So, in my introduction thread I posted some of the characteristics of my belief system. Since I can't post links, I'll quote the pertinent information here:
And a little about my background: I was born Jewish, but after I was born my mother converted to Catholicism and I was raised Catholic. I became an atheist at a young age, but in my later years of high school became interested in my Jewish culture -- I learned Hebrew and studied the Torah. However, in college I discovered that my beliefs didn't quite mesh with mainstream Judaism. I'm not a classic monotheist, for starters, I'd say I'm a pantheist/soft duotheist. So, I felt kind of uncomfortable in religious services.
So now I'm sort of doing my own thing -- but I'm not sure what to call it. (Perhaps it's not important what to call it, but still, I'm interested in seeing what people think.)
I have an altar, and I do ritual purification, a little meditation, and I write poetry as religious ritual (I guess it's a little like prayer in writing, but it's not always prayer-like, sometimes it's just regular poetry). I don't do magic or anything.
So my question is... what are your thoughts? Does this fall under the umbrella of paganism?
[...] I was inspired by Kabbalah and the mystical texts of my Jewish heritage [...]
Some beliefs and attributes I would ascribe to my own path would be:
Some beliefs and attributes I would ascribe to my own path would be:
- Pantheistic (Ein Sof -- the infinite)
- Nature-based, follows the Wheel of the Year
- Roughly naturalistic; the Ein Sof cannot be interacted with except by tangible means
- Two divine "faces" within the infinite, a masculine and a feminine (zachar and nekeva); complementary natures present in all things, though not distinct entities
- Reincarnation, past lives, totems...
- Karmic law / Law of Threefold Return
So now I'm sort of doing my own thing -- but I'm not sure what to call it. (Perhaps it's not important what to call it, but still, I'm interested in seeing what people think.)
I have an altar, and I do ritual purification, a little meditation, and I write poetry as religious ritual (I guess it's a little like prayer in writing, but it's not always prayer-like, sometimes it's just regular poetry). I don't do magic or anything.
So my question is... what are your thoughts? Does this fall under the umbrella of paganism?
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