Do you practice any religions or faiths?

[Furyangel]

I have too many issues with religion as a whole. For example Christian's follow the teachings of Christ, but there are so many different interpretations of what that means, with fundamentalists, methodists, latter day and so on an on. Even Buddhism has different interpretations of the Buddha's teachings and you see this throughout most if not all religions.

So many wars are carried out for religious reasons and I will never understand why, since most religions are supposed to be against the killing of another human. Don't get me started on the Catholic religion and the wealth/knowledge hoarded by the Vatican.

I therefore take the parts that resonate with me, and form my own beliefs. Only through practice and personal devotion can you know if something is right or not. But just blindly taking what some religious leader tells you as fact, I can't do.

 

[dandi]

I don't find myself to be very religious necessarily, definitely stay on the mystical/direct experiencing path. However, I was raised as a Buddhist and I still find a lot of comfort in the tenants and practices there.

 

[Sedim Haba]

Noachide. Based on the 7 Laws of Noah.

A strange semi-Abrahamic faith with easy-peasy laws that are all prohibitions.

I'm free to adopt (or not) any law or rule from any of the Abrahamic faiths.

For example, I keep Kosher/Halal.

 

[Grayhoss]

I was a Wicca-influenced Eclectic Pagan throughout my teens, then Father invited me to study Medicine Way with hi once the Guides called me to be a Medicineworker. I'm of Cheyenne and Blackfeet heritage.

 

[Zelator2148]

One of my favorite oxymorons is that I'm "devoutly nonreligious," but lately I've been describing myself as a "Spinozan sympathizer." The only problem I have with Spinoza is that he couldn't shake the anthropomorphic view of deity ("god in the image of man") and just go with pure cosmic consciousness immanent in all things at varying levels of self-awareness in keeping with the occult principle that "Everything is vibration."

 

[xhpvp]

I used to be more religious in an institutional sense but these days I only really practice folk religion. I come from a Catholic background.

 

[MagickCat]

I was raised Christian but left. Looked into Buddhism but wasn't for me. I've tried being a pagan, a Heathen, and a Satanist.

I've learned from these religions, but I can't seem to fit in entirety with a single tradition. I'm a lot happier beimg a freelance occultist and doing my own thing in private.

What about the rest of you?

I was raised Catholic, I never demonstrated interest in that since I was born.

Since 12, I started considering myself an atheist, but at 14, I had a very strange experience, which completely shuttered my views.

I then studied religions online, and started making myself a lot of questions. Initially tracted into Christianity again, I never really baited in too much, but I started talking to God from time to time.

At 18, I completely changed my mind again, and I interested myself into the occult and left-hand paths. Not even a couple months later, I repudiated my actions, and decided to abandon left-hand paths forever.

For a year or so, I considered myself an agnostic, and spent a lot of time studying philosophy. That helped me a lot, letting me not only understand how things are so interlaced, but also giving me other point of views on everything spiritual.

Since I year, I felt called to Christianity again, and I'm still pursuing this path, though I don't consider myself religious, but a spiritual adventurer. With Christianity principles in mind, I feel like I have a lot of things to discover, so I'm open about non-Christian knowledge and I always try to integrate it in my life, though I guard myself from certain practices.

 

[HiddenStars]

Raised evangelical, deconstructed myself out of that, got myself initiated in Haitian Vodou and attend to spiritism as an act of ancestral veneration.

 

[Deadking28]

No. I don't follow a religion anymore, I have my own set of beliefs.

 

[QeturahBaphomette]

Noachide. Based on the 7 Laws of Noah.

A strange semi-Abrahamic faith with easy-peasy laws that are all prohibitions.

I'm free to adopt (or not) any law or rule from any of the Abrahamic faiths.

For example, I keep Kosher/Halal.

As a Jew, I am fascinated by your decision to be Noachide. I'd love to learn more about what led you to that path.

 

[astralmagickcraft]

I am a Christian Magickian.

