I recently wrote about the idea that no one owns the gods, but traditions have rules to follow. In other words, no one can tell you how to experience the divine, but if you want to be a part of a named spiritual tradition, you have to practice according to their guidelines.

Practicing the outward, physical part of your spirituality according to a tradition's rules is called orthopraxy. The word roots literally mean "correct practice" or "correct action."

Ariadne's Tribe is primarily an orthopraxic tradition. If you want to be a part of what we do, the only belief required of you is that you identify in some way as polytheist and animist. How you view the deities and the inspirited world (hard polytheism, soft polytheism, Jungian archetypes, henotheism, etc.) is entirely up to you.

But you do need to connect with the deities in our pantheon, follow our sacred calendar, and organize your practice according to our ritual format and our preferred activities (offerings, labyrinth walking, and so on).

HOWEVER

there are no rules about what you have to believe, beyond identifying in some way as polytheist and animist.

Having a set of beliefs that you're required to follow in a spiritual tradition is called orthodoxy (literally, "correct belief").

Ariadne's Tribe is not primarily an orthodoxic tradition.

Do you believe the deities are actual inspirited beings who interact with humans? That's fine.

Do you believe the deities are archetypal constructs created out of humans' own psyches? That's fine, too.

Do you believe the deities are aliens from some faraway galaxy? Also fine. Kinda weird, if you ask me, but still fine, because nobody gets to tell you what to believe within the Tribe, not even me.

You can believe that the myths are allegories, or true stories, or somewhere in between (or both, if you want - it's not an either/or world).

Nobody gets to demand evidence or proof of your beliefs.

Nobody gets to tell you that you're wrong.

Also, you don't get to tell anyone else that they're wrong, which can be hard sometimes, but there it is.

All of the above can be a difficult thing to wrap your mind around, since we're surrounded by orthodoxic religions (such as, oh, all of Christianity) that have a lot of influence on our culture, even if some of us weren't raised in those traditions.

It can be difficult to allow other people their beliefs when they're different from yours. It can be uncomfortable and scary, because you don't have bunches of other people repeating what's going on inside your head and your heart. There's no one else there to reinforce your thoughts and feelings. You have to trust them, trust yourself, and that can be hard in a world that tells you not to.

In the Tribe there's no set dogma, no list of things you have to believe. Just a family of deities, a calendar, and a ritual format that you get to interact with in whatever way works for you.

Because the one thing we do believe is that no one gets to be the Thought Police in our spiritual tradition.