Posted by wendy b. on May 27, 2002, at 20:21:24
Dear All,
I'd be interested in people's experiences of their previous faiths (if they had one), and what, if anything, they swiched to, in order to find more solace, or deeper understanding of their purpose on the planet, that sort of thing. Sometimes the religion we're born into doesn't really "speak" to us as adults (or quaisi-adults, for some of us!).
As for me, I was baptized Catholic as an infant (before my soul could be sold to the devil? or simply so I could be "saved" if I were to die young?) My mother divorced my father when I was 1 or so, and the Catholic church wouldn't let her back in their doors because she had broken her vows, 'til death do them part,' even though my father was an alcoholic and could not get better, and my mother felt she had to leave him. But the church said she should have stayed married...
In our next phase, my siblings and I were taken to our step-father's Baptist church in small-town NY state, a really smothering environment. None of us ever took an interest in the Jesus concept, even if we acknowledged him as a cool dude who hung out with prostitutes and lepers... We could not accept the son-of-god, holy-trinity regulations, just never bought into the concepts. None of us ever went to church for an extended period as adults. Anyway, my having a child made me re-think some of my dogmatic "I'll never go to church again"-type thinking, and I have been a Unitarian of late; they allow ex-catholics, blacks, browns, gays, lesbians, Wiccans, everybody, into the fold, as it were. I am thinking of joining the Wiccan group that meets there, have been reading more about the history of modern witchcraft, by Ann Moura: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567186483/drbobsvirte00-20
(If this isn't linking to Dr Bob's Amazon link, how do I do that?)
I like the few things I have found out, specifically (early in the book) about the 6,000-yr old traditions (Indus Valley, Mohenjo-daro culture) from which witchcraft derives some of its main tenets. Moura says:
(quote)
"...in all the Indus cities and communities, there are no signs of any temple structure. These people were reputed to have been unusually tolerant of varying ideas, and loved to discuss conflicting concepts. They kept shrines in their homes, but apparently had no centralized clergy and no priesthood. Each person was responsible for his/her own worship, yet there is art work to suggest that the community would gather for special occasions marked by agricultural events, solstices, and moon phases." (p.22)
(end of quote)The main things I respond to so far are the fact that there was no centralized clergy, that each person could be his or her own priest/ess. This feels empowering to me, and for the first time (as opposed to even Unitarianism), my daughter has responded in a strong way to the fact that she could make the world a place for herself, by casting spells or other strong-woman-type acts. Sort of like manifesting what you want to have happen, and finding that it works. The group gatherings for festivals of the sun and moon, and for agricultural celebrations, is also a much more sensible, nature-oriented way to connect with the cosmos, I respond to that well. I prefer to think that the home should hold the shrine, i.e., there is a sense of a "personalized" devotion, no churches or temples are necessary.
My thoughts on these things are in their infancy, so if I've misrepresented something that someone else understands more completely, feel free to correct. I'm just a pup.
Wonder if anyone else has anything to say about where/how/why they've ended up where thay have, in a religious sense. If someone wants to talk about why they stayed in their family-religion, that would be interesting, too, no doubt.
"Faithfully" yours,
and here's to civility,Wendy
poster:wendy b.
thread:2
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20020527/msgs/2.html