Hi, Trying to introduce myself one more time, hopefully I can get things to post this time.

Janet in Sugar Land, TX

Wooohooo! finally got it to post!

Sooooo, here goes!

I'm a 46 year old mom of two boys - 18 and 27 married to a wonderful guy for the last 20 years. I live in the Sugar Land, TX area and am looking forward to meeting everyone (in cyberspace that is!) and learning and growing spiritually.

No, just the name of Samatha's daughter in the Bewitched series.
Actually, it's sort of a combination of my first and last name (abbreviated).

Thanks My head is already so full of info, I'm having to slow down so I can absorb it all. Not everything fits into the way I see things, but that's not a surprise, but it's still very informative nonetheless. As we learn and grow, our beliefs grow as well.

Janet

Wow, gee - I'm still kind of trying to figure out some things myself, but here goes - I guess I kind of classify myself as either an enlightened Christian with a strong affinity to Celtic Paganism or perhaps a Christo-Pagan, but am not real comfortable with any one of the various mythos I've run across (probably a thing from my Christian upbringing). I feel more comfortable with Lord and Lady versus a name for the dual aspects. Please understand that I'm here to learn more and understand me more, not to cause any problems.

I do believe in the duality of the Creator the male and female aspects and that the Christian Bible was rewritten to adapt to what those in power wanted said versus what was probably originally written. I do feel drawn to a point to Jewish mystisism although I don't have a valid reason for feeling that and to the Medieval Celtic time/place. I suspect that has to do with past lives, but cannot be certain. I do believe in the divine feminine and that we have lost so much wisdom by suppressing the wise women and those of the old religion.

I do believe that we have to keep doing life over until we get it right, and have a passion for Genealogy because I feel connected to my ancestors (sometimes more than my living relatives). I definetely feel affinities for specific times and places and feel like I've been here before.

I've almost always felt things. Never anything I could turn off or on, but had flashes of vision or just feelings. I do have an affinity with the wind and storms. I had a vision of Hurricane Alicia three months before it hit, and knew where it was going to hit. I do feel the power of nature in the wind and because of that I cannot deny that there is more to things than the Christian religions teach.

When I started searching years ago, I wasn't sure what I was looking for, only that it was more than what I had been taught. I ran into roadblocks at first because I had issues getting past the naming the God/ess part. My best guess is that it wasn't time for me to continue that path at that time. Got married, had kids and now that the number 2 son is a man (just turned 18 this month), it was time to turn introspective and figure out just who I was now that time had passed and I was more mature. I started analyzing what I'd been taught as a child along with things that I'd read and realized that when you boiled things down to the bare bones basics - the basic tenets of pretty much all religions are: Play Nice with each other, respect yourself, the Earth, and others. Take care of what you are given and be thankful for it.
Love the Creator in whatever form is appropriate to you.

All of the negativity that is done in the name of religion is detrimental to everyone. It's very frustrating to think of how many wars and crusades were started because of religion - kind of a "My God is better than Your God" sort of thing.

My disenchantment with the beliefs of my upbringing was when I turned a teenager. At that time, they started to prime us to go out and evangelize and tell us what we were supposed to think. Well, I'd been thinking and figuring out the mysteries of the universe as a kid, and felt I had a mind of my own - thank you very much! - and I didn't need a minister to explain what the Bible said when I could Bloody well read it for myself. I refused to be indoctrinated by the establishment. I'd already run across a door to door evangelist that told me that pets don't go to Heaven - which at the time I knew to be complete and utter BS.

I did read Tarot, and have just started back doing so. Kind of a funny thing - the same thing still happens now that did years ago. I still end up with four or five major arcana in a celtic cross spread nearly every time.

One of my favorite authors if Katherine Kurtz - a lot of what I feel is similar to things that she writes. In fact, the Deryni series helped me to accept that the two (Christianity and the Craft) could meld into one. I didn't have to completely turn my back on what I'd been taught to believe because I felt that there was more, but to be able to embrace those other aspects of faith that had been hidden from me.

I guess that I've rambled on long enough. Hope that I haven't made anyone angry or bored.

Janet

Hello janetaba,

This is a wonderful place to learn and explore.
It is full of open minded searchers of "more" .

Thanks for the warm welcome! I hope to enjoy reading and conversing with the members here. Feels like a warm and wonderful place to learn and grow.

Merry Meet and welcome! Good to have you with us!

Many blessings,
DesertMist

Welcome Janetaba

I hope you enjoy your time here. I enjoyed reading your post about the way you see things. I can relate to alot of what you had to say.

I (sometimes) still struggle trying to reconcile what I was "taught" as a child growing up in the Southern Baptist church and what I have come to believe as an adult. I believe that there are many paths to the divine and that each person makes his or her own way.

I was asked to explain my views in a few theology courses while in college; I can only hope my explaination was a clear and concise.

Welcome again!

Hello Janetaba!

I really liked what you wrote, very well said. I hope to see you around the halls of the castle!