I am sitting here and writing this to answer a question that I have seen asked at other pagan sites. That question usualy is,"Is it easy being a pagan parent?". Talk about a loaded question! The answer to the question I believe that they are really asking is...YES! Now being a parent that follows ANY faith, or none at all, is a monumental task in this day and age. Since any parent knows the basic difficulty of modern par- enthood, I will defer to other "experts" on those issues. I will focus on the special circumstances of being a pagan, as well as a parent. Now, I am neither the be-all, nor the end-all, authority when it comes to being a pagan, or a parent. But I will eneavour to put down my ideas on how I think i've managed both quite nicely, thank you. I suppose I started investigating various forms of pagan beliefs as most modern pagans have, since to my knowledge there are very few of us that were raised in a pagan tradition from birth, during a time when questions arose in my life that made me ask"What's out there?", "Where do I fit in?". My youth was totaly immersed in my family's religious tradition, which was Roman Catholic, and as any youngster, I was perfectly willing to let my religious training be guided by my parents and the elders of our religious community. As I neared the age that young catholics become "confirmed" in their faith, I started to ask questions. I wont go into the exact questions or their responses, or lack thereof, but suffice it to say, I decided it was my time to seek my own answers elsewhere. Being a prolific reader, I began to devour every book on every topic and religion or philosophy I could find. Being also a young man in the early '70's, I also did normal young man things. I dated, I partied, I listened to the music of my day and peers, and I also read for entertainment. The first two were marginal in developing my faith. But the last two were very influential on my development. The music of the day, especially of the rock bands like Led Zeppelin, had a decidedly mystical quality to it. On the literary front the books of J.R.R. Tolkein were enjoying one of their many resurgences in popularity. So not being able to stop there, I naturaly progressed on to other books that also dealt with heroes and villains, gods & godesses, of great deeds and greater evils. I had stumbled onto novels based in celtic tradition. A whole slew of authors started mining the wealth of celtic lore that had been floating around in the form of dusty scholarly works for years untold. My musical tastes also grew as I became more aware of various artists that were trying to bring an element of their celtic heritage into their music. But life goes on, I grew and left home, started life in the world of work. I traveled, I saw and did things. I did a stint in the U.S.Army(talk about a learning experience!). I had relationships and un-had them. Then I met my wife who I've been with now for 15 years, and we started a family. Now we are a lil' tribe of 5 ! Through this life, I guess that music and my love of knowledge just led me further down a pagan path. I'm not sure of the exact date, it's one of those things that sneak up on you, but one day, most of those questions that a young man, long ago asked, had either been answered, or become irrelevant. I wasnt "born again" or any such sudden revelation. I just one day knew, who I was,what I believed, and how I was going to live the rest of my life. Now when we decided to have our first child. My wife and I talked about names for our child. Since my last name is very long and very French (yes...I am a Gaulish Celt) we decided to do our children a favor and make sure their first names were short and sweet. Lucky for us many names of celtic origion can be found that are only 4 letters long !..lol. So we were able to name them in a way that would cellebrate my celtic beliefs, and give them names that would fit on most computer generated forms! For middle names we decided to give them names of ancestors that were important to me, because family and belief in the ancestors is probably one of my most powerful beliefs, rivaling I personally believe the Shining Ones when it comes to influencing our daily lives(but we can get into that in another essay...lol). So now I have given my children their first pagan "gift". Names that identify them with their celtic roots and with their ancestors. Though i will confess many rules are meant to be broken. With our last daughter, we reversed the order of her first and middle name at the last minute. We did this purely for the reason that this new order rolled more pleasantly off of the tongue, and my bardic ear must be appeased!!...lol. Now dont misunderstand, I DO NOT say that anyone has to use these rules when it comes to naming their child. It was just a way that we we came up with that made it easier to give them managable names that also alowed me to express to the world my beliefs in an outward manner. And I thought it was just pretty darned neat!....lol
