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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 19691
[Religious]
Date Posted:
5/17/2008
9:43:37 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 6,512
RSS: 14,734
Comments: 8
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Finding A Spiritual Home After Long Quest
Author: Susan Wessells Source: Greensboro News & Record (NC)
Title: FINDING A SPIRITUAL HOME AFTER LONG QUEST
In January, I was received into the Episcopal Church, the culmination of a 35-year journey.
I first attended St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in 1973, when I was trying to decide between becoming an Episcopalian or a Roman Catholic. In 1974, I became Catholic, in large part to follow through on the calling I had experienced since the age of 14 to become a nun. Two years after my confirmation as a Catholic, I joined the Poor Clares, an order of cloistered, contemplative nuns, where I remained for almost five years. After leaving the Poor Clares in late 1980, I remained Catholic for a few years but found myself spiritually homeless when I couldn't reconcile my conscience with many of Catholicism's stances, particularly regarding married and/or female clergy.
In 1984, I encountered neopaganism and the concept of the Divine Feminine. There was much about paganism that appealed to me, and I embraced it enthusiastically for more than 20 years. In 1992, I became a Wiccan high priestess and in 1996 founded Path of the Moon Collective, a networking group for local pagans that still thrives.
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Community Thoughts: There are 8 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| What Stands Out To Me The Most Is This Quote... | May 18th. at 11:58:37 am EDT
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Lewen (Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania) - Email Me
"My delight in my spiritual journey is not that I have found all the answers for my life, but that I continue to discover good and honorable companions who will travel with me while I explore the questions and who will dance with me on holy ground."~ Susan Wessells
To me, this speaks the most. To me, this is really what it is all about --the spiritual journey, regardless of where you end up.
One could always benefit from finding true and honorable companions who join up with you while on the journey, some stay for a while and then go on other paths, some stick with you to the very end. Should one find the path they are supposed to be on and stay, then dance and enjoy the fact that you are where you are supposed to be. I guess to me, the journey is as important as the destination.
Blessings to all.
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| Ah Well.... | May 17th. at 8:28:01 pm EDT
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Aidan Odinson (Collingdale, Pennsylvania) - Email Me - Web
Part of me says that if she has found a home there, then that's what it's all about.
Then again, I have my memories. I remember the Episcopal Church as a place of gossip, shunning, and so concentrated on the latest sociopolitical fad that there was little effort devoted to genuine spirituality. In fact, I give the Episcopalians the major credit for the fact that I am a Wiccan.
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| At Least... | May 17th. at 3:32:45 pm EDT
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Moonlight Wolf (Bradford, England) - Email Me
...she wasn't saying how evil her old religion was and her spritiual journey looks to have been a peaceful one.
If she is happy with her beliefs then more power and blessings to her
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| Don't Get Me Wrong... | May 17th. at 2:35:23 pm EDT
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Friday Scott (Middleton, Wisconsin) - Email Me
Seems she handled it well... there's still the implication that the problem was something about Paganism, or seeking, rather than her approach.
Also it rather implies, as too many Christians like to claim, that people are Pagan because of political beliefs, rather than anything sincere or enduring between us and the Gods.
Again, merry we part, and merry meet again, but, well, public professions like this...
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| Finally... | May 17th. at 1:27:41 pm EDT
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Nocturnal Light (Camp Humphreys, Kansas) - Email Me
...we have an "ex-Wiccan" who isn't saying how her old religion was so evil.
She left the Christian church for the same reason I and so many other Pagans did. She was frustrated that the church cared more about political issues and controlling peoples' lives than the core teachings of Jesus. She joined Paganism more out of rebellion than true devotion, and as such she soon became lost again.
We all have our own spiritual paths in our life. It would be hypocritical for us to say that we're all for religious tolerance and then turn around and mock her for her personal decision. From what I read in the article she doesn't seem to have any negative attitudes towards Paganism, she just found that it wasn't for her. The Episcopal church is also one of the most religiously liberal Christian denominations, so it's not like she turned into an anti-Pagan fundamentalist.
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| Ah, Another 'Ex-Wiccan' | May 17th. at 12:54:42 pm EDT
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Friday Scott (Middleton, Wisconsin) - Email Me
How refreshing and original.
Well, merry we part, seeya next time, maybe. :)
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| Now This Is Someone .... | May 17th. at 12:08:27 pm EDT
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Leafy (Albuquerque, New Mexico) - Email Me
... with an accepting heart, who has an understanding of how not to hate other religions. Good for her in finding a place without rejecting all the rest.
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