I always used to think that religion involved believing in some type of god, and spirituality was everything else, like a “catch-all”, if you will. A few months ago, I was watching a YouTube channel called “Edge of Nightfall”. This YouTube creator practices witchcraft. Remember, practicing witchcraft is completely different than Wiccan, the witchcraft religion which is based on religious beliefs. You may practice witchcraft and not have a religion at all. He was saying in this particular video that the difference between religion and spirituality is this: if you have a religion, you are scared of hell, and if you practice spirituality, you have been through hell.
We must remember that great wars have been fought over religious beliefs. People are very opinionated when it comes to region and their religious beliefs. Personally, I am not religious at all. I feel like I’m atheist, but over the past year, I would say my beliefs now lean more toward agnostic. I don’t believe in a “god”, but I do believe in something, more like fate, or the universe. I also feel completely neutral in regards to religion. If you believe in something specific, that’s wonderful, and great. But, I don’t like when people push their beliefs on you, which has happened to me with many Christian people in my life.
Being an agnostic atheist, I don’t believe in a heaven or hell. I believe that when the body dies, you are simply gone. I think the thought of that scares people. It just seems so unacceptable to our small minds. Our existence is our everything and we can’t imagine existence without us in it. (A result of society and human conditioning which we’ll speak on in an upcoming blog). It’s the same as looking up at the night sky. When you look up at the stars, doesn’t it make you feel so small and insignificant? When I do this, it makes me question my purpose: why was I put on this Earth? What am I supposed to be doing with my life? Sometimes, if the timing is right, looking up at the night sky makes me feel connected, like I’m a part of the vastness of the universe; I can feel the energy of the stars, the moon, the planets and the empty spaces in between.
That being said, sometimes I sense spirits in my presence. You know when you’re in a room, and someone walks in, you can just feel that they’re there. Usually, this is because we pick up on the sounds of someone breathing or the difference of the air pressure. But what do you do when there is no one physically in the room with you? In my experience, nothing physical has happened with these spirits. I just know they are present. I feel it in every fibre of my being and I have learned at an early age to listen to my intuition. I don’t usually sense animosity either; for the most part, I have peaceful spirits that enter my home. To my accounting, other than my mom, I am the only one in my immediate family that can sense these things.
I feel, throughout my life journey that I have been through hell. My experiences are different than anyone else’s, and for that reason are based on perception. However, people are different and how they react to their situation is different. There should be no judgments or criticisms to be made. Also, how people deal with the resulting trauma is different from anyone else. To be honest, I think most people don’t deal with their pre-existing trauma. People may even have a mild form of PTSD and not even be aware of it to a degree. I think because bad memories cause pain, people shy away from them and ignore it. They think by running away, and telling themselves since it’s in the past, there is nothing they can do to change it. (Don’t we always hear that we should never live in the past?) This is true for the event, but not for the pain that it caused. Physical pain may be gone, but emotional and psychological pain last forever, or at least until you deal with it. It’s not something you can just “forget”.
Here is where my spirituality comes in. I was looking for a way to deal with my emotional and psychological pain from past traumatic events. I started researching and reading tons of books about spirituality, meditation, auras, witchcraft, yoga, cleansing rituals, you name it. Here is what some people may not know about witchcraft - it has nothing to do with being the “pointy hat-wearing witch”, and everything to do with listening to your heart, self-care, listening to your intuition, being kind to all living and non-living entities, and ultimately being happy and at peace with yourself.
My methods of accomplishing all this are free-form journaling, performing cleansing rituals, healing rituals, meditating, doing yoga, shadow-work journaling, writing affirmations, gratitudes and manifestations. I try to show kindness to everyone I come into contact with in person or online, and I try not to judge people. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt and I believe in karma. These things encompass my spiritual nature and in turn make me spiritual. I’m finding my power again after the trauma that I’ve been through, and even though I feel pain when I think about the past, I know that I’m dealing with those things and healing as I find my personal peace.
💙 Sandra
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