Pagan here too! DH and I are more along the lines of solitary eclectic as well. I have many books on wicca as well as paganism in general and I do not follow any particular path. My mom raised us earth-centered and spiritual, but she never studied paganism. She told my brother and I that we'd find our own path. He and I had done research for years trying to delve deeper into our beliefs and it wasn't until we read books on paganism, wicca, native american spirituality, etc. that we really understood. Of course, we'd share our finding with our mother and the three of us grew more from there.
An interesting tidbit..well for me anyway. DH and I worked together before dating. One day, we went to lunch together (as friends at this point) and just telling each other about ourselves. DH said he considered himself pagan, which he had never said out loud to anyone before because he was raised in a very conservative christian family. Boy, did my ears perk up like an interested puppy! (I was already attracted to him and he's single, but he's pagan too! BONUS!) Looking back, he says that he doesn't know why he said it, but that he was glad that my reaction was positive! We are blessed to share the same beliefs!
While much of our families on both sides are christian (and don't know that we are pagan), we wanted to have a wedding ceremony that reflected our beliefs. Knowing that we wouldn't be able to find someone who would do our wedding the way we wanted (not easily anyway), our best friend offered to do whatever he needed to do to be able to legally marry us. This meant so much to us as he and his wife are DHs and my best friends (how many couples get to have another couple as best friends!)! What a wonderful gift! We chose to write the entire ceremony ourselves, which included the
Cherokee Wedding Prayer and a handfasting (among other wordings here and there). For our cords, we used ribbon and made one with red (fire), yellow (air) and white (spirit) and the other one was blue (water), green (earth) and white (spirit). I braided the ribbons together and at the end of each cord had a small photo of each of our parents (one cord had his parents, the other cord had my parents). At the time of the handfasting, our moms each brought up the cord and placed it over our wrists and then Blaine finished the handfasting. Here's a few pics.
Our mom's putting the cords over our hands
And we've been handfasted!!
We had people tell us that it was the most beautiful ceremony they had ever seen and, knowing that we wrote it (with much assistance from the internet, of course!!!), asked for a copy of the ceremony wording. Those that were pagan could recognize the symbols, etc, but everyone else could take it to mean whatever their beliefs were. It was wonderful! DH and I feel like we had the ceremony we wanted, while our families were all pleased with it as well.
We also had people say they like how we made our ceremony very nature-oriented to go with the outdoor wedding.
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Saddina, you are so lucky to have a large pagan community near you! DH and I have yet to find like-minded individuals in our area.
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Boyd, I would start with books on paganism in general (It's similar to christianity in the sense that there are many paths that one can follow). Here are a few that I recommend.
Paganism- An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism
Pagan Paths: A Guide to Wicca, Druidry, Asatru, Shamanism and Other Pagan Practices
