Witch Willows WanderingsWhose God Is This Anyway?
March 28th 2008 14:40
To what religion were you brought up to believe in? Were you, like myself, forced to attend a church, synagogue, or other place of worship without having any opinion in the matter?
As children, we are fed what our parents want us to believe. Society dictates to them and they in turn to their children. But hey, their intentions were probably good and I'm sure they were trying to give you firm roots and strong moral fiber.
Somewhere along the line as you got older did you say to yourself, Hey, this is a bunch of bull-spit, and if you're like most of us, you started to have questions about God, spirituality, Heaven & Hell, etc.
I can clearly remember the day and where I was when I decided that Catholicism was NOT going to be my spiritual path. I was in St. Alphonsis church on a hot August Sunday morning in 1970. I was 17 years old and pregnant (yeah, I was married...sadly) and I arrived late to mass, I stood there, 8 months pregnant, swollen and ripe and all the pews appeared to be filled. However, upon closer inspection...there were hats and handbags taking up spaces where an actual human being could have perched. I saw people, both men and women look directly at me, yet still not offer me a seat, much less move their handbag so I might slide in.
That my friends was the straw that broke the camels back...I had been wrestling with my beliefs, questioning some of the religious rules and regulations, the dogma of my religion. The more questions I formulated, the less I liked the answers. Not to mention, women played a very insignificant role in Christianity...There was the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, but one heard very little about other female saints, or figureheads. Oh wait, there was Mary Magdalen, but she was a whore. Hmmm, something didn't seem quite right there. Other questions popped into my head, why did god care if I ate meat on Friday? And that whole heaven and hell thing...well hell, that was enough to make anyone shudder and fear for their souls. In order to be with god in heaven, I would have to lead an exemplary life right? Well, if that was indeed the case, why were all those wonderful christian church goers ignoring an 8 month pregnant gal, so that their hats and purses could rest neatly on the bench? Weren't they supposed to have compassion in their hearts and weren't they supposed to behave in such a way as to emulate Jesus? Ask yourself WWJD? I'll bet he would have made room for me to sit...what do you think?
Pretty soon I was reading everything I could on the other main religions of the world. I learned that nearly almost every religion on the face of the earth had certain aspects of belief in common. One of them being reincarnation...Another aspect of most organized relgions that I found disconcerting was the fact that in order to be close to their respective god head, one must die and ascend to heaven, valhallah, whatever. So, I asked myself, if god is the creator of everything...shouldn't I be able to commune with him right here on earth and without having to have a priest, rabbi or other religious representative act as a mediator and without being dead? How was I going to get answers to questions that may lead to my living an exemplary life, if I had to be dead to find the answers? Hmmm....makes ya wonder eh?
I was conflicted, I knew I was a good person, but nothing I'd read rang exactly true for me...Certain tidbits of different religions struck a chord, but nothing made total sense to me. Until that one fateful day, when I was in a used book store and I was scanning the shelves, and a book popped into my line of vision...it was "Living Wicca." I had read a bit about Witchcraft and even less about Wicca, but as I opened the cover of the book and scanned through some of the pages, it was thrilling. I took the book home and read it in one evening and then started re-reading and highlighting and marking pages. Here then was the "old" religion...a lifestyle choice that made perfect sense to me. There was no dogma, no heaven, no hell and certainly no SATAN or DEVIL...It was a spiritual awakening for me, and once I embraced it, I've never looked back.
I've written this for one reason, to have you ask yourself this one question...Is your whole heart, your entire mind, your total being satisfied that your spiritual path is the right one for you? Have you too many questions, like I did, and not enough answers? Do you feel that god is out of reach, out of sight and the church of your faith, out of touch?
Then isn't it time you went on a pilgrimage to find your eternal soul? Isn't it about time you decided for yourself what your relationship with god is supposed to be, what it should be?
