Heathens, Pagans and Witches discussion

Do you follow a specific tradition? Or perhaps practice chaos magick?

Eclectic shamanic practitioner with Fae and Draconic mixing in.

I am a gaelic polytheist, and my magical practices are based on Irish Traditional Witchcraft.

i am solitary wiccan
n i was told that i could start my own with a mixture of things that i like

You can do anything you like as you don't break any laws........Or no important laws lol

cool
its nice to know for sure
:D

I'm a solitary pagan. Probably best described as a kitchen witch, a lil fae thrown in there too. I love my herbs and have my share of crystals too. I have some American Indian Heritage, and tend to study that some too. I'm basically an Eclectic Pagan. Heinz 57

i have loads of crystals n i like my herbs

Norma wrote: "I'm basically Eclectic Pagan"
I go by that too! I usually tell people I am a solitary Ecletic Witch. My roots are from Scotland so I try to incorporate and work with the Fae, Dragons, Brownies, Kelpies, sprites. Right now I am learning and practicing uses for my herbs.
If you could reccommend any books you like, especially if it has tea recipes? I have just started my own herb garden.

i tryed to do that
grow my own hurbs
but i was bussy with collage work
that they kinda died :(

I am here in Texas so as long as I remember to water them they do fine...heehee.

i am in england n they still ended up dead

Do you guys ever find it tough to figure out exactly what to call yourself?

Over the past year or so, my beliefs have been changing again, and I'm finding myself leaning more toward agnosticism. At the same time, I still feel strongly drawn toward nature. I don't know if I'd still consider myself a pagan in any religious terms, but I do still consider myself a witch. I guess I sort of hover at the edge of agnosticism and pantheism.

pagan, wicca, witch (one or the other, i dont mind)
thats about as far as i go
any futher n my head starts to hurt

The Discriminating Fangirl wrote: "Do you guys ever find it tough to figure out exactly what to call yourself?"

I just say whatever I feel like at the time.

"A mermaid"

It's interesting to see people's ultra specific traditions though, I think it says a lot about that person.

I just consider myself Eclectic. I've borrowed bits and pieces that I like from religions I have learned about to make my own unique religion just for me. I primarily borrow from Paganism, Judaism, and Hinduism.

The Discriminating Fangirl wrote: "Do you guys ever find it tough to figure out exactly what to call yourself?

Over the past year or so, my beliefs have been changing again, and I'm finding myself leaning more toward agnosticism. ..."

On the subject of agnosticism and atheism in pagan practice, I recommend this essay from the Proteus Coven online library? "Pagan Deism: Three Views"
http://www.proteuscoven.org/proteus/t...

Brain food for sure. :) And fuel for discussion, perhaps.

That's what I'm trying to figure out. Born catholic never fit that. Have studied herbalism, aeromatherapy, crystals, reiki, etc for years. Some friends are Wiccan others agnostic. I am a healer for sure. Registered nurse by licensure shamanistic healer by nature.

I am an animist witch.

I'm an Irish polytheist/Celtic reconstructionist.

Norse Pagan/Heathen/Ásatrú... polytheist & animist.

I am a Druid following an Irish Gaelic path (very heavily drawn from Celtic recon)

Green Witch. I did my year and a day with Ann Moura. Currently studying meditation and tradition with a group at Hindu University.

I'm a Gaelic/Hellenic polytheist, ADF Druid & Unitarian Universalist.

wow some of these r quite a mouth full

Cam anyone explain the difference between shamanism and Wicca/ witch? I met some people who are "shaman" but they perform a lot of witchy rituals for healing. Are people using shamanism as a title to be more politically correct since the uneducated population stereotypes witches as bad?

A witch is someone who is a pagan and practices witchcraft. They don't have to be Wiccan (as that is a new age religion of paganism, but has become synonymous with the word witch in the media), they can be solitary witchs, satanits, chaos magickians, ect.

Shamans are people who can also be witches but sometimes do not consider themselves such. The word comes from rural pagan communities where there would be a 'wise man' or 'wise women' who would be the doctor/spiritual leader and who would use drugs and animal totems in astral journeys. Many people believe you can't become a shaman, but that you are thrust or born into the position.

Also, a lot of witches (male and female) like calling themselves shamans so they can justify the use of illegal drugs.

The term 'shaman' is actually from the Tungus tribe of Siberia. Mircea Eliade, a religion scholar wrote a book called Mircea EliadeShamanism Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy and since then the terms been used more broadly.
Some people feel it should only be used in the context of that culture, and use culturally neutral terms like 'spirit-worker' instead.

I am somewhere between a Shaman and an esoteric Christian. I really like Wicca, and like to read about it, but don't feel like the practice is really for me. I am more into psychic healing and other types of energy work than I am into rituals. Hope that makes sense. I am still discovering my spiritual path, but I feel I am on the right track.

Combination Celtic/Dianic
My mother is Christian wiccan

Mostly a follower of Northern Tradition Shamanism - practitioner, not a shaman - also heavily influenced by British Traditional Witchcraft and less so by other witch traditions

I call myself a shamanic witch or shamanic animist, most of the time. My patron is Loki.

Hey Ruby: I started my pagan path with the northern tradition, and BTWitchcraft, but moved on; I liked the practices, but I was called elsewhere.

Ancestral wrote: "Hey Ruby: I started my pagan path with the northern tradition, and BTWitchcraft, but moved on; I liked the practices, but I was called elsewhere."

That's cool! I tried or read about nearly everything before finding the right tradition - it took over 15 years! But I've definitely settled down now. Even gave away almost all my Qabala books!

