QUOTE (Angel Whitefang (Rider) @ May 15 2004, 02:34 PM)
You have stepped on to a new path, I wish for you Joy, Happiness, Good Fortune & the wisdom to see the truth. I am excited for you this must truly be a joyous occasion. Many Many heart felt Hugs!
Angel could not have said it better and what I would have said to you as well. Take care!
I do not like the thought of worshipping deities. I do believe they exist, but I think they should be honored, rather than worshipped. I cringe when I think of performing a ritual. It's funny that the verb mostly used with the word "ritual" is "performing". To me it implies that you are putting on another persona, rather than being yourself.
My idea of connecting with the spiritual is tracing my fingers through the dirt, or being aware of the wind caressing my face, or admiring the way the water dances on pebbles in a stream.
I don't know what else to say except that this is exciting for me, and I would love to read what your comments are.
Love, Mary
I read in your words a profound peace in the knowledge you know where you are to be and for that I am very happy for you.
And, believe it or not, even though I belong to an organized Christian denomination, I so relate with what you said here. I never understood the words practicing Catholics. Practicing seemed a strange word to use, like it is a performance like you say. I have had difficulty with the word worship as well. Not that I don't believe that God is worthy of worship, but that the God I know isn't a vain God who requires a lot of performance. Does this make sense? Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly that honor is such a better word.
And I as well am most connected with the Spirit when feeling the wind in my face, watching water dance in the sunlight, looking at a tree. I get more out of ten minutes contemplating a tree than I do many worship services. Not that there is anything wrong with worship services, only that I feel more connected in other, less conventional ways. That's just me, the odd duck.
I am excited for you as you enter this next phase of your journey. As long as you can feel the Spirit in the wind and dancing water, you will always know joy in your life. Too bad we can't live all the time in those places.
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Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it is like inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. - Frederick Buechner
If society prospers at the expense of the intangibles, how can it be called progress?
I think the word Worship could easily be replaced with Devotion, and would have a much more profound effect. When you're devoted to something, it means you have love for it, and appreciate it, not that you are a slave to it.
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Caw
"I am a Canadian by birth, but I am a Highlander by blood and feel under an obligation to do all I can for the sake of the Highlanders and their literature.... I have never yet spoken a word of English to any of my children. They can speak as much English as they like to others, but when they talk to me they have to talk in Gaelic."
-Alexander Maclean Sinclair of Goshen (protector of Gaelic Culture)
I think the word Worship could easily be replaced with Devotion, and would have a much more profound effect. When you're devoted to something, it means you have love for it, and appreciate it, not that you are a slave to it.
ooh, nice!
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May all your up's and down's be under the sheets!
Religion is for those who are afraid of going to Hell. Spirituality is for those who have already been there. - Anonymous
Realm: Éire (okay fine, it's really PA, USA but that's just boring.)
True relgion, no matter what it is, is ridding yourself of all the tools and what not that symbolize and/or aid in some sort of worship. You can just exist and believe in something and have peace in that and have peace that you do not need to be labeled in your religion or in anything else. I do believe that, yet I do follow the old ways. But I also do know that the goddess (or whatever force you believe in) understands and comepletely knows that your faith is enough for them, and enough for you.
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If we could just stand here, without the words, would that be enough? ..Look at the sky now. What color is it? Or the way a hawk flies. Or you wake up and your ribs are bruised thinking so hard on somebody. What do you call that?
"Don't cross the street if you can't get out of the kitchen"
I do not like the thought of worshipping deities. I do believe they exist, but I think they should be honored, rather than worshipped.
Sounds like you're still pagan, just not Wicca.
There are other traditions that incorporate a respect for the gods, without kow-towing. Heathens and native Irish paganism are two which might be more suited to your feelings about deity.
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Tha mi'n dochas gu bheil an eadar theangachadh ceart!
Blessed Be! I must say that you don't have to give up on Wicca, because other people may try and tell you that you have to "worship" a deity or "Perform a Ritual". I don't worship nor do I perform any rituals. To me Wicca is not a religion, it's a way of life! I honor my Gods and Goddesses everyday, by giving food and/or drink to their creations...
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