Hi Rachel, that's awesome, I have always been close to nature from as far back as I  can remember as a kid. I use to take stray and injured animals home and try to doctor them back to health again.

I have always attracted animals anywhere from bears deer, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, rabbits, turtles etc. come right up to me and feed from my hand. But there was a period of years where I wasn't fairing to well in the world and ended up living on the streets for a number of years. Even on the street I had dogs and cats follow me around.

Anyway after I sobered up and got back on my feet and began transitioning I have come to be even closer to nature, I feel so close to the plants and their beauty that when I see where people are striping forest down for development I can actually feel the pain that nature feels and I cry. I get very emotional over such doings just as I do seeing people being mistreated and disadvantaged but feel equally as hurt to see animals mistreated. 
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According to Ojibwa Native tradition all things, both animate and inanimate have spirit energy. Universe is living spirit. The stars are Spirit Elders.  The moon is Spirit Grandmother and the Earth is Spirit Mother. All upon the Mother is of the living spirit, the rocks, the soil, the plants, the animals as it the water and all that resides within it. The air and all that resides within it, too..

This was why in the old days when one had used what they needed from the land it was returned to the land from where all is born. An offering of tobacco and prayer in thanksgiving was offered to the Spirit who had provided for them. It was believed that all that was provided to the people should be returned to replenish the Earth Mother's living spirit.

Then there is the moon cycle ceremony of Grandmother moon who comes to visit every month to cleans and prepare the girl child for womanhood or to cleans the mother to be in the sacred moon lodge.

Father sun gives sustenance to Mother Earth and her children. The children of the grandfather stars from whence they came so shall they return.

In the old days the people celebrated  pot-loch twice per year, spring and fall. This is the ancient celebration that is basis of the modern day pow wow. A  sacred celebration in thanksgiving to the sun god and the spirit mother for providing them with the abundant seasons of trading, hunting, fishing and harvesting that they have been blessed to have to sustain them through the long
sleeping time.

Today physicists have begun to become aware of the various frequencies of energies coming from everywhere, the Earth, plants, air and water as well as from Universe itself.  If you can be at peace with yourself and become harmonious with the universal energies certain channels will open for you.  This is where your awakening consciousness can be gained through harmony with the environment around you, with unwavering attention. The last requirement is *believing* in your ability to do so.

You need to be in harmony with the Earth elements to manifest what you need or want. Do not forget that these energies do not discriminate negative from positive, that is left for you to make the right choice.

You can place your request or prayer to the elements in the Native traditional way, by sprinkling sweet grass or tobacco offering on an open flame. The fragrant smoke lifts your prayer or petition up to the heavens to the Great Spirit.  But then you still need to do the footwork involved to bring this magic into being in this reality. If you have gone this far you will know the right steps to take.  You will be led.

Cynthia ©
 

Quote from: Kaitlyn on April 27, 2009, 01:38:02 AM
I... actually had a bit of a spiritual crisis recently.

I'm going to become a Wiccan.

I was an atheist for a long time (and I think I still am in a weird sense), but I felt I needed something... more. Part of it is that I'm just so tired of being one of those hard-headed rationalists who stick to their convictions no matter how miserable they make them. I'm tired of thinking that I can't relate to other people and the world in a spiritual way. I'm tired of feeling alone and isolated because of it. I want to feel a connection to the universe, to see things in a different way. I want - I need - to bring some kind of magic and mystery and spirituality into my life. That admission was just as big a moment for me as when I accepted my transness.

The thing is, I have issues with most theistic religions, both logical and personal. I was an atheist for a reason. I needed to find something where I don't necessarily need to believe literally, and I won't feel like a hypocrite for it. I also need something without - as I see it - a tainted legacy.  Of course, it also needs to be trans-friendly. It came down to Wicca in the end, and making the decision was... wonderful.

(Theravada Buddhism was a distant 2nd)

My personal religion is a complicated thing. I currently attend a Unitarian Universalist church, but my personal practice is an amalgamation of Christian (non-denominational), Soto Zen Buddhism, and Pagan (primarily influenced by Wicca and Asatru).

Yet, it might be more accurate to say I'm agnostic. I will say that I believe in my gods (my Patron is Perkunas and my Matron is Pele) and in my Spirit Ally (the Lost Bison). I will not ever say that I know they exist and/or that I know that they have communicated with me. I will openly acknowledge that the interactions I believe I've had with them could be nothing more than flights of fancy.

At this point, my religion is primarily metaphorical in my life. While there is sufficient extra-biblical evidence to suggest that Jesus of Nazareth was quite possibly a real person, I don't cling to the idea that he necessarily was. Nevertheless, I try to live my life according to the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule. Likewise, there is evidence that Siddhartha Gatauma was real, but that doesn't necessarily mean I believe he actually transcended existence and became Enlightened.

For me, religion serves to open me to ideas I don't seem to encounter in other ways. That might seem backwards to others, but that's been my experience thus far. If my gods don't exist, they don't and there's nothing I can do about it. There are times when I wonder if I'm not a closet atheist at heart.

