Author Topic: How to practice as Eclectic? (Read 1456 times)

SirMathias007 · « **on:** November 08, 2016, 12:13:49 am »

So my journey into paganism has taken me all over the place. I assume that is normal? Anyway, it started with snakes for me, I noticed that I likely had a strong connection with the creature and after some research and help from you guys, I found Veles. I feel a strong connection with him, although I have very little information on him.

The thing is I am feeling other connections too. My coworker is kind of a pagan, he doesn't really follow anything but he looks to the Aztec gods in times of need. He was talking about his patron god, and I asked him how he knew that god was his patron. He said something about astrology. I asked him to look up the Aztec god I would go with. He asked me some questions, mostly about astrology and went to look it up. After about 15 minutes he came back and said that my god would be the serpent god. I was shocked. I knew I was connected with snakes, but then he comes back and tells me that my god would be the serpent god?! I tend to be a bit skeptical but this was such a strong coincidence that I could only see it as a connection.

This leads me to the Eclectic idea. I have felt a pull toward Hindu gods also, I know they are associated with snakes. and I'm feeling another pull back to Celtic (Where I first looked into paganism) though I'm not sure which god/goddesses. This all blows my plan out of the water. My idea was to find a god, then follow the path of that religion. Veles meant doing rituals and practices of Slavic paganism, but I'm feeling connections with different religions. I'm not sure what this means. I'm definitely not sure how to be Eclectic. Being a Celtic pagan or a Slavic pagan is something you can look up and learn about, but how do you mix so many religions into one? How do I practice this? I feel like there are ideas in one that may counter the other and so on. I'm not sure how to handle such a mix. Or maybe it's just me, maybe I just find all these religions interesting. I'm not sure, but any guidance would be much appreciated.

SunflowerP · « **Reply #1 on:** November 08, 2016, 05:37:38 pm »

Quote from: SirMathias007;198842

So my journey into paganism has taken me all over the place. I assume that is normal?

Yep.

Quote

Being a Celtic pagan or a Slavic pagan is something you can look up and learn about, but how do you mix so many religions into one? How do I practice this? I feel like there are ideas in one that may counter the other and so on. I'm not sure how to handle such a mix. Or maybe it's just me, maybe I just find all these religions interesting. I'm not sure, but any guidance would be much appreciated.

You will probably find Darkhawk's article On Eclecticism to be of at least some use as a start point.

Sunflower