Hello everyone

I'm new to the board and was just wondering if there are any fellow witches, pagans or shamans lurking in the shadows.

Pagan or not it would lovely to talk to any like minded people
Much love Cat x

Hey Cat!

I'm another pagan chick. (waves hi) I've seen there are at least a few of us wandering around this board.

I looked into it last year, and still have a lot of my stuff and an altar packed away, but my mother sort of talked me out of it.

I also didn't like the idea of the God and Godess. So I Guess now I am forming my own beliefs based on several different religions.. therefore remaining an atheist

hello there!

HAPPY BELTAINE!

Yay! Its really lovely to meet you. Glad to have found some more pagans around.

I'm a solitary hedgewitch of 5 years, I'm out of the broom closet and running amok at the moment. Finally came out to my dad - suprisingly he was fine but was a bit disappointed i wouldnt me marrying my partner in a church - tee hee. My mum has known since the beginning and is really cool with it. I co-run the central london witchcraft gathering in the UK so I find a lot of support with them (as well as laughing so much it hurts).

I look forward to getting to know you better. I tried posting in the Faith Based Support group but didnt meet much responce and was pointing in this direction.

Beltaine blessings everyone!
Cat x

Goth Girl,

I'm pretty agnostic but I practice in an all-faiths women's circle. We get together around different holidays and enjoy the celebration of it all.

Since you're in the UK, you'll get a kick out of this: I'm also a Morris dancer. So, I was out at sunrise this morning bringing up the sun. *yawn* Boy, I'm beat now tho!

Jessica

Welcome gothgirl!

I'm not a practicing pagan but have read up on the subject. Studying different religions, cultures, and ways of life is one of my hobbies. I do find a lot of things in paganism and Wicca appeal to me

I'm also a gothy/artsy chick.

Happy Beltane

I've been a practicing pagan for... almost 20 years, yikes! My circle is scattered geographically, but we get together when we can and always do the public festival / pagan camping circuit in the summer. I live in the Pacific Northwest, so you can't trip without falling over another witch/pagan/heathen.

I started out years ago calling myself a "witchy agnostic," but it's funny how a couple years of ritual and celebration made the agnostic drop off of that.

Happy Beltane, all y'all!

I've been a pagan-inclined lazybones for several years now - for a while I was practicing with a public group out of Unicorn Books in Cambridge, MA, but it's a few hours drive to get there, so I kind of pooped out. I still observe the sabbats in a minimalist sort of way, and give a nod to the moon when she and I pass by, but I don't consider myself a practicing witch. More of an amateur. My husband and I were married last summer in a beech grove with the quarters subtly called to witness, and it was a neat thing to see who in my hub's fam had raised eyebrows, and who understood what the references were for - not who I expected on both counts! I can't say I'm loud & proud, but I wear a pentacle regularly, and I meet some nice folks that way.

My take on things spiritual was that I needed a female presence in Deity, and I found that the ideas of circularity and balance in Wicca (female-male, light-dark, seasons) resonated for me much better than anything I have encountered up to now.

So greetings, sisters! Merry meet!

Solarmama
P.S. Tani - love the Terry Pratchett quote, he's the only author who has made me understand the phrase "laughed so hard I peed."

Yup! I can't read Pratchett's books on the bus as I tend to laugh out loud at them and people think I am nuts.

I like the thought of spirituality from self rather than an organization. Just works better for me.

hehehehehe I know exactly what you mean about reading on the bus! Also, good idea not to drink beverages you don't want to snort through your nose

Tani - used to live by bellingham, and all my friends were pagan! boy do I miss living up there. Though, now that I'm in eugene, oregon home of pagans, hippies and no soap, I'm sure I could find more friends if I was so inclined.

I am a pagan-themed athiest. I don't believe in the parts of gods/goddesses as more than symbols but i do very much believe in the power within ourselves and everything in nature. If you just read the definition of Panthiesm in the dictionary that would describe me, but then you start actually reading about people that are panthiests and it's different... sometimes it is so hard to categorize yourself. *L* That's a very good thing though, right?

Ah, I remember being a teen though and my parents were so upset when I was going to church because as my dad said he thought they had raised me better *LOL* They were sure happy when I got into pagan interests. My parents are so weird.

Anyway, welcome to the group and boy do I wish I was up there in Western Washington right now.

Wiccan Here! have been slacking on my practicing... its always nice to know who's around
Cyndie

*waves* This is so great! I never imagined there was going to be so many of you

How do you find your beliefs effect your thoughts about weight loss/body image? I guess for me it makes me realise how amazing we are and how much we should be thankful for. I'm changing for the right reasons now and truely believe that with or without the weight loss we are beautiful incredible women of the earth.

I have an abundancy goddess sitting on my altar looking at me, rounded tummy, heavy thighs and breasts. She is the total dipiction of femininity and wonder - may she teach me to be greatful for the power I have within myself now and grant me the strength to experience getting healthier with as much positivity as possible.

Merry part
Cat x

I think my beliefs gave me the confidence to start this journey, and to stick with it for so long. I don't mention this to people usually, but the turning point for my weight loss came before a Samhain ritual a few years ago. It was the morning before ritual with my circle and I stepped on my friend's bathroom scale. I hadn't been on a scale in... a year or two probably. I thought I was about 200 lbs, but I was 265. It was quite a shock.

That night during ritual, when we were cutting ties to things we wanted to leave in the last year, things that we didn't need anymore. It was very clear what I needed to leave behind; eating without care and inactivity.

I think that my belief in my ability to affect change within and without (the heart of ritual) is why I've been successful on this journey. That and the emphasis our community places on the sacredness of the physical body. I want a body that can dance me into trance and keep going for hours After that Samhain ritual, I really felt like I could do it. And that, of course, is the biggest part of making any kind of change.

Greetings!

I am also a pagan-type chick! Glad to meet ya!