Perun’s idol by Olena Kulchitska

I never even tried dating apps. Dodged a load of bullets.

Genuine belief
Personal recollection

I think many newcomers are hesitant or plain confused when it comes to real belief in the Gods. It’s understandable. After all, most of them have christian, agnostic or outright atheist background.
In my personal case genuine belief came rather quickly. I wanted to have it and right during my first visit of a temple and ritual I got it. An onlooker, especially a cynical one, could and probably would describe the events as a series of coincidences, but such rationale can be applied to anything.
So, my advice is to just start. Doing research is important, but in and of itself it only helps you understand the experience properly, while not providing any. Contacting the Gods is not that hard, just don’t go trying to impress them right away. Taking great oaths or conducting a complex ritual is better left for more seasoned days. Introductions are meant to be brief, yet they are crucial.

Pagan practices are about establishing personal connection with the Gods of your people. One can’t have anything personal with abstract notions and empty titles such as Sky Father or Thunderer. Pray to Odin or Thor, not academic theories which present Gods as fictional archetypes molded by humanity. It’s basically atheism i.e. heresy.

People think this rift between pagans and Christians is a lot of nonsense that can be set aside for the time being while we defend ourselves in the larger war. I wish that was the case, but the war we are losing is spiritual in nature. It is a war to eradicate our worldview, which necessarily emerges from our fundamental belief structure - the premises and assumptions that we absorb from our parents and culture during our formative childhood years.

And thus why securing our existence and a future for our children REQUIRES ripping out the source of our subversion by its roots. The source of our subversion is the premise and assumption that there is something inherently wrong with us, and it was introduced into our peoples' collective consciousness by christianity. If we continue to believe there is something inherently wrong with us - and especially if we believe that fixing this inherent wrongness requires us to kneel before those who seek our destruction and beg their forgiveness, whether that be a dead Jew or a black mob - we have already lost. There is no future for us or for our children. Do you understand? To cling to Christianity is to forfeit our worldview and this war.

NorthWitch