Morgan Nametbd

Many organizations have declarations of faith, describing in detail what they hold to be true and dear in terms of religion. In an effort to explain to others and clarify to myself, I am doing the same.

Pagan:

I am a pagan—as defined by dictionary.com: "One who is not a Christian, Muslim, or Jew, especially a worshiper of a polytheistic religion." I was raised as a Christian, and accepted Jesus as my savior at a young age. After I left my parents house, I was able to grow and learn about other systems of belief, and I no longer walk that path. My parents had insisted that I follow their choices growing up, but when I was finally on my own I was able to look around and realize that their way was not my way. And at the most unexpected of times, the path I still walk today appeared in front of me, and I stepped on it with no hesitation—and with no regrets to date.

Organized Religion:

I do not a member of any organized religion per se. I consider myself an eclectic pagan, in that my beliefs are individual and personal, not upheld in any one specific doctrine but borrowing from many. I do hold dear the beliefs of my ancestors, the Celts, and am strongly influenced by the ways of the ancient druids. (In this regard, I consider the ancient Welsh texts such as The Mabinogion and The Tain to be "sacred"—not that every word is truth, but that they contain holy lessons to be learned and applied to daily life.) In the old days, the term druid referred to three groups of people: bards (who entertained, passed news from place to place, and acted as ambassadors, diplomats, historians, and voices of conscience), ovates (healers), and the druid priests.

I am a member of the UK organization OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids) which is not a religious organization, but one that seeks to apply the principles of druidry to everyday life by philosophy. Note that OBOD is like Buddhism in that it has Christian, Muslim, Jewish, pagan, and atheist members.

Theism:

I believe in the existance of beings greater than humanity. Beings of power and wisdom, with individual characteristics even as humans are individual. Beings which we can but barely begin to understand, try as we might. I believe that they are not all of equal power or stature but vary in strength and area of expertise.

I am a polytheist, in that I believe in the existance of many gods and demigods. Do I know for sure if all the pantheons of old are real? No, but I act as if they were. I respect Bast and Anubis, Artemis and Athena, Odin and Thor, Rhiannon and Epona, Christ, and many others. It is possible that they are all but reflections or aspects of one greater God and Goddess pair as the Wiccans seem to believe… but I do not claim to know that that is the case. If they are but aspects, then I treat each aspect as the individual.

Creationism:

I am a Creationist. I believe that the gods did create this world—and many others. Evolution may or may not explain some of the mechanisms used… but it does not explain the origin of life. If there was a Big Bang, where did the essence used in the Big Bang originate from? There is no definite answer that evolution can provide as to how the basic essense of the universe came into existance, and any honest evolutionary will not try to do so.

Patron:

Though I believe in many gods, I follow (and worship) only one goddess. She is Cerridwen, the Celtic goddess of wisdom, patron of the bards, the Green Lady, consort to Cernunnos, holder of the Cauldron of Rebirth. As I am a Bard, she always made sense to be my personal patron. Not long after I began walking the pagan path, and realized that the role of Druid-- and in particular, Bard-- called to me, I chose her, and dedicated myself to my Lady. She has granted me peace, serenity, and strength in times when I have been in sore need, and I love and cherish Her for it.

Still in progress... will repost later if I update it further. Comments and questions are welcome.