Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello Eclectics in the audience! Sometimes I wonder if the conversation in this guild is a bit too recon-focused and whether you feel left out. So here is a discussion for you.

As an eclectic, how do you describe yourself? Do you use different terms when it comes to talking to different people? How do you think about yourself on a religious or spiritual level - I mean, what are the ways you identify privately?

What are the difficulties and concerns you've come across when it comes to identifying as eclectic? And what are the bonuses to identifying as an eclectic?

I will try to post more eclectic-oriented topics in the future biggrin

As an eclectic, how do you describe yourself?
Solitary eclectic soft-polythistic neo-pagan
but normally I just say I'm pagan

Do you use different terms when it comes to talking to different people?
no, always pagan

How do you think about yourself on a religious or spiritual level - I mean, what are the ways you identify privately?
a child of the earth, witch, pagan

What are the difficulties and concerns you've come across when it comes to identifying as eclectic?
i feel that some pagans (non-eclectic) will look down on me assuming off the back that i steal/use what i want from different traditions/cultures disrespectfully
which isn't the case
like their path is better then mine because its more structured, etc.

And what are the bonuses to identifying as an eclectic?
i'm not sure because I haven't really ever called myself something else so I don't know what the advantage of identifying myself as eclectic

I realized the other day it's been a long time since I thought about this.
I get caught between not getting hung up on labels, and having something that can adequately communicate to others what I do and how I view the world. So much of how I perceive myself seems to rest in the idea that I walk in two worlds, a foot in each at all times, and I don't want to fall too far on one side or the other. Any adequate term has to find a comfortable balance between. It's...hard.

With people I'm very comfortable with and who I trust, I might describe myself as a priestess. I've been a channel for the Gods and spirits for a long time. I might describe myself as a crow-girl, or a raven, or a wolf-woman. A dream-walker. A shapeshifter. These are all very personal things, all UPG. I don't open up those doors to myself very often. Lots of trust involved. These are words that don't clarify anything on their own, so I don't use them with that expectation. They're openings to further discussion.

Witch is one of those labels that treads two sides for me. One side is very public. It's not very specific, and if I'm using it in public I may be using it to create space between myself and a person or people I think are prying or being rude. The other is very personal - I knew myself as a witch from childhood, even when I didn't really understand they weren't just old stories and scapegoats. It's very much again a UPG thing, and I keep that to myself. I have a lifetime of experiences with 'witch'. So either I'm using 'witch' with the clear tone and body language that it's none of your damn business so DIAF, or I'm using 'witch' in a way that includes some more information attached, because I trust you.

If I'm dealing with someone within the pagan community, I might describe myself as a Wiccan. If I think it's appropriate, I'll add 'British Traditional' or 'Gardnerian' to the front of that label. I might say I practice Native spirituality. I might call myself a panentheist. I have in the past described myself as an Irish neo-pagan, a hard polytheist, and a crafter. These are all things that are pretty concrete and have definitions that aren't part of my UPG. I use them when i want clarity.

I seldom use 'eclectic', since my approach is less eclectic and more recon-esque, and my cosmology and practices tend to draw solidly from one culture. But when you boil it down, what I do isn't reconstructionism, and it isn't purely one thing from one source, so I am eclectic as well.

If I don't really want to share with someone or I'm not interested in being specific, I simply tell people I'm pagan and leave it at that. It tells people I'm not Christian or Jewish or Muslim, without getting into anything more personal. I make it pretty clear in my body language and my tone that I'm not really open to discussion; I use this if I want people to leave well enough alone. I'm pretty private about myself. People who continue to pry I usually tell I'm a witch, knowing that some people will back off at that point, and others will be horrified/confused/scared and stammer out something amusing. It's not the nicest thing to do, on several levels but I'm not really all that nice sometimes and persistently ignorant people who ignore my warning signs deserve a little discomfort for their efforts.



I think primarily the drawbacks in the term 'eclectic' lies in our assumptions. 'Eclectic' draws to mind soft polytheism, dodgy revisionist history, 'love and light' New Age flakiness, and in some cases vegetarianism/veganism, 'green' living, and environmental activism. 'Eclectic' also implies in many minds that such individuals are free with cultural appropriation and careless in their practices - that they can't commit to one pantheon or practice, that they can't and aren't doing anything 'serious'. And many self-described eclectics have a bad habit of assuming that what they do is also what others do, and that 'eclectic paganism' is one big happy family, as opposed to a huge variety of individuals without any defining commonalities.

The only real upshot of using 'eclectic' as a label (at least in my mind) is that you free yourself to take on what you will. Some people don't need community. Some work better with a loose structure. Still others are assembling their own cosmology and pantheons and practices; they may not always remain eclectic, but their process up to that point is. And you're being honest about yourself and what you do when you use the term to describe what you do. I value honesty - it's why I tell people I'm eclectic myself.

