Post by Tides on Aug 13, 2016 13:50:39 GMT -6
Hello from New Jersey!
I'm wading back into finding a pagan community. I was raised nominally Christian-Catholic (there's a very long story involving a Catholic family with a mother who converted to Protestantism) and I definitely have a culture and learned affinity for the Catholic church and strong aversion to Protestant Christianity.
My Catholic high school actually taught us a fair amount about polytheistic religions and I picked up personally in college, when I was without a Catholic faith structure for the first time in my life. I found CR and began working with it, especially with other polytheists around me created an amazing core structure that allowed us separate practices while giving us support. College ended, the support structure dissipated to several different countries, and I admittedly lapsed in my practice as life became infinitely more complicated.
I came out as transgender (FtM) and gay and moved several hundred miles to an area I hoped would be safer/more supportive (it was). I became more politically involved in the social left and found truly amazing people. I languished, though, without a faith structure to work with. A well-meaning roommate, knowing my ethnic background, found me a hard-left Catholic parish in our neighborhood and I attended Mass regularly, in addition to social activities. I was never super about Jesus, but I'm pretty okay with Mary and the saints and I was very, very happy to have a morally-informed group about social and structural justice, even if something was missing.
However, I moved away from that neighborhood as my work changed and it's actually fairly cumbersome to get back there. Now, I'm living significantly further out and I still want a faith structure. The polytheism I practiced before was the most fulfilling faith/spiritual experience I've ever had and I want to have that again. I'm living in the suburbs with my partner, who is OBOD/Wiccan background.
I think I'm primarily struggling with finding a community base, which is very important to me. I've been re-reading important books to my faith development and my partner has been very supportive, helping me re-build my bedroom altar and find books. I just feel very alone.
I'm wading back into finding a pagan community. I was raised nominally Christian-Catholic (there's a very long story involving a Catholic family with a mother who converted to Protestantism) and I definitely have a culture and learned affinity for the Catholic church and strong aversion to Protestant Christianity.
My Catholic high school actually taught us a fair amount about polytheistic religions and I picked up personally in college, when I was without a Catholic faith structure for the first time in my life. I found CR and began working with it, especially with other polytheists around me created an amazing core structure that allowed us separate practices while giving us support. College ended, the support structure dissipated to several different countries, and I admittedly lapsed in my practice as life became infinitely more complicated.
I came out as transgender (FtM) and gay and moved several hundred miles to an area I hoped would be safer/more supportive (it was). I became more politically involved in the social left and found truly amazing people. I languished, though, without a faith structure to work with. A well-meaning roommate, knowing my ethnic background, found me a hard-left Catholic parish in our neighborhood and I attended Mass regularly, in addition to social activities. I was never super about Jesus, but I'm pretty okay with Mary and the saints and I was very, very happy to have a morally-informed group about social and structural justice, even if something was missing.
However, I moved away from that neighborhood as my work changed and it's actually fairly cumbersome to get back there. Now, I'm living significantly further out and I still want a faith structure. The polytheism I practiced before was the most fulfilling faith/spiritual experience I've ever had and I want to have that again. I'm living in the suburbs with my partner, who is OBOD/Wiccan background.
I think I'm primarily struggling with finding a community base, which is very important to me. I've been re-reading important books to my faith development and my partner has been very supportive, helping me re-build my bedroom altar and find books. I just feel very alone.