I believe in everything like a normal christian but I also think what we call magick is a lost technology, and relying on it is like relying on a fridge or toaster.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I am a Christian Magickian.

I believe in everything like a normal christian but I also think what we call magick is a lost technology, and relying on it is like relying on a fridge or toaster.

It's not lost (otherwise why would we be here in this forum) but unfortunately it's not as reliable as a fridge or a toaster.

 

[Sedim Haba]

As a Jew, I am fascinated by your decision to be Noachide. I'd love to learn more about what led you to that path.

A failed conversion, basically. Tried for decades, divorce sealed it. Other issues more personal, but I lost my sponsoring Rabbi long ago.

That was complicated and frustrating. But from what I understand, all proselytes today are required to become a Noachide as a first step

in the process. For many, they remain so and progress no further. It's sad that there's no real independent Noachide community tho.

 

[QeturahBaphomette]

A failed conversion, basically. Tried for decades, divorce sealed it. Other issues more personal, but I lost my sponsoring Rabbi long ago.

That was complicated and frustrating. But from what I understand, all proselytes today are required to become a Noachide as a first step

in the process. For many, they remain so and progress no further. It's sad that there's no real independent Noachide community tho.

Why do you continue to sit at the precipice after your divorce? I assume you were married to a Jewish person?

 

[Sedim Haba]

Why do you continue to sit at the precipice after your divorce? I assume you were married to a Jewish person?

A thorny question I don't wish to (fully) answer, from personal and community embarrassment reasons. (more their shame than mine)

Yes, I was married to a Jewish woman. 35 years. After a 'half-conversion' (Reform) where I could not even get into a mikva. (blocked!)

If I 'sit at the precipice' as you say, it's not fully my choice in being rejected I had no real choice. But no alternate identity is acceptable.

So now I worship not YHVH but ELOHIM, and indeed changed my name from 'Shlomo ben Avraham' to 'Shem ben Noach'. It works for me.

 

[QeturahBaphomette]

So now I worship not YHVH but ELOHIM, and indeed changed my name from 'Shlomo ben Avraham' to 'Shem ben Noach'. It works for me.

Truly fascinating. If I may ask -- what do you define as the discrepancy? Is the former strictly the god of the Jews? Is the latter the God of all peoples?

Thank you for your candidness thus far.

 

[Sedim Haba]

Truly fascinating. If I may ask -- what do you define as the discrepancy? Is the former strictly the god of the Jews? Is the latter the God of all peoples?

Thank you for your candidness thus far.

It is about the names. The first is the name which was revealed only to Moses. The second is the name that most of the people of the Levant knew.

Also, the first is just the name of the Divine Masculine, whereas the second is (to me) the complete 'godhead' of EL and ELAT hence ELOHIM.

( ...the later, the Divine Feminine was retconned out IMHO. I see both as comprising the Shekhinah.)

 

[坛中一瓢雪]

"I live in China, and my background in faith is actually quite complex. I was raised as a materialist, yet my family also worshipped in Buddhist temples. Every year, we’d visit Taoist shrines as well. My family’s philosophy was basically, 'If it works, we’ll worship it.' So, I grew up to be very open-minded and accepting of different beliefs.

But the path I ultimately chose turned out to be completely different. I ended up taking the Western path. The traditional Chinese concepts just felt too obscure and difficult for me to grasp—it was basically like trying to read Classical Chinese! "

 

[QeturahBaphomette]

It is about the names. The first is the name which was revealed only to Moses. The second is the name that most of the people of the Levant knew.

Also, the first is just the name of the Divine Masculine, whereas the second is (to me) the complete 'godhead' of EL and ELAT hence ELOHIM.

( ...the later, the Divine Feminine was retconned out IMHO. I see both as comprising the Shekhinah.)

Thank you for sharing. To me, Y-H-V-H is not a personified being, but the creative scheme itself. So this Name would encompass the thought-forms of El, Elohim, Shekhinah, Ha-shem, etc.

But I'm reform, so maybe that's just me "Libbing Out."