Location, location, location

[[ Nicolette ]]

How much influence does location tend to generally have on peoples' religious beliefs? If one moves to China, could they feel truly connected to their Celtic pantheon in the Occident? What if a follower of the Fae happens to move to the United States, or a US citizen wishes to follow the Fae? And can a follower of Shinto feel at home outside of Japan?

I've noticed a few posts around here that people feel closer to their specific pantheon when they are physically closer, and that one shouldn't aim to follow a deity (or deities) whose base region may be half-way across the world, and to stay close to home. I'm not denying the advantages of location, though; I'm quite sure that if I were to return to my ancestors' Homeland I would feel something at the very least. But what if, on what could be perhaps a one-time visit to a foreign land, Japan for instance, you suddenly realize you've fallen in love with Shinto. But you have to return to the States and are entirely unsure of how to go about learning about this religion, much less how to practice it. Should you give up, and wait until the feeling goes away? But what if the feeling persists?

Another big factor in religious beliefs tends to be where you were born, or spent a majority of your childhood/adolescence, when you are more impressionable. For example, if you were born in Norway, chances are you'd follow the Norse pantheon. (Note that all of these examples assume that the person in question is a pagan through and through!) But in the States, what is there, really, other than Native American and Christian beliefs?--both of which are borrowed from non-US cultures (being that Native Americans have been shunned throughout our history, and that you generally have to be Native American to follow their beliefs--or so I was told). The closest pantheon is always one continent away, and you may feel a greater pull to one from farther away.

The reason I'm asking this is that I'm going to be moving to Florida (which is a pretty big distance from here) within a year or so at the most, and I'd like to hear everyone's opinions on the matter, rather than making an uneducated guess at what the right thing to do would be. Also, sorry if there's already a topic like this. I never get around to actually looking through old ones. XD  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

In most cases I think it's more cultural than location-related. It's just that it can be difficult to practice that culture outside of that location.

So if you are of the Gael, and you move to China... actually, would a Gael move to China? I suspect a member of the Gael would feel obliged to remain in Ireland with others of their culture. The issue is, you can take a Gael out of Ireland (but not the Ireland out of the Gael, lol) and they will still know the language and still practise the traditions as best they can without their family and their land, but things won't be the same for the next generation. In isolation, things change, due to necessity. I don't know whether the next generation would also be considered Gael. But I don't think you can become un-Gael.... however, I imagine there are particular rituals and traditions that you, as a Gael, must practise to honour your pantheon.

When it comes to open cultures, it's likely that you'll be drawn to a pantheon you're familiar with, I'd say. The Greek pantheon is fairly well-known in Western Europe thanks to the whole classical revival thing. The cultures were significantly different, but the deities were familiar. (That's where a lot of the mistakes happen, actually, because you learn about the mythology without the culture, so you don't know about miasma and stuff.) Likewise in Norway, you'll be brought up on Nordic myths. I live in New Zealand, and when I was at school we learned some of the Maori myths. Not as a part of school as such, but it was just something that was a part of the culture. Maui and Rangi and so on. On the other hand, I'm not drawn to the Maori pantheon at all wink but then there's a fair bit of Germanic influence in Western culture because the Germanic peoples ended up every ******** where. There were like three sets of them in England, if you count the Normans (and we do), and then England decided they wanted a big Empire. And here we are.

As far as the Nordic lot go, too, I'd say they aren't particularly tied to their land. It's an aspect of the culture, yes, because the culture reflects the weather (hospitality and all that... it's not all that nice to refuse someone when it's the middle of a sub-arctic winter) and that's where the sacred places will be and all that, but as we have seen, the Germanic peoples had a tendency to bugger off all over the world and discover America and s**t like that. One has to assume that they had no issues with taking their gods with them.  

[Aryain Flames]

Well, living as I do in the US, there aren't really any native pantheons to worship. So it seems to me that particularly if you live in the US, it doesn't matter so much what you practice as long as it feels right. I think I just did a very bad job of explaining that, so allow me a moment to give an example. I am a US citizen, but I worship a Syrian pantheon because it works best for me (actually, there's more to it then that, but it's a long story). In fact, as far as I'm aware, I'm not Syrian at all, but that pantheon is the best fit for me. So it doesn't matter where you live, follow the path that suits you best.  

[Starlock]

The influence location has depends on the religion in question. Early forms of religion in general, however (most of which we would call Pagan, but many have names of their own such as Shinto and the various Native American practices) were all explicitly influenced by the land and the human relationship to nature. Consequently, much of the mythos in these religions is tied to a specific location as are cultural/religious practices (slashed because keep in mind religion in these sorts of cultures was whole-way-of-life and pretty much indistinguishable from the culture, right?). Using a pantheon in a location other than its origin is, in one way or another, going to pull it out of context. Whether or not that means you shouldn't work with that pantheon depends on your own personal philosophy regarding such matters. I'm not sure it is for any of us to tell you what the right thing is to do for your path.

To add to Aryain,'s comment, I might argue there are plenty of "pantheons" in North America, they just aren't conventionally recognized as such. For my practice at least, my "pantheon" consists of whatever divinities are local to my area. Most of you would probably just call them "Nature Spirits" or something. But oh my, if I moved to Florida almost my entire "pantheon" would change. It would be most unsettling, but also really fun in terms of getting to know some new Spirits. I think I would miss Winter Spirit too much though. crying