I've never felt left out, but I also often don't feel like I have much to contribute to the discussions. I mean while I am an eclectic, I also try to be reconesque in my rituals to various pantheons. To be honest I feel that is the best way to honor gods of specific cultures and pantheons.

My Germanic Pagan practices are basically recon style. I base them off the rituals I have read in the Saga's as well as the books on Asatru, Heathenry, and Germanic Paganism that are separating themselves from the heathen style witchcraft practices.

However since I have not specific dedicated myself to any one pantheon I have to consider myself an eclectic. I use different rituals for the different Gods. I even use different rituals tools for the different Gods. It's part of me performing in different ritual mindsets.

Not bound to any one specific pantheon. I explore and experiment with rituals and worship styles of different Gods and cultures. Willing to give anything a try with in reason.

Honestly I typically just say I am a witch and an eclectic pagan, but that's because I don't have many specific path communities I am involved with. The only times I really specify if if I am in a discussion of specific witchcraft traditions. Priestess, seeker, philosopher, tree hugging dirt worshiper, wild child, ect. I am publicly a witch and Pagan. Sometimes I identify as a Germanic Pagan, but not as frequent as I used to.

The books out there on being a Solitary witch, when they describe eclectic witchcraft they basically make it seem that all eclectic pagans are witches. They make it seem like witchcraft is the core of modern paganism. To me that's rather insulting. While I am a witch, I also have religious practices aside from my religious witchcraft, and they are kept separate for a reason.

I also feel that many people assume the as an eclectic I just freely take from any religion and spiritual practice I want with out any cultural context. That's not the case. For me when I am exploring a specific ritual style and practice with a culture and pantheon I evaluate them all and keep them within cultural context as best I can.

It seems eclectics are often considered to be uneducated in the lore and myths of various pantheons. While some are and may only have surface knowledge of the myths, others research the myths and utilize the source texts for the myths/ That way we have context for the myths we are honoring in ritual as well as the deities and practices related to that thought pattern.For me it makes me feel free to study and explore the paths that interest me at any pace and combination I desire. I feel that as an eclectic I can wander about the various paths in the world exploring, studying, and growing with out feeling like I am ignoring another path.

As an eclectic, how do you describe yourself?
Err... Eclectic Neo-Pagan, I suppose. I don't think about terms for it that often, to be honest.

Do you use different terms when it comes to talking to different people?
In regards to what I call myself? Nah. I honestly don't really talk about my religion to other people. You get weird reactions, lose friends, lose respect... On the occasions that it does come up, I just say something about my family being Baptist or something and shrug.
I did have kind of a funny thing happen on the previous Esbat. It was the day before at work, and a co-worker and I were having to fill in at one of the local testing centers (we're HR consultants for our state's civil service commission). We had a long string of really colorful people coming through that day to take the civil service tests, and after everyone had gone into the rooms for their exams my co-worker grinned and turned to me, remarking that it must be a full moon. You know the saying.
I laughed and said that it actually was. I had to pull it up on a (non-religious) online lunar calendar and she was laughing because she had no idea when she made the comment, then just asked how I knew (I had said it was before pulling it up). I hesitated like... aww ********, I messed up xD
I ended up just saying something about how I noticed the moon was super bright the night before and ended up not sleeping well because of it. Seemed to work out fine, lol.

How do you think about yourself on a religious or spiritual level - I mean, what are the ways you identify privately?
I really just read books about traditional European witchcraft (and a bit in other regions) and try different things that I'm interested in and comfortable with. The practices that I enjoy and yield positive results I stick with.

What are the difficulties and concerns you've come across when it comes to identifying as eclectic?
There's always a small measure of isolation, I suppose. Even among other Eclectics, there is just so much diversity that I don't talk much to the ones I meet about religion outside of, "Wow, I had no idea, me too!"
I think a large appeal to most religions is the sense of community, so it's something a lot of us have to do without for whatever reasons. Sometimes it's unaccepting family members, it could just be embarrassment that you do something as (in terms of modern society) silly as waving wants, muttering chants and believing in magic.

And what are the bonuses to identifying as an eclectic?
It's just the right path for me, I suppose.
There's also the sheer flexibility that is nigh impossible to find in other religions. You get to know why you do things because you chose to do them. You fully understand the entirety of your religions beliefs and practices, and that's something that I think a lot of centralized religion struggles with. Half the time people seem to not know why they do the things they do, they just do them because they're "supposed to."
I like the idea of not having the feel that way. If something feels off or not right, I just don't do it (within reason, of course).