Paganism in Utah

Many pagans describe becoming dissatisfied with the religions of their youth and feeling an instant connection to paganism when they discovered it. That was the case with Kelly Richan, who practices Asatru, a religion based in Norse traditions. Richan leads Eagle's Kindred, an Asatru group in Ogden.

"When I first found the Kindred, I thought, 'I'm home,"' Richan says. "It was a feeling of roots, a feeling of home. It made sense of everything I was feeling."

Duffy-Boose said many people seek a religion in which feminine deity play a significant role, and nearly all pagan religions honor both gods and goddesses. That desire led Faulk to create the Order of Our Lady of Salt nearly 12 years ago.

She was raised Christian, but as an adult she lost interest in the notion of God the Father and was drawn more and more to the idea of female deity. Eventually she began to practice Wicca, which emphasizes the importance of both gods and goddesses.

The Order of Our Lady of Salt holds monthly Goddess Worship Services that center on a specific goddess from one of the world's cultures. Faulk and her group have worshipped figures from Norse, Greek, Roman and Egyptian traditions, among many others.

The group has also focused on revered female figures who aren't usually seen as deity, but who "function as goddesses," Faulk says. Mary Magdelene, the LDS Mother in Heaven and even Lady Liberty (the Statue of Liberty) have all been the subject of worship services.

Another thing that draws people to paganism is the fact that it doesn't try to dictate what its followers must believe or how they must behave, Duffy-Boose says. There's no universally accepted doctrine, and diverse ideas are welcomed.

Paganism lets its followers do their own "heavy lifting philosophically," Heron says. There's no authoritative scripture such as the Bible, so each person must determine what he or she believes and how best to live ethically.

Even so, pagans are not completely without spiritual guidance. For example, Asatru is guided by what it calls the Nine Noble Virtues, which include courage, truth, hospitality and discipline. It's up to each person to determine how to apply those virtues, Richan says.

People are also drawn to paganism who have a "deeply ecological bent to their spirituality," Duffy-Boose says. To pagans, a grove of trees or a dirt path is as sacred as any temple. Nearly all pagans consider it "a sacred duty to sustain the Earth, to cherish and nourish it, to use our resources to heal the damage we've done to the planet," she says.

Heron is the founder and spiritual leader of the Church of the Sacred Circle, a Wiccan group that meets in a yurt in her back yard in West Valley, where she leads a variety of Earth-based services and rituals.