HILARIOUS!!!

Oh my goodness.

So first let me say thanks for the interest I suppose even if some of you are clearly judging me. Let me also say I won't say anything bad about your religion if you don't say anything bad about mine moving forward.

Anyways, I was gone for so long because I don't get on pinecam very often and forgot my log in! My bad! I also genuinely assumed no one would be answering this.

I use the term "Pagan" because most in the community use that term as an umbrella identifier. Being as there are a million labels one can use as a practitioner. I myself use the term Witch and a few other labels.

What this means to me is that I enjoy tea and nature as well as divination, science, and spirituality with pagan beliefs and deities. I have found my spiritual home/journey so please do not try and say that I am wrong. It is what is right for me. I was brought to church many times when I was young and never treated how the church should treat everyone. I have my reasons for not being Christian. Nothing against it...aside from some of the people who "practice" it without truly holding the beliefs in their hearts.

I'm rather excited with all the replies on this thread! Thank you all for participating! Once again if you have more questions just ask! I've read through all the posts and I'll try to give more answers to some of the other questions!

@keg
@CooknThyme
@WarrenK
@sunsetinthepines
@Freezeman
@KSK
@Scalwagy
@Chakraz

You have honestly explained things very well from what I can tell about paganism and all the other questions! CooknThyme as well!

Yes Wicca is a religion but Pagan usually refers to the umbrella of nature based...practices rather than religions? But also religions? It's complicated. Witchcraft itself is considered Pagan but not a religion since you can essentially "add" it into any religion! You can celebrate various deities from around the world, including the Christian God. Actually, many Christians practice witchcraft like things without knowing it since most of these beliefs have been removed from their roots in common knowledge. Christmas trees? Norse origin. Birthday cake, blowing out candles and making a wish? I'm not sure where but it stems from paganism. Dandelions as well. Knocking on wood is celtic I believe and was used to ask the faeries to assist in situations. Also in other ways I have seen Christians use witchcraft is through energy work like Reiki, buying crystals, praying to angels for assistance.

Your whole post was lovely! Just quoting this part to save the thread some space though. Most of the older religions and practices were 100% because the people relied more exclusively on the land! An upcoming holiday, Samhain, or the Christian "all saints day"/all hallows eve/Halloween. Samhain has to do with the last of the harvests and celebrating life (in celebrating death as most of the plants die away and give way to winter) as well as remembering loved ones we have all lost.

Also, most Christian holidays have very similar dates to the pagan/old holidays. This has to do with forced conversions of pagans to the church and pagans essentially keeping their holidays but under the Christian God. (And yes all saints day/halloween is actually a Christiansted holiday, Jack o lanterns were originally made by the Irish I believe? As carved turnip lanterns. They were believed to keep away bad spirits! I don't understand all the modern day discourse on Halloween being "evil" or "pagan" and nowadays is all about dressing up in costumes and candy anyway.) Kind of a tangent but I just want to put out as much info as a can for all of your time spent waiting!!

Welcome back to Pinecam. Actually, people here talking about religion is at least still much more civil than talking about that other topic ... politics! Heaven forbid (pun intended) you try to understand the complexities of politics and religion entwined together!

I personally (I'm not speaking for all pagans as there are infinite beliefs) believe in either spiritual afterlife and or reincarnation. That being you can essentially live in a "spirit realm" akin to heaven or return to life.

Also honorable mention but my partner is Jewish.

Oh religious hypocrisy runs deep in any religion. This is because, as I learned in my psychology classes, people use the labels of their religion to condone their actions. Even many pagans. I have also met many a harsh Christian. Anyone has the potential to be wonderful or harsh and it has nothing to do with religion but with personal morals which are generally shared by society even though most religions were more or less an attempt at laws or maintaining these morals. Also, this is my personal experience. I have known Christians who call themselves as such but will beat animals and the like. The list goes on. I have also known pagans who really became pagans due to trauma from the church and also give pagans a bad name... anyways!

I am also very scientific and I believe Albert Einstein had a quote that had to do with imagination being more important than "book smarts". Without imagination we don't seek answers, more or less. I am a witch and believe in spirits because I believe we don't fully understand everything as humans and I enjoy the aspects of witchcraft. Which, some beliefes actually have loose scientific evidence to prove. Everything in existence carries energy, so spirits, deities, ghosts etc could all be things we have no current means to measure but they could very well all exist! (All religions) pardon my rambles, once again just trying to blurt out a bunch of information relating to my beliefs!

EDIT: Thanks for the welcome!! And no kidding. Yes let's keep this a politic-free thread please haha.

Found that einstein quote

My point with it being that I enjoy religion as a witch because I enjoy a view of the world with my imagination. Using the term imagination here as a way to describe "something unseen or unquantifiable" but something I believe in as well.

This exactly!