I believe that there is one creator of the universe. I take that term rather loosely because in many ways I believe that the �spiritual presence� that I feel is itself ,the universe. It does not matter what path you take or how many forms and identities your path gives to this creator. I feel we all worship, commune with or talk to the same entity but we have taken different paths to him/her. I do not believe that this creator has a gender. I believe it is all genders and no gender all at once. It is our inability to grasps the divine that personifies it and we all personify it differently. Personally I feel most comfortable with the concept of the female divine and refer to her as my Lady or the Goddess. I have a distinct image of her and have visualized her in my ritual.
I feel closest to the Lady when I am outdoors. I feel her in nature and all things natural. I see her in the trees, and hear her in the birds. I hear her in the sound of the wind through tall grass, and feel her in the wind. I feel at peace when I am surrounded by or near nature. Perhaps that is why we have spent so much energy on our front yard making it pleasing to our animal friends. I feel her standing beside me when I am troubled or in need of her comfort. I feel her watching over me in my happiest and saddest moments.
I take a somewhat unique view of natural healing. I look into herbal practices and am trying to learn about them so that I can practice this art. I also take prescription drugs for various health issues. At one time or another everyone in my house has taken medicine either over the counter or by script. I feel this too is natural medicine. To my knowledge I have not ingested any substance that was not of this Earth and therefore has its origins in nature. Because of this I feel I am engaged in natural health practices to make me as healthy as possible.
I o not use conventional terminology when describing what is that I do that could be considered a �Pagan� practice. I do not write and use spells. When I commune with my Lady, I speak in formal but plain language. I seldom rhyme except by chance and there is no cadence to what or how I say what I need to say. I simply address her as who I see her as and express myself in a respectful manner. To this date, I detect no admonishment for this practice and have received results in my communes. I do not really consider myself a witch because I feel that as a derogatory label for something that the person doesn�t understand. I tend to identify myself more closely with the druids when pressed for a label, and from what I have read, it could be argued that the druids were the origin for those who identify themselves as witches. My ritual is less than theatrical and looks primarily inward. I meditate and work to commune better with my Lady and learning her will and lessons. I don�t dance around and seldom dress oddly. I do have a cloak that I enjoy wearing during my meditations but it is more of a tool in and of itself. It mentally closes off the distractions and acts as a �doorway� of sorts, into my mental state. I have been known to go into a trance like state during the course of my meditations but do not strive for any unusual behavior in these practices. I do enjoy practicing the Tarot and using it as a tool to better myself and others. There are a couple of other deck types that I also enjoy using. I do believe in sub-conscience messages through dreams and in dream theory. I am still learning about this and finding my path there.
I know there are some that will find my path lacking in substance because I have done away with the theatrics and formalizations and they are welcome to their opinions and to follow that path. For me it is a way of life and an effort to encompass my whole life within my spiritual path and it is more than awkward to imagine acting in these formal theatrical modes in my everyday and in public. I would rather be myself and strive to make that person the best I can than to wrap myself in a veil of imagery. |
