I'm not religious, in that I worship a deity and carry around the labels of dogma. I used to loosely identify myself as Catholic, when I was a kid and didn't know any better. Then when my dog died when I was fifteen, I was angry and hurt that nowhere in Christendom did Heaven allow dogs, because according to the Bible, animals didn't have souls. I turned, as many teen girls do, to Wicca, which in and of itself is a rather teenage religion, only being about 60 or 70 years old (not the "Olde Religion" as those teen girls would have you think). At about 23 or so I did a spiritual reevaluation and realized that an amalgam of a religion in it's infancy populated by hippies and teenage girls trying to rebel wasn't for me. My path was more spiritual, and I realized my animal guide: crows and ravens.
Lately I've been craving the forest again. I want to raise up the old magic. See, my spirituality is a lot more basic these days: all that is, lives, all the lives has a spirit, animals can communicate with you if you just listen. I believe in the power of the earth and the air, the unerring and most base power of sex. So I'm feeling potent. I want to find a forest, I want to shuck my clothes and run, and worship. I want to be the witch of the woods and create nature magic.
Religion over spirituality exists to quantify and control forces that are not easily understood using just words. Even though most preach an inner link to the "big picture", people go by what people tell them, trying to quell doubt and fear by using a mental checklist of what someone else says, in an attempt to find inner peace.
ReplyDeleteCommuning with nature goes far and above. You don't need words, there's no need of someone to tell you what it means. You appreciate the beauty that surrounds you, and what you get back transcends language.