A Pagan path, practice, and pantheon that one worships are not the same thing. Three concepts that while they overlap, there is confusion and they are not the same thing. As someone progresses on their Pagan journey understanding how all three intersect is valuable. Few people have all of them stay constant as their spirituality evolves. The three are not interchangeable. The lines do become blurred, and there a lot who would fight me on my definitions.
Path
A path is the overarching framework of spiritual beliefs. This is the cosmology through which experiences and practices are interpreted. It is a guiding principle, a way to follow. But remember, the word is path, not road or highway. No one stays on their chosen path without sometimes tripping or losing their way. The dedicated are the people who get back on and don’t give up. It is possible to combine paths. (I am attempting a syncretic Celtic/Norse path, but I find myself using Celtic cosmology- there is a difference.) Depending on the paths, it can take a lot of work. People are more likely to have one path—an overarching framework—but adopt multiple practices from different place.
Pantheon
I personally think the modern definition of pantheon is stricter than it was in the ancient world. A pantheon is a group of gods worshipped within a particular culture. But remember, we are often taking a several hundreds of thousand year one thousand feet view. For Celtic cultures, we are talking about a loosely related set of tribal peoples who migrated through continental Europe to the British Isles (maybe, there are other theories) that spoke (somewhat) similar languages and (might have) shared a set of cultural values and practices who had no overarching group identity. Many gods were local, and probably only worshipped at a particular village or lake. Over the several thousand years, gods fall in and out of favor. As people migrate, which gods they deem important also changes. Ancient Polytheists were willing to accept imported gods, and some gods fell out of favor in their native cultures. In polytheism, you are free to worship whatever gods you wish, but juggling all those relationships can be a challenge.
Practice
A practice is something a person does. Like most pagans from the ‘90’s, I started out studying Wicca. While I am no longer Wiccan there are a few Wiccan practices that remain. For instance, I use “blessed be” and “so mote it be” in my private rituals even though I know it comes from Wicca and not ancient sources. My mind sees those as positive and a way of closing a ritual or prayer, and it works. People who convert from a religion of birth to paganism (which is the majority) sometimes keep practices of their old religion. There are many gaps modern pagans must fill. Our information on historical pagan religion has more holes than Swiss Cheese at its best. When practicing living traditions, we find what works. This might mean UPG or taking inspiration from other Polytheist traditions—and yes, be wary of cultural appropriation.
Putting it All Together
To give more concrete examples, Wicca, the most common neo-pagan religion, is its own specific path. It has its own cosmology- the god and goddess, triple goddess, horned god, eight sabbats and turning of the wheel, etc. Within the broad path are many different forks in the road. There are Wiccan pantheists, soft polytheists, hard polytheists, or even atheist and more. A Norse Wiccan would be one following the Wiccan path, but worshipping the Norse Pantheon. By that I mean Wicca is the framework through which they are perceiving the Norse gods, and often how they are conducting their rituals and work with the gods.
A Norse Polytheist might worship the same gods as the Norse Wiccan, but is on a Norse path as opposed to a Wiccan one. Norse cosmology is different from Wicca. It includes an emphasis on ancestral worship, keeping frith, and weaving wyrd through actions. The practice of a Norse polytheist would be very different, because the ritual format would be different as well as the spiritual beliefs through which the Norse Polytheist frames their work and experiences.
In either one of these cases, it would be completely plausible to adopt a practice outside of either Norse or Wicca. Life experience, location, family history, and area of study exposes one to different practices. In someone’s journey through spirituality and life what clicks is going to be slightly different depending on who they are and where they are in their journey.
When seeking don’t be afraid to try different things. If stuck, you might be mixing these up. Maybe you love nature and know you want to worship the earth, but Wicca ritual isn’t giving you a spark. Try Druidry. Or better yet, simply go out in nature and listen. Don’t be afraid as newbie to try what works, and discard the rest. Maybe you know the beliefs of a path fit you, but not sure what gods to worship, or even if you want to worship gods. Try listening to see if anyone is reaching out to you, or simply explore and experiment. Or if you have rituals from a before pagan time, try adapting them to a pagan practice. When I was eleven-years-old, I was exploring Wicca but not ready to make the leap to Paganism. I used to bring a can of pop to the park, kneel, and pour it on the ground as a sacrifice. I occasionally will still do that ritual practice, even if my beliefs have changed radically since then.
Don’t expect things to stay the same. There are core beliefs and values that once uncovered become a part of someone’s identity, true. But outside of those there is change, and everyone can grow and learn more. No one should stay the same on their pagan journey. A practice that works at one point in life does not work in another. That is life, and does not say the path itself is bad as long as it did good when it worked.