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How Does Your Paganism Shape Your Life?

How Does Your Paganism Shape Your Life?

Last updated on: January 16, 2025 at 11:20 am by Rev. Emily Guenther

How Does Your Paganism Shape Your Life? 2025-01-16T11:20:25-06:00 Rev. Emily Guenther

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

How does your Paganism shape your life? It is the beginning of a new year, which means it is time to ask ourselves the big questions and think about what we want from the year ahead. This time of year often brings out my inner Hestia. I am getting ready to cleanse, clean and reconsecrate my spiritual tools and altars – both public and private. The winter also encourages me to retreat to my office and spend more time at my spiritual practice. This year I have found myself thinking more about my spiritual path as a whole and how it influences my life, and how I can stay in alignment (or re-align) during 2025.

Author at the Egyptian exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago

What Does Religion Do for Us?

Religion is often the guard rails and guidelines on how we view our connection to society and how we interact with it. Regardless of your religious identification, religion often provides us with a moral framework that helps us navigate our situations and make choices. Religion can bring meaning and purpose to our lives and connect us with communities that share the same beliefs and values. And our religious practices can give us something to fall back on during difficult times, as well as tools to keep us grounded.

Religion can be a great tool in giving us moral and ethical guidance. But how does your Paganism and spiritual path influence your daily life? I can’t answer that for you, but I can show you how it shapes my life.

My Paganism is the Umbrella of My Life

Growing up Christian, I was taught that religion and God were supposed to be my guiding principles. I was supposed to be a Christian first, then a dutiful daughter and eventually a dutiful wife. The hierarchy that influenced my life was supposed to be God, parents (read father), and then husband.

Like many who have left The Church and found a spiritual practice that suits them better, leaving behind some of those ingrained doctrines can be difficult. However they are not all bad and I find some of them to be universal – for me. There is no one size fits all for religion and some of the things I believe may not sit well with you on your path.

Now that I am firmly rooted in my Paganism, the idea that religion (god) is supposed to be my guiding principle still feels true. The language, beliefs, and mores may have changed but the fact that my religion influences all parts of my life has not.

Just like we use the term umbrella for labels such as Christian and Pagan, where there are multiple paths and options beneath those overarching concepts, Paganism is my life’s umbrella. Paganism influences who I am friends with, my social life, what I will and will not tolerate, and the experiences that I seek out. When I travel or attend events, there is almost always a spiritual element to them.

Author at Stonehenge

Religion Dictates How I Behave and What I Believe

As I said earlier, religion can be a framework for your life. For those that truly walk their path, their religion affects how they respond to situations and how they view the world. This is no different for me. My Paganism guides my hand when interacting with others on a daily basis, in big and small ways.

Most religions, including many traditions of Paganism, encourage us to see the Divine in others and in the world around us. I won’t lie and say that this is something I am great at. But I do know it is something to work towards and eventually it will become automatic. However I am still human, with human issues, and sometimes when I get outside of my bubble I find I lack patience.

My Paganism also influences the small things in my life. I greet other Pagans, particularly other Wiccans, with blessed be, but I would not do that if I were not Wiccan. I don’t say “oh my god” anymore. Instead I say “oh my gods” or “dear gods.” Or if something is particularly annoying “mother of the gods.” Now, I do still say “Jesus” as an explicative, usually followed by profanity. For years I tried to break the cultural habit of saying “Jesus” or “Jesus Christ” when something didn’t go as planned. After all, Jesus is not one of the gods that I work with. But upon some irreverent consideration, is it better to take another god’s name in vain than one of your own gods? This actually a discussion that’s being had in one of my social media groups right now. And the points being made are very interesting. In the end, we will each determine our level of comfort on the subject.

Temple and Altar to the Mayan Goddess Ixchel at San Gervasio, Cozumel, Mexico

My Paganism is Good Manners

Most religion in its truth contains a set of guidelines on how to treat others. Many religions have a type of “golden rule” – treat others as you would like to be treated. But sometimes specific cultural paths will have specific rules for social etiquette.

My Paganism involves multiple cultural paths, mainly Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Norse and Wicca. Hospitality was an important part of Ancient Egyptian and Norse cultures. Hosts were expected to generous to guests, providing nourishment and a place to sleep if needed. Hospitality was intertwined with religious beliefs, as treating guests well was seen as a way to please the gods.

Guests were expected to be polite and appreciative of their hosts. They were also expected to offer entertainment, such as a good story, and sometimes exchange gifts. Guests may have also offered to reimburse their hosts with goods, services, or labor. In many ancient cultures it is advised to be nice to strangers (especially if they appear elderly) as you might be entertaining a deity in disguise.

Believe it or not, I tend to be a private person. I’m one of those people who doesn’t want you to have my contact information, much less know where I live. But my husband and I do like to entertain and throw a good party. So when anyone shows up at our house (or at our events) we strive to be gracious hosts, with plenty of food, beverages and entertainment for everyone. And it makes me feel good knowing people enjoy coming to my home and that they have a good time. IO Hestia!

The Roman Baths in Bath, England / Photo by Author

My Paganism is My Life

My Paganism is my life. All of the work that I do, and all of my titles, revolve around my spirituality. I am lucky in this. Most people do not get the opportunity to do what they love for a living. That does not mean that I get to spend all of my time reading tarot, doing spellwork or hosting rituals. A lot of my time is spent doing accounting work, scheduling events and rituals, juggling my employees’ schedules and needs, and buying inventory for the store. These things are not necessarily spiritual or witchy, but they are the structures that keep the business going, and the business allows me the time and space to write these blogs, write my newspaper columns, create workshops and craft rituals. Our business is the foundation and platform for my spiritual work.

How Does Your Paganism Shape Your Life?

I like to teach by sharing examples of my own life or experiences. I’ve shared with you a few of the ways that my Paganism shapes and influences my life. I hope that my examples give you some ideas of how Paganism shapes your life. Hopefully you can use some of this to examine your own spiritual practice and find how it guides you in daily living. Do your deities encourage hospitality or generosity? Does your spiritual path encourage you to grow? How does your Paganism dictate your morals and ethics? These questions have the potential to result in further discussions, deeper understanding, or new insights. As we head into 2025 full steam ahead, now is a great time to do a deep dive on your spirituality and understand how it shapes you. Knowing your foundations and roots will keep you steady and strong against the winds of change.

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