There Were Roses

I find myself in recent weeks once again contemplating the religion. 
Actually, this isn't much of a surprise since it seems as if a good portion of my time is spent meditating on this topic. In the past three years my opinion on the matter has changed and 
evolved many times.


In 2008, fresh out of nine years in a Catholic grade school, I went searching for new things, primarily Wicca. I don't even really remember why I got interested in it in the first place, but I think it was because I read The Mists of Avalon (if you haven't read it and like Arthurian legend, I would strongly suggest this). Although it has been confusing sometimes, the last three years of looking at new religions and looking at my birth religion with fresh eyes has really helped me to make more clear to myself what my beliefs are. I discovered that although having rebelled against it for  the past three years, I still cling to the roots of Catholicism and Christianity. However, when I was researching Wicca and Celtic paganism, I saw many Many parallels with Christianity which made me revise my earliest conceptions. Many things that I've been taught since my early years I take for granted as truth, but I tend to worship the feminine side of the Trinity which the Church conveniently ignores. My patron, for lack of a better word is St Brigid because she is the Christian embodiment of the pagan goddess Brigid, daughter to Dagda. 


One thing I really hate when people slam the Catholicism is when they take for granted that the Church is the religion. The religion is the religion, the Church is just the twisted interpreter. The religion itself is not the problem, it's the people who mess up the translation and then spout their mumbo jumbo as "The Word of  God". 


It's even worse when religions have the audacity to say that they are the "one true religion" and their god is "the one true god" which incidentally I don't believe in. I don't believe that there is only one true god, just many faces of one higher being. Which I guess is leaning more toward agnosticism but whatever.  Evidence to back this up can be seen throughout history among the earliest deities. For example, Aphrodite was the goddess of love in Greece. Venus was her counter-part in Rome, and Ishtar in the Middle East. All named differently and probably depicted differently due to cultural differences, but representing the same aspect of the higher being, just personified.


I don't understand why people can't just agree that there's someone up there pulling the strings and doling out karma like nobody's business, and just move on with their lives without the violence.


this song tells of all the troubles caused by religious non-acceptance:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVlIV9dqVXA .


Anyway, not exactly where I originally intended to go with this, but o well, ramblings are ok. :)
Sláinte,
B