I meet people with pagan practices that are quite different from my own. I listen to people who relate experiences to me that I cannot relate to personally. I hear people say things that I know absolutely do not work…for me.

I do not at all doubt the things people tell me are their practices, beliefs and experiences. Because the true face of paganism is not any of the flavors and trappings. It’s that feeling of connection that is what lets us know one another. Norse pagan is just trappings. And I mean that with all respect to the tradition. It is, after all, my chosen mythology. The gods, any gods, all gods, are the creation of the people that know them. They are constructs that are tools to help us bridge our experiences between the physical and the spiritual.

Is Odin real? To me he is. That is all that I need to know him, connect with him, learn from him. I do not need anyone else to understand my relationship with the gods, nor do I expect them to have a similar relationship. Each person’s experience is absolutely unique.

When I encounter someone who has different gods in their spiritual wheelhouse, I just listen and learn what they will share about those relationships. Each of us are on a journey to find that perfect spiritual fit. We may select a “style” we like…wicca, heathen, druidic, magick, meditation, shamanism. We further add flavor to our taste with our selection of mythology such as Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic, Hindu, etc. Whatever pantheon “speaks” to us. Hell, there is no reason one can’t mix and match either.

We are searching for a place, but it can’t be found with our eyes. Yet we somehow sense it and we look for it. In that, we are the same. Always validate the experiences of others. Each of us has a lock with one key. Each of us are on a quest to forge that key.

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