Spirituality

[blushing_grace]

With all the posts and comments this weekend about the 1st of May, and the number of my friends who just got back from Beltaine - I felt a longing. I've caught myself humming songs I knew from church. When things are going well, I do silent mental prayers of thanks. But I haven't really done much spiritual stuff in a long while. I haven't gone

Comments

[sihaya09]

I'm also a lapsed Southern Baptist (with a little Episcopal thrown in on my mom's side). Around 16, I started noticing that I just wasn't *feeling* what everybody else around me at church seemed to be feeling, so I went to the library and checked out a bunch of books in the religion section.

Paganism is what caught my eye, and Pagan I've been for the last 10 years. I started with Wicca, and then moved to more eclectic Paganism a few years after, due to theological differences and disagreements.

I practice by working on my herbs and oil blends, by keeping an altar, by honoring the seasons, by offering small devotions to the Lord & Lady, and by working on my big freaking BoS.

[musicman]

Nice post, I enjoyed reading it

[fairerhiannon]

I grew up Catholic, but eventually found myself disagreeing with more than I could agree with in the faith.

In college, I started looking for something else. My family's background is part Irish, so I stared looking at the beliefs and traditions of my ancestors. From there, I found Wicca, which spoke to me greatly.

But Wicca itself wasn't the best fit for me. So I explored different traditions, different systems, and found pieces of them worked for me.

Eventually, I found the Pagan Night Out dinners and the Free Spirit Alliance, which puts on large gatherings. There I found a connection to a Community.

I would classify myself as an ecclectic pagan. I honor gods from the Celtic, Norse, Greco-Roman and Egyptian pantheons.

For a time, I was part of a Circle that built an Ordeal path.

My practice is not so much ritual oriented as the small, every day things. I watch the moon, marking the months by her waxing and waning. I have an altar space, as well as other reminders of the Divine. I honor the Spark of the Divine in all

[dreamtigress]

I often use the phrase 'earth-based pagan'. Eclectic pagan works too

[dreamtigress]

I also meant to work in there that I have objects from different religions in my room and around my altar, each one something that speaks to me, a representation of a deity or force I respect

[oneoddduck]

I describe myself as a sort of paux-pagan. I recognize things like Beltane more as a passage of time than as a spiritual thing. I think it's important to pause and reflect on what's passed and to set expectations and send out good vibes for what is to come. And I give thanks to nature for being such an incredible system, for nurturing and tolerating us, for making it all possible.

Maybe I should give thanks to whatever deity might be responsible for creating nature- but how can I know who/what is responsible? All I have is the word and churches created by man, which I feel have been incredibly corrupted (see the created by man part). How can I take moral/spiritual guidance from something so diseased?

So to sum it up, my spirituality is more about being awed by nature with a dose of healthy skepticism about the deity part.