So...what flavor of pagan are you?

[rite_of_inversion]

I'm very eclectic.
-Celt and Germanic is my genetic heritage, and I feel drawn to those beliefs.
-the Greek gods in all their trailer-parky drama are very entertaining and classical,very evocative.
-Buddhism is very useful to me
-The Hindu families of deities and concepts are some very mature, fascinating ones indeed.
-Native American gods and spirits are strong in this place. They were here first, best to honor them well.
-new urban deities...useful. Squat and Skor my faves.

[cynthialee]

Wicca

[Shang]

I don't have a set belief.  I guess you would say I'm a mix of Egyptian (think Anubis) and Christianity (think Catholic) in belief system.  It's really hard for me to explain in a way that makes sense.

[Raven]

I tend to be more of an dark pagan with wiccan. But I do like to study other magickal religions that spark an interest to me hehe. Some nice one not so nice :p

[JessicaR]

   I'm an eclectic solitary... I perceive the God and Goddess to be two sides of the same coin, so to speak, opposite facets that act in perfect, non-sentient union.
   Although I'm quite competent in ritual, I don't practice often anymore; The karmic implications of changing the natural flow of things worry me. I have some experience with Ceremonial Magick (where I started) and tend to focus on seeing the Gods and their influence in everyday life.

  I wear the  pentacle within a butterfly, a symbol of my connection to all and my rebirth as a woman.

[Janet_Girl]

I am Wiccan, of the Cunningham Tradition.

[Constance]

Ecclectic Solitary, drawing primarily from Wicca and Asatru. My matron is Pele, my patron is Perkunas, and my Spirit Ally is the Lost Bison.

However, it's probably best to say I'm a Buddhistic-Christo Pagan and count among my spiritual ancestors the Buddha, Jesus, Mary, and Judas Iscariot.

[Gia]

Times change, so do the available churches.

My main church is in Hawai'i.

[rejennyrated]

I am a very broad minded and relaxed solitary witch.

I hold onto my beliefs lightly and regard the profession of certainty as a very dangerous error.

The states of absoluter certainty and death have a lot in common.

Certainty is usually accompanied by a cessation of questioning. Some who is certain about everything will therefore exhibit very little brain activity and could be mistaken for brain dead!

It is always better to have questions and be alive!

[Gia]

Certainty is usually accompanied by a cessation of questioning. Some who is certain about everything will therefore exhibit very little brain activity and could be mistaken for brain dead!

Found this via /. :

People's brains are more responsive to friends than to strangers, even if the stranger has more in common, according to a study in the Oct. 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers examined a brain region known to be involved in processing social information, and the results suggest that social alliances outweigh shared interests.

Source: Imaging study shows brain responds more to close friends, Medical Daily: http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20101013/2597/imaging-study-shows-brain-responds-more-to-close-friends.htm

So somebody that seems brain dead may simply just need friends. No need to assume with any certainty that person doesn't need friends. Friends may be the only thing needed.

[Constance]

Certainty is usually accompanied by a cessation of questioning. Some who is certain about everything will therefore exhibit very little brain activity and could be mistaken for brain dead!

Very true.

[Pinkfluff]

-Celt and Germanic is my genetic heritage, and I feel drawn to those beliefs.

This applies to me as well, and although I don't put much stock in genetics beyond what health problems a person is likely to get, I believe that heritage is much more than that. I find strength and comfort in following the beliefs of my ancestors, at least as much as has been recorded and that I've been able to learn about them.

[PiperEden]

I used to identify very strongly as Wiccan but over the past few years, I find I'm more comfortable practicing my own collective beliefs without labeling them as "Wiccan" because they really don't fit into that category anymore.

I feel very comfortable with Hinduism and the deities therein, especially Kali Ma and other facets of Durga. I am also obsessed with Celtic culture and that always vines its way into my beliefs.

And lately I've had an almost "atheistic" view, which in my earlier life would have never been comfortable with. But I think that not knowing "for sure" is perfectly fine.

[Pinkfluff]

But I think that not knowing "for sure" is perfectly fine.

Anyone who does claim to know for sure about anything as complex as spirituality is blowing their own horn.

[tekla]

Buddhism is NOT a pagan religion.

[Ruby]

The tree-hugging, rock-holding, talking-to-snakes kind of pagan.

[rite_of_inversion]

Gee, I'd forgotten about this thread! great replies!

