Hey @Stephen Curry ! Good to see you here!

Ironically, one of my pathways into Paganism occured because of my years of practicing Catholicism. I was baptized/confirmed into the Catholic Church when I was 16 after five years of attending Mass regularly with family friends and a year of formal study as part of their adult conversion program. My younger self was simply enthralled with the rites and rituals of it all, and as an adult, I now recognize what I was appreciating were the priests performing actual magical rituals at the alter during Mass (Turning bread into flesh and wine into blood by reciting some incantations? I mean come on!). I was definitely liberal in my Catholicism admittedly (think liberation theology, social justice teachings, church reform), and by the time I was in my early 20's, I was fully immersed in my feminist awakening and began exploring the Sacred Feminine in the figures of the Marys (Mary Magdalene and the BVM) and other beloved saints (Brigid, Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, etc.). That opened up my whole world in terms of explorations of divinity, and a few years later - combined with a growing discomfort/dissatisfaction with patriarchy in general - I left Catholicism and Christianity for good. From there, I spent a few years in personal study before finding a local community about 10 years ago that aligned with my budding interests and experiences in spirit and nature connection. And in the last four or five years, I have also been exploring ancestral and land-based practices more specifically as I work to deconstruct western colonialism, my "whiteness", and my broken ancestral lineages. How does it feel being on this path? I would say I feel an "at easeness", freedom, and joy in my life from the personal spiritual autonomy that I did not have in the religion of my younger years.

Welcome, @Victoria Smith !!

Welcome, @Claire Park !

Welcome, @Indigo Sage !