Changing Paths challenge day 17 — deep magic
The deepest magic that I know is love. Not sacrificial love, not romantic love, but the everyday magic of connection, nourishing and soul-satisfying.
Continue readingPersonal stories
Stories of people who have changed paths or are leaving their religion.
Stories
Changing Paths challenge day 16 — stories.
The power of stories to change and challenge a person’s worldview is immense. My worldview was definitely informed by reading A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, The Writing on the Hearth by Cynthia Harnett (now sadly forgotten by most people), Mary Stewart’s Arthurian trilogy, and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. And of course the Narnia series by CS Lewis, and many other books depicting a magical mythopoeic worldview. Ursula Le Guin’s science fiction was and remains extremely important to me.
Continue readingThings I don’t miss
Changing Paths challenge day 12 — things I don’t miss about the traditions I have left.
Continue readingLover of leaving
Changing Paths challenge day 11 — why I left
I left Unitarianism in the end because of archetypes. The archetype that fits me the best is that of the witch, and it’s an archetype that sits uncomfortably in the Unitarian path. (The combination may work for others: didn’t work for me.)
I left Christianity because of its exclusivist views on salvation and the institutional homophobia.
And when I left Paganism for a while in 2007, it was because of it being excessively heterocentric / heteronormative, and other reasons too lengthy to get into here.
However, at the end of the day, you have to pick something (could be atheism, could agnosticism, could be a religion or spirituality) and make it work for you. I chose inclusive polytheist Wicca.
Continue readingStill friends
Changing Paths challenge day 10 — still friends.
I’m still friends with several Unitarians, either in person or on social media. Last September two of our longest-standing Unitarian friends from the UK came to visit us in Canada and we had a great time together. A quote from one of them found its way into the book too.
Continue readingOld friends
Changing Paths challenge day 9 — old friends.
Although Unitarianism * / Unitarian Universalism wasn’t my path, I still value many of their ideas and values. They’re green, they’re LGBT+ inclusive or at least welcoming, they were the first to ordain women ministers (the Universalists in 1860, the English Unitarians in 1904), among the first to welcome LGBT+ people (1970 in the UK). Many 19th century Unitarian ministers were opposed to slavery, most notably Theodore Parker. They don’t believe in original sin. They frequently refer to God as She or Mother (and have done since the 19th century). They respect other faiths as valid paths to the divine. They characterize their path as a free and responsible search for meaning. They also have really nice hymns. And they welcome Pagans and have an organization for pantheist, Pagan, and Earth-based spirituality. Iolo Morgannwg, whose prayer is used by OBOD Druids, was a Unitarian. There are many connections between Unitarian and Pagan ideas.
* in the UK they’re called Unitarians; in the US they’re called Unitarian Universalists.
Why it wasn’t my path: it healed me of my wounds from Christianity, for which I am forever grateful; it’s a kinder, more rational, more liberal form of church—but despite the inclusion of ideas from other faiths, it still is a form of church.
Further reading
- Stephen Lingwood, Ed. (2008), The Unitarian life: Voices from the Past and Present. Lindsey Press.
- Vernon Marshall (2007), The Larger View: Unitarians and World Religions. Lindsey Press.
Changing Paths is published by 1000Volt Press and is available from all the usual online stores. Ask your local bookseller or library to stock it!
The goal of the book is to help you decide your own path by guiding you through the perils and pitfalls of the terrain, and asking questions to help you deepen your understanding of the reasons for your desire to change paths.
Blogging/photo challenge
The Changing Paths challenge for May 2023. Feel free to skip a day or post something different from the topic of the day, but if you do the whole thing, I think you’ll arrive at a new perspective on your path.
Continue reading“I won’t kneel for their god anymore”
James Gardner Davis has written an amazing reflection on changing paths in response to my guest appearance on the Missing Witches podcast.
Their candid discussion of how religious trauma is a catalyst for people to seek out more inclusive spaces, typically outside of Christianity, is so useful for so many people who are seeking out alternatives. I just felt so viscerally connected to that experience, having left the church due to it’s complicity in colonization, sexual abuse, and the truly incredible amounts of homophobic and patriarchal views. I, too, was taught liberation theology, but I really just want to be liberated from the dominant christian culture I am surrounded by.
James Gardner Davis, I won’t kneel for their god anymore
Do check out the whole post, it’s amazing.
Changing Paths is published by 1000Volt Press and is available from all the usual online stores. Ask your local bookseller or library to stock it!
The goal of the book is to help you decide your own path by guiding you through the perils and pitfalls of the terrain, and asking questions to help you deepen your understanding of the reasons for your desire to change paths.
Patron deities
The concept of patron deities in polytheism caused me a lot of trouble back in the day. I was on a polytheist mailing list and it seemed like everyone on the list had a patron deity who had approached them personally. They were also adamant that the deity approached them and not the other way around. So I thought I should have a patron deity. This left me uniquely vulnerable to what happened next.
Continue readingI’d rather be “left behind”
There’s a good article in The Guardian today about the nasty psychological effects of being exposed to constant propaganda about the rapture and being “left behind”. Trigger warning if you’ve been exposed to that kind of bad theology. Thankfully I left the evangelical nonsense before the trend for making these movies happened.
Continue reading
Changing Paths 