The Seeker’s Guide by Elizabeth Lesser is one of the myriad of books that I am currently reading. I read it several years ago when I lived in a different city and was a different person. Now that I am married and have a young child, I’m finding that other parts of the book make sens to me. One of the first chapters discusses spirituality and states that we don’t need to be part of a religion, or to be religious, to be spiritual. I’m not sure if the younger me would have agreed with that, but this older me…
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With the Easter holiday finishing up in most of the Christian world, I decided to ask my family members a couple of questions this weekend. A bit of background first, though. I was raised Christian by parents who are believers but not strong church goers. My maternal grandfather, on the other hand, was a very dedicated Christian; almost a Canadian version of the Fundamentalists that the Americans have. My husband is essentially a lapsed Catholic, and I’m me: mostly Wiccan, and maybe a little bit Agnostic. Anyway, this weekend I asked my family if they believed in the literal divinity…
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A few days ago, I spent some time sitting in front of the Buddha in the picture to the right. He is part of the Royal Ontario Museum’s collection, and is perhaps my favourite. He used to sit in a quite, darkened hall, but with the renovations he is now is a light, open space that no longer has the feeling of calm found is is previous home. As I sat in front of this Buddha I wrote. I wrote about what I needed to do for myself (which was confirm a doctor appointment… baby steps), what I needed to…
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Over the years that I have been aware of the greater Pagan community, I have seen some relatively well known spokespeople step away from Paganism and declare that their beliefs now lie in another direction. Some do this vocally, and insult Paganism on their way out the door, others do it quietly, making us wonder what caused them to change their minds. When the reason for leaving the community is because the person found a new faith, I am a bit surprised. I think that to be a spokesperson, either through teaching, writing or producing a podcast, one must be…
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A little while ago I watched the Bill Maher documentary (mockumentary?) Religulous. He essentially takes a look at the Big Three religions and points out just how silly their literal beliefs are. He talks to a Vatican priest who thinks that most Christian beliefs are ridiculous, a Muslim rapper from the UK who sings about planning bombings, a Jewish rabbi who thinks the Holocaust wasn’t all that bad, and some true believers at Florida’s Holy Land Experience. Maher pokes fun at them all, but also seems to be truly trying to understand why people need to believe is some big,…