What deity has the most influence in your life? Do you not pray to a specific deity? If so, explain your beliefs.

I would say that I have no Patron deities, though that is not to say that I don't have particular deities that influence my life more than others, or that I feel closer too than others. I say I have no patron/s simply for the fact I've made oaths to no particular God or Goddess.

The closest I have is Freyja and Thor, however my relationships with them are new and my personal understanding of both of them hazy. I don't take any oaths lightly, and though I feel an impression of "You're Mine" from Freyja, I'm weary of promising her anything I cannot 100% back up. I hear she is a hard taskmaster, and I don't make oaths I can't keep. For now I'm content learning, I have no sense of need to have a God/dess labeled as my Patron. They obviously feel the same, so I'm content with that at present.

If you were to plan your own Wedding or Funeral ceremony, would you create two separate ceremonies for pagan and non-pagan folk, or would you just plan a ceremony around your beliefs. How would you feel if any non-pagan friends or family did not wish to attend such a ceremony?

Well, as for marriage, I'd probably only have one ceremony conducted by a celebrant, a non-religious ceremony with a few subtle Pagan influences here and there. I wouldn't stand for a Catholic or Armenian Orthodox wedding, as both require me to convert and be apart of their religion/church for a certain period before they would agree to wed us, which I find a nauseating idea. Luckily, my partner has no plans to try and please his mother (Catholic) or his farther (Armenian Orthodox), and only wished to please his Bride, and have a damn good party for the guests.
A massive reception is a must. Big feast with many, many merriments, lovely food and a bit of dancing!

I think the real magic of a wedding happens on the honeymoon. Personally, I feel the ceremony and reception is as much for the parents, and guests as it is for the couple. The honeymoon however, is a private, intimate time for the couple to really reach a deeper bond and the vows really sink in.

As for my funeral, I also want it non-religious. Not because I don't want to offend any uptight people I know (and love), but because I don't see/feel it is necessary to bring my spiritual beliefs into it. They are life events, yes... not really religious ones, in my mind. And just because they are life events, doesn't make them any less important to my growth in all aspects. The only plans I have for my funeral is a letter I plan to write, I want it read (by someone I'm close to, and who can handle speaking at my funeral). A personal message to hopefully comfort those I have to leave behind. And I want everyone to feast and support each other during the wake! In my will, I will be leaving a few special gifts to people, most for my children, and a few items to charity. And since a viking burial is illegal nowadays in this Country, if I'm not in a country that allows it, I'd like to be cremated and split between my children to do with as they see fit (scatter, keep in a vessel, bring me out in a urn on Samhain to decorate the ancestor altar, lol... whatever they feel they want).

If I was to have more of my spiritual beliefs prevail and be focus of these occasions and loved ones refused to come (well, to the wedding... I don't think I would really be in a position to mind at my funeral), I'd probably feel a little hurt, and disappointed - but each to their own. I'd be more upset if they came when they didn't want to be there and ruined the day for me.

What tools do you feel are essential when performing rituals? (Give the reasoning behind each tool and what it means for your ritual) - http://witchesweekly.tawodi.org/

First things first, lets not confuse rituals and spell work. Ritual you can preform effectively with pure spiritual awareness, creativity and sincerity. Spell work, in my opinion is a little more complex, as it is manipulating energy to bring about a wanted (or well, if it goes wrong, unwanted) change in reality. I suppose Will and Intent might work for some people effectively, but I imagine it to be a lot of hard work if you are only using your energy to coerce a change in the Universe.

Herbs, crystals, colours, elements - any correspondence is helpful in magic as each item you choose for spell work, has a certain type of energy or vibration that is beneficial to the change you are working towards gaining. I do think these things are fairly essential in spell work, though can usually be lived without in ritual.

I'm not one to be very dramatic in ritual, and usually my ritual is very, very simple and straight forward, so I don't use much in the way of tools. Ritual to me is meditation, communication with a higher being (if you so choose to follow or believe in one), offerings. I see ritual as personal time and space for me to reflect so that I may grow spiritually.

That all being said, on my altar you will find a floor length table cloth, two large white pillar candles, two little charms that represent the duality in all things, my collection of gems and crystals out of lack of anywhere else to keep them, a stainless steel pot in which I burn loose incense, leave candle to burn down, burn things etc, some seashells and a silver athame (which seems to be there for visual purposes only... it looks pretty...). I only have recently set up my altar again after moving around, and as such it is lacking a lot of what would usually be there (seasonal items, etc).