...
also, some of the best mythology evar. I mean, these are proper gods, waxing wrathful with big hammers and lighting

What kind of lighting, Pika?

I hope they use low-energy bulbs!

When I saw your headline, this was the first thing that came to my mind. It's so different from Christians who say, "I explored the vast universe of spirituality and guess what! I believe exactly the nonsense that has been pounded into my head by 99.3% of the people I've known since birth!" A religion should be a bit different from a culturally acquired psychosis.

3.  Nine less commandments.  Harm none.  

Funny how that one never caught on with the Abrahamic folks. Maybe because their god is a narcissistic psychopathic  mass murderer and their religion has ruled by terror for most of their history 

6. I am not afraid of my Gods.  

True that. One of the weirdest and most soul-damaging aspect of many religions is the phenomenon of compulsory monster-love. "My God is a monster and I love him with all my heart and being." I think it's why fundamentalists are drawn to oppressive, authoritarian politics and beat their wives and children.

people making up their own religions isnt always bad, as I started one and it is pretty popular.

You'll go far.  

On the emo weirdoes... curses don't work.  Amateur ones generally go nowhere and just lie on the caster's floor in a big puddle of negativity.  Or they go out, come straight back and bite the caster.  They require a LOT of energy and focus to work, and even them they have a pretty low strike rate.  Most "curses" work only if the victim freaks out and convinces themselves they're jinxed.  And, as someone already said, they're seriously bad form.  Even if you hae a reason to curse someone - they killed your dog or burnt your house down - better to just wait for Karma to come and sort them out than risk getting yourself involved in some sort of retribution feedback loop.

The weather... similar story.  You'd need a huge amount of energy and precise knowledge of where to direct it to have any effect, and the people who could do it probably wouldn't, because they're aware of the risk of cocking things up big-time by interferring with natural systems.  Generally you work with natural systems, not trying to change them.

But having said that... there will be pagan twerps that give the rest a bad name.  Just like there are Aspie twerps.

Actually, you're wrong about Satanists.  They kind you are probably thinking of are commonly referred to as "Rebel Satanists"; these are the teenaged kids that are trying to restore Satan to his throne or some such nonsense.  But many Satanists are not like that.
See, real satanists do not worship satan.  They call themselves satanists because they follow a philosophical path basically laid out by Lucifer's fall.  Most of these satanists call themselves "LaVayan" Satanists.  Basically they believe in individualism and "eye for an eye" morallity.  For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVeyan_Satanism
I personally disagree with many of their beliefs, but respect them far more than the stupid "Satan will rule the world!!!!" types.

You'll go far.  

On the emo weirdoes... curses don't work.  Amateur ones generally go nowhere and just lie on the caster's floor in a big puddle of negativity.  Or they go out, come straight back and bite the caster.  They require a LOT of energy and focus to work, and even them they have a pretty low strike rate.  Most "curses" work only if the victim freaks out and convinces themselves they're jinxed.  And, as someone already said, they're seriously bad form.  Even if you hae a reason to curse someone - they killed your dog or burnt your house down - better to just wait for Karma to come and sort them out than risk getting yourself involved in some sort of retribution feedback loop.

The weather... similar story.  You'd need a huge amount of energy and precise knowledge of where to direct it to have any effect, and the people who could do it probably wouldn't, because they're aware of the risk of cocking things up big-time by interferring with natural systems.  Generally you work with natural systems, not trying to change them.

But having said that... there will be pagan twerps that give the rest a bad name.  Just like there are Aspie twerps.

Actually, I know someone who can affect the weather.  He doesn't do any spells or anything; he says he speaks directly the the Earth herself.  They have a bit of a stormy relationship though.  
He's a weird one in many ways, though.  He can make a cellphone turn itself off just by holding it to his chest; electronics short out or go on the fritz around him all the time.  His presence drains batteries.  No one's been able to figure it out.

The draining of batteries, disturbances of electrical apparatus, flickering and failing of lightbulbs is something that seems to happen more when there's a lot going on in a person.
This seems to happen very much with people with diss (used to be called multiple personality disorder) A friend of mine did have problems with electricity because of that.
Other circumstances seem to influence electricity too. My brother (very down to earth electrician) was not amazed almost all our electrical gear broke down within six month during great stress in our house. He has seen that happen many times. He also knows a woman who can't use a cash automat. They fail when she comes near.

