I know there are a lot of Pagans on the boards, and this forum is notoriously slow, so I thought I could start something for us that are around. I know we have the merry meet sticky, but I was wondering, what paths are you all following and how did you find your path? Were you self taught through intuition or books or the net? Was your craft passed to you by a relative or friend? Was it something that you discovered by accident when you least expected?

I'm really interested to know how people found their paths. Having always had belief or religion in my life, in one form or another, I feel that finding my path kind of completed me and although I'm still not sure what my path looks like, I feel it is a solid foundation of belief beneath my feet. I wonder how you all feel too

i like this thread! lets see... i was 14 and going to a pentecostal church. i was very confused and upset most of the time, conflicted because i was pretty sure i didn't believe what they had to say, and also sad because while other people were touched by god, falling on the ground, crying, etc... i just stood there and felt nothing.
i quit going there after about a year and a half. it was my only experience with christianity and i must say that i was not impressed by the followers that i knew.
about 6 months later i started dating a guy that was into druidism, paganism... he was also just starting out, just learning. at first i freaked out because i had just gotten out of the church situation (also started because of a boy) and i just wasn't ready to go through it again. We broke up and I spent the summer pursuing other things.
One of those things was a writing trip to the Redwoods in California. It was there that I started to get what that boyfriend was saying. I felt for the first time... spiritually at home.
From that point on I started reading everything I could, watching anything i could on the subject, starting practicing my own version of wicca. but something still felt wrong. I had a real hard time accepting a god and goddess- any higher power really.
For a while I just said I was athiest but that didn't really fit because I didn't have an absence of spirituality... just spirituality without a higher power.
I guess now I just consider myself Pagan, or Pantheist - I quietly observe the holidays, I smudge my house, I wear my pentacle. But I don't participate in any group activities, rituals, etc. I still read whatever I can on spirituality though lately I've been more interested in the pagan eastern beliefs. I feel like I'm still on my path, and just following it wherever it chooses to lead me. I'm happy knowing that every path has the same destination.

I'll try to make it short as all our stories I'm sure are long...

When I was about 13 I had read some fiction books that guided me off the Christian path (looking back there was alot going on, my father was in the hospital and we weren't sure he was going to make it). I began practicing my own religion, though at that time I felt that I was still Christian. I did alot of energy work. At that time I lived in a small isolated town, and we had no Internet, I don't think it was something people really had access to then anyway. So I sort of developed my own path, and own holidays.

When I got older and moved away to college I met someone there that claimed to be Wiccan. This peaked my interest and I ran out and bought a book on "Celtic Magic" since I was always drawn to the Celts. I kind of got out of the practice at that point, but I moved again and met my husband.

The Hub was a practicing Wiccan and was a member of a small coven. He told me that I didn't have to be his faith I just needed to understand it, so I started going to their classes. Soon after his coven disbanded and I became solitary again.

Wicca never really fit for me, and I stumbled on to Ár nDraíocht Féin a.k.a. ADF (loose Gaelic translation: Our Own Druidism). I have pretty much been with them ever since, and I am currently the Senior Druid of a local grove (this is an elected position, doesn't mean I am high muckidy muck of anything).

I have found a home with ADF and I really love the people I practice with, they are all awesome!

I was raised basically Christian though I was rarely taken to church. As a teen I began going to a Southern Baptist church because it was where my boyfriend went. None of it felt right, especially not when they kicked the boyfriend out because someone who wasn't even a member of the church claimed he was Satan. I stopped going to church. My mother became a Baha'i later in my teens and eventually I did too, though only to make her happy. When I was 19-20 I dated a guy who was a druid. I found that and things I learned from friends of his who were on other Pagan paths very interesting. I didn't really follow up on it though because I was scared of what my mom would say. When I was 23 my mother passed away. Shortly after I began studying various Pagan things - books, internet, info from friends, everything I could get. I officially labeled myself Pagan when I was 25. I consider myself to be a Patchwork Pagan (very eclectic).

patchwork pagan! I like that - that describes me as well! and gives an impression of craftiness - in multiple ways - I'm so using this!!

I was raised Methodist. After reading the christian childrens bible at the age of 10 I asked my dad if there were other bibles I could read. He was cool enough to provide me with several books on various religions. I became Wiccan in my early 20s. I belonged to a coven of sorts for some time and I had a mentor for several years.

Since turning 40, I still practice with a group loosely based in Wiccan tradition but I am mostly a solitary practitioner. I still lean toward the Wiccan religion but I like to refer to myself as a kitchen or hearth witch. You could call me an eclectic Wiccan also.

My friends and family are respectful of my faith path and my mother even buys me things like Goddess cards, cool candles and holders, stones, etc. My son and bf are supportive of me and they are both agnostic in their views. I have several friends that are pagan and a few who practice witchcraft.

My dad was always reading up on different religions and philosophies and exploring different beliefs. Whatever he was into at the time is what my family followed. I felt that my family was in the religion of the month club.

We've been to most of the churches (various Protestant affiliations), went to Catholic school for a while, checked out Judaism, Buddhism and read up on other religions etc. I practiced yoga with my dad when I was about 7 when he got into that as well as macrobiotic diets. Some of my friends were hindu so I was exposed to those beliefs as well.When I was 17 I went to a Bethel Pentecostal church a few times with my then boyfriend's family and found that whole experience a bit disturbing. We even tried out Scientology when I was about 12 (do not get me started on this lot - my parents nearly got divorced because of this bunch of cretins and their phoney religion!).

I think these experiences were all good for me and made me more open minded. Unfortunately I never felt truly involved in any particular religion - they all had things I liked but also things that I could not agree with.

I found that paganism was the one thing that really drew me. I lean toward the Celtic and kitchen witch paths but I do like Fitgirlygirl's idea of a "patchwork pagan".

My mother came from a Jewish background, my father came from a Catholic background. Somehow or another when they met and fell in love over the years they both found, and followed, the Wiccan path. Growing up my sister and I were exposed to every aspect of religion my parents could get their hands on. It was VERY important to both of them that we would be able to make sound informative choices on what path we wanted to choose when we felt the need to. This meant they took a lot of flack from family members for not doing things like baptizing us.

Around 18 or so it occurred to me that while I might have spent my whole teenage career trying to defy my parents (what child doesn't?) it was actually there own faith that I believed in. My sister interestedly enough decided the same. We now have our own small coven that consists of my parents, and a few close friends. In fact i'm getting together with one of them tomorrow for lunch to discuss our ideas for our Ostara ritual.

I think it's interesting... that even with all the determination not to put a bias spin on our religious views, that both my sister and I chose the same path as our parents. Nurture, Nature, or fate... it's really an unanswered question.