Witches Weekly Question...

Who has been a spiritual mentor for you during your path? If you do not have one (or even if you do), what motivates you to stay on your spiritual path?


An interesting question... My spiritual mentor? Well... I guess that's been a sort of combination of friends and my Mother - and my own personal moral beliefs. I was raised with what those in the craft call the "Rede" since I was born, by a parent who was not in the craft - it was simply the most sensible thing she could come up with that made sense to us kids. Religion wasn't a big thing in our house - my father really wasn't a religious person, and my mom was disenchanted with the secular areas she had been exposed to. She handed me a stack of different religious texts when I was 13 and said to choose for myself.


As for what motivates me to stay on my spiritual path - Myself, I guess, is the answer to what keeps me on my spiritual path. I've always felt that there was something bigger that couldn't be defined or cubby-holed into a specific religion, that was out there... It's not that I believe in any one divine being - or that I believe in many of them... I simply believe - that's all.


I'm of a serious mind that Terry Pratchett has it right - believing in gods is sort of like believing in the Postman... You already know that they exist, that they'll be there every day, whether you actually are there at the postal box or not. It's what you do in your daily life that matters and reflects your personal beliefs, more than whether you happen to be standing there, waiting for the letter to arrive.


Of course, that begs the question as to whether I believe in a structured spiritual path and worship... No, I do not. If I did, I'd be a HUGE hypocrite, as I don't have a set time for me to do alter work or anything. I'm a solitary practitioner because I don't like dealing with other people's drama - nor do I like dealing with how other people feel that I "should" be worshipping. I believe that my daily actions and thoughts are enough for day-to-day things, and if I need something additional, such as advice or guidance, I can choose to meditate upon the question until I can find the best answer possible - whether that be within myself, or to ask someone else for advice to help me.


I don't believe that having high holy day celebrations or equinox rituals make me any better of a person than those who go to church each Sunday. I give thanks every day for the gifts I have received, which include my health, my family, the roof over my head, and the food on my table. I do this by doing the best that I can each day, and choosing to not wallow in self pity too much when things get hard for me.


I believe that each person is in charge of their own lives, and can choose to do good things or bad, regardless of how they were raised. There are very few exceptions to this belief, and those that are - well, there's something seriously mentally wrong that no amount of medication or treatment can fix. I believe that each person has the power to make their own way through life, without purposely hurting another person. I believe that indirect hurts are just as bad as direct hurts. I believe that each person needs to make atonement for their actions if they end up hurting another person - especially if they do so purposely. I don't believe that a spiritual leader has the ability to take payment for atonement and make it a "done deal" (indulgences, etc). I don't believe that sitting on your knees saying "hail mary's" or "Our Father's" is atonement, either. I believe that atonement comes from within, and affects the person wronged directly and personally - and can only be done once you feel true remorse at your actions.


So, there you have it - some of the things that I believe, and my answer to the Witches Weekly Question...


~M