Thundarr
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I thought I'd like to elaborate a little on my beliefs. First I'd like to mention that I was not raised Wiccan/Neo-Pagan, but rather that I am one by choice.
I was raised as a Protestant. My family was not extremely religious, but we did attend church every Sunday. At first, I enjoyed church since I spent all of Sunday in Sunday School, listening to interesting (biblical) stories and doing (biblical) arts & crafts. Then I became old enough to sit with my parents and sisters during the sermons. Everything said by the minister went right over my head, I didn't find it incredibly interesting, and I didn't know the words to any of the hymns. Remember that Mr Bean sketch, where Mr Bean decides to attend church and then spends the entire time trying to stay awake? That's pretty much what I was like.
Eventually, we cut church out of our weekly routine as trying to keep me sitting still was too much of a hassle. Some years later, I was sent to bible camp (called Camp Caledonia, for those of you who wish to know), which was a lot of fun. We gathered around the campfire at night, sang hymns/Christian campfire songs (my favorite was always The Blind Man Sat By The Road/Show Me The Way), and performed comedy sketches (some of which had strong Christian themes). We also attended church every Sunday. Other than that, it was your typical summer camp (hiking, canoeing, swimming, water fights, Capture The Flag, soccer, softball, etc).
It was shortly after this that I began getting interested in spiritual things. The summers I went to Camp Caledonia I was in preschool (grades 2 & 3, I think). I became really interested in spiritual matters in elementary school. I think my interest was sparked when I was asked to do a report on a certain Christmas icon in the 5th grade (I got assigned The Christmas Star). It was shortly after this I joined a Christian youth group which a friend of mine invited me to.
It was at this point in my life where I was old enough to start seeing inconsistencies in the teachings. I began reading up on the history of The Church and discovering their holier than thou "Do as I say, not as I do" attitude. The Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition. The Salem Witch Trials. Just to name a few. Then there was all the reports in the news at the time. Seemed like every week, somewhere in the world, some little kid was being molested by his priest, or his minister, or his pastor, or some other member of the clergy. Not only that, but it's revealed that their superiors (whether it be the Catholic Church or whomever) actually knew about these men's fondness of raping children, and not only covered it up, but sent the guy to a different church in a different town, to molest a whole new group of kids! It got to be so bad that it became a running joke. "A priest, a rapist, and a pedophile walk into a bar . . . and that was just one guy."
To make matters worse, there were parts of the bible that really bothered me (and still do). In the Book Of Revelations (I forget exactly which chapter & verse), it says that "All nonbelievers shall be cast into the lake of fire, alongside the adulterers, the killers, the liars, and the thieves." So in other words, you can go your whole life not breaking any of the ten commandments. But if you worship God under any name other than Christ, then when you die you're gonna burn in Hell. I know that part of Revelations was written to frighten people into converting to Christianity, but for me that just pissed me off. If a man were to run a country like that, he'd be labled as a tyrant and overthrown. Then all of his "loyal subjects" would dance on his grave and piss on his headstone. And there have been men like that throughout history. Caligula, Attila The Hun, Napolean, Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Joe Stalin, Saddam Hussien, the list goes on and on. I didn't want to be a part of a religion that holds mortal kings and politicians up to higher moral standards than they do their deity. It should be the other way around. When I would point this out to priests and clergymen, they would say things like "Because He's God, and God is above morality," or something like that.
To quote the movie Dragonheart, "No one is above the code! Especially the king!"
Anyway, turned off by the hypocracy of The Church, I decided to find a religion that matches my heart. And in my studies I had discovered Wicca. I had heard of witchcraft before, obviously. However my actual knowledge of The Craft was limited to the Christian and Hollywood perspectives (IE: Witchcraft = Satanism and all that BS). I was surprised to learn that The Craft predates Christianity by about 3000 years (which shoots the whole Satanism thing full of holes, as Satan is a Christian concept, so how can witches be Satanists if they existed 3000 years before Christ and, therefore, also Satan?). And that most of our Christmas traditions (Christmas trees, exchanging gifts, decorating with mistletoe and holly, Christmas wreaths, the burning of the Yule log, even going caroling) were all a part of the celebration of Yule, which celebrates the Winter Solstice. And that Easter was a pagan fertility ritual (hence the liberal use of bunnies and eggs in today's holiday), which still uses a very pagan system for determining when to celebrate (the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox). And unlike most organized religions, Wicca encourages individuality in its practice. In the last 5000 years, no two covens of witches have ever gone to war over "Who's version of Wicca is The One True Version", because any such conflict is pointless. NO coven practices the "One True Form Of Wicca" because there is NO "One True Form Of Wicca". No two witches in the same coven practice The Craft in exactly the same way, let alone two entire covens.
What "sealed the deal" for me was that Wicca has no Heaven or Hell. Just the endless cycle of life (IE: reincarnation). There are no Ten Commandments or Seven Deadly Sins, just The Law Of Three (IE: Karma) in that "Every action performed by thee, comes back [to you] times by three". So in other words, you do good and three times the good will come back to you. You do bad and three times the bad will come back to you. And then there is the Golden Rule of The Wicca, "So as it causes no harm, do what you will." To me this is a much simpler, much more peaceful way to govern my life.
I don't wear my religion on my sleeve. I'm not one to shove my religion down others throats. I don't even practice The Craft on a very regular basis. But those are my beliefs, and that is my story as to how I came about them. Take from it what you will.
