5 Comments
From Christianity to Paganism: An Interview (part 2)
July 28, 2008 at 10:38 am by mahud
Where were we? Ah yes…
Mahud: …our Paganisms are quite different from each other. I came to Paganism through my study of comparative mythology and World Religions (I forgot to mention all the wonderful Pagan bloggers out there
). Paganism interests me because it provides me with a spiritual foundation that I can build upon. I am also drawn to Paganism because of its organic nature and develops over time naturally, which allowed our ancestors to build upon tried and tested practices, while those practices that are no longer relevant to the community fall out of use (again, I should of credited the writer at A Pagan Sojourn for that revelation). This is basically the way I’m living my Pagan Life. How about you?
Shanny: Before I met you, I didn’t know anything about mythology and still, I only know a few basics, but nothing to develop my faith around. My Paganism is derived more from nature around me. I have always had a strong connection with nature. Especially birds. Now, as a Pagan, it has deepened even more. I see God in all of nature and in the animals. The energy that it produces and the beauty is what really draws me in and brings my connection to the divine. When I first started my path towards Paganism, we bought this book by Scott Cunningham called Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. The chapter called “Exercises and Magical Techniques” has a section on “Energy Play” where it talks about rubbing your palms together and then placing your hand to a plant or tree. When I was walking home from work, I decided to try this on this big beautiful evergreen. The energy I felt from it was so intense that I felt this energy, tingling and heat through out my body. Then, all the nature around me almost transformed. I saw everything differently. I could see the divine in all the nature around me. In the clouds, trees, grass, birds and other animals around me. I tried it another day and decided not to do the rubbing of my palms, but just to focus on the energy inside of me and focus my mind on the tree. The results were just as intense. The trees energy just rushed into me. Then, in the spring, I could feel the new life flowing through the trunk. One of my favourite things to do now is to sit in a park and just listen to the nature and feel the energy all around me and just talk to God. It gives me so much inner peace and blows me away!
Even before I became a Pagan, I could feel this energy, but didn’t understand what it was. One time, while at a County Fair, I was looking at the different animals. And there was this goose that was looking at me. I stopped and it cocked her head to one side. I spoke to her and said “You know who created you, don’t you?” And the goose nodded her head and I felt this energy rush out of the goose and surround me. And when I hold your hand, Matt, I feel this energy, too. You have so much divine energy streaming from you and I know that is one thing that has drawn me to you and that our connection with each other is from the divine.
Mahud: You said: “I have always had a strong connection with nature…. Now, as a Pagan, it has deepened even more.” I find that quite a revealing statement. I’ve been influenced quite a lot by the forward-thinking Druid blogger Jeff Lilly, who I’ve quoted saying this before: “Different religions are better at different things” (How to Choose a Religion VII: Languages of Spirit). I think that seems to be the case here. Of course, Monotheistic religions promote a love and appreciation of the beauty of nature, but not a deep veneration, which is reserved for God alone (who, while understood as omnipresent, isn’t creation itself), and in the case of Catholicism, there’s veneration (I think) for Mary and the Saints. Like myself, your perception of God seems to be Panentheistic(1).
I also read Scott Cunningham’s Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, which is quite a good introduction to Wicca(2). I thought the hand rubbing thing was probably a bit dubious, I mean, if you rub your hands together, you don’t need to hold them close apart to feel them tingle. Still, “energy play” is not something I’ve really experimented with as yet, so what do I know, hehe 
.
Clearly, you have a natural connection with the divine energy that surrounds and permeates us (me included apparently, hehe). Unfortunately I’m not quite as tuned in to the sacred as yourself, which is something I need to work on and hopefully develop.
Thanks Shanny, for letting me interviewing you. I’ve enjoyed reading about your experiences, and I’m sure other readers will too.
Shanny: Yeah, I really enjoyed the experience. I found it really helpful to voice what I believe. Thanks for interviewing me Matt!
Footnotes
- 1: My perception of Panentheism is that the divine/sacred transcends the cosmos but is also the cosmos; a kind of ’sacrifice’ of divine essence that constitutes All Things (including us), not merely existing within everything. An Idea found in many mythologies.
- 2: However, I’d already become familiar with most of the ideas contained within Scott’s book on the net. I’d recommend the Blue Moon tradition: Solitary Study for those interested.
Shanny and Me
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