Nothing (much) To Report

Who’d have thought it?! Me, offensive? Woo & yay! Sort of.

There doth be a comment attached to the previous posting, about my usage of a certain word.

I think now would be a good a time as any to explain some things.

I’ve never been a very committed religious type really. I put that down to a combination of a healthy interest in all things scientific and a fairly religious-free upbringing. Yeah, mum said we were Christians but we never went to church, not unless it was a school thing. We did the Easter eggs and the insane Christmas shopping and all that, but never truly thought about any of it. There was some vague idea of God, who lived in Heaven, wherever that was, and that good people that died (or cats, goldfish, budgies – for those were the childhood pets that perished in our house) went there. Even today, both my parents would call themselves Christians, despite not believing in any form of god.

I had a brief born-again Christian phase as a young teenager. I think the sheep-like quality of the people and my complete inability to get my head around some of the major points of that belief system stopped me from tripping too far down that particular path. (Still the same case, see later.)

Then, aged 17, the existence of paganism was introduced to me, via Cosmopolitan magazine, of all things. (What was I doing reading Cosmo at that age!?) The article was about witches, kitchen witches, if I recall correctly. Something about it clicked with me, it made sense to me, so I went about finding out as much as I could about this strange but oddly familiar world.

I have a deep love of history and folklore and learning how ancient (and modern) cultures explained the world around themselves was, and still is, fascinating. Being a pasty, West Country girl I was drawn to the ‘old ways’ of this part of the world. What I didn’t like was ceremony and ritual; a lot of new-age hoo-ha; the pick ‘n’ mix nature of some paths; the never questioning, the blindly following whatever is said/written.

I didn’t worship any particular god or goddess, although I did once declare (via text, I think) to a good friend that I’d “found my god”. A day of two later, I realised that the whole experience may have more to do with the chemicals of the anti-depressants I was taking zipping about my brain at the time rather than any great enlightenment.

So, not a particularly witchy-witch. Certainly not wiccan.

I’ve had many ‘wobbles’ about my beliefs. One of the biggest was after meeting and talking with Mr Williams. Once again, I mused over the concept of Christianity. Around the same time, I learnt about some of the probable fact from the fiction of the bible, thanks to a show on the BBC. This got me thinking some more and I developed a slight leaning towards Christian Gnosticism. (Which keen Waffle Watchers may have already read about, all but briefly.) Nevertheless, the old nagging ponderings returned. However convincingly they put it, I can’t believe in fundamental aspects of the Christian faith, nor any of the other major religions. *Should you really want to know what they are, just ask and I’ll tell, but probably not here.*

One of the longest surviving ideas throughout my (conscious) adult life is that all religion is ridiculous. (There’s that word again.) It just happens to be now that I actually belief it.

So, I’m a full-on atheist who happens to be an ex-witch, who’ll happily talk and share ideas, just don’t expect me to agree with you. Should you find fault with that, fine, tis your prerogative. Your comments may be deleted though, just cos I have that power, here at least.

-Bea Whale

Tags: Christianity, Witchcraft, Gnosticism, all+religion+is+ridiculous, Atheist