I was raised as a Protestant. My family was not extremely religious, but we did attend church every Sunday. At first, I enjoyed church since I spent all of Sunday in Sunday School, listening to interesting (biblical) stories and doing (biblical) arts & crafts. Then I became old enough to sit with my parents and sisters during the sermons. Everything said by the minister went right over my head, I didn't find it incredibly interesting, and I didn't know the words to any of the hymns. Remember that Mr Bean sketch, where Mr Bean decides to attend church and then spends the entire time trying to stay awake? That's pretty much what I was like.
Eventually, we cut church out of our weekly routine as trying to keep me sitting still was too much of a hassle. Some years later, I was sent to bible camp (called Camp Caledonia, for those of you who wish to know), which was a lot of fun. We gathered around the campfire at night, sang hymns/Christian campfire songs (my favorite was always The Blind Man Sat By The Road/Show Me The Way), and performed comedy sketches (some of which had strong Christian themes). We also attended church every Sunday. Other than that, it was your typical summer camp (hiking, canoeing, swimming, water fights, Capture The Flag, soccer, softball, etc).
It was shortly after this that I began getting interested in spiritual things. The summers I went to Camp Caledonia I was in preschool (grades 2 & 3, I think). I became really interested in spiritual matters in elementary school. I think my interest was sparked when I was asked to do a report on a certain Christmas icon in the 5th grade (I got assigned The Christmas Star). It was shortly after this I joined a Christian youth group which a friend of mine invited me to.
It was at this point in my life where I was old enough to start seeing inconsistencies in the teachings. I began reading up on the history of The Church and discovering their holier than thou "Do as I say, not as I do" attitude. The Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition. The Salem Witch Trials. Just to name a few. Then there was all the reports in the news at the time. Seemed like every week, somewhere in the world, some little kid was being molested by his priest, or his minister, or his pastor, or some other member of the clergy. Not only that, but it's revealed that their superiors (whether it be the Catholic Church or whomever) actually knew about these men's fondness of raping children, and not only covered it up, but sent the guy to a different church in a different town, to molest a whole new group of kids! It got to be so bad that it became a running joke. "A priest, a rapist, and a pedophile walk into a bar . . . and that was just one guy."
To make matters worse, there were parts of the bible that really bothered me (and still do). In the Book Of Revelations (I forget exactly which chapter & verse), it says that "All nonbelievers shall be cast into the lake of fire, alongside the adulterers, the killers, the liars, and the thieves." So in other words, you can go your whole life not breaking any of the ten commandments. But if you worship God under any name other than Christ, then when you die you're gonna burn in Hell. I know that part of Revelations was written to frighten people into converting to Christianity, but for me that just pissed me off. If a man were to run a country like that, he'd be labled as a tyrant and overthrown. Then all of his "loyal subjects" would dance on his grave and piss on his headstone. And there have been men like that throughout history. Caligula, Attila The Hun, Napolean, Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, Joe Stalin, Saddam Hussien, the list goes on and on. I didn't want to be a part of a religion that holds mortal kings and politicians up to higher moral standards than they do their deity. It should be the other way around. When I would point this out to priests and clergymen, they would say things like "Because He's God, and God is above morality," or something like that.
To quote the movie Dragonheart, "No one is above the code! Especially the king!"
Anyway, turned off by the hypocracy of The Church, I decided to find a religion that matches my heart. And in my studies I had discovered Wicca. I had heard of witchcraft before, obviously. However my actual knowledge of The Craft was limited to the Christian and Hollywood perspectives (IE: Witchcraft = Satanism and all that BS). I was surprised to learn that The Craft predates Christianity by about 3000 years (which shoots the whole Satanism thing full of holes, as Satan is a Christian concept, so how can witches be Satanists if they existed 3000 years before Christ and, therefore, also Satan?). And that most of our Christmas traditions (Christmas trees, exchanging gifts, decorating with mistletoe and holly, Christmas wreaths, the burning of the Yule log, even going caroling) were all a part of the celebration of Yule, which celebrates the Winter Solstice. And that Easter was a pagan fertility ritual (hence the liberal use of bunnies and eggs in today's holiday), which still uses a very pagan system for determining when to celebrate (the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox). And unlike most organized religions, Wicca encourages individuality in its practice. In the last 5000 years, no two covens of witches have ever gone to war over "Who's version of Wicca is The One True Version", because any such conflict is pointless. NO coven practices the "One True Form Of Wicca" because there is NO "One True Form Of Wicca". No two witches in the same coven practice The Craft in exactly the same way, let alone two entire covens.
What "sealed the deal" for me was that Wicca has no Heaven or Hell. Just the endless cycle of life (IE: reincarnation). There are no Ten Commandments or Seven Deadly Sins, just The Law Of Three (IE: Karma) in that "Every action performed by thee, comes back [to you] times by three". So in other words, you do good and three times the good will come back to you. You do bad and three times the bad will come back to you. And then there is the Golden Rule of The Wicca, "So as it causes no harm, do what you will." To me this is a much simpler, much more peaceful way to govern my life.
I don't wear my religion on my sleeve. I'm not one to shove my religion down others throats. I don't even practice The Craft on a very regular basis. But those are my beliefs, and that is my story as to how I came about them. Take from it what you will.
