#ooc

So. Confession time: I wanted to be a rabbi growing up. Really deeply.

....is it weird that almost all of my characters have a thought-out religion?

no, that isn't weird

Dude, nothing wrong with that. I think growing up, religion is huge.

Me too. I've been very very gentle with my kid about it, but when he asks questions boy does he get answers.

I've gotten a bit jaded - and after my dad became a preacher, got a different perspective on it

My mother in law is a priest (Anglican) and my mother, while non-practicing, will get up in arms if I call her anything but Jewish. DH is an atheist, and I'm a practicing Witch, with a degree in cultural anthropology (focusing especially on world religions)... so.

Yeeahhhh

I like the Anglicans - Episcopalians, in the US. I was raised Lutheran, and still identify as one but have... agnostic/universalist leanings?

Nod

I had a witch phase, and it didn't work for me. Still have a lot of witchy friends.

I honestly like the Anglicans a lot (though it may be a bias since I love my mother in law)

Witchcraft is hard, in a way, because you have to always lead it yourself, and make the time, instead of going to an established place/congregation.

Nah, theologically, I think the Anglicans are pretty likable.

What I have figured out about myself is that I like "high church" - I like the formality, the ritual, the familiarity. It makes me feel like I've been "to church."

Lutherans, Anglicans are both high church. Very structured services - Catholics, of course, win on that front.

Have you ever attended a Hermetic ritual? (like, Golden Dawn, for example)? It's FASCINATING

I have not, but I am OES, and I know a lot of the Golden Dawn stuff derives from masonic rites

an aside: OES is the most pagan thing I do. 13 ladies in white, a big star on the floor with an altar in the center, a chalice, a wand, a sword...

It is VERY close, in many ways!

[also, COOL. I've never attended an OES ritual, but I am not sure there is a local group]

Not sure about Canadian organization. I've been in OES since I was 18, and was a Job's Daughter before that.

Like, the big blue Buckland book was one of my first introductions to paganism, and Buckland stuff reminds me a LOT of Masonry. Though I don't think it is fair to call it "witchcraft." There's ritual, but no magic - no intent to use the ritual to affect change, if that makes sense?

Not all paganism is about making change. A lot of it, the parts I love best, are about communing with and paying devotion to the Divine.

Buckland was himself a member of GD at some point

I feel like I'm intruding. Good morning 🙂

And THAT is part of it, agreed. And building fellowship, honoring tradition

morning!

And GD came from AA, which came from Aleister Crowley, who did EVERYTHING and was both a Mason and a Witch at varying points

No! join in!

I just see a lot of people getting their dander up and calling masonry satanic, witchcraft, etc.

Psht.

Well, I'm not a pagan but I know some. I'd go into more detail but even incidentally outting is considered poor form, especially in the same state the Southern Baptist Union makes his headquarters (Though that is in Nashville)

Weird thing is some Masonic orders require a belief in God (In one form or another) for Membership I think.

could be wrong on that

And I am sure it doesn't fit in well with really rigid fundamentalist viewpoints, but oh well. It's judeo-christian mysticism. World needs some mystery.

They all do, yup.

Yup!

I'm third-generation OES, have a lot of Freemasons rattling around the family tree.

Heh. I am uhm. Heavily implicated in the non-traditional religions of my city, and anything vaguely pagan/witchy/alternative... I'm kind of known.

YEah, a lot of things I thought were Pagan only when I was younger turned out to have Christian Mystism behind them. Tarot cards still make me nervous, but I understand their history is tied more to Renaissance Spirituality by Christians than Witches. Again, maybe wrong.

MOSTLY jewish and christian, but I've met a handful of muslims. Sort of Abrahamic overall.

I had a 4 hour conversation on Friday with a fellow who is one of the heads of the Freemasons in my province, who was gently courting me to join his coven.

fun?

The tarot cards are actually kabbalistic

Well, as long as it's proper courting.

super fun

Ah, thank you Roo

Man, I love tarot.

me too