Polytheists and Pagans: What lead you to your spiritual path or pantheon?

[Lorgar-Aurelian]

As my own interest in Paganism/polytheism has been kindled I figured I would ask you all what lead you to your current spiritual path?

Did the stories of your gods resonate with you? Did one path or another simply "click" with you the more you learned about it? I would love to hear your stories. Also if you could recommend some books or websites where I can learn more about your deities and path that would be wonderful.

I look forward to hearing from you all.

 

[von bek]

When I was first exposed to Greek mythology, I became captivated by the gods. My introduction came by way of the children's book, D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. I fell in love with the artwork and the stories of the gods' exploits. Even then, they began calling to me. It kindled a deep interest in the subject and I began seeking out all I could read on the matter. Eventually, I came across Robert Graves', The Greek Myths. This book was another milestone in my development and put me in contact with an author who believed in the matter. As a child, I began praying to the gods, chiefly Artemis and Hermes at first. While a kid, I was praying once to Artemis and as I prayed, a deer, one of Artemis' sacred animals, emerged from the woods behind my house and looked me in the eyes. It was a deeply spiritual moment for me.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

As my own interest in Paganism/polytheism has been kindled I figured I would ask you all what lead you to your current spiritual path?

Did the stories of your gods resonate with you? Did one path or another simply "click" with you the more you learned about it? I would love to hear your stories. Also if you could recommend some books or websites where I can learn more about your deities and path that would be wonderful.

I look forward to hearing from you all.

What lead to my current position on my path is that most all of the stories (scriptures, myths, theology, philosophy, etc.) that I encountered did not resonate with my experiences.

A number of stories and ideas, however, did resonate. What my experiences have shown is that the cosmos is full of spirits, and that all are kin.

While I find studying the various stories of humans interesting, I have become doubtful of human ability to understand reality in any but a few limited ways (limited to our own ability to perceive, and our limited ability to conceive).

I had pretty much given up finding much that resonated with my experiences; mostly, I found the writings and stories of Native Americans (Black Elk, for example), Australian Aboriginals, and other indigenous peoples to be very much how I experience the world. But there was no synthesis that I could find that would allow me to name or better understand my experiences. For the most part, the recountings and analysis of indigenous stories by Western sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, and so on did not make sense in the context of my experiences.

Then, in 2014 I discovered the work of Graham Harvey. Not that Harvey is the absolute best interpreter and promoter of animism, but he does a good job of bringing together the existing academic and popular literature--including the stories and experiences of indigenous people--to show that the beliefs of animism do make sense when considered within their own context...and are distorted when looking at it through more 'modern' approaches such as monotheism and western anthropology.

 

[VioletVortex]

When I was 13, just discovered the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. They were instrumental in the conception of heavy metal. Now, their music has a strong dark aesthetic to it, one that most would describe as Satanic, and one that I would later realize to be Pagan. I felt a deep connection to this. About a year later, I began reading about LaVeyan Satanism and I discovered the excellent Occult YouTube channel Styxhexenhammer666. I began referring to myself as a LaVeyan Satanist. Slowly, my beliefs grew more and more theistic, to the point where I became a Theistic Satanist.

Now that I've described my path towards theism, I will talk about how I went from Satanism to Norse Paganism. This previous Summer, I started feeling sort of a "pull" towards Paganism, even though I knew nothing of its gods. I started reading about Odin, the chief deity in the Norse Pantheon, and also distantly linked to Satan. I began to oscillate between Odinism and Satanism, and eventually, I began to settle with Odinism.

 

[von bek]

One of the big draws for me to my religious beliefs is that they are centered around celebrating this life. The world is both beautiful and dangerous. Sometimes fair, sometimes seemingly not. It is an understanding that the divine manifests in a variety of forms and that Nature is filled with conscious personalities.

 

[VioletVortex]

One of the big draws for me to my religious beliefs is that they are centered around celebrating this life. The world is both beautiful and dangerous. Sometimes fair, sometimes seemingly not. It is an understanding that the divine manifests in a variety of forms and that Nature is filled with conscious personalities.

I agree. I think that nature is sort of an intelligent pantheon in and of itself.

 

[syo]

intuition