New Age, Paganism ...
In the late 80's and into the mid-90's, during the last New Age revival, I fell in with some people in Croydon who ran a stall in the local indoor market. They sold the usual mix of 'esoteric' materials ~ altar equipment, candles, figurines representing a myriad of deities, herbal smokes, incense, tarot cards, robes, etc.
Themselves, they were heavily into the less legal smoking additives, along with magic mushrooms and other 'natural highs'. They never did the heavy Class A stuff (to my knowledge at least) ~ their main outlet being weed or resin. And I would point out that the stuff people were smoking back then were nowhere near the strength of the modern counterpart ~ which is why I remain on the side of them remaining illegal.
They introduced me to many others and I soon discovered the 'Pagan' tag covered a multitude of different paths ~ Wiccans, Heathens, followers of the Norse traditions ~ even Ancient Egyptian learnings, though they did tend to be more aligned to Crowley's writings, attracting would-be magicians and wizards. There were also those that considered themselves to be Faeries or Elves ... though there was a defined lack of Orcs for some reason!
I attended Moots, to learn more about their beliefs; went to Pagan festivals, which were strikingly similar to craft fairs, but with a drum out at the end. However, the smell of incense was always worth enjoying.
The vast majority of the people I met during this time were very easy-going, peace-loving, tolerant individuals ~ or groups ~ and it was rare occurrence to meet anyone who was overtly obnoxious (as compared to meeting a similar number of people from other social groupings). I enjoyed their company and listened with interest when they spoke of their paths, or faiths. But none of them really attracted me to the extent I could call myself a 'follower'.
I did buy myself a wealth of literature on some topics that did interest me though ~ these included writings about the 
Order Of The Golden Dawn, including those by Israel Regardie, Eliphas Levi, A.E. Waite, Dion Fortune, and others ... but never Crowley. Anything of his I ever read seemed to convince me he was more of an opportunistic chancer, who used his charisma and ability to influence people to suit his own ends ... a bit like Donald Trump or Boris Johnson!
My main interests were the tarot, meditation (particularly through cabalistic methods), magick workings and ritual. They were all interesting, but nothing really worked ~ apart from controlled breathing exercises and meditation as a means of relaxation. Perhaps I'm just too grounded for anything to work? I never did move further than taking mild recreational drugs (usually a bit of resin, so I could control the amount used) ~ I don't like being that much out of control of my actions.
One thing this phase did enhance, was my visits to historic sites. Stonehenge was always too commercialised for my liking, however, I had always felt an affinity with 
Avebury ~ with its near neighbours of Silbury Hill and West Kennett ~ and Glastonbury, with its Chalice Well. Understanding their 'spiritual' or 'religious' meanings, as well as their astronomical and historical significance, afforded them a new dimension.
I never visited the Red Lion pub in the middle of Avebury ~ after reading about the villagers historically plundering the stones to use for making walls (and Christians 
trying to pull them down) ~ I somehow felt the current locals deserved some of the blame too … which is probably unrealistic, but you can't help your feelings. When I wanted to visit there early doors, I would stay overnight in a small one-room 'pub' just down the road, call the New Inn.
They were used to having such visitors and the locals there were a mine of information 
about the area. Around the third time I stayed there, I deliberately left a book I had on the table when I went to visit the loo ... it was a very old-looking book, printed in very rough Old English Text, about different magical and alchemical 'spells'. I knew they'd check it out, but no-one commented when I returned.
Glastonbury itself was like 'Pagan Central' ~ a mixture of just about every faith and path on the planet ... all seemingly blending together in perfect harmony. Only, it wasn't. It took a while to realise, but I eventually figured out that each of these groupings only tolerated each other, yet maintained the same views as all other faiths I've encountered ~ that theirs is the only true faith and the tolerance of others was through differing levels of pity and contempt. If they were as well followed as Christians or Muslims, they'd probably find a way to fight each other to prove whose was the real god ~ or gods ~ in much the same way.
One Glastonbury shop owner and 'craftsman' of a Norse leaning was particularly fond of displaying the heavy drinking, machismo, intimidating image he believed to be indicative of his path ~ which was a mite difficult when you're only around five and a half feet tall! He looked more like an extra from Lord Of The Rings.
It has been many years since I last did myself a tarot reading, but found you could adjust just about any card sequence to suit the answer you're looking for. It might be useful as a way of convincing yourself the decision you are about to take is the right one ~ or, if you use a simple system like a five-card spread, you can be more likely to get a yes or no answer to any question. There were few decisions made that I could honestly say were determined by the cards, but just using them did at least get you one stage further towards making a decision.
Meditation and breathing exercises have also helped me at times over the years, especially when I've needed to calm myself down. In fact, they may have been of more assistance than I'll ever know ... but then, how would I ever know, unless I had total faith in something, which has never been the case.
That's probably where belief comes into play ~ if you believe something is helping you, then you follow it. But to me, that belief is reliance on something you are unable to control ~ something you don't really understand. Just believing in something, and basing your life upon it, might well be a wonderful thing, but it's not something I could ever do.
For many, perhaps, it's just a case of edging your bets ~ believe in something and hope you've picked the right path when it comes to your final reckoning. Maybe that's why I still keep a simple altar in my room to this day, just in case …