Took me a similar amount of time to find the right fit for me, too. I got good advice way too late, but I'm where I need to be now.

I started with Buckland and the Farrars! I noticed you didn't like their Witches' Bible. Was it not what it should have been for you?

It wasn't the Wicca to which I had been exposed, which was initated, lineaged Wicca; and a long way from the kind of practice to which I was drawn. As it happens, Wicca wasn't for me either.

Yeah, me neither. Here in NC we are mostly exposed to Frosts' Wicca, and I had one teacher who had some lineage from a Welsh tradition. I've learned mostly from books and gods, but not because I didn't try to find teachers. I just couldn't find many I respected. I even tried learning online, three different types of online magickal training. :( I just kept coming back to books.

Ah, see, I do have mentors, but no one teacher. I learn specific things from specialists, but will tweak to suit (meditation from one; energy work from another, etc.). In relation to my polytheism, a lot of reading is required, especially of myths and history (for context); with magical work, folklore is often a great source, but understanding it's practical application sometimes requires questioning a native practitioner.

Pamela, I bounce between solitary eclectic Wiccan and neopagan, because I work with the Greek pantheon (Artemis is my patron Goddess) yet, I find myself drawn strongly toward the more nature-based neopaganism as well, including working with totem animals and spiritual guides.

I follow a Neo-Egyptian path but am quite eclectic. They're all just difrent roads leading to the same village. Some people like walking on the beach some like walking in the woods no real diffrence.

Ancestral wrote: "Ah, see, I do have mentors, but no one teacher. I learn specific things from specialists, but will tweak to suit (meditation from one; energy work from another, etc.). In relation to my polytheis..."

I would say I have learned almost all the practical, technique-y aspects from books, gods, and plain old making mistakes until I learn better. Eliminating all other methods until I find the right one for me, in some cases, time-consuming as it is.

What I wanted from a teacher was to get embedded in a cultural context or tradition, but it had to work and be sort of authentic, and it had to not "spit me out". I tried studying Norse magic several times but until I found the Northern Tradition with their focus on the Rokkr or Jotun gods, neither Aesir nor Vanir would have me around. Now they will "pick up the phone" if I have a valid reason, because I'm embedded in a tradition they recognize. A lot of what's out there is either A) made up to sell books and doesn't work or B) worked fine for the person who made it up but doesn't noticeably work for anyone else. Material that's older (and probably more culturally consistent) is more likely to work for a variety of people, in my opinion.

Ruby wrote: "Material that's older (and probably more culturally consistent) is more likely to work for a variety of people, in my opinion. "

I would tend to agree.

Teachers are hard to come by. The most unbelievably wonderful High Priest I ever had the joy to work with (in a Celtic Wiccan tradition, but he had been trained in several, was knowledgeable about Qabala and Egyptian and was additionally a professional bodyworker and practicing Tibetan Buddhist who went on retreats with lamas every year), was great at spellwork, wonderful at ritual, an amazing singer, a great group leader, and terrible at teaching. I am hard to teach, though. I do everything differently from the instructions, and if I don't, it doesn't work. There are a number of basic operations that I think I still do clumsily because almost nobody I've worked with has been able to tell me how to improve. Sometimes it takes a long time for us even to "match up" and work together, or for them to learn to perceive my energy. And I find that this is not uncommon: many people I meet have had to find a mix of methods, some unique to them - perhaps because as Americans we are usually a mixed bag of ancestry and past lives from all over the globe!

I agree, patchouli-girl. Wicca/Paganism is fascinating in all of its aspects and there are so many aspects of it that you never run out of things to learn. I work mostly with rune stone divination, but hope in 2012 to learn more about the tarot. Not easy, but worthwhile. Enjoy putting your BOS together. It's great fun! Goddess bless.

Ruby, teachers are definitely hard to come by, especially one that fits with the tradition that you follow. Like you mentioned about the Norse Gods, it isn't only what you are interested in, but what pantheon is willing to work with you as well, and then finding a teacher that fits in. It becomes a lot of trial and error, and I believe that is why there are so many solitary practitioners. Finding a group that practices as you do, and can work with your energy, can be time-consuming and frustrating. I personally work with the Greek pantheon (Artemis and Apollo are my patrons) and I am a solitary for the above mentioned reasons.

Lori, on a friendly note. I use to teach Tarot reading at my local collage. If you have any questions or would like some pointers drop me an e-mail at stephenwriter@shaw.ca. I work with both the tarot and the runes so we might relate well.

I've yet to find my tradition. Right now I'm just still interesting and searching and learning, not a 'member' of any tradition or religion.

I have an interest and a drawing towards the Nordic tradition/Asatru, and being from Sweden, one of the Nordic countries, I think that my residence somewhat will work in my favour.

I've also been interested in the Wiccan path for some years.

I haven't found anything that has felt completely right for me.

I'm also interested in magic but haven't started practising that either yet.

I'm comfortable with the idea that the Path I walk is my own, one of study and discovery and, prompted by intuition, instinct and perhaps some trace of ancestral memory, chosen when I was still a child. At its deepest level it's constant, although the light tends to fall in shifting patterns at my feet.

Please excuse mixed metaphors in the above :)

I am wavering, some days I feel witchy, but I guess I am really what they call, in a derogatory manner most of the time, an arm-chair magician. I am a student of the occult and tend to lean towards Hermetics, Golden Dawn but with a touch of old Crowleys Thelema thrown in for good measure. I study the Qabalah and been reading tarot for about 25 years.
Yes, I walk around in circles muttering strange hebrew at times. My cat think I am nuts. Sometime I fear he is right...

eclectic dianic with Shamanism and fae mixed in.