Start reading, look online, don't be afraid of the answers...look with an open mind and heart...Put aside all the "brain washing" of the past and form your own truths...you may find that the old religions have a lot more meaning for you. You may follow a Native American path, a Buddhist path, a Wiccan path...but whatever path you decide on, it will be one you choose for yourself because it calls to your soul and your heart. It will be your personal relationship with your god...and after all isn't that what spiritual belief should be all about?
When you get right down to it...we're all trying to get to the same final destination...we're just taking different roads to get there.
I wish you a safe and enlightened journey...
Bright Blessings
White Willow
As children, we are fed what our parents want us to believe. Society dictates to them and they in turn to their children. But hey, their intentions were probably good and I'm sure they were trying to give you firm roots and strong moral fiber.
Somewhere along the line as you got older did you say to yourself, Hey, this is a bunch of bull-spit, and if you're like most of us, you started to have questions about God, spirituality, Heaven & Hell, etc.
I can clearly remember the day and where I was when I decided that Catholicism was NOT going to be my spiritual path. I was in St. Alphonsis church on a hot August Sunday morning in 1970. I was 17 years old and pregnant (yeah, I was married...sadly) and I arrived late to mass, I stood there, 8 months pregnant, swollen and ripe and all the pews appeared to be filled. However, upon closer inspection...there were hats and handbags taking up spaces where an actual human being could have perched. I saw people, both men and women look directly at me, yet still not offer me a seat, much less move their handbag so I might slide in.
That my friends was the straw that broke the camels back...I had been wrestling with my beliefs, questioning some of the religious rules and regulations, the dogma of my religion. The more questions I formulated, the less I liked the answers. Not to mention, women played a very insignificant role in Christianity...There was the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, but one heard very little about other female saints, or figureheads. Oh wait, there was Mary Magdalen, but she was a whore. Hmmm, something didn't seem quite right there. Other questions popped into my head, why did god care if I ate meat on Friday? And that whole heaven and hell thing...well hell, that was enough to make anyone shudder and fear for their souls. In order to be with god in heaven, I would have to lead an exemplary life right? Well, if that was indeed the case, why were all those wonderful christian church goers ignoring an 8 month pregnant gal, so that their hats and purses could rest neatly on the bench? Weren't they supposed to have compassion in their hearts and weren't they supposed to behave in such a way as to emulate Jesus? Ask yourself WWJD? I'll bet he would have made room for me to sit...what do you think?
Pretty soon I was reading everything I could on the other main religions of the world. I learned that nearly almost every religion on the face of the earth had certain aspects of belief in common. One of them being reincarnation...Another aspect of most organized relgions that I found disconcerting was the fact that in order to be close to their respective god head, one must die and ascend to heaven, valhallah, whatever. So, I asked myself, if god is the creator of everything...shouldn't I be able to commune with him right here on earth and without having to have a priest, rabbi or other religious representative act as a mediator and without being dead? How was I going to get answers to questions that may lead to my living an exemplary life, if I had to be dead to find the answers? Hmmm....makes ya wonder eh?
I was conflicted, I knew I was a good person, but nothing I'd read rang exactly true for me...Certain tidbits of different religions struck a chord, but nothing made total sense to me. Until that one fateful day, when I was in a used book store and I was scanning the shelves, and a book popped into my line of vision...it was "Living Wicca." I had read a bit about Witchcraft and even less about Wicca, but as I opened the cover of the book and scanned through some of the pages, it was thrilling. I took the book home and read it in one evening and then started re-reading and highlighting and marking pages. Here then was the "old" religion...a lifestyle choice that made perfect sense to me. There was no dogma, no heaven, no hell and certainly no SATAN or DEVIL...It was a spiritual awakening for me, and once I embraced it, I've never looked back.
I've written this for one reason, to have you ask yourself this one question...Is your whole heart, your entire mind, your total being satisfied that your spiritual path is the right one for you? Have you too many questions, like I did, and not enough answers? Do you feel that god is out of reach, out of sight and the church of your faith, out of touch?
Then isn't it time you went on a pilgrimage to find your eternal soul? Isn't it about time you decided for yourself what your relationship with god is supposed to be, what it should be?
