Finding Truth in All Religions: Creating Your Spiritual Practice
Hi everyone! First of all, I would like to say a big thank you to Jesse Ventoso, Angela Criscuoli and everyone who has given me kind words and support. It is you that makes this blog worthwhile and reminds me of my innermost passions, to share my experiences and connect to people along the way. All the love!
I’ve noticed it is quite trendy to hate on Christianity nowadays. While Christianity does hold a dark, shadow side and perhaps even an overall low vibration, I cannot help but to see the beauty within the tradition and clasp to the aspects within the faith that I resonate with. Perhaps if I were raised with a different, more negative experience with Christianity, specifically Roman Catholicism, I would feel differently and voice my negative opinion. Alas, I can only share my perspective, which happens to be on the more sunny side.
I was raised a devout Roman Catholic. My mother grew up a casual Roman Catholic, while my father on the other hand went to church every Sunday and attended Catholic school through until his Master’s degree. As a family, my mother, father, younger brother and I attended church every Sunday until my parents’ divorce when I was 17. I also attended Catholic school from second grade until my first year of college. While I never 100 percent “clicked” with the faith and sensed a void in my own faith, I did resonate with a lot of what the religion had to offer. I have always had a close connection with Jesus, number one. He just seemed so human and relatable to me. I have always connected with his messages and teachings; he was all about love, a simple yet powerful message that the human race has yet to fully understand.
I also had an overall belief in a higher God, though not necessarily the God of the Old Testament. That God did not make sense to me. My God was an all loving, accepting being. He/She does not punish or pass judgment on his creations, as does the God of the Old Testament. For as long as I can remember, I felt a longing for a more mystical, spiritual practice. I even remember as a young girl talking to my guardian angel; I pictured Sophia in a beautiful pale blue gown with long golden blonde tendrils. I could see her in my mind’s eye. I have also been forever drawn to the supernatural, psychics and tarot cards. Something about the New Age section in Barnes & Noble always seemed to call my name, even as a young girl, but at the time, I viewed the section as too taboo to enter. I was at the time, without realizing, rejecting that aspect of Self. Now, I am living it out in full force. The New Age section is now the first section I flock towards, except for maybe the records.
In college, I found myself away from home, on my own for the first time and forced to discover my identity. As a result, I had a more and more casual relationship with my faith. I still sensed an overall connection to God, but it was dimming and no longer a substantial part of my everyday life. Over the past year, however, I have confronted my faith head on. Little under a year ago, with a newfound sense of spirituality, I asked myself, “what am I?” in terms of my religious convictions. Was I still a Catholic? Catholicism was still a piece of my heart. After all, it is through this faith I found my connection to Jesus and to the idea of God.
But Catholicism did not fulfill or support all of my beliefs. Christianity does not, for example, support the idea of reincarnation. I do not view reincarnation in the traditional sense of Hinduism as in we reincarnate again and again in order to ascend and reach Enlightenment. I view reincarnation as a possibility. We can choose to reincarnate if we so wish. The purpose of life is to be self-aware, to be conscious. It is through this incarnation that we have an experience. Each of us is a fragment of Source; there is no separation of self. We are eternal spirits having an Earthly experience. Our lives here are merely an illusion.
So, I began researching alternative religions and belief systems and first discovered Hinduism. It makes sense why this religion presented itself first. Hinduism is in fact the polar opposite of Christianity. I was craving something so alternative to Christianity. It is also around this time that I read “Wheel of Life” by Anodea Judith and explored the human chakra system. I was opening myself to other life perspectives and discovering new truths.
Since then, I have found pleasure in studying and exploring the religions of the world. I take from my studies what I resonate with and leave the rest, making up my spiritual practice. I find that a particular religion, belief system or any spiritual topic will reveal itself and seem to call my name at the right moment. Hinduism was a stark contrast to Catholicism. It was a meeting of East meets West.
Next, I discovered paganism. Its traditions helped fill that part of me that so intensely connects with nature and its energies. Currently, I am reading a book on the Kabballah, one of the mystic religions. I have felt a drawing to Kabballah for some time, and I am eager to learn more. Another mystic religion that I had prior studied was Gnosis Christianity. After the time of Jesus, there were two disciplines of thinking, the traditional Christianity that we have today that places a more external view of God and views Jesus as God and the Son of God. There were also the Gnostics, those who sought for the mystical teachings of Jesus. There are lost Gnostic texts that have recently resurfaced including the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In these texts, the Gnostics claim that Jesus was in fact no different than any of us. Jesus was showing us our own capabilities; God is within us. Jesus was a Master that was so able to perfectly manipulate the energies of the universe and perform miracles and healings. In a side Gnostic theory that I particularly kind of love, Jesus was coupled with and perhaps married Mary Magdalene. The two were “twin souls” representing the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine. Mary, for a variety of reasons, was hidden from the public and in time twisted to be a prostitute, while the evidence suggests otherwise.
History has been hard on Mary Magdalene. I had always felt an affinity towards Mary Magdalene through my studies in grade school. Christianity so blatantly ignores the Divine Feminine in its teachings. In most all major religions outside of the Abrahamic religions, the Divine Feminine is represented through the Goddess. The representation of the goddesses is evident throughout history in artwork and mythology. If Mary Magdalene is in fact the Holy Grail and a missing link in Christianity, it would solve up some loose ends in the religion. Jesus never intended to be the leader of a Church. The Church was started by man, for man. Today, the world is on the brink of change. With the return of Christ Consciousness, the world will know Oneness.
All in all, I believe in the truth of perspectives. Within each perspective is value and truth. By exploring all the world’s religions, I can recognize more and more of Self. I can take from each religion the practice(s) I value and leave the rest. I perform yoga and meditate all the time, practices I adapted from Hinduism and Buddhism. I also pray on a daily basis, a marking of my Catholic upbringing. I am One with nature and make time to appreciate the nature spirits, pagan thinking’s. I believe in feng shui, a Chinese philosophy, and use crystals and tarot cards, parts of the New Age fad. Lastly, I am an avid reader, from Doreen Virtue’s “Healing with the Fairies” and “Goddesses & Angels” to books on Cleopatra to studying the healing herbs. Each of these make up my spiritual practice. I am nothing, but I am everything.
Love,
Samantha
