I was Wiccan for about three years, now I'm more comfortable with the term Pagan. Wicca can be extremely focused on the rituals, and while the structure of it was helpful to me at the time, it's not the path I need to be on right now. Fortunately, Maine has a large and active Pagan community, so I have the option of taking part in group ritual for big holidays like Beltaine and Samhain. Usually, though, I'm a solitary witch.
Insomniac, I can relate to that. I have met a number of people who start out Wiccan and end up more comfortable with the term pagan. In fact, when I was first getting into Wicca, a guy I was talking to at my local metaphysical book shop had said that many of the Wiccans he had met ended up just being "pagan". I had a tough time with the structure of it, even as a solitary, and because of that, I just couldn't stick with it. Still, I have learned A lot from various Wiccan authors. There are local pagan's, but I'm so stinkin' busy, I don't really have the time to keep up with them.
Thanks, BSOM !
I'd like to see what you're thinking of having done.
BTW, great thread topic!
Nvr: I have tried drawing a picture and, lol, not surprisingly, it doesn't work too well. I Did go to a couple of tattoo parlors and priced them and looked at the art work, plus I've spent some time trying to get at least a nice picture of a snake to start with, as suggested by one tat artist. The cost is fairly high, there are a few other places around, but haven't been able to check them out yet. I will keep you posted!
And thanks! I had been wanting to do this for awhile. I knew we had a fairly decent number of people on board who would id themselves as pagan, I just thought it would be nice for those who are on that path to know that they aren't alone.
I'd be interested to hear how the other pagan folks arrived at this path. I haven't pursued anything extensively, but as stated before I have a lot of curiousity/interest in the subject.
When I was leaving the JW's "mentally" I figured I'd be Evangelical Christian. Something that bothered me though was the thought that since my JW relatives were not "saved" they would go to hell. Now, I may not be thrilled with their shunning practices, but I didn't and don't believe they deserve hell. On top of that, much of the Evanglical Christian stations and forums I went to had a scary zeal that reminded me of JW's. So...out the window that went.
I started looking into Wicca. Now most of what I learned in the beginning was ok, then I ran into one particular author whose views on child abuse in their particular coven (?) bothered me a great deal.
I then had to start writing my da letter and because of that did a great deal of reading on the early church fathers. I contacted another exjw who is now Catholic (a wonderful friend btw) who was really very supportive. After that I really felt that I would just be Catholic. I felt a strong pull. Yet, then I started reading mythology and seeing very intersting corelations between bible stories and ancient myths. I am still very intersted in Catholicism, but as of today, I just cannot personally reconcile the idea of the virgin birth and resurrection. And I have other lingering questions regarding the bible that are slowly being answered.
Up til a couple of months ago, I was happily considering myself a pagan, but oddly enough, it seemed that around here, if I wore a pentacle or defined myself as pagan, it was assumed by others I was Wiccan. I mean no offense to Wiccans whatsoever, but that particular religion just does not interest me at this time.
As of now, I basicaly believe there is One Whole Divine. It is not male or female. It is both. I might refer to said Divine as Goddess or God. Lord or Lady..whatever sort of works at any given time. I am not big into said Divine being communing with us or anything unless we seek them out first. Also, not sure about the idea of praying for anything, though I definitely believe that energy from one person can be used to aid in healing and whatever suits their fancy, good or bad, though I personally prefer the idea of using said energy for good things. :D
I recently heard someone define themselves as being an eclectic believer, so I think I'll grab that label and use that for a bit ;D
***Regarding my statement about the Wiccan author: This particular author does not have the best of reputations and does NOT by any means represent the Wiccan community by and large.
Paganism is one of the few religious or spiritual orientations that I'm still willing to consider. Christianity is of absolutely no interest to me. Satanism requires a certain amount of christian belief so that's generally out. So, that has left me with Eastern thought (taoism, buddhism, shinto, hunduism, etc) and paganism.
I have found some pagans to adapt various Eastern philosophies along with some Celtic or Germanic pagan beliefs (hope that makes sense). Like I said earlier, I am very much interested in Buddhism.
I'm particularly drawn to Green Witchcraft and similar as they focus on the solitary practitioner and require no commitment to a religious group or coven. The disadvantage of solitary is that you don't have a practicing group to learn from. Though I have found some interesting classes recently that don't have any affiliation with any particular group and I can pick and chose based on schedule and or content. For example, I took a healing stones 101 type class last weekend at a local shop.
Have seen a few books out there about Green Witchcraft, as well as a few sites. Can honestly say I'm not that well informed on it.