The states of absoluter certainty and death have a lot in common.
Certainty is usually accompanied by a cessation of questioning.

Indeed

Some who is certain about everything will therefore exhibit very little brain activity and could be mistaken for brain dead!

Hehe! I'll remember that one.

The tree-hugging, rock-holding, talking-to-snakes kind of pagan.

I talk to almost every critter. Sometimes they actually understand me.   It is most fun to meow at strange cats though.  They look so outraged at it.
I don't understand why people are so afraid of snakes, myself-at least not in this country.  We only have a few species of rattler that are really aggressive, while moccasins and copperheads are pretty mellow.
My wife disturbed a copperhead moving some trash wood this fall...twice, and both times it peaceably slithered off, probably thinking the snaky equivalent of " Jeez, I  can't get any sleep around here..."

Buddhism is NOT a pagan religion.

Agreed, it's a religion of transcendence. 
Buddhist philosophy and Pagan concepts are rather at odds in the respect that Buddhism's goal is to detach from existence...while Paganism seeks to cherish the earth and its' cycles, beings and ways. But Buddhism has never been incorporated purely wherever it went...rather, pre-existing deities found a place in it or alongside it.
However...
Buddhism is as much or more a philosophy, and a way of practice, than a religion...and as such I have no qualms about having both a Pagan and a Buddhist socket set in my spiritual toolbox. Besides that, I like Buddhism almost as much as I do Paganism. It's peaceable, humane, quirky, gentle, and usable.  It's just that I feel a spiritual connection to life, and the innate sacredness of the living world, that occasionally overwhelms me.

So I sort of stand with one foot in both camps, despite the conflicting worldviews.

Addendum: I performed a rite to Hecate in November...on Hecate's day. The next month someone abandoned an almost-solid black Labrador Retriever at the gas station near my house...black dogs being sacred to Hecate.  The dog had been at the gas station for four days, flipping out, and I was the first person who could lay hands on him.
I will rehome him presently, as he would be dog #4...He's not a bad dog-purebred, housebroken and rather sweet....but the probable reason he was dumped? he doesn't bark when frustrated, he caterwauls like he's being tortured. It's the most horrid racket imaginable.

One of my neighbors thought a dog had been hit by a car...nope, the lab was just spazzing because he wanted to run around and chase cats.

Note to self, next time, tell Hecate to send a black chihuahua, or a black miniature poodle.

[jmaxley]

I am Wiccan, of the Cunningham Tradition.

Scott Cunningham?  I like his books.  Reading them, he seemed like such a gentle guy.


As for what I am, generic Pagan maybe?  Eclectic?  Spiritual?  I don't know.  I haven't found a label that really fits.  If people ask, I just tell them I'm Pagan.  It's the closest thing I've found.  I will say, leaving Christianity was one of the best things I ever did for my mental health.  That was one label I never could make stick, no matter how hard I tried.

[Padma]

Buddhism's goal is to detach from existence...

I don't think that's what Buddhism's goal is. As I see it (and I'm only a representative of me), Buddhism seeks to see through the illusion that anything is fixed or separate and unchanging/unchanged by everything else that's going on around it. Buddhism doesn't say "nothing exists", it just says everything's changing all the time. So the goal (inasmuch as there is one) is to detach from a sense of separate, unchanging identity - which is in fact exactly to identify and empathise with everything (rather than just one's "self"). So Buddhism is necessarily very much concerned with the environment and the alleviation of suffering and such things.

But then of course there's Buddhists, and we're capable of all kinds of rationalisation in order not to have to change our view of ourselves and therefore the way we go about living, and to keep our heads bouncing along the ceiling like helium-filled balloons as far as possible from our earthy hearts and bodies and the uncontrollable reality of the cosmos of which we're a teensy part - just like other people in or out of other religions.

Buddhism is pagan in the original, pejorative sense of the word, i.e. non-Christian/Jewish. But it's non-theistic (in the sense of belief in a creator god).

I grew up officially Jewish, but I've always been non-theist, and always been a worshipper of the forests.

the Greek gods in all their trailer-parky drama

Loved that description! The Greek myths have always seemed to me to be like a giant mythological schoolyard, as are the Norse myths, and the Hindu - polytheism seems to have a more realistic angle on what people are like, and how they'd all like to be really, really powerful .

[Constance]

... Buddhism's goal is to detach from existence...

My sangha's teacher would argue that Buddhism's "goal," if it could be considered to have a "goal," is to realize one's true nature.