Choosing a Pantheon

For many, including myself, this was--perhaps to you the reader, still is--a headache inducing topic, especially if you are a "Type A" personality and require structure (I know I do.) When I first started exploring Wicca, I knew  immediately that it was for me. After reading a couple of "Wicca 101" books, I began to start molding my personal beliefs to this structure. 

The first aspect many turn to is the choice of pantheons, or group of deities from a certain culture. Some Wiccans do not make use of pantheons, instead choosing to work with the God and Goddess alone. Although I respect this, it wasn't for me. I saw the God and Goddess as archetypes-- a sort of description of all deities through the ages (sort of how the words mankind and womankind are used to describe all humans through the ages.) 

I had always loved mythology, so the names, faces and stories of deities from many cultures were already known to me. My first pick were the deities of Egypt. I was intending to go to college for Egyptology--since I was six years. In fact, I was heading to college this year to study this field. I worked with these deities for a few months. I resonated with them, I enjoyed working with--make no mistake, and I still find myself very close with Hathor-- but something wasn't resonating as it should. It took one of those "divine is going to slap you upside the head" moments to realize this.

I had received several scholarships and financial aid for attending college. My major was Egyptology. I was all packed and ready, when two days before heading out, I was informed by the college that my finances were cut by several thousand dollars (this wasn't the first time that the financial office was giving me trouble either.) I couldn't make up these funds in the allotted time. I felt like the world and the gods had given up on me. In fact, what they were doing was steering me in the direction I truly needed to be in....

The following day (my eighteenth birthday) I was sitting on the couch and having a good cry. Lo and behold, within two hours I saw a documentary on the Celtic peoples of Ireland and Wales, my mother uncovered an old book she had packed from our previous move concerning Celtic history and religion, and I discover a local school that I could afford to attend.

Now I don't know about you, but this is divine interference if ever I've witnessed it. What had happened was, I was too afraid to look outside the boundaries and boxes that I had forged for myself. I never allowed myself the liberty to change what I wanted to "be" as who I was changed. It isn't that the Egyptian pantheon "rejected" me, but they knew they weren't the best option for me.

This story continues in how I discovered who my Patron Deities are (they choose you, you just have to figure it out) but that is a story for another time. What I was trying to get across is that choosing a pantheon is not easy. What I would suggest is to keep a Pantheistic viewpoint: they are the same deities, with different names and faces in each culture. So, start with whatever calls to you first, or if you have never studied any mythology look to your heritage and if this group isn't what is meant for you, they will show which culture's images are. 

Once again, I appreciate you taking the time to read this exhaustive post. Do you have an interesting story of how you found your pantheon? I would love to hear from you and hear your story. Blessed Be )o(