Personal stories
Stories of people who have changed paths or are leaving their religion.
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High control covens
Read more: High control covensThere’s a new article from Storm Faerywolf on The Wild Hunt today talking about the warning signs of high control groups and covens. Members of these damaged covens are often instructed not to socialize with others outside the group, or lineage, or are otherwise told certain individuals to avoid. Information is often restricted; leadership oftentimes…
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Be like Cathy
Read more: Be like CathyWhen I was 14 or 15 years old and still a Christian, a boy who was older than me (17, I think) told me that God wanted me to be his girlfriend. I didn’t reciprocate but I was worried enough about it that I asked an older female friend, Cathy, what she thought. Luckily for…
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Review: An Apostate’s Guide to Witchcraft
Read more: Review: An Apostate’s Guide to WitchcraftOnce upon a time, Christendom labelled the Emperor Julian “the Apostate” because he reverted to Paganism. Nowadays, the title is applied to people who leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Moss Matthey left the JWs in order to live his truth as a gay man—as many others have left high control religious groups for the same reason.…
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Conversion therapy survivors flag
Read more: Conversion therapy survivors flagI’ve just seen this announcement from the Conversion Therapy Survivors Network on Facebook: The votes are in! Hunter Moore‘s design will now become the FIRST-ever Conversion Therapy Survivor Flag! Grey: Represents PTSD and memory loss.Pink: Symbolizes sexual abuse and marginalization.Blue: Stands for domestic violence.Triangle: Inspired by the progress pride flag, it represents survivors overcoming these…
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Deconstruction story: Richard Swan
Read more: Deconstruction story: Richard SwanA friend shared a Facebook post by Richard Swan (in the fun group Dull Men’s Club) today, talking about how vanishingly few people are tone deaf, and most people can sing. I take the view that singing is an outpouring of the soul and one of the cruellest things a person can do is to…
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Just visiting
Read more: Just visitingI’ve often referenced these posts by Annika Mongan, which present a fascinating account of what’s happening energetically at evangelical churches, and at Pagan gatherings. I also got independent confirmation of this by speaking to another Wiccan who sees energy as colours (I experience it as changes in temperature) who confirmed that she saw a lot…
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A healing journey
Read more: A healing journeyA new book from Moss Matthey, An apostate’s guide to witchcraft: finding freedom through magic, explores his personal journey from fundamentalist Christianity to witchcraft. Moss writes: This book is about my journey from a fundamentalist Christian cult to the joyous and freeing world of Witchcraft. Blending my personal experience with gentle exercises, this book is for anyone who is…
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A disturbing history
Read more: A disturbing historyThis is a very disturbing read about institutional abuse by crypto Nazis and very conservative Catholics in Austria in the late 1940s to the late 1980s. Very similar to the treatment of Indigenous children in residential schools, and of Irish single mothers in Magdalen Laundries. What does this kind of history tell us? That “respectable”…
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Other blogging challenge posts
Read more: Other blogging challenge postsTwo other people participated in the Changing Paths blogging challenge 2024: Jarred the Wyrd-worker and The River Crow. Kudos to Jarred for keeping it up for the whole month and continuing to write blogposts in response to the prompts at the end of the chapters in Changing Paths. And The River Crow wrote some beautiful…
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Movies and TV
Read more: Movies and TVChanging Paths challenge day 27: movies and TV. Movies and TV that changed my mind / blew my mind.
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On being a Queer Muslim
Read more: On being a Queer MuslimAmazing conversation on being a Queer Muslim, leaving and returning to your religion with a fresh perspective, navigating different spaces that don’t support every aspect of who you are, and dealing with religious trauma. Watch the video
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Roots and wings
Read more: Roots and wingsChanging Paths Challenge day 13: Roots and wings Today’s prompt is a reference to Carolyn McDade’s classic song, Spirit of Life, which contains the line “roots hold me close, wings set me free”. My family roots are in nonconformist churches but there’s also a strong tradition of loving Nature. My Mum loved Nature and so…
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Reblog: Why I like being a Pagan
Read more: Reblog: Why I like being a PaganThere was some part of me that almost craved a sense of wonder and magic — something existing just beyond the humdrum of everyday life — all my life. I remember being a kid and imagining that I could feel the flow of magical energy all around me.
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Reblog: Desiring sacred community
Read more: Reblog: Desiring sacred communityMy belief that both I and the other are sacred has me focusing more on building and nurturing relationships between the sacred self, sacred others, and the sacred world. I find myself looking more at the importance of community. — Jarred the Wyrd-worker Desiring sacred community: Exploring a journal prompt from chapter 6 of “Changing…
Changing Paths 