Pagan
...le surfing the web for a religion assignment I started browsing through religious websites. That is when I discovered the Pagan religion. I did not/ am not, growing up in a religious household. My parents are both Christian but we are not churchgoers and we do not pray before meals etc. I’d heard faith heals, we all know about the crazy lady on the “god channel” whatever it’s really called that goes around touching peoples foreheads and exclaiming “you are healed, my child!” but that’s all I knew at the time and that is what I chalked all faiths up to. Yet, as I was reading about the Pagan religion I noticed that many of their beliefs were similar to mine, and if they weren’t then there were still open minds for different opinions there are many pages too, across the internet, with examples of ways that faith heals and studies that have been done to prove it with hospital patients. I started reading the lore and the past of the religion and how it’s being adapted today, and of the serenity of it all. And for the first time in a long time I had a feeling other than sadness or anger, and I felt like I could be accepted for me in this community. I’ve decided as I write this that acceptance and understanding and two of the most vital and key things to being happy, as long as they are two sided. So, over the last three years I have looked further and further into the religion and noted even more things that coincide with my beliefs. One person’s explanation of what it means to be Pagan is provided on the page “Pagan Place” to which I have provided a link below. It is basically a question and answer about what it means to be pagan and what some of the basic beliefs are. For example, anyone who believes in something (not necessarily god or a deity just something) and uses it to better them selves and not cause harm to other people or themselves is considered a “good person.” I have also met a few people like myself, maybe ten to twenty in the last couple years. And my current boyfriends family is mostly pagan so I have also had the opportunity to go to many pagan events. I find the decision to become pagan and invest myself into something has made me more spiritual, open and happy as a person in general. I have also found that faith really does heal, the spirit more than the body. Though the two are interconnected and as my mood enhanced so did my physical activity! I cannot say that I owe the changes in m...