Everything Under the Moon

The title was inspired by a Robert Frost poem.

In my younger years, before I broke completely from the Catholic Church, I seriously considered joining religious life. The idea of knowing my purpose through prayer and a group of like minded women was very appealing to me. I sometimes wonder what that life would have been like for me. I think spiritually, it would have been somewhat of a respite from the experiences of many lifetimes. Apparently, my spirit was not ready for a respite. I realize that had I not embraced the spirit within me, that was not content to ruled by Catholic dogma, I would have had a spiritually impoverished existence. Embracing a polytheistic path has allowed me to grow exponentially. I had had the privilege of meeting not only the people here, but a rich variety of deities who have taught me things I wouldn't have learned elsewhere. I invite all if you to share any stories you have of The Road Not Taken.

I too have tried to summon the courage/gall to do religion formally, but every time, I find myself asking - do these people really think like me? Do I know anything that they shall not? Is there a reason of mine to be choosing this?

Essentially - I have always taken the preference to "seek and find" rather than "strengthen the ego."

Having not been raised by my family of origin I often wondered what path I was forced to not take My parents weren't religious, we went to church with them maybe twice in my whole life, but I did go with the cute neighbor boy, his mom would bring us frequently to her worship house, a Unity church. I mostly liked it there except when the preacher guy got loud, I am really opposed to the loud preachy preachers, which has turned me off to every church I ever had the opportunity to be in, usually a funeral but occasionally a wedding.
I had a "church" I made on the hillside behind the mountain place we went to when I was a child. There I would preach the beauty of the natural world to the birds, wind and neighboring trees. My mom thought I was a nut. But I had a perfect rock altar and it felt super special there. That's where I felt the magic from early on.
Went to a Lutheran parochial Kindergarten, the only thing I remember from there was the teacher who made those that misbehaved put their hands on the desk so she could rap your knuckles with a yardstick.
When I got older I briefly looked into my Lutheran heritage, had been baptized, dads parents insisted. Very briefly, 2 churches 2 services ...not for me.
The only thing I regret is not getting into witchcraft earlier, I was ready at 15, I looked and searched but heard groups met skyclad, that wasn't for me. 6 years later I got over that being a topless dancer, yet it was another 6 years before I really started to study. I sometimes wonder if I had found a teacher sooner where I would be now.
The group of like minded women was a place I hadn't experienced, Snow, seems an appealing draw and getting thee to a nunnery, a place of sanctuary, something that fleeted my mind as well. We need a gathering of priestesses.
BB, FF

Space Camp wasn't invented until I was too old for it (heavy sigh).

Love your post Firebirdflys. Your early life experience attests you are enlightened from the beginning.

Namaste

Thanks for sharing these stories. They are a great help in understanding my own life journey. Some religions are on the right path, but they are all lacking in the public relations and teaching departments. The best that anyone can hope for or strive for is to find Truths on their own and figure out how they fit in our own lives.

There's a lot of roads I did not take, which I regret. Leaving Wicca for the Aztec religion is one I definitely will regret the rest of my life. I should've stayed in my lane, what was natural to me. But I kept following these people and they kept telling me what was natural to me was wrong. They ended up abandoning me, now I have nothing. I stuck on their path after they left me, and it was one of the worst decisions I ever made. It was not a "natural" evolution, it was forced and artificial. I ended up coming back to my path finally after realizing who I was, when the Aztec one sucked my soul out.

Lady_Lilith
There are so many roads that I SHOULD have taken, and some many roads that I DID take that were actually poor choices. Hopefully, I learned something from every wrong choice and now am slowly moving in the right direction. I believe that the Creator in his Infinite Wisdom ordained that some of us would have to learn from experience. Some of these experiences cost us more than we had bargained for, but the lessons that were learned from them should be etched permanently in our minds forever. I feel happy for you that now that you have found the path that you feel comfortable with. We are all looking for that special way, and reading the posts of the members of this board is helping me discern what my way should be. Mistakes will still be made, but at least I am headed in the right direction this time. We will all end up doing what is best for us, but it may take a few of us a little longer to figure out what that is.

There are too many roads not taken for me to identify one is most impactful. I’d rather concentrate on the paths I do take. It’s a wiser use of my time and energy.

This thread got me thinking...

What if spirituality is the formal understanding of truth.
What if harm is the undoing of truth.

The two opposites, confused for now by the religious/political/education_al authorities have not a chance to meet happily. That truth would make the human evolution process twofold - truth goes up, harm goes down... but then you knew that. All by yourself hehe.

beemerphill wrote:Thanks for sharing these stories. They are a great help in understanding my own life journey. Some religions are on the right path, but they are all lacking in the public relations and teaching departments. The best that anyone can hope for or strive for is to find Truths on their own and figure out how they fit in our own lives.

The other road I seriously considered was Clown College. I don't remember why I never submitted the application. I think I've always had a calling to not be part of the mainstream. And I never wore a power suit with padded shoulders, nor had sky high shellacked bangs in the 80's.

beemerphill wrote:Lady_Lilith
There are so many roads that I SHOULD have taken, and some many roads that I DID take that were actually poor choices. Hopefully, I learned something from every wrong choice and now am slowly moving in the right direction. I believe that the Creator in his Infinite Wisdom ordained that some of us would have to learn from experience. Some of these experiences cost us more than we had bargained for, but the lessons that were learned from them should be etched permanently in our minds forever. I feel happy for you that now that you have found the path that you feel comfortable with. We are all looking for that special way, and reading the posts of the members of this board is helping me discern what my way should be. Mistakes will still be made, but at least I am headed in the right direction this time. We will all end up doing what is best for us, but it may take a few of us a little longer to figure out what that is.

Thanks for this, I really mean it. I am trying not to be so fatalistic and defeatist but it's still hard to break away from fam/religion that did that to me! However, I am trying to learn to think like this. That failure isn't the end of the world. That I grew from my experiences and it's just life.

Snow! Come on out !! We have the Fools Guild https://www.foolsguild.org/ you can still get your clown on!

SnowCat wrote:I think spiritually, it would have been somewhat of a respite from the experiences of many lifetimes.

I think celibacy rejects the mysteries of high wisdom concerning full union.
I spent some time on spiritual pilgrimages in such fashion that I would never stay anywhere longer than one day. Went to Santiago too, and across half Europe, learned a lot and it had juice and summoned some strong spirits I think, but the inner woman was quite pissed about this style of life.

Lady_Lilith wrote:I ended up coming back to my path finally after realizing who I was, when the Aztec one sucked my soul out.

I'm so sorry about that, spiritual bites hurt a lot. I think you are fortunately resilient enough to recover and grow even more powerful, right?

Amalia Camateros in her book mentioned travelling through regions of Mexico and met a historian that shared a story:
Aztecs were a warrior race living in mountains, later were invited to blend in prosperous nation of other race, and they accepted. New civilisation was peaceful and military expeditions were not needed and they refused to be merely servants, so they actually took over the whole civilisation by the means of violence.

If truth, then I can imagine the expeditions of Cortez being a result of "similar attracts similar" and Aztecs not the most balanced embrace of the Old Native American Ways.