Earth-centered Spirituality: Pagan, Wiccan, Druid, Native American, Other

[BloomInWinter]

This thread is to provide support and information for those who follow or who are interested in learning more about earth-centered spirituality and/or religions or practices, in the broadest sense of the word.

This is NOT a place for those not practicing nor interested in earth-centered spirituality to debate, deny, or proselytize people towards any non-earth-centered religion.

Please respect this sacred thread and all who reside in it. Thank you.

Blessed be.

 

[KwanYingirl]

I am working with a Shaman. I've journeyed many times with and without my Shaman and have my animal spirits, an angel and have been gifted a Pegasus in cases where I need to flee quickly. We are working towards reclaiming my soul which my Shaman found outside my body fragmented. She has called in the Palladians to stitch it together. I have chosen to wait til it's together to allow it back in. I am confused as to how my life will be once it's been reclaimed.

 

[BloomInWinter]

I grew up in a very conservative, Christian, right-wing household and extended family culture. The patriarchal system served to silence those of us who were being abused while enabling the abusers access and authority to harm others. It has taken me a long time to recover from the religious abuse. Many of my extended family members are leaders in their conservative churches yet are serial abusers, cheats, pedophiles, and other manifestations of hypocrisy that I just cannot tolerate in my life.

I despaired of ever finding "my people" as I tried many, many other churches only to discover that it just isn't for me. That is, until I went to a women's retreat, and met many amazing, wonderful women who hold many different spiritual beliefs, but all of them non-Abrahamic. They were welcoming, and the messages fit so well with my belief system that I truly felt I had found my tribe at last. I also joined my local Unitarian Universalist fellowship (they don't call it "church") with people of all types of beliefs, backgrounds, and genders supporting each other on our individual quests without any "dogma" nor pushing of rigid beliefs.

I've since been overjoyed to engage in activism that matches my spiritual self with other, like-minded people. I participate in healing rituals taken from an eclectic mix of many different religions. I love learning about all religions as it helps me understand those I love and those I fear better. I crave time with music, and dance, and chanting, and meditation, and even prayer as I choose to practice it.

Over time, I have become an eclectic pagan, choosing what heals me and the earth and rejecting the teachings of obedience to male authorities and patriarchal religions where the feminine divine has been rejected. My spiritual practices include group and solo drumming, feeding birds, picking up trash outdoors, making alters, meditating, using singing bowls, walks with nature, journaling, and art. I have never felt more free nor happier. My PTSD symptoms have greatly decreased, though not gone.

I am so very grateful to have found I am not alone in being unable to accept mainstream religion. It finally feels like the real me I was inside is finally matched to my outside. The earth is my Mother. I saw a meme that fit me perfectly. "I worship the Earth. Don't laugh - I can prove it exists."

 

[ladee]

Nature is my 'church'. In nature I can 'listen', I can 'hear'. I can 'see'.. I am always touched by the magic of so many shades of green. How a flood can rearrange the landscape, yet it remains. I can hear the birds doing their bird life, unaffected by humans and pollution. I see the cattle and the newborn babies. Life in the circle. I see the donkeys protecting the herds. I hear them braying to let the cattle know something is amiss.
I love the wildflowers, with the bees and butterfly's .The beautiful spiritual 'fingerprint' of the design on their wings. I love finding petrified wood, that I wish could tell me it's story on how it got there, where it came from. I embrace the trees that have seen so much, yet remain strong.
Nature is my church.

 

[Whyteferret]

Merry Meet!
I follow Wicca with metaphysical leanings.
Nature is where I find my connection to Spirit. I can feel the life pulsing in my soul.
It is where I feel most at peace. developing

my own sense of connection and beliefs has greatly freed me. Some of the "guides" such. As the Rede was a starting point and is still a foundation.

I don't speak often of my beliefs. It gets old having people try to convert me or think I worship Satan. Or think it's a cult, etc.

Bright Blessings

 

[BloomInWinter]

It gets old having people try to convert me or think I worship Satan. Or think it's a cult, etc.

I completely agree. Satan is a part of the Christian Pantheon, and having been raised as such I used to live in traumatizing fear and mental anguish. With such worry about "going to hell" I didn't question the hell created on earth by the people telling me that stuff growing up, nor the hell that was in my head with constantly begging a patriarchal "God" for forgiveness for "sins" which are just, to me, normal human emotions.

