Driving down the polytheism highway.

These questions were asked in a private note, so I won’t identify the person who asked them. But they’re great questions, so I want to answer them publicly:

When did you start pursuing your Pagan path? What signs did you see that you knew you were choosing the right way?

I officially started pursuing Pagan spirituality in November 1998. The events of the previous two years — especially the explosive ending to my first ever romantic relationship in October 1998 — had led me to a place where I decided that I needed to follow a different path than the fundamentalist Christianity I grew up with.

As for signs along the way that let me know I was choosing the right way — or even helped me make the subsequent changes in direction I need — were numerous and varied. I think the first such sign, the sign that really started me down the Pagan paths was when, on the advice of a friend, I began to read Scott Cunningham’s book, “Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.” As I read Cunningham’s discussion on the nature of the gods, life, and magic, something in his writings really resonated with me. While I still had my doubts and questions, I found that a lot of what I read in his book made a lot more sense to me than the theology I had grown up with. I suppose that is why even though there’s much I might now disagree with Cunningham’s book about (actually, I’m considering rereading the book just to review where I agree and disagree a decade later), it still holds a warm place in my heart. It represented the first guidepost in a long journey.

The next major signpost for me came as a gentle shove by a good friend, Mike. I had met Mike at one of the local Pagan shops, where he worked. He was heavily into Druidry and was learning about Irish mythology and other subjects from a friend. I began to study along with Mike, and I got my first taste in some serious study. However, as time went by, Mike began to notice a certain…lack in me. At first, he couldn’t put his finger on it. But then, we began to have discussions about the runes and the ogham alphabet. Mike began to notice a certain passion in me whenever I got talking about the runes, which I had been studying even before I became a Pagan. At that point, he realized that it wasn’t the Tuatha De Danaan calling to me, but the Aesir and Vanir. So he gave me several firm pushes in a different direction. As a result, I began to build up a relationship with the goddess Freyja (and to a lesser degree, the god Odin).

Since then, there have been many different things that affirmed my path and guided me along it. There have been many friendships, sage advice from friends, experiences through meditation and other spiritual practices, and even the occasional kick in the pants delivered directly by the gods. They’d be too numerous to write about, even if I could write about them all.