Finding faith in the Gods

A repost of a reader question today. This post is written especially for people new to the faith, but heck, most of you might find something in there that you connect with. The question(s) is/are as follows:

"Hello Elani! I'm having some trouble with my faith in the Gods... how do you incorporate them every day in your life at the beginning of your path? How do you work as HP and recon while living in a Christian household? How do you feel the Gods on a daily basis? Does any of this make sense?! Thank you very much."

So, let's break these down. Let's talk about incorporating the Gods into your (daily) life first. I have a tendency to go adopt new things in a very specific way: in general, I dive in without any restraint, give it my all, and spent every waking moment in it until the obsession normalizes. I don’t believe in the slow build, in the careful exploration. I tend to go in full force and always believe I can do it. It was the same with adopting Hellenism. I started my new practice, read up as much as I could in a day or two, and started morning and evening libations, as well as a blog so I could share my new obsession with the world. I'm the type of person who would rather correct the course of the train than drive slow until I'm sure of the course.

I am aware not everyone is like me, and honestly, I would not recommend my approach to religious practice to everyone. That said, what I would recommend is knowing the way you are wired. Starting and maintaining a religious practice--especially a Hellenic one where traditional sources place emphasis on at least twice-daily religious observance--is always an undertaking. When you're still in the infancy of your practice, it can be the most overwhelming thing: there is so much you don't know, so much you know you will still have to learn before you'll have a grip on all of it.

That first period is both the most exciting as the most frustrating and the scariest. On the one hand, you feel exhilarated because you've found something you feel really at home with, but you're scared to do it wrong, scared of not being good enough, and you're still missing the terminology to even Google for the things you should be doing. How you make it through this first period is dependent upon only yourself, I fear. My advice is to read as much as you can, ask questions to anyone willing to answer them, and find a community to help you out.

Once you get a handle on your practice comes phase two, and this is also the final phase: shaping your practice. You will never have a practice that you are fully satisfied with, that's fully perfect--not if you keep investing time and effort into your studies, into your rituals, into developing yourself. A religion is more than the rites you perform; religion is a lifestyle and it seeps into the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the people you meet, the person you become and everything else there is to you. No one is defined by a single aspect in their life, but your religion does say something about you as a person.

Developing your practice can be a hard thing to do, and it requires you to have an intimate knowledge of yourself, of your needs and desires. What do you want to get out of your religion? Why did you get into it? What religious baggage do you take with you? And most of all, perhaps, what are you willing to do for it? Are you willing to turn your life around if the Gods desire it of you, or would you rather just have a religion as a hobby? Both are fine, but you need to figure out the answer going in.

I have found that the way only religion becomes a part of your daily life is to live it. Perform rituals, talk about it, read, research, and live the ethics and philosophies. I don't have a direct connection to the Gods. No one talks to me, nor makes Their presence known in any other way. I don't have chats with Aphrodite, nor does Hypnos visit me in my dreams. I'm just a person who gives Them their daily due, and in return, I trust They steer my life towards a place of quiet comfort. I love believing in the Gods, though. It gives me something to hold on to during the dark days, someone to thank during the good, and it gives me a purpose in life. Including the Gods in all these moments will make it feel like They are always there. The key word? Repetition, repetition, repetition. Do it until it sticks, because then, when you stop, you'll miss it. That's the point where your religion becomes integrated into your life. Here are a few thing to do on a daily basis that will help greatly.

As for practicing under the care of naysayers, I wrote a post partly about that a while ago. Hopefully that will help you out. Thank you for your question(s) and good luck! Gods bless!