Cat

Hail Freya, it's Friday! Here's your 129th #FridayPaganPoll

Today I'm wondering how many pagans worship or work with deities/entities from different pantheons, versus staying within one regional system. This is tricky because of synchretism and archetypes, but I'm just looking for a general idea. As always, replies are welcome!

#Pagan #Witch

Single pantheon
15.8%
Multiple pantheons
63.2%
None
10.5%
Something else (comment)
10.5%
Poll ended at .
Jan 2 at 4:33pmWeb
Show threadmirabilosJan 2

@Cat_LeFey not really "in a pantheon".

My home has been christianised for, what, 1500 years, and romanised another couple of hundred years before that. So I best work with that. There’s celts, norse and druids adjacent, and I have a very weak and recent connection to slavic, but mostly to this area for a few generations. (I do think there’s quite a bit of Roman in me, but that never showed up in spiritual practice yet.)

That being said, mostly not theistic. I do acknowledge Bastet’s sweet messengers who adopted us, and a few others, but that’s mostly it. I even sing in the christians’ choirs because I totally love baroque music, and thankfully they aren’t into burning witches any more (and they pretty much don’t even realise there is something else than christians, jews and "feared-unknown" moslems in the world).

But, yeah, mostly not. And I wouldn’t even know where to look, if I even wanted to. (Probably ask Siochanta, or what passes for OBOD here, but anything east of the river Rhein, which they are, feels foreign anyway.) I have a TODO to read up more on local folklore, though.

Show threadAffieniaJan 2
@Cat_LeFey the 3 that call to me are Cernunnos, Eos, and Loki. So 3 very different areas.
Show threadYour Mythic LifeJan 2
@Cat_LeFey I think my vote was recorded incorrectly.
Show threadCatJan 2
@yourmythiclife ah well, sometimes polls on mastodon don't federate properly. My polls are usually more about starting conversations than recording data, so, how would you describe your pantheon?
Show threadYour Mythic LifeJan 3
@Cat_LeFey Now I can see that my vote was registered. On my phone, I could only see the item with the leading votes.
Show threadYour Mythic LifeJan 3
@Cat_LeFey Now I see a check next to the item I selected: "Something else (comment)"
Show threadYour Mythic LifeJan 3
@Cat_LeFey My comment: I consider myself a nontheistic polytheist. I use and honor deities, but they're not the most important thing in my practice. Still, I mainly use Nordic deities, but also look to their ties (linguistic or otherwise) to other pantheons.
Show threadCatJan 3
@yourmythiclife That sounds similar to how some witches prefer to say they "work with" gods instead of "worship" them. I am personally very religious, but it makes sense to me that people would have different levels relationships with deity in the way we do with other people. Sometimes, you meet someone and fall in love, and they become the center of your life. Others could just be passing acquaintances, or even quite good friends. I think we humans need all different kinds of relationships to feel fulfilled, and so I can only assume that the gods are happy to do so as well.
Show threadAsh-Miw-ReJan 3
@Cat_LeFey technically I could have clicked "multiple pantheons", but it's more like, "mostly Kemetic but still occasionally interact outside of that". I tried others first, and although they didn't become my primary deities, some of those prior connections still crop up intermittently, and sometimes friends' deities/spirit household will want to say something to me. It's just more organically formed than choosing a single religion vs conscious eclecticism.
Show threadCatJan 3
@Ashmire yeah, I feel like anyone who's been a pagan for a length of time will end up collecting bits here and there like witches collect cool rocks and sticks, lol. I jumped around, too, before I found that I vibed with the Norse gods the most, but I rarely reject anyone else who pops up in my life so it's all over the place
Show threadElise "yuuana" Moreno 🪷Jan 3
@Cat_LeFey My Patron is Nahua, my rescue work is always tied in with Bast, and I've been called to work with a couple others from yet other pantheons, though always with my Patron's watchful eye (He has Thoughts about how much work I'm to do this lifetime). My sacred spaces can feel a bit chaotic but I'm happy under the "eclectic" umbrella at least.
Show threadCatJan 3
@yuuana You're not the first to mention Bast, and I just think it's so awesome that She is still protecting Her people through us, even after all these thousands of years, it's beautiful 😸
Show threadElise "yuuana" Moreno 🪷Jan 3
@Cat_LeFey Ironically, I've been working with Bast the longest - I always felt drawn to Her, as someone with a feline spirit, so as soon as I made my break from the church to begin pagan practices, I would honor Her while seeking my place. I can't imagine my practice ever not including honoring Her - the kitties need their mother goddess!