So it has been awhile since I have posted on here. In the time since I have been slowly, very slowly, working my way farther down whatever path lays before me.

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking, meditating, and soul searching. I have been looking for a name or a guide or something. I'm not really even sure what it is I am looking for to be honest. But during those sessions, 3 names continue to pop into my head. The first, Gaia, seems to be fairly common and, for a lack of a better term, more normal or even traditional. The other 2 however are odd. They are familiar to me and may be familiar to others familiar with the tv show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Those names are Tui and La. They translate from Chinese as push and pull, respectively. In the tv show they are depicted as the ancient spirits of the moon (Tui) and the ocean (La) who have left the spirit world and taken the forms of black and white koi fish in the physical world. Together they represent balance through the constant push and pull of the tides.

 For whatever it's worth .... This is not terribly different from the ancient Chinese concept of yin / yang.

 https://www.ancient.eu/Yin_and_Yang/

 Perhaps it's simply been a matter of rebranding a basic concept central to Chinese spiritual beliefs under new names ? If you dig back through history, many of the gods and goddesses had different names.

 ETA: Have a little more time for research this morning. The TED X lectures are usually pretty good. Found this link:

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-hidden-meanings-of-yin-and-yang-john-bellaimey

 The basic ideas are very similar to Air bender. ( Used to watch it with the kids back in the day.) It doesn't seem all that improbable that they drew from Asian philosophies / religions as the inspiration for their story telling.

 The notions of the Gaia, polar opposites being complimentary to one another, striking balance, and so on are also common themes on Neo Paganism & Wicca.

Because this is such an important topic, and no one else has answered yet, I did my best to do some research.  Although I am not Wiccan, I have been a member of TCC for several years, and I am aware that many experienced members have refused to teach minors.

The following two articles warn Pagans about teaching minors.  Both articles include information concerning interacting with minors on-line as well as in person.  I hope you find them helpful.

https://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usal&c=basics&id=12642

https://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=basics&id=2882

I don't know if this goes here, feel free to move it if need, but can anyone tell me the laws for Idaho in regards to helping a minor learn about wicca/witchcraft/pagan beliefs?

I ask because I'm trying to decide if I should allow minors in a group I've started.

Thank you all for your responses. As Amberhawk suggested, I will continue to do more research into the matter on my own. However until the time something else presents itself to me, I will continue forward with what I have been shown thus far. Like oldghost and Alchymist both seemed to suggest with their responses...who is to say what form each of us may be presented with? Thank yall again

Things come to one in ways that , that person can understand . If those characters have meaning for you then go with them . Who can say what forms or abilities a God/dess will make themselves appear to us . Let the seeker see what it seeks . Who to say what is what on a given day .

Greetings SouthernWolf,

The question here seems to be: are deities that have been around for 4000 or 5000 years really any more valid than a deity that announced itself to you last Wednesday before lunch? I would say not. The Divine takes many forms, and the forms change to suit the times Humans live in. For example, has the ancient Celtic goddess Brigid, goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft, perhaps extended the smithcraft part of her mandate to encompass all kinds of more modern technology? Or are there newer gods and goddesses to take care of computing and electronics - children of Brigid, perhaps?

There are magicians, mostly in North America, who honour Azathoth, Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth and Nyarlathotep - gods, or at least entities, invented (or - who knows - channelled?) by the New England horror writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft in the 1920s. They seem, or at least claim, to be getting good results by doing so; although if these beings are anything like the way Lovecraft describes them, one might legitimately wonder why.

So perhaps Tui and La have made themselves known to you for purposes of their own; but if it feels right for you to give honour to them, then I can see no reason why not. Perhaps they have a special purpose in mind for you, too. Or perhaps, indeed, they have existed for thousands of years but have only recently decided to make themselves known to Humans?

I wish you joy in your spiritual quest; Blessed Be,

Alchymist

You can base your deities off anything you like. That is sort of the base of setting up your own personal religion and it doesn't need to be legit to the rest of the world.

Real credibility comes with research and finding the deities that most closely resemble what you come up with from a series as many shows will take what is and bend and twist it to fit the plots of the show. That means what they do is strip the credibility from what they use so they can use it.

Research is your answer. Find the deities that most closely match if you want real credibility.

So it has been awhile since I have posted on here. In the time since I have been slowly, very slowly, working my way farther down whatever path lays before me.

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking, meditating, and soul searching. I have been looking for a name or a guide or something. I'm not really even sure what it is I am looking for to be honest. But during those sessions, 3 names continue to pop into my head. The first, Gaia, seems to be fairly common and, for a lack of a better term, more normal or even traditional. The other 2 however are odd. They are familiar to me and may be familiar to others familiar with the tv show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Those names are Tui and La. They translate from Chinese as push and pull, respectively. In the tv show they are depicted as the ancient spirits of the moon (Tui) and the ocean (La) who have left the spirit world and taken the forms of black and white koi fish in the physical world. Together they represent balance through the constant push and pull of the tides.

Now this all probably seems odd, but for years, ever since childhood, I have felt a strong connection to both the ocean and the moon. And more recently I have been placing more importance on, and yearning for, balance. So now to my question:

What lends credibility to any one person's deities, guides, etc? Does the origin of the name one calls these things matter? Would going with Tui and La, which are essentially characters from a fictional tv show, be considered any less viable than moon or ocean deities from already existing, more traditional, pantheons? Is the superficial name that we assign these things as important as what these things represent to us? Their essence?

My main struggle with this is that I can already hear the criticisms of using those names. "You can't base your sprititual beliefs off of a tv show!", the critics could say. And to be honest I have told myself the same thing. But after researching other pantheons nothing else really seems to feel right.

Thanks to those who made it to the end of this long post. Any guidance, advice, or opinions are welcome!

I'm with Amber on this , trying to put new age crap and it's labels on ancient things does not make them new and improved . If you can't see what has always been right in front of you then done try and make something up to fill in the empty place you see . There is only one way to be in harmony and that is to feel the heart beat of the world itself .

You can keep bombarding the page with all these sites but I've been at this for very close to 30 years now. There is a big difference between being a witch and being a Wiccan specifically. Yes they are witches too but there are specifics that make them Wiccans. Everyone else are Eclectic pagans and witches. Sorting out who is who takes a serious look at how it began and what is in the base of it.

That said, I'm not saying any one is better than the other. It's all perfectly valid if it works. It just isn't all Wicca specifically.