I have an easier time accepting the possibility that the atheists are right than I do accepting the possibility that the fundamentalists are right. And when I say "fundamentalists," I don't mean just Christian fundamentalists. I've encountered Wiccan, Asatru, Buddhist, Islamic, and Jewish fundamentalists to date. To me, it would be better if the atheists are right rather than the fundamentalists. If the fundamentalists are right, then the gods are just as petty as humans. And that is not an encouraging thought to me.

Quote from: Miniar on February 26, 2009, 03:18:13 PMI believe in reincarnation and related to that, I am gonna hop out of yet another closet and say that I am Otherkin.
That's right, I believe that I have previously existed as something other than human. I believe that I remember some of my past lives, both this "other" one and some those I've lived as a human being.
I believe that I have existed as both men and women in the past however I do not see my current gender issues as a result of anything metaphysical in nature.
I understand that this belief may seem a little bit "out there", however, there are idiots in every one and every belief can seem nutty if you just word it "right".
If you have questions you want to ask in regards to this, shoot, I really don't mind being asked.

Yay! Another of us! I am a fairy from waaaaay back and also a pagan/taoist, and don't see what all this fuss about religion is about.  I draw no distinction between spiritual and non; to me everything is spiritual because everything comes from there. Humans so often get Descartes before the horse, so to speak lol

Interesting cynthia, close to what i feel sometimes, but not quite, but interesting none the less.

Imagine that you are a bird, and you are flying over a city. Patiently consider the things that you would see, and examine them each individually in differing degrees of detail. At the same time, try to locate, in your mind, where your wingtips would be in relation to your head, your feet in relation to your rear-end, and so on. Immerse yourself in the things that you would see, smell, hear and feel. For a few brief moments, accept this existence as your reality.

Now, without attempting to rationally consider the question, ask yourself, "What is important?" Accept whatever thoughts enter your mind without attempting to cross-examine them. Because it is nearly guaranteed that you would be wrong about the thoughts and priorities of a real bird, then it is valid by mere virtue that this reality is your own invention. Try asking yourself different questions along this thread, and accept their answers with as little question. Continue with this fantasy until it has become more intense than your experience of the real world.

Allow this experience to fade away, and then go through the same process of self-examination that you did when you imagined that you were a bird. Take in what you see in varying levels of detail. Concentrate on the location of your fingertips, your ears, your feet, and so on. Ask yourself the same questions with the same easy acceptance of what their answers are.

Review what you have done in the past day, the past week, the past month, and the past year. Then begin dividing these experiences into related subjects: for example, review the books that you have read during those time frames, and then review the meals you can remember eating during those timeframes. Carefully and neatly catalog your experiences, so they will be easy to find when you need them.

Now, go through all of your experiences, and spend a while trying to understand why you read one particular book or ate a particular meal. Spend some time trying to understand what motivates you to do the things that you do. The most important person to have empathy for is your past self, after all. If you cannot understand that person, then you cannot very well understand others.

When you have completed this exercise, begin forming in your mind a list of people that you know, and review your past experiences with them. What you will do differently on this occasion is spend some time trying to understand them in the same way that you have attempted to understand yourself. Try to understand what motivates them. If they are religious, try to understand what makes them religious. If they are vegetarians, try to understand why they are vegetarians.

This is MY "religion." I have been lapsing lately.

OTHER & open to all!

Hmmm... well, when I first joined Susan's, I called myself an atheist, but I was really more of an anti-Christian.  I wasn't happy at all, and wound up having a spiritual crisis about 4 months ago or so. (I think it was 4 months, but I'm not positive).

As a result, I wound up converting to something like eclectic Wicca, with some Druidic leanings.  Wicca (and Neopaganism in general) was something I'd always been drawn toward, and I feel very safe and secure in it now.

For a while I told myself that I was still an atheist in a sense, because I was a pantheist and didn't believe in literal deities, but...

...that changed enough with time that I didn't think I could possibly fit myself into the atheist category anymore.  I learned to let it go.

Religion? Don't get me started. But who can pass up a bunch of fairy tales conjured up by a bunch of supurstisious cavemen? Let alone the promise of 72 virgins in trade if you commit murder and suicide at the same time.

Actually, I'm amazed how the invisible man has kept a hold on so many people and has caused so much violence among people. After all, Peace, Love and Happiness is what is preached. Oh, but that's so hippie

I am a rational atheist. No offense to those who are believers, but I simply fail to see how cleaving to superstitious belief systems in the modern world could possibly be of benefit to anyone.

Quote from: Virginia Marie on July 21, 2009, 02:43:09 AM
Religion? Don't get me started. But who can pass up a bunch of fairy tales conjured up by a bunch of supurstisious cavemen? Let alone the promise of 72 virgins in trade if you commit murder and suicide at the same time.

