The Growth of my path is an individual thing

Its that time again. The Equinox is almost upon us and I can feel the movement of the seasons wheel as it turns on....

I have always enjoyed celebrating the wheel of the year festivals with a circle, ritual, activities, crafts etc and in the last few years particularly in a family way. In my book Natures Children - celebrating the seasons in a pagan family, I went through the wheel of the year and described the activities I liked to do for each festival with friends and family. I still like to do some of these although as my children have grown, so the activities have developed, changed or new ones have come along.

There is also an additional thing that effects my celebrations which is the way my own personal path has developed over the last few years. Its interesting for me, because I have always been one to enjoy group rituals and circles, and still enjoy the friends and family activities I sometimes organise. But my own personal acknowledgement of my beliefs has become more solitary as the years go by. Now this could be for several reasons. I think this is mainly as my own path becomes more eclectic, I find keeping to one tradition or described path as very difficult. For a while I found my path was balanced with an acknowledgment of the Goddess and the God.


Then for a while, I was more Goddess focused - possibly as a result of a painful life experience and I needed to feel safe - working within a woman only group.

After a while, my path shifted to more animistic, nature spirit working, with very few 'nods' to any pantheon of Gods or Goddesses. Lately, I have shifted once again, to knit together my own path of spirit, animism and God/Goddess working.

I rejoice in this because it indicates to me, that my path is developing, living organically, growing, diminishing, spreading in different directions and allowing all that I experience, feel and know to become part of that personal tradition. I choose to call myself Pagan, because it is a word that to me encompasses so many of my experiences and feelings. But I know that I have sympathies towards other spiritual directions - some aspects of Buddhism appeal to me too.


I love that paganism is such an individual experience and though we have a common identity in many areas, there is also so much diversity and difference. Long may it continue.