So a Goddess-centered Pagan and a Christian sat down to talk….
Grian is a goddess-centered pagan woman who lives across the country from me. Via the wonder of the internet, our paths have crossed. We have a lot in common; we’re both wives and mothers. Grian is a 
talented fine artist who works under the name Lee Hutchings; I’m a graphic artist in my day job. We’re both very spiritual, and we write and blog about our spiritual beliefs. There the similarities end; Grian is a goddess-centered pagan; I’m a Christ-centered evangelical Christian.
But we’re both curious about each other’s spirituality, and I think we both have lots of misconceptions about each other’s beliefs. I wanted to learn more about Grian and her spiritual journey, so she graciously agreed to answer some of my questions. We had lots to talk about, so this is the first part of a multi-post blog conversation.
SUSY: Is Grian your real name? It sounds very Celtic.
GRIAN: Nope. It’s a variant of a name I chose many years ago. I use it as an alias online but I am certainly not trying to hide my identity. My given name is Lisa. Pretty much everyone other than my mother calls me Lee. Oh, and yes it is Celtic. It is the Irish word for the sun.
SUSY: Can you describe yourself a bit? Perhaps tell us a little bit about your family, job, education, personality? Where you live? Or anything else that might help us get to know you…
GRIAN: I am 30 years old and I live in Upstate, NY with my family. I have one child; a daughter who is eight years old. I am also Mom to two dogs and three cats. I have been married for 11 years to my high 
school sweetheart. I am an artist and during the day I work for an art supply company. A few years ago my husband and I bought a house with my mother and we all share almost two acres of property together. In between raising a family and making art I have been pursuing a degree in fine arts. Personality wise… many people have described me as a free sprit and one person even dubbed me "the girl who is always trying to figure out the meaning of life." I suppose I have always been a seeker and I am quick to become absorbed in anything I choose to study.
SUSY: I guess I’d like to begin just knowing more about you and your "faith journey," as we call it in the church. Can you share your spiritual story? What is your background? Where and when did you start on your current spiritual path? What drew you to your current beliefs and practices? And where do you hope to go with it in the future?
GRIAN: Firstly, this is a great question and a great place to start – at what I guess would be considered the beginning.
I was raised by a single mother and for the first years of my life we lived with my grandfather. My spiritual story begins with him.
My grandfather was a devout Christian and every night as I lay in bed I heard him talking to God in the next room. He would literally kneel at his bedside and pray out loud in a dialogue with God. From this practice of my grandfather’s I learned about unabashed faith. He was never ashamed that the other people in our house could hear him praying, he only knew that it was important to connect with God in prayer. I consider this one of the most important spiritual lessons of my life.
My mother was not a churchgoer. Though my grandmother had made sure I was baptized Methodist, my mother had always told me that we didn’t need to go to church to believe in God. I think she always felt there was a lot of hypocrisy going on within the walls of churches. She grew to believe this through personal experiences, but she has never really told me the details of those experiences. My mother would later realize that her beliefs were best described as Agnostic. I believe this is an accurate label since she always taught me that there was a God (something bigger than me that created the universe) but we were not a specific denomination in any way.
SUSY: Did your mom’s negative experiences with the church have an impact on you? And, did the Bible have an impact on your childhood at all?
GRIAN: I don’t think my mother’s experiences had a real impact on me. She didn’t care if I went to 
church and I would regularly attend with my grandfather. I read the Bible at an early age. I was always aware of the stories within it, the Ten Commandments, etc.
When I was a child I always had a strong belief in God. I prayed very often in my head throughout the day and before sleep as a regular practice. Though my faith was strong, I was also always afraid that I was doing something wrong that would get me sent to Hell. I was often terrified of the Devil and the whole idea of damnation.
More from Grian in my next post….
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SUSY FLORY is a New York Times best selling author, speaker, and journalist who searches out big stories with happy endings. She's I'm always looking for true stories that inspire and challenge her readers to embrace a life of passion, boldness, & adventure. 
When I stop and consider it, I realize this sort of honest and open dialog about such matters between people of different faiths is vanishingly rare. That’s a shame. So kudos to the two of you.