My kids get bullied quite a bit for not being Christians, even in our public school, so we all hide our beliefs since we are not welcome. In our state, there is a mandated "moment of silence" in all public schools which of course all are obligated to do. I'm so glad though that my kids know they can use that time to meditate, daydream, sing in their heads, or whatever. I'm proud to be raising them so quiet contemplation is filled with solace and emotional rest. Until my trauma therapy, silence in my head was filled with the toxic teachings and repetitive psychic abuse that was internalized when I was young and had no defenses against it.

What a relief to fill my head with gratitude, appreciation for the beauty around me, and self-comforting messages. It has decreased my anxiety baseline tremendously.

Now there's room for beauty and enjoyment of the gentle things. I don't have the relentless feeling of having to "prove" myself to some judgmental being anymore. I love being free to find my own path.

 

[ladee]

It's a sad statement that as a rule we stay quite about what we do to get in touch with the power of Nature. And that silence is a good thing. That religion , like politics, has gotten so 'people' controlled that no one knows what is going on anymore...
I wasn't raised in any religion. tho my oldest sister did manage to take my moms mind hostage and she joined her church... I don't think mom actually bought into it... but that was her 'baby' and what her baby wanted she got..
I taught my kids about nature, and spirituality. They were never dragged into a church for any reason. They each have their own beliefs today and I honor that, and none of it is based on church or religion...
As I was growing up, I sought out many 'churches'... trying to find what was missing in me. What was 'wrong' with me. And it seemed every time I was outside, I was calmer.. the light bulb finally came on!! This is your church, and you owe no one an explanation....
Thank you for this thread.. I won't have to edit everything before I share it... it feels safe. Thank you for that.

 

[Changing4Best]

I was raised Unitarian and it was a good faith to grow up in. Our church was built by Frank Loyd Wright, and it was this awesome place that really went well with our faith. Our ministers took info from a lot of different faiths, kind of like a smorgasboard and we could pick and choose what we wanted to believe or disbelieve.

I loved the youth groups when I was a teenager. I made so many friends and went to youth conferences in other cities too. The Youth Group was called Liberal Religious Youth (LRY) and other churches we visited called their youth groups by that same title. I learned so much from being with others of my same faith.

Our church had a bookstore that had all these awesome books for sale in it. These were not your run-of-the-mill books, but were usually published by Beacon Press in Boston, the UU Church's publishers. There were a lot of books that were very educational.

Our church had a lot of really interesting people who belonged to it. A lot of Engineers and Scientists belonged, as well as a world famous Astronomer named Ralph Alpher, who was the one who postulated the existence of black holes, before they were discovered.

The church did a lot of charitable work in the community and helped the poor and destitute. I guess you could say that this church stands for social justice.

 

[BloomInWinter]

Yes, it's nice to have a safe space. I've been on this forum since 2010 yet I haven't felt like there really was a space for us. Then it occurred to me that of course all it would take is someone creating it.

I feel best about myself and my life when I am in nature. That connection to the wildness provides deep spiritual nourishment to me.

 

[Changing4Best]

I live way out in the mountains. I love it here. There is some farm land here in the valley, but we are surrounded by peaks in all directions. There is a river here in the valley and it runs through my town. I love rocks. I especially love river rocks. So smooth....

 

[BloomInWinter]

One of the things I love about becoming Pagan, or "Neo-Pagan" is the celebrations at the turning of the seasons. I've always felt those times deeply in my soul and it was wonderful to discover such a rich tapestry of rituals, songs, food, traditions, and history from so many different pagan and other cultures. I really need these celebrations and the hope they instill in me to remind myself that no darkness stays forever.

I've attended and held a solstice celebration and it was such a gentle, wonderful mix of science, mystery, fun, and comfort. I now look forward to the changing of the seasons, and even feel content about long dark winters and doing spiritual work on myself.

 

[Fadeaway]

I guess since a few people here already know, I might as well come out of the broom closet. I am leaving tomorrow morning for a Litha celebration. I have so many issues with trauma surrounding the normal cultural holidays like Christmas and thanksgiving, that being able to celebrate that pagan holidays has been very healing for me.

Blessed Be