Actually, I'm amazed how the invisible man has kept a hold on so many people and has caused so much violence among people. After all, Peace, Love and Happiness is what is preached. Oh, but that's so hippie

Wow, what an odd feeling, seeing it from this side... I'm not sure whether I should agree, or be offended.

Fortunately, my fairy tales were conjured up in modern times, and they DO preach Love, Peace, and Happiness

Quote from: Kaitlyn on July 21, 2009, 04:06:48 AM
Wow, what an odd feeling, seeing it from this side... I'm not sure whether I should agree, or be offended.

Fortunately, my fairy tales were conjured up in modern times, and they DO preach Love, Peace, and Happiness

Although it still isn't my cup of tea, I have no real issues with *fairy tales* that preach peace, love and happiness.

It's the ones based on an us-against-them mentality that I find worrisome.

Quote from: KYLYKaHYT on July 21, 2009, 04:24:19 AM
Although it still isn't my cup of tea, I have no real issues with *fairy tales* that preach peace, love and happiness.

It's the ones based on an us-against-them mentality that I find worrisome.

It's the people that add the Us-vs.-them mentality.

Quote from: Miniar on July 21, 2009, 06:55:35 AM
It's the people that add the Us-vs.-them mentality.

That's only true up to a point.  Many of the major belief systems have some kind of holy text that describes genocidal slaughter of the non-believers at the direction of God.  Some people choose to ignore that part of the doctrine, others to embrace it.

I like to read books.  Some are novels, some about astronomy, some about botany.  If you can call that a religion.... then that's where I am these days. 

Cindi

I'm an extremely liberal christian.  The Bible and supporting texts, life lessons, prayer, scientific proof, that's where I get my beliefs from.  If a preacher happens to be preaching the same sort of thing, I'll listen.  I have, however, grown disenfranchised with the entire protestant and catholic churches.  The idea in most churches today is a pick and choose attitude, if you don't like what the text is saying, warp it to your own end or omit it.  It's how the crusades started, it's how religious hate crimes are perpetrated.  It's an us vs. them mentality, like someone above stated.  It's what makes people hate christians in the first place.

A good friend of mine loves the quote "I love God, I hate his fanclub," and it's so true. 

Sorry, I rambled, but yeah, that's why I consider myself an extremely liberal christian.  I march to the beat God is drumming for me, not what some preacher or man of the cloth, or even myself.

I checked "Pagan", cos it's closest; I'm an Hellenic Polytheist.  In more descriptive terms, that's "ancient Greek Pagan", and my primary cult practise* is to Eros, and so from that, I've made efforts to revive Boeotian rather than Attic practises.  Based on this, Kybele is an aspect of Gaia and a consort of Pan, and Eros is not only a God of Love, but a primary creator deity.  There are other quirks that differ greatly from the more popular Attic practises, but these are the major points off the top of my head right now.



*single-deity focus

My path is Theistic Satanism, which differs from LaVeyan Satanism in that I actually consider Satan to be a deity vs. a representation of individuality.

It really is much more complex than just that - saying what I am does not give anyone much idea of what I believe and do.  I do not believe in harming anything in cold blood nor do I consider myself or path 'evil'.  I was raised as a Pentecostal Christian, but soon fell away from those beliefs when my parents divorced.  Then I found Wicca in 1997, broke it down and became an Eclectic non-Wiccan witch and NeoPagan, and soon fine-tuned my path with Demonolatry and Theistic Satanism.  I also incorporate aspects of traditional witchcraft, Shamanism, Alchemy, Ceremonial Magic and Chaos Magic into my path. 

I don't judge others for their beliefs and try never to push mine on anyone else.

I am... some kind of mix of unspecified-spiritual and agnostic who occassionally associates myself with the Unitarian Universalist church. (I selected Unitarian Universalist  for the purposes of the poll, since that comes the closest to encompassing my whatever-it-is.)

I feel spiritually connected to something, but I don't feel any particular urge to try and discover the nature of that something. I talk about "god" sometimes, for simplicity, but my god(s) are more of a symbolic representation of whatever loving, creative power exists out there that I won't pretend to understand well enough to slap a definitive label on. I don't eally think god(s) are a singular, physical being (though I don't discount the possibility), more of an essence. Maybe it's just the universe itself being its own god. Nature itself can be spiritual whether there are deities involved or not.

I believe in goodness and nature and love and the beauty of imperfection. Beyond that, i don't pretend to know much. I'm not agnostic as in "I'm confused," I'm agnostic as in, "I'm only human and don't feel it's my place or in my best interests to try to label and define and pigeonhole something so much bigger than myself."

That being said, I think all religions have an aspect of truth and an aspect of nonsense. I see religion more as a cultural thing than a divine thing-- it's people's way of interpreting their spirituality in a way that feels right to them, and as long as no one is using that as an excuse to hurt or discredit anyone else, I think that's not only legitimate but really quite beautiful. As such, I'm more than happy to participate in other people's religious experiences if they're willing to share.

I guess I'm agnostic...I don't really subscribe to any one religion and I don't discount the possibility of a higher power, but I just try to not involve myself in religion...