts on her path throughout the threads.

Is there any particular pantheon that you are drawn to? You don't have to have a pantheon to start but it could help you along, possibly.

When I started researching things outside of a syncrnistic perspective- I found out very quickly that they're not as similar as the "write a crappy book for $$$$" would have me believe. sweatdrop

Even the Roman and Greek pantheons seem like while some of them are very similar- other gods are very different even when they're equated with each other. Motivations, myths and personalities aren't really done any justice in a lot of these books- so maybe looking into some of the original lore on the different gods- like the Eddas or the Hymns and the Iliad and the Oddessey- or other things like that might be very helpful. Sometimes ancient historians wrote stuff down too- but you have to be a little careful with that because a lot of times it was propaganda.
Theoi.com is a good source and it shows you a lot of the original writings that they use to get to their conclusions. 3nodding

Just for an example though- say you have 3 people, all of whom killed someone. One killed someone who tried to burgle their house, and would have killed his wife and kids. One was a solider and killed someone on the battle field. One was a thief who stole a man's wallet and capped them. A lot of these books would say- oh, they all killed someone, so that makes them all warriors. Only one is a solider*- so it kind of makes sense for him- but the others? Not as much. If this was that kind of book- they would be calling all three of these people "Gods of War" and saying they're the same. Be careful about calling them all the same before you do enough reading on what the people who first worshiped them thought of them- instead of the modern cliff notes version.

(*Example is based on the habit of calling Mars and Aries the same)

Esiris: I never thought of it like that. I just knew that Greek and Roman were very similar. I also never read into Roman mythology though. So I was unaware that they would have much different histories for their deities. Thank you for the link. It'll help 3nodding

Dragoness: I'm not sure about the triple aspect. It sounds a bit like the Holy Trinity of the Abrahamic (is that the right term?) God. Although, if you're referring to Maiden-Mother-Crone, I know a bit about it. I believe in many different forms of reincarnation. I haven't heard or thought of earning a place in paradise in that way.

Also, I guess I didn't realize about 'harm none'. More to learn than I thought ^^;

I wouldn't expect exactly the same, especially since they were completely different cultures. I've never heard about Freya being the same as Bast, but that's interesting. That lady is definitely right, and that's an awesome analogy.

I like that. And it makes sense that she wouldn't just hand that responsibility off to another. I'm not as big on the moon as my mother-in-law (she is a Cancer and absolutely adores anything having to do with the moon), but there is something about the Maiden, Mother, Crone that feels about right to me. Yes, I would love to hear about this fourth aspect, if you don't mind. ^^

I didn't know there were religions that embraced science. I mean, it doesn't surprise me to know that there are people who believe in both, but it kinda does surprise me that it has a name.

The deities being a part of what they created is great. I really like the part about another part of the goddess being born when humankind was created. It's all balance. Cause and effect. Also the afterlife, the end of the road. After so many reincarnations, a soul returns to the beings that created it.

I do recognize a god, but I mostly worship the goddess. I'm not sure exactly why it's uncomfortable for me to worship the god, it just is.

... Well, part of it is the fact that I don't have many good experiences with males, deity or otherwise.