At 15 I was introduced to WICCA by a new friend, he also introduced me to a store in my local flea market. That second was the greatest thing because the flea market had an arcade adjacent to it, which gave a great alibi. I spent hours in that store and learned a lot from open discussions.
By the time I was 18 I had found a group joined and obtained my 1st degree. But I still had questions and Wicca or just Eclectic didn't feel right.
At around 20 I discovered ASATRU from a different friend and began reading on that. At first it seemed right but felt a little odd. After meeting with actual groups though I felt at home and became very active. I changed my self identification to HEATHEN. Years went past, I helped form a local discussion group, started a Kindred with others, was a member and officer of The Troth (for a year). At 25 though I started having questions about the nature of deity as my life went topsy turvy.
I began to think maybe I wasn't Pagan or Heathen but an ATHEIST.
This self identified label lasted the shortest. Not because of a sudden reintroduction with deity but because no matter what I feel at home in the Pagan and Heathen communities. "If you don't remember from my "Birthday Post," I'm 30 now. "In the past year since I've really begun to create Treegold & Beegold I've thought a lot and asked myself a lot of questions.
I Started To Define My Own Views:
* I believe in the strength and importance of community
* I believe in celebrating the seasons and the Earth
* I believe in the importance of traditions (even if self created)
* I believe in honoring our ancestors and the past
I came to learn 6 months back there is a new found community getting a lot of press this past week called Humanistic or Naturalistic Pagans. I prefer the Humanistic title myself over Naturalistic. For the sake of being able to tell someone a sense of my views easily it's my current self identified label.
The Questions haven't ended though. At times I do something or think about certain deities and that spine tingle comes back to me. I had in the past denounced divination for anything supernatural but in a time of pain I turned back to my Runes.
Maybe I'm taking a spiritual hiatus.
I will never stop questioning and I will evolve as I continue too. I'm a trained Scientist and my mind functions on the principle of the Scientific Method.
QUESTION -> TEST ->CONCLUSION -> NEW QUESTIONS
I know that new questions are just around the corner, I can feel the shift in my life right now. I wonder what they will be?
This post has been a part of the Pagan Blog Project. The letter of the week is P and you can find the rest of the entries for this week here.
This post was originally posted to TREEGOLD AND BEEGOLD
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