#multifaith practice

So, if you read any of the mods’ bios you’ll find a lot of us are multi-traditional and you’ll find most pagans jump between pantheons at least occasionally. Some are strict adherents to one chosen pantheon or tradition but this is largely personal choice. In Ancient Rome it was common to take gods and ideas from other groups and worship them in rome and in a roman fashion, remember kiddies the romans did eclecticism first, HA.

NOW as for this “worship them together” idea, many traditional pagans and hardcore reconstructionists will tell you that you shouldn’t mix pantheons within an individual ritual. personally, I do not hold this as necessary myself. I find that it is a personal choice, I do mix pantheons from time to time and haven’t had a problem with it. this however is my very controversial personal opinion and should not be taken as a absolute authority, i am wrong all the time and will do so into the foreseeable future

~>Wyrd

The thing about multi-tradition practicing, as we’ve iterated before, is to be respectful of every culture you worship in. Meaning, creating a multi-faith practice rather than an inter-faith one. Deities have their own cultures and deserve to be worshiped within them. Don’t be rude, create little worship boxes for yourself and worship within each tradition you decide to. In other words, worship as if you were Hellenic when worshiping the Greek gods, worship as a heathen when worshiping the Norse, etc. While there is nothing wrong with worshiping multiple pantheons in and of itself, be respectful of the cultures (as well as other practitioners who do not appreciate the blending of their religions disrespectfully.)

The PSG will always advocate for a multi-faith practice rather than an inter-faith one.

We have a Round Table discussion on this topic here.

Multi-tradition practice is possible, yes (unless you’re part of a religion that has guidelines and/or taboos about that sort of thing, in which case you’ll need to examine those guidelines or taboos for an answer).  Here’s a post sharing some opinions on that in greater depth.  However, in regards to Yemaya or any of the other Orisha, I strongly recommend speaking to a properly initiated priest of one of the Orisha traditions before you begin engaging with her if you haven’t already.

My advice would be to separate the practices. Wicca is a religion in and of itself and so is Hellenic Polytheism. Wicca focuses primarily on two deities, the God and Goddess, whereas Hellenic Polytheism is focused on the worship of all the Theoi. To be respectful of both traditions, I suggest creating two boxes for yourself. Your Wiccan box and your Hellenic box. When you step into the Hellenic one, worship as a traditional Hellenic and all that entails. When you want to step into the Wiccan one, same deal. Respect each tradition separately, because both of them have rules and traditional practices. My advice on the whole is to be respectful above all. Each practice has its own rules and regulations and the PSG will always advocate for a multi-faith practice rather than an inter-faith one. As far as Hellenic Polytheist resources go, Baring the Aegis is always going to be my first go-to. That blog has just about everything you need to know about traditional reconstructionist Hellenic practice. I’m on mobile so I can’t link, but just google ‘Baring the Aegis’ and you’ll get the blogspot and the Tumblr blogs. If you have any more questions regarding Hellenic Polytheism specifically, feel free to hit me up on my blog @crystalizedforest. ~terebinth

Here’s @baringtheaegis and the “Baring the Aegis“ blogspot, for others with navigation difficulties.  :)

I would hesitate to say you should combine them, necessarily. Take part if you can in each, but maintain separate rituals/shrines. Unless your gods specifically say they’re okay with you mixing them up like that. I’m in the camp that they maintain and prefer to stay separate, however.

You can be polytheistic and not be a pagan.  For example, there are many people of Hindu faith that have purposefully stated that they are not pagan. I suppose if you didn’t want to call yourself a pagan you wouldn’t need to.  However, you may at least appear to be pagan to a casual observer. Paganism has become such a wide category it is rather hard to define.

Polytheistic gods are normally not like the jealous god of Christianity who demands that his worshipers worship him alone.  It is very common to worship multiple gods and goddesses. It’s even not that uncommon to worship gods from different pantheons. On occasion you may find someone particularly devoted to an individual god or goddess to the point of near or total exclusion of other gods, but this is rare and always involves a level of choice by the worshiper.

Frankly, it is hard to do paganism wrong as there are very few hard and fast rules. One rule that remains universal is not to steal gods or customs from closed religious practices or initiatory practices that you are not a member of. I would not worship a Native deity or perform smudging because I am not trained or welcomed in those religions. It is also a general rule to not mix pantheons within the context of a single ritual, but even that is broken or disregarded by some.

~>Wyrd

I recommend talking to a Shinto priest if you want to worship Amaterasu.

- Heathen Chinese

To add a bit to Wyrd’s response, it depends on how you define “paganism.”  Some equate paganism and polytheism, regardless of accuracy.  To others, (neo)paganism, while certainly such a broad category it’s almost impossible to properly define, nevertheless branches off from a distinct spiritual movement that began roughly in the eighteenth century with Romantic and Victorian ‘revivals’ (with varying degrees of historical evidence).  If this is your definition of contemporary paganism, then no, you don’t need to call yourself pagan.  However, you would be a polytheist whether or not you called yourself a pagan, as ‘polytheist’ is simply a descriptor of a kind of religious belief.  This is one of the reasons you’ll come across people who call themselves polytheist but not pagan.

Just be respectful to both the gods and their originating peoples and culture and be willing to take ‘no’ for an answer or to follow requirements of initiation.  While Hellenismos is open, I strongly second Heathen Chinese’s advice to talk to a Shinto priest.

- mountain hound