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Author Topic: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?  (Read 5606 times)

Maps

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #15 on: March 24, 2012, 10:41:35 pm »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
So, go. :D

 
To me, the question is like asking "when did you feel comfortable calling yourself a brunette?" I just did one day when I learned the word because that's just what I am and always was; even when I was a wee Christian squirt I was pagan.

Aiwelin

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #16 on: March 25, 2012, 12:46:39 am »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a 'Pagan'? Or whatever you call yourself, of course. I'll be using the word Pagan for convenience, but please insert whatever is relevant to you :)

 
It's definitely tricky.  I found Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner when I was still in high school, and of course began calling myself Wiccan almost immediately.  Looking back, it seems totally ridiculous, and it definitely was.  After a bit more learning and spiritual growth, I realized that Pagan was a more accurate label for the spirituality I was putting together; which was largely self-made with a Wiccish veneer.  I practiced in that way for many years and became very comfortable with the 'Pagan' label.  Recently, I began working with and learning about a couple of Druid organizations, but I'm certainly not comfortable adding 'Druid' to my internal list of labels.  If and when I become comfortable with the practices and feel they are a valuable part of my spiritual life, then I may choose to identify as 'Druid'.
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Mandi

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #17 on: March 27, 2012, 09:31:27 am »
Quote from: Maps;47273
To me, the question is like asking "when did you feel comfortable calling yourself a brunette?" I just did one day when I learned the word because that's just what I am and always was; even when I was a wee Christian squirt I was pagan.

 
I identify a lot with this :)

Quote from: MysticalMama;47291
It's definitely tricky.  I found Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner when I was still in high school, and of course began calling myself Wiccan almost immediately.


I did the same thing around 13. I found this book at a market, called 'Girl's witchcraft' or something ... I actually still have it and I had a look at it again recently for the first time in years. It never says the word 'Wicca' or 'Wiccan' once so I have no idea where I go the word from o.O

But the book puts a lot of store in the altar, candles, meditation, grounding, spells, the trinkets and what not. I thought it was the sh*t at 13 haha.

caelestisraven

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #18 on: April 06, 2012, 12:10:31 am »
Quote from: Maps;47273
To me, the question is like asking "when did you feel comfortable calling yourself a brunette?" I just did one day when I learned the word because that's just what I am and always was; even when I was a wee Christian squirt I was pagan.


That is quite fitting a description for me as well :) I believed what I believed but I didn't know what it was called or that there was even a word for it.

I remember reading a book out of pure curiosity on the history of witchcraft. I had never even heard of paganism or modern witchcraft or Wicca until then. I wasn't even looking for spiritual insight.

When I got to the section on Wicca I was like omg thats me! Right away in my head I knew I was pagan.

I think it took maybe a month or two before I actually felt ok to take the step forward and say I am Wiccan and practicing this. I remember awkwardly telling my mom and everyone was pretty much like duh you have been reading nonstop on the subject we could have guessed lol.

Though later when I realized Wicca wasn't the perfect fit for me and I moved on to discover Dianic it was a much easier change for me as soon as I discovered the path. I think I was much more confident in myself and what I wanted and what I already had worked out in detail what I believed.
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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #19 on: April 06, 2012, 10:07:59 am »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a 'Pagan'? Or whatever you call yourself, of course. I'll be using the word Pagan for convenience, but please insert whatever is relevant to you :)


Quite early on, but mostly because I didn't want to be called Wiccan or witch. I was 14-15 at the time, and I knew several kids who dabbled in Silver Ravenwolf and her ilk *twitch* so I wanted nothing to do with that kind of title.

I like the term 'witch', it just never felt right when applied to myself.

Now that I'm in the process of recommitting myself to Christianity, in a totally different path, I identify as a Christian but avoid having to call myself that in public. The tradition I'm following is quite different from either mainstream or fringe Christianity in the UK, and I cringe at the thought of the preconceived notions I'll have to deal with, again.
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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #20 on: April 13, 2012, 12:30:38 pm »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
By my question I mean, how far along your spiritual path (in terms of time, amount of knowledge, or anything else) were you before you felt you were Pagan?

 
I would say it was about 7 months into me actually studying what being a Pagan was and the beliefs and stuff. I didn't want to call myself Pagan early because I didn't want to be titled as a wanna-be. I wanted to make sure I knew what it was and if being Pagan was right for me before I said that I was a Pagan. But other people may think differently.

xmoonlitreveriex

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #21 on: April 13, 2012, 03:01:01 pm »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a 'Pagan'? Or whatever you call yourself, of course. I'll be using the word Pagan for convenience, but please insert whatever is relevant to you :)

By my question I mean, how far along your spiritual path (in terms of time, amount of knowledge, or anything else) were you before you felt you were Pagan? I'm quite new to this, but I'm having such intense feelings for this spiritual journey that I'm already thinking of myself as Pagan. Then again, the word feels a bit premature, especially seeing as I've been automatically been answering with 'Catholic' whenever I'm asked for years, even long after I lost faith in it.

I'm not rushing myself, because I'm feeling so fulfilled and wonderful in a way I never have spiritually. I'm doing what feels right, but answering with 'Pagan' feels so right, even this early on.

So, go. :D

 
For me, it wasn't really the time that factored into when I felt comfortable enough to call myself a pagan. I had been dabbling in paganism ever since I was 10 years old or so--by the time I got to high school, I had a pretty good understanding of a broad list of topics under the 'pagan' label, but I didn't feel like I connected with any of them enough. It was just a hobby for me, more or less, until I arrived at the path I'm on now (so, approximately 7 years after I first started researching paganism).

