Becoming a Pagan

[Antheia]

How would i go about becoming a Pagan?

I've read up heaps on it and really feel that this is the path i wish to take.

I was baptised a Caltholic as a baby. Can you be baptised at as a Pagan, or is there some other way to go about it?

TIA!

[AngelPunks]

there is no "baptism" in paganism. If you are a member of a coven then you do have initiations.

If you want to follow the path, then just follow the path, make it part of your daily life.

Do some research on Kitchen Witchery for how you can bring magic and ritual into your daily life.

Don't get hung up on doing this "properly" as they say in books, your path is your path, do what feels right for you.

Good luck with it all.

[LadyRaven]

Depends on whether you want to follow a specific path or not. Some specific traditions that come under the umbrella term 'paganism' have specific initiations, etc to follow just like any religion. If you want to follow your own eclectic path then just go with the flow and do what you feel is right for you

[*Efjay*]

Tegan, when I first became involved with the pagan world I was mostly follownig Wicca. I had a heap of books that I was lucky enough to get from a local (at the time) shop.
I wasn't a part of an covens or groups I just did my own thing. But there was a ritual I did that was commiting myself to following the path of the God and Goddess.
It made me feel like I was offically apart of things with out actually being a part of a group.

Depending on what you are interested in & what appeals to you I could recomend some great books for you to read. Unfortantly I can't offer you those that I had as I passed them on a few years ago when I felt I had gotten everything I could from the books. I already knew what was in them pretty much page for page so I felt it was best to pass them on to someone else who was just new to it all.

[Antheia]

Yeah I already kinda follow Wicca. It was only just the other day i realised it was Pagan lol! What books could you recommend Fiona?

it's just that i still feel like a Catholic because i'm baptised as one and i kind of wanted to get rid of that(sounds harsh but i honestly do not like it) so not sure how to go about that now. Yeah i can still follow Pagan but i still 'feel' like a catholic. If that makes sense.

[*Efjay*]

Tgan, Anything By Scott Cunningham is going to be good. Also I enjoyed Silver Ravenwolfs things. She has one book called Teen Witch & while it is aimed at a younger group I still think its a good book.
I will need to dig out my little book I use to record everything in (I feel a bit silly calling it a book of shadows lol). I know I wrote out a lot of little rituals in there. I use to have a website and everything. But I lost all that when we moved many years ago. mmm I wonder if any of it is on any of the old back up CD's DH has.... Be great if I could find it all again!! Leave it with me & I will see what I can find.

[PrincessLollyPopLePink]

DH gave me a book by Fiona Horne called "Witch" that I really enjoyed and also there's a book "Goddesses in every women" but I cant recall who wrote it (sorry)

[faeriegirl]

"bucklans complete book " is really interesting it has a strong gardenarian influence but is set out like a course but well worth having

[neekyv]

Hey there....
Just thought you might be interested as your in the newcastle area...
Around christmas there was a local advertisement in the paper ( Cessnock) about a 'United Pagan Church' or something like that- by sounds of things they were pretty open to any type of wiccan/ pagan and had a ceremony to celebrate the sabbat.
Maybe someone from there could answer your questions- perhaps even just doing a public dedication of your faith might help you....
Check out unitedpaganchurch.org.au

[andie82]

I've started getting into paganism / Wicca since Jan and buy a lot of my books & materials on line.
Ebay has some great stores. & most of your bigger book shops like QBD, or angus & robertson have a range off books. Fishpond is another good one for books.

How do you know if you are Pagan or Wicca?

[AngelPunks]

ok Pagan is an umbrella term - think the term christian to cover those who believe in jesus

wicca is a specific tradition within paganism - think anglican or something like that

Big thing with wicca is you can't actually call yourself Wiccan unless you've been initiated into a Wiccan coven - you can say you follow parts of wicca but you technically cannot call yourself wiccan.

And on a side note - you can be a witch and not wiccan and you can be wiccan and not a witch.

I am a witch, sorcerer and sangomas and will never follow the wiccan path because it is not who I am and I personally get sick of people assuming that when they hear the term "witch" used to describe me they thing I'm wiccan.

[andie82]

Cool Thanks

I wasn't aware about having to be initiated into a Covan. I vagually remember reading somewhere that inititaions an older tradition and not necessary these days with so many practising solitary (or am I getting confused?)

[AngelPunks]

In some traditions you cannot call yourself of that trad unless you are initiated. Golden Dawn and OTO are a few that are very much via initiation only, I also used to work with a few covens that were initiation only. I actually miss working within hierarchy of covens, because you had to prove you had the knowledge and aptitude to move up a level, it also meant that you had the grounding in the basics before you tried anything "harder". I suppose that has helped me a lot with working with some of the things I do, that I have had many years grounding in basics. But then again I'm hereditary and I've been doing this for as long as I can remember.

Wicca is one of the newer ones (it is only 50 odd years old) that has an "older" trad requisite for initiation. A lot of people are not aware of it, so they call themselves wiccan and then if they ever meet a "true" wiccan they get asked to name their lineage - which they can't. I do know people who can name their lineage.