Start reading, look online, don't be afraid of the answers...look with an open mind and heart...Put aside all the "brain washing" of the past and form your own truths...you may find that the old religions have a lot more meaning for you. You may follow a Native American path, a Buddhist path, a Wiccan path...but whatever path you decide on, it will be one you choose for yourself because it calls to your soul and your heart. It will be your personal relationship with your god...and after all isn't that what spiritual belief should be all about?
When you get right down to it...we're all trying to get to the same final destination...we're just taking different roads to get there.
I wish you a safe and enlightened journey...
Bright Blessings
White Willow
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Comment by tlcorbin
When they failed in their obligation to you, I admire that you took the time to find a path that works, for yourself. I've been seeking the face of God for as long as I have had cognitive thought; canned religion failed to satisfy the my quest to know the godhead that I just knew existed. They (uninspired teachers) tried to bring the essence of god down to their level to share their insights and failed to ever realize his/her fullness. My thinking has been rewarded with several exorcisms attempted by these very same unenlightened souls.
Paraphrasing: Physicists have noticed an underlying energy wave at a subatomic level, that permeates everything, even inert appearing objects. I suspect that it is the creative force that binds all, links all and nurtures/sustains all: a great definition of the universal godforce.
Mystics, psychics, mentalists, and seekers know that they can connect to and commune with anyone or anything when tuned into that wave length. I suspect it's the underlaying power behind real magic. With that modest definition, it's not far fetched to grasp the concept that honest seekers will make a connection with god, because we have his/her energy flowing through us; some call it the spirit of god or the holy spirit.
Does anything in this comment resonate with you?
Raven
Comment by Anonymous
Thank you for your post and sharing of your light. I do tend to agree with your thoughts. And yes, according to physics and in a scientific light...all things are comprised of energy, and each and every thing vibrates at a different level. Even a rock...we are all, everything, comprised of atoms rubbing against one another at some level. (lay terms); some vibrate at a higher level, some lower, and some so low their movement is undetected to us. But that doesn't mean, because we are unaware of that movement, that it is not there. If we continue a little further in that same frame, wouldn't it then make sense that everything on the planet, in the universe is connected? That indeed we as a species are all from the same family...the family of human kind? I'm sure you see where I'm going with this...Do you suppose that this is some accident, that there isn't some greater plan. Regardless if you want to call it science, divine mathematics, or God/dess. There is a purpose at work here, something greater than the sum total of what we generally comprehend.
I conducted an experiment with my group a couple years back, I made everyone sit in a circle and I brought out a box of stones...some were actually purchased at the local dollar store, others were semi precious stones that I had mined myself, amethyst, citrine, rose quartz, etc. I told everyone in the circle that we were going to conduct an experiment using just our sense of touch and our minds. I passed the box to each person and told them to close their eyes and put their hands over the box....they could touch the stones, but they were not to open their eyes until a stone had called to them. I told them to concentrate their thoughts on their fingers and the box of stones and when they felt a reaction...to one of those stones, that was the one they were to select from the box and then they could open their eyes. 11 people were called to 11 different stones, some felt coldness, others heat, some felt a tingling in their fingers, one actually felt a shock...each and every person had a strong reaction to their stone.
Only 2 of the semi precious stones were selected, the other 9 were plain dollar store river rocks...That was the first lesson I gave them in tuning in to the vibrations of the world around them...They were amazed.
So the answer is YES...god/dess is everywhere and in everything...the smallest grain of sand, every blade of grass, in the sunrise and the sunset, in you and in me...hence it is my choice to honor all beings, to try to protect our Mother earth from devastation. To walk as peacefullly as possible, knowing that I don't have to die to find god/dess....just look around. Close your eyes, touch a tree and feel the energy that surges through you, and you into it. The magick is everywhere and so is god. Simple right? So why do so many, make it so difficult? True enlightment comes with letting go of ego and realizing that god/dess doesn't care what name you call him/her or what face they have....they're all one in the same in the end...
Blessed Be
White Willow
Comment by tlcorbin