I could claim to be a pagan before that, I certainly had enough background knowledge by that point, but I didn't....feel like one, if that makes any sense. It's like being an outsider looking in--I could go through all the motions and say all the right words, but I didn't have faith. I couldn't believe in these things, no matter how much I wanted to.

When I stumbled onto my path, however, it's like everything fell into place and finally 'clicked'. I finally knew what it felt like to actually believe, not just fool myself into believing. And I find it kind of ironic that claiming that path gave me the strength to call myself a pagan, while it also gave me a new label to be uncomfortable with ('Luciferian'), but for completely different reasons.

Shadow

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #22 on: April 14, 2012, 02:00:39 pm »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a 'Pagan'? Or whatever you call yourself, of course. I'll be using the word Pagan for convenience, but please insert whatever is relevant to you :)

By my question I mean, how far along your spiritual path (in terms of time, amount of knowledge, or anything else) were you before you felt you were Pagan?


For me it was pretty much as soon as I found my path. I knew I had faith in something 'bigger' than what I could see, and I knew I wasn't following a religion such as Christianity so the word aptly described who I was. It has taken me a long time to refine and develop my beliefs since then, and I have become more involved in things that are often connected with paganism, such as Magic, Tarot etc. The label pagan has always been about defining my beliefs, not about any of the 'extras' that might come with it.

Vella Malachite

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #23 on: April 17, 2012, 11:21:33 pm »
Quote from: Shadow;50156
For me it was pretty much as soon as I found my path.

 
I did this for a bit, but I found Wiccan first and started calling myself that to my friends before I realised that that wasn't really the right path for me...

I was raised by agnostic parents who never really minded what I believed, but I still kept it from them for a long time because it's not something really talked about in our family.  I told a couple of my friends, but not all of them.  I guess for me, I've always been comfortable calling myself Celtic Recon, but I've never really actually done the calling without being prompted first.  I'm fine with who I am, but I'm also fine with other people not knowing.
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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #24 on: April 18, 2012, 12:13:22 pm »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a 'Pagan'?

 
A year and a day after I started my studies; right after my home made solitary dedication ritual. I wanted to make sure I could answer basic questions before I took up the name. In the following years much has changed in my path and I deviated a lot from the point where I started but I never strayed from my very foundation; a love for deity.
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Mac Gobhann

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #25 on: May 06, 2012, 02:48:49 am »
Quote from: Mandi;46755

 
I used to be Protestant Christian, though just to label myself as everyone around me was so I was like whatever. Though when I learned more of my ancestors and learning of the ancient gods I looked at what it was about and learned I interconnect with all of it as I share a animist belief with my dad "even though he just calls himself Agnostic but agrees to most of the animist beliefs". Mom on the other hand is Christian and upon telling her about my Pagan beliefs she thought I was confused in religion and upon telling her and showing her the Polytheistic symbols "The Pentacle scares her" but I think given her time she'll understand it. My beliefs follow Nature and I will stick with that for the rest of my life :D

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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #26 on: May 06, 2012, 05:58:44 am »
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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #27 on: May 06, 2012, 09:53:05 am »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a 'Pagan'?

 
As soon as I felt in my heart that I had a relationship with nature and deity- it was early on for me as well, but I don't think it matters the amount of time you've been studying or practicing, just that you feel it in your heart and know it in your mind.
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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #28 on: June 16, 2012, 10:58:34 am »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a 'Pagan'? Or whatever you call yourself, of course. I'll be using the word Pagan for convenience, but please insert whatever is relevant to you :)

By my question I mean, how far along your spiritual path (in terms of time, amount of knowledge, or anything else) were you before you felt you were Pagan? I'm quite new to this, but I'm having such intense feelings for this spiritual journey that I'm already thinking of myself as Pagan. Then again, the word feels a bit premature, especially seeing as I've been automatically been answering with 'Catholic' whenever I'm asked for years, even long after I lost faith in it.

I'm not rushing myself, because I'm feeling so fulfilled and wonderful in a way I never have spiritually. I'm doing what feels right, but answering with 'Pagan' feels so right, even this early on.

So, go. :D


When asked my Religion at school, or anywhere else I had to fill in forms or whatever, I have always said and written  "Pagan" because the umbrella term seems to convey the notion of an earth-based spirituality for most people, and it suits me just fine...
but I have to admit that lately I have been more inclined to answer Witch because that's what I am... and have known it, lived it, believed it for the last 50 some years, and the older I get, the least bothered I am about what folk think about me.
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Re: When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a Pagan?
« Reply #29 on: June 30, 2012, 01:03:55 pm »
Quote from: Mandi;46755
When did you feel comfortable calling yourself a 'Pagan'?


Let's do this time-line style:

I renounced my 'Catholic in theory (not in practice)' beliefs at the age of ten-ish.

At the age of twelve, I had discovered Wicca and declared my intent to make it my religion. My parents talked me out it, assuming it was a phase and a rash decision. In their defense, it was but in my defense, it was the right decision...

I spent seven years studying Wicca and Paganism and various other interests including dreams, tarot, mythologies, tai chi, acupuncture, stones,  nature, etc.

And a few months ago, after being called by my patron deities, I took the plunge and dedicated myself. I suppose I'm now on my Year and a Day. So I've really only been calling myself a Pagan for a few months, having spent seven years developing my beliefs. :)

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