Agnostics

[rose1590]

Im curious, was anybody an agnostic before completely switching to a pagan belief system? And what made you change your views?

[rose1590]

And this is not to say there aren’t many different forms of paganism, but I’m just referring to one who would say they follow/ worship a particular god or gods / goddess or goddesses as of now.

[rose1590]

And could somebody also correct me and enlighten me with the actual terminology for this ^ Thank you

[planewalker]

Agnostic - One who believes nothing can be known about the nature, both physical and spiritual, of God, Gods and/or Goddesses.
Pagan - one whose religious beliefs are not in one of the worlds mainstream religions.
Wiccan - Also known as "The Craft", "Wicca", "Benevolent Witchcraft" or "The Old Religion" is a diverse, decentralized religion that is part of contemporary paganism/nature spirituality.

I'm an Adept of the Light and was trained for it from 5 to15 years of age. I made the choice of being a Brother of the Light when I was twelve. I was initiated by my Greatgram.

[Mr Crowley]

I'm atheist, so the only advice I can offer: Magic, Paganism, and Wicca are different paths. Follow your light, not someone else's.

[Xiao Rong]

I considered myself agnostic before I became a Pagan. Many people had tried to convert me to Christianity (I grew up in the Bible Belt), but I just couldn't buy the evidence for the Christian God. Even after I found Paganism, I was still agnostic on the existence of the gods (hence my post on non-theistic Paganism). I was also pretty skeptical of things like magic, divination, etc., but tried them out anyways. Eventually, I started getting results from divination that I had a hard time explaining away as just random chance. There was "more" out there than we understand, and I got better about suspending my disbelief so that I could try out new things. I began praying and forming relationships with the gods, and although I still think it would be hubris to say I'm 100% confident in my knowledge of what exactly the gods are and how they work (that's the part of me that's still agnostic), I am more comfortable exploring and knowing that something is real, and I'm not just talking to myself. I've even come around to believing that the Christian God exists (at least as an egregore of Christianity), but He's not the only one or omnipotent.

[Mr Crowley]

Talking to myself brings out the atheist in me!

[rose1590]

Xiao, this was very informative. See, I was baptized as a baby as a Roman Catholic but my parents never stressed religion on me and never stressed God. And I’m now 20, and I’ve never really prayed or spoken to this “God” but I am a firm believer that there is a higher power and I believe that this higher power is multi-faceted if you will. I only recently really started reading about paganism and I find it very appealing due to its flexibility. Because I also believe in Mother Earth and following a pagan path would allow me to worship in my own ways, and I think that’s beautiful. Like I said though, I only just started getting into and I haven’t really “practiced” or done anything. Just quietly studying and thinking to myself at the moment. I was happy to be able to relate to your experience a little bit and your comment she’d some light for me, thank you

Mr Crowley, I thank you for this advice. I definitely stick to my own beliefs and ways. I don’t let others influence me. I was really curious about others experiences with this and decided to ask. Currently, I am agnostic and don’t see myself changing my ways but I’ve always been intrigued by the ancient gods and goddesses, so I wanted to see how people answered this question. Thank you again

[Little Green Dragon]

I grew up in a non-religious family. My Mum is an athiest and my Dad is agnostic. From a young age I always felt there was some sort of Diety and that it was benevolent. At the same time I heard (from TV and friends) about the teachings of Christ and I liked those because I am a kind hearted, love your neighbor sort of person. So when I was 7 I asked if I could go to church with my friend because I thought it would fit my values (Christ's love your neighbor stuff and feeling their was a benevolent diety). To my disgust I got there and the priest was bleating on about a vengeful, angry god who sent people who didn't obey him to burn in the pits of hell. Not at all what I was expecting! I didn't go back as I couldn't imagine such a horrible god could be real.

Following that I tried the Christianity thing a couple of times more when I was 14 and 17 by going to friend's churches and each time had the same depressing reaction.

When I was 22 I met a girl who was Wiccan at the recording studio I was working at. She loaned me one of her Wicca books and I felt immediately that it was the right path for me, being that the Goddess and God are benevolent and that the values are to be kind and harm none (but more importantly no dogma!)

I have also learned a lot about Buddhism but I truely feel my path is Nature Based Spirituality, Wicca and Witchcraft.

I like the Hindu idea that everyone connects with deity differently so all religions are different ways people ultimately see the same god/gods/goddesses. Everyone needs to choose the way that makes sense to them.

LGD

[rose1590]

Little Green Dragon, this was an awesome response and I appreciate it. I’m thankful that you shared your story with me and yes! I’ve looked into other religions as well such as Buddhism and I found that I take certain ideas from different religions and kind of form my own ideas based off of them.