[QWNPdpr5]

I was raised Agnostic. My parents were heavy in the church but couldn't stand the fakery of it, so they left the church before I was born...

They never hindered me from going to churches or whatever I delved into, nor did they ever give any guidance. I was told "We believe there is something out there but we don't know it's purpose." Even back then I found church kind of surrealistic and plastic too me personally ~smiles~.

When I was 12.5 I drank a 5th of Vodka and a pint of Cutty Sark. I died for a couple minutes and have a very strange conversation with God or myself (but with a different voice) and could see everything that was going on around me, and I was not drunk ~chuckles~, but when they brought me back to life everything was all blurry again, then I was in coma for 2 days.

This left me with a huge unwaivering desire to seek the absolute truth of human nature and beyond! ~smiles~

[Assentesy]

...a poor black child...oh wait, that's not right. Let me try again...

I was raised in a family that didn't believe in "religion" yet I spend most of my childhood and teen years going to church and church functions with other families in town. I spent years seeking answers to why i was the way I was. I remember once asking the minister of a Weslyan Methodist church to visit my mother and turn her into a Christian. She all but slammed the door in his face saying she'd wait to be reborn until she was on her deathbed. My dad refused to go to my kid sister wedding because it was in a Catholic Church.

I went thru Lutheran confirmation on my own. I went to a Lutheran church camp. I had been baptized when I was a year old in the Lutheran faith but I think that was more my "coming out" party for the family, then for any religious significance.

So now...after all these uh...29 years...my Mom has started going to church and is upset because my sister and my ex told her I practice witchcraft. You know...sometimes you just can't win.

Anyway, my question is are you or were you a seeker as well or did you just fall into your beliefs because of ULC, friends or family influences?

[effebrala]

A seeker, I guess. Studied to be a Jesuit, and that really didn't work out. I went through a variety of beliefs while going through a crisis of faith that lasted far longer than I'd first thought.

I ended up here because it was the next step on a very long path. I've learned a lot, and am looking forward to learning more.

Luckily, my mom was very patient and understanding, even when she didn't agree with me.

[Smeaphvalialm]

I started out as a baptist but even then I was questioning it I remember at a young age being told how much god loved me but that if I didn't tow the party line I would burn forever in hell. This confused me how could someone love you so much that they were willing to make you suffer forever because you thought something different. So I decided to find out and opened the bible to the first page. A few hours later I was horrified and terrified of god. I was 11 or 12

I wandered about the metaphysical landscape for awhile and started to study Wicca it was fun to do all that magic stuff but is was soon apparant that it was not really working. that any effects I thought the spells had were due mostly to self programing.

I offer the following example a spell I cast to attract women yeah I was like 15/16 what else would I use magic for? at a party I was going to that night. The only real effect it had was to make me more confident and extroverted. So I guess in a way it did work but it was not supernatural. Once I understood that, I didn't need the candles, oil, incense or chants.

Then came the new age metaphysics which was just a re-hashing of the old wicca beliefs updated to include angles/aliens and crystals.

By the age of 18 I was a firm skeptic and atheist.

But I don't discount out of hand what I learned from my journey I would not be the same person without it and actually if I was completly honost Mr. Crowly (as nuts as I think he was) actually had some interesting and workable philisophical views.

[kaiayout]

A seeker I am.
Was raised Catholic,went to church school every week but we also had Mormons in our family,my friends were Baptist and Lutheran,Judaism.
So I was exposed to many different religions.

None ever felt right,thats not to say I didn't/don't believe in God just that I have always felt there is more to the whole religion thing.

I always new I was a witch since I was about 8,I started coming into my path.
Didn't come out of the broom closet until my 30's.

Very lucky in the fact that my family and friends excepted me as I am with all my witchy ways.

[lollypop]

Well my dad isn't an Atheist in the typical sense......he is an Atheist because he hates God! His mom died from diabetic complications during a mastectomy (breast cancer) a few days before x-mas when he was 12. His older sister (not the oldest) took over the mother role of the boys...she died a few years ago suddenly from a massive aneurysm.....needless to say my dad has something against god......
Non-Christian beliefs to him are just silly.......

My spiritual upbringing comes from my mom. She let me wander on my own...she was always supporting and loving....I became a Witch in high school...I knew that path was coming from the time I was 6 or 7.
Although I still call myself a Witch...I have drifted from a lot of the dogma and mythology...held on to what I consider the good stuff!

What is funny is that my mom was a Christian for years...she never went to church and wasn't preachy or anything, but a Christian none the less....I think she has finally embraced the fact that she is a Witch...
hehe.

[gDGwm8BC]

Well my dad isn't an Atheist in the typical sense......he is an Atheist because he hates God! His mom died from diabetic complications during a mastectomy (breast cancer) a few days before x-mas when he was 12. His older sister (not the oldest) took over the mother role of the boys...she died a few years ago suddenly from a massive aneurysm.....needless to say my dad has something against god......
Non-Christian beliefs to him are just silly.......

My spiritual upbringing comes from my mom. She let me wander on my own...she was always supporting and loving....I became a Witch in high school...I knew that path was coming from the time I was 6 or 7.
Although I still call myself a Witch...I have drifted from a lot of the dogma and mythology...held on to what I consider the good stuff!

What is funny is that my mom was a Christian for years...she never went to church and wasn't preachy or anything, but a Christian none the less....I think she has finally embraced the fact that she is a Witch...
hehe.

I was raised a Catholic, but always got into trouble for asking the questions that couldn't be answered.... I was allowed to stop attending the weekly "Katty-kizm" classes, when I started dating the teacher. (I was 15, he was 17.)

I still sort of believed and raised my kids as Catholic thru their 1ST communions, mostly out of habit, and the belief that even if I was wrong, and it all was real, they were covered.

When my dad died, I started on the path I am on today, but never really expressed it to anyone else until my mom passed 10 years later. She was a strong Catholic, and wouldn't have ever understood.

So here I am now, back to my heritage, a Druid, with a strong background in Toltec beliefs, and a fair bit of hedge witchery. In other words ME!

[BCVB9SOc]

"These can's are sprouting holes!"

...a poor black child...oh wait, that's not right. Let me try again...

[cwgwowcom]

I was raised Catholic in a Catholic community
went to an all girl Catholic school and our family
activities rotated around the church. I was
destined to live my life as a Catholic. although
I sensed some subtle forbidden non-Catholic
activities such as tea leaf reading and other
unspoken stuff that my eyes & ears were not
suppose to be aware of and as a kid if you
were smart you did not question it.

Decades later the Catholic church started to
change some of their traditions and a light
bulb went off in my brainwashed head. Then
I became unofficially excommunicated. ........
I found spirituality outside the church and am
drawn to places like stonehedge, labyrinths
and the healing arts. I am a seeker in progress
following my own path and learning about others
along the way.

[XarokLasa]

I was raised Irish Catholic, and was able to be brought up unafraid of those who were different than me. That has led to all sorts of dangerous things like an open mind.