How long?

[With Motion]

I've never been a pagan. although I've recently been considering hellenic recon due to feeling drawn to apollo, I have no idea where to even start so I just keep reading.  

[TeaDidikai]

Deoridhe

Tea: Yes. blaugh

sweatdrop Oh. Damnit. It sure would be spiffy if I could devote more time to my own tradition.

Quote:

...I'm knowledgeable in Asatru lore? gonk Ulfrik makes me look like an infant. I'm much more along the mystic/freaky s**t/drinking a lot/writing poetry side of things.

~snickers~

One thing I used to really admire Asatru for is that it seemed to have a higher number of sane people than the other groups I had experiences with. And then the local kindred imploded the way any other group did and I was left just looking at them all funny.  

[maenad nuri]

With Motion

I've never been a pagan. although I've recently been considering hellenic recon due to feeling drawn to apollo, I have no idea where to even start so I just keep reading.

The biggest thing is to practice! I'll let you know when the next edition of Kharis comes out. That's my favorite Hellenic Polytheist beginner's text.

And don't feel confined to the Reconstruction methodology -- there's a lot more to it than that!  

[With Motion]

Nuri

With Motion

I've never been a pagan. although I've recently been considering hellenic recon due to feeling drawn to apollo, I have no idea where to even start so I just keep reading.

The biggest thing is to practice! I'll let you know when the next edition of Kharis comes out. That's my favorite Hellenic Polytheist beginner's text.

And don't feel confined to the Reconstruction methodology -- there's a lot more to it than that!

Practice what? o_O  

[Deoridhe]

I have considered myself pagan for a rather shocking length of time to me: 16 years. I've been Asatru for about five years less than that, and part of a kindred for a few years less than that.

I found Asatru through tracing back through my ancestry; I come from areas which contain the mingled bloodlines of Celts, Germanic peoples, and Scandinavians. I went the Norse/Germanic way because of my distaste for what was being done with the Celtic side in the US (I'd be Continental Celtic instead of Irish or Welsh anyway; my island ancestry is primarily Scots).

I spent time studying a wide range of religions before moving in a pagan direction, though I learned most about Christianity years after no longer being interested in it.  

[patch99329]

With Motion

I've never been a pagan. although I've recently been considering hellenic recon due to feeling drawn to apollo, I have no idea where to even start so I just keep reading.

Even with a reconstructionist methodology, practice is so much easier than people think.
You don't need two degrees in classical religion to pour a libation after all. wink

Check the guilds link list. The links under the hellenic sub-title are awesome for a beginner (I know...I started with them ninja ) I recommend 'sponde'.

Quote:

One thing I used to really admire Asatru for is that it seemed to have a higher number of sane people than the other groups I had experiences with.

Heh, I'd say the hellenic pagans are a pretty sane ( and really awesome and cool and good looking) bunch. wink  

[maenad nuri]

With Motion

Nuri

With Motion

I've never been a pagan. although I've recently been considering hellenic recon due to feeling drawn to apollo, I have no idea where to even start so I just keep reading.

The biggest thing is to practice! I'll let you know when the next edition of Kharis comes out. That's my favorite Hellenic Polytheist beginner's text.

And don't feel confined to the Reconstruction methodology -- there's a lot more to it than that!

Practice what? o_O

Sorry I didn't explain more, to have a ritual practice. Do something for the Gods. Set up an altar or shrine and give offerings. Up in the link lists there are some websites that are wonderful for a ritual format that should serve until you feel more comfortable.  

[TeaDidikai]

patch99329

Heh, I'd say the hellenic pagans are a pretty sane ( and really awesome and cool and good looking) bunch. wink

ninja Two words: TJ Alexander.  

[Cirrus Mystallow]

I have been following a Pagan path for around 7/8 years now, the last 3 years I have been following the traditions of my fiancee who was raised as a witch by her mother. Our views on such things are very similar however we do disagree occasionally..  

[patch99329]

TeaDidikai

patch99329

Heh, I'd say the hellenic pagans are a pretty sane ( and really awesome and cool and good looking) bunch. wink

ninja Two words: TJ Alexander.

There's always one.
Every religion needs their pet psyco. wink I'm trying to stop fantasizing about hitting him with baseball bats, and trying to view him as our very own idiot. xD  

[With Motion]

patch99329

Even with a reconstructionist methodology, practice is so much easier than people think.
You don't need two degrees in classical religion to pour a libation after all. wink

Check the guilds link list. The links under the hellenic sub-title are awesome for a beginner (I know...I started with them ninja ) I recommend 'sponde'.

Nuri

Sorry I didn't explain more, to have a ritual practice. Do something for the Gods. Set up an altar or shrine and give offerings. Up in the link lists there are some websites that are wonderful for a ritual format that should serve until you feel more comfortable.

Thanks for the advice! =3  

[mystikdreamer]

I have been a pagan for about 6 years now.  

[wolfkatt]

I started looking into alternative religions - delving into some of the new age stuff when it began to hit the waves and such when I was about 14. I thought that was all too fluffy and needed something more "real" and deeper. I read a lot about history, different cultures, attended different religious events, and studied intensely under many different Christian sects. I have studied and been initiated a few different times throughout the years trying to find where I fit in. I do not know what to "label" myself and I hate being crammed into a box anyways so I usually just go with the general term of "Pagan" if anyone asks. I am currently studying and learning old English folklore. I am also in the tutelage of a hedgewitch - but since I am still learning I do not go by that term as of yet.

Anyways, back to the original question - if you begin with when I started my quest for knowledge I have been studying and (for the most part) considering myself a Pagan for 25 years. (Yes, do the math to figure out my age razz )  

[saint dreya]

pagan for 12 years. most recently, particular path for past 3, i believe.  

[Collowrath]

I've consciously been pagan for only some four years, but even when I was little I believed - I just didn't understand the implications or obligations of that belief.

I've been living Hellenism for almost two years now. I had an amazing epiphany about a particular Goddess and messaged Nuri about it, followed her advice, and never looked back. I don't know if Nuri would remember it but I saved the message - she told me to weave, write, wage war, crusade for justice, and if it offends Her, She will let me know (and on more than one occasion, She has). That helped me forge what I can best describe as one of my most beneficial and cherished relationships.

As for my ancestral gods - they're Slovak like me. smile Unfortunately, the old Slavic gods (especially Western Slavic ones) have been fairly well wiped from the face of the planet. A lot of what we know about them is heavily Christianized or simply made up by Renaissance Russian writers who felt they needed to create gods like Bielboh because Cerneboh was just bringing down the mood. On top of that is a smathering of Russian racism and superiority that really turns me away from the Rodnoverie.

It looks like I went on a ramble. Please forgive me! stressed