Many thoughts, many questions.

[lostkevin]

I am not quite sure where I should begin. How about some background info. I have been researching the pagan ways and beliefs for about 6 months now. I guess I was spiritually curious (hopefully a safe way of putting it). I was raised christian but was never really devout, I never really understood or received the messages except for the fear invoked. I have always been drawn to the mystical arena, and after meeting a couple of pagans a while back, I began the research in my attempt to discovering all I could about this way of life. I must say I was very taken when I learned that these particular people were pagan, I guess I was stuck in a stereotypical ideaolgy of who I thought a pagan would be. My main question to all of you is, Were you a christian before becoming pagan? What made you take the pagan path vs. christian? What were the reasons you were drawn to the pagan way of life? I have more questions but I better start off with these and see how welcome the questions are. Thanks in advance for any input you may have.

[Ichabod J. Crane]

i was born wiccan i come from a long line of white witches reigning from sweeden cant say that ive ever been christian good luck finding your answers

[Amethyst Rose]

My main question to all of you is, Were you a christian before becoming pagan? What made you take the pagan path vs. christian? What were the reasons you were drawn to the pagan way of life? I have more questions but I better start off with these and see how welcome the questions are. Thanks in advance for any input you may have.

I was baptized and confirmed anglican, but only went to church spurratically (sp?) growing up. I had a fanatical religious revival when I was 17 and 18, due to a religious boyfriend, though.

I found Paganism (Wicca) after I moved out and went to University. I think part of it was that I was a way from that influence and didn't know the city, so didn't know where I could go to church. I did go to a couple meetings of the Christian students group, but I think only because someone from my church back home invited me to them. I remember sitting in a car and having someone talking about how sex before marriage was a sin, and I was like....uh huh..... not agreeing or disagreeing.

Anyway.... my relationship with the Christian God (I've been thinking about this lately) was never based on love...it was based on fear, or bartering. I did things cuz I was scared of punishment or hell. I'd make deals...if you do this, I'll do this. It wasn't a real relationship...it was a joke, really.

When I found Wicca, I found something that I really identified with, and for the first time I wasn't bartering for miracles. And I fell in love with it. I've grown with my path, but I still love where I am. :)

[PoisonIvy]

I was raised christian and I still only believe in one God. On the other hand,I also believe that there is magick all around us and it is ours to tap into and use.

[Brielle LaLune]

My family was never very spiritual in any sense, but I was always drawn... When I was young I would go to church with friends. And as I got older I tried out and reserched many different religions, churches and spiritualities. I started researching Wicca when I was twelve, and delving into other pagan aspects from there.

I think what drew me most to paganism, is above all, the connection to the Earth, and the energy that is inherent to all. The respect for our environment and all things living. I also find most pagans more openminded and forgiving. To err is human, as they say, and I feel that many Christian religions are too bent on chastising and condemning people for doing things which are natural to human nature.

Also the acceptance of things like, energy and auras, and natural healing. Things that have always come naturally to me, but were considered evil, or else completely dismissed as non-existent.

Anyway...That's the best I can explain. :lol: Hope it answers some of your questions. :bigredgri

[memnoch]

I was born to a catholic father and a baptist mother. I never really accepted christianity as I never had a "spiritual" experience and I saw no signs of a god or gods. I became wiccan/satanist because of rebellion. I was one of the people I bitch about who find paganism because of how taboo it seemed. After a year or two I became an agnostic who was interested in theology. I took from it the lessons but not the beliefs. I still have a very Levayian satanic side to me. A few years ago I took up the study of the old norse religion. I found that I was drawn to Loki and that my life and interests fit in well with him (I love Onyx, Saturdays, Dragonsblood, mischief and practical jokes long before I knew of Loki). I sort of looked at it as a God I had things in common with. To "test" Loki, and in my belief of him 3 times I invoked him. All three times brought complete chaos, with downsides, but eventual rewards. The third time was a bachelor party. That night I had a paddle (a cuttingboard that had only been used as a paddle) broken on my ass...when removing the fur from the "soft" side I noticed the 8 point star of chaos was used to glue it on there. For me there was no going back. I don't see Loki as a "God" who lives in a magical place, just as the forces of chaos and mischeif.

