A religion for the in between

[browncoatslytherin]

I could have typed this nearly word-for-word. It's a comfort to know there are others like me. If you don't mind me asking, how do you express your spirituality these days? I also identify as pagan.

my spirituality is more inner-based than outer-showing. i do wear an amulet, but it's loki's symbol, so probably nobody is going to even know what it is other than it's a cool design on a piece of metal. otherwise, i try meditating sometimes (it's hard, adhd and all) and i do express love and appreciation for certain gods that i feel follow me and help me and protect me. i don't celebrate every holiday (i feel the schedule is kind of exhausting lol) but i hit what i feel major ones are for me. i burn incense and offer prayers when i feel the need to, but i don't put dedication into rituals, as i personally feel i'll get to the point where i'll just go through the motions and it'll mean nothing to me, which is exactly where i was before in christianity.

i have a rather...interesting...view of the gods. i think that they are all equally real and equally present, and that they speak to different people in different ways. i believe in reincarnation. i believe heavily in karma. i believe in trying to better myself and help others better themselves as well, not always directly. my main concern is spreading positivity in my every day life. we encounter so much negative vibes all the time, i try to counter that as much as possible. i'm also an empath, so i'm very sensitive to the moods and feelings of others, but i try not to let it affect me. :)

[itsthatonegirl]

I can relate. I spent nearly my entire adult life (I am now almost 35) as an evangelical Christian. My faith began to drastically, drastically unravel about a year ago, and I realized this last New Year's that I was a deconverted Christian. For a little while, it was such a relief to be free of it all, that I just lived pretty much as an atheist, but I realized that I really do believe in a higher power. I, like iateallthebrownies and browncoatslytherin, have come to realize that I identify most strongly as pagan. I don't feel any desire to go to any kind of Christian service at all anymore, with ONE exception, and that is Episcopal. I am someone who really enjoys liturgy, and I very much enjoy the Episcopal service. I am able to replace "Christ" with "Spirit" in my mind, and things like that, and do not feel uncomfortable or fake.

I did try out a UU church and like you, did not enjoy it much at all. I think part of it was the fact that it was very very opposite of liturgical.