So, anyway.
Myself, I am a Druid.  My bf/husband (we're handfasted since Imbolc) is an Asatruar.  He also is (I suppose) a Knight, although that's not exactly religious.  But he swore an oath to uphold a (modified, modernized) Chivalric code.
I suppose I am a very odd pagan in that I don't interact much with my deities.  I honor my Mothers, Brigid, Athene, and Artemis, but I don't really view them as human-like conscious beings.  To me deities are more like symbolic representations of ideas that have taken on an almost-form.  By almost-form I mean they are there but not solid (or gas, or liquid) or any such thing.  Whereas to my bf/husband they are very definitely beings with thoughts and actions and bodies.  And that is perhaps one of the things I love most about paganism- the sheer variety of thought on even the most basic of subjects within paganism.
Pika, btw, speaking as someone who practices a celtic religion but have researched many others, Wicca is NOT celtic.  Some wiccans take a celtic bent, but wicca itself is not celtic.  It is what most would refer to as an "Eclectic" pagan path; it absorbs many aspects of many mythologies and cultural beliefs.  Even at its core, Wicca is not based on any Celtic ideas or traditions.  It is based on some of the ideas of Iolo Morganwg, but don't be fooled- Morganwg made up most of what he wrote and is by no means a respected historical source.
Of course, I have nothing against Wicca, and many of my friends are Wiccan.  My bf/husband was raised Wiccan by his mother and aunt (he didn't stay wiccan for long though- he began exploring other paths at age 10).  But I do have a problem with people who don't know (or worse, refuse to accept) that wicca was made up quite recently and based partly on principles that were made up slightly longer ago and passed off as historical.
I know most of this from doing research about Druidry.  Modern "Neodruidry" was made up around the same time as Wicca by a guy who was best friends with the guy who founded Wicca.  For this reason, it's an unfortunate fact that much of modern Druidry is full of things borrowed from Wicca.  My personal path eschews much of that- I have three elements instead of four, I don't call quarters, I don't associate ideas with candle colors or incense fragrance; etc.  But then, my path focusses much more on the philosopical values of my religion than on the visual or ritual elements.

The one thing I'd have to say I absolutely hate about paganism is that its so hard to find others with a similar path!  I am a solitary practitioner by circumstance, not choice.  There are a few pagan groups and many solitaries in my area, I know, but they are very hard to find.  My first hint to their existence was finding out a week late that there had been a gathering of Druids for a ritual last Solstice.  I haven't been able to find out anything about that group since then.  Recently, the local paper ran a piece on a student group of pagans at the University, known as "Silver Circle", with only 20 members; but when I sent them an e-mail asking if it was OK for high school students to attend their meetings, I got no response.
Currently I get all my contact with other pagans through the internet (not counting talking to my husband).

I stand corrected; it is not a subject in which I have spent much research in.

individualism and "eye for an eye" morality of Satanists.  Is that the same as a Pagan's "Harm none"?  

I find a Pagan's burning a yule log really less threatening that some Satanist who vows to "get me" because they imagined that I harmed them and they need revenge.  Must be that half the NT's I know are really Satanists.  

People who imagine themselves to be Satanists and concoct all sorts of weird rites sacrificing animals and killing people really are more dangerous than anyone else.  

Scientology is a cult religion that someone made up.  It is harmful in many ways.  Who claims it has helped them? - look at Kirstie Alley --- she is still fat despite years of following Scientology and Jenny Craig.  

What is the significance of the yule log anyway?

Like, really Satanists?  Do you live near a Satanic cult?  Or is that meant in more of a broad way?

The yule log is a tradition which is thought to be associated with Thor.  The tradition of Yule was, I believe, in midwinter, and it was rather cold, so you burned this log for several days during your celebration, Yule.  The origin of the Christmas Tree, an evergreen, comes in there as well.  The evergreen tree is significant as a symbol that the world will again be green and fruitful, and that even though there may be snow on the ground and the earth seems frozen, there is still life out there.  With the short days and cold, before "modern times", especially in the more frigid regions, I would expect that the winter seems never ending, and the Yule celebration gave the folks something to look forward to.  

Just my thoughts of course...

(I am, apparently, comma happy, today.)

I’m a Christian and confirmed as such a few years ago; but I have a very eclectic view of spirituality and so have incorporated many aspects of paganism and older religious beliefs into my view of the world. Shamanism, Wicca and animism, the ’world tree’ the four/five element etc all feature; as do Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu concepts.
I think perhaps my ‘pick and mix’ view of spirituality might make me a ‘bad Christian’; but for some reason there is rarely any conflict in my mind between these various belief systems.

Many pagan ideas were integrated into the early Christian church’; ideas of hospitality and simplicity, creativity, art song and some rituals.

No.  Harming none means not harming anyone.  Eye for an Eye means ripping someone's face off if they rip yours off.

Duckie... thanks for your post.  It's lovely.  And I've missed you.  

Or, as is more likely to happen in real life... If they insult you, you insult them, if they punch you, you punch them, if they steal from you, you steal from them, etc.