[Philbo]

I was raised in a Lutheran Christian family, and my mom is very active in the church. When I was a teenager, I started asking some questions, getting curious about other religions/beliefs, because I never felt like I belonged in the church. At the same time, I started discovering my abilities as a seer, and sort of opened myself to the presence of spirits that aren't discussed in Christianity. Paganism has been a journey of self-discovery for me.

[memnoch]

oh, I also had problems with the church as they could not see the hidden good in the offensive. They didn't see the message's hidden in south park, or in mid 90's rap music. Often people offend to push a message, and the church was blind to it

[hilary.]

This is interesting -- I wonder if anyone here was ever an über-Christian; it seems that most everyone was dissatisfied with the religion (in a strict sense) WAY before Paganism entered into their picture. My story is that I was raised in a home that celebrated Christmas for the kindness and generosity of "Santa Claus" and Easter for the renewal of life and green -- and chocolate from the Easter Bunny, but I thought that we were technically Christian. When I was about 4, I had a baby-sitter who told me that my family and I were going to burn in hell because we didn't go to Church and because my sister and I weren't baptized (or christened -- I'm not really sure what the difference is) and that Santa didn't exist and that my parents were evil for lying to me. If I ever had any inclination to be Christian afterwards, that experience was enough to cause my hesitation; I didn't want to be a part of something that I had hitherto been oblivious to, that involved a god so angry that he would punish my family and I for not worshipping him. Now I'm at school in the Bible Belt, and slowly learning that not all Christians are like my baby-sitter; they don't all believe in hellfire and eternal damnation (or if they do, they keep it quiet :smile: ). I think that a huge draw to Paganism for me is the amount of tolerance of different beliefs. I wonder if I never discovered a community like this where the variation, yet sympathy of beliefs are so rich, if I would still hold certain prejudices against people of the Christian faith. Very interesting.
Sorry this post has been so lengthy and boringly autobiographical, but I actually feel really good now -- it was quite therapeutic!! :D

[Chesna]

My main question to all of you is, Were you a christian before becoming pagan? What made you take the pagan path vs. christian? What were the reasons you were drawn to the pagan way of life? I have more questions but I better start off with these and see how welcome the questions are. Thanks in advance for any input you may have.


First let me say it's good your asking questions.. its an ok thing to do.
Next let me answer your question:
I was born and raised catholic till I went into high school, then I was just calling myself a spiritual person not really catholic.. it wasn't until last year on Ostara that I got interested in Wicca.. I did lots of research, talked to people about Wicca.
There are some things in Wicca i haven't reconsiled with my ex-catholic thoughts, but over time I will come to discover what I believe even more. If you want to know more about my process check out this thread I wrote today about some realizations I made:
http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=90919

Good luck and welcome!!!

Chesna

[lostkevin]

Many thanks for your answers and support. Yesterday, I decided I better go to the bookstore and get a couple of books, which I did, so now I will read them and see if I can further my understanding and find my place in spirituality. I know what I feel inclined to, I just need to find out if that inclination is true. I must say that Barnes and Noble is not the place I will go for reference anymore, their supply of resource material in mediocore (spelling?) I thought. There is a great "new age" bookstore that I felt comfortable in and the people that work there are very helpful and informed. At barnes and noble though, something kinda funny happened and made me and a friend of mine laugh. I was in the section as small as it is for "new age" or "spirituality" trying to sift through the books which were in no particular order when this girl in her early twenties was walking by and looked at me (my friend was sitting next to me reading something). Well, she looked at me and said, "what do you wanna do, be a freakin witch?". Well, I wasn't even looking at books concerning Wicca, so I have no idea where that came from, my friend just shook his head and we just kind of laughed it off. But, as she walked away down the aisle, in front of the "astrology" section, all these little sign specific books fell off the shelf right in front of her, like 30 of them. Now I thought that was hilarious and had to end my day on that note so I just left with the one book I bought from there, got some starbucks and went home to start my reading. Even as I woke this morning I still get a laugh from that.

[Ninjakitten]

Personally, I blend Paganism in my Christian walk. I use magic, celebrate the esbats and solstices, cast circles and use stones, candles, and incense and meditate. I see magic, chi, and the creative energies of the Divine (who I see as masculine father and feminine mother according to Solomon's Books of Wisdom and Proverbs rather than Father and Holy Spirit) as the same energies, and see them as ways of connecting with that very energy of creation. I see it as a sign of respect and love towards the Divine to strive to be more earth-friendly through the act of, I guess you could say, providing protection and support of the Divine's supreme artwork that all of Creation is.