Personal Musings on "Choosing" a Deity

[manicpixidream]

I am new. I am very new to Wicca and Witchcraft and have many questions about how to do things. I've learned very quickly that this is a path of both community and solitude due to the fact that most practice slightly differently. This frustrates me due to my background in dogmatic christianity and a certain comfort level in the dogma.

My current frustration is finding out what deity to devote myself to. I am not forever going to hold myself to one cultural pantheon, but currently the idea of the chaos of multiple is giving me much distress. And while I am not holding myself to become a monotheistic or duotheistic Pagan, I want to start with just one or two to get my feet wet, so to speak. Coming in I had my heart set on the Celtic pantheon. I like the Celtic knots and culture and I have ancestry in that part of the world.

But as I'm reading "To Walk A Pagan Path," something occurs to me: I've always had an affinity for Persephone. Not just a light affinity, either. One that permeates my spirit. I've read for hours about her mythology and scoured bookstores to try and find books on her. So this leads me to a dilemma. Do I follow my want: to follow a Celtic pantheon? Or do I follow the voice in me that tells me to lay down my pride and kneel before Persephone?

I've looked through the board archive and haven't seen any answers. Some of the books I read say to stick to one cultural pantheon, others say it doesn't matter. Right now, at the beginning of my journey, it matters to me. But it bothers me that I'll be diving into strange waters without a large community around me. I'm used to spirituality in community. So following a Goddess that is "not very popular," which I say with the highest respect and honor, is difficult for me to wrap my head around.

I think I'll do a ritual today and only invoke Her and see what happens.

[Siona]

Persephone is much, much more popular than you seem to think. She has quite a few modern followers. There is a book called Queen of the Sacred Way which is filled with essays, poems, prayers, short fiction, personal accounts, and so on, oh her modern followers. Beyond that, if Persephone is calling you, don't ignore it. A lot of people have to wait a long time, do a lot of research, before they finally feel that soul-pulling.

As far as mixing pantheons, people seem to consider it a huge no-no, but it's not like it never happened in antiquity. There's a small shrine to the Roman Minerva still standing in the UK. Pompeii had a temple to the Egyptian Isis. Egypt borrowed many deities from her neighbors, such as the Canaanite Qetesh, whom in some regions was considered married to the Egyptian Min, became mother of the Egyptian Resheph, worshiped right alongside the two. So if you feel led to that, at some point in the future, as long as it's done respectfully, it's nothing new.

[SnowCat]

I would have expected to be drawn to a Celtic pantheon, given my British Isles ancestry. I ended up with a mix of Norse and Egyptian. It actually makes sense, given my fascination with Egyptian deities and Vikings back in my early teens. I think that both we and our deities, each bring something to the relationship that the other needs.

Snow

[jimhanoverfist]

I choose the moon.