Monday, June 1, 2015

Rogue Spirituality

Hello, loves! I'm back from my sabbatical, but am only returning to this space. Hopefully the mindfulness I've been practicing these past weeks will overflow into my tech use now that I've "detoxed". Orion is snoozing so I'm gifting myself a meditation mo


Labels. We carry a bunch of them around with us that we pull out to help us define ourselves to others. If we try not to label ourselves, others will do so for us. We flit in and out of different categories and add and discard labels as our lives ebb and flow and we evolve and change.

Why am I bringing this up? Because over the past few months, I've found one of the labels that I, and many others, have used to define an aspect of myself no longer feels right. I've been pondering it, poking at it like a canker sore and it no longer fits, because, it's not what I practice or who I am. Unless you're sticking to the now dated, and sometimes considered derogatory, dictionary definition, then yes. I cant argue that.

But in the context under which it falls to most people, I'm not a Pagan. I've checked the little box next to it under the religion category in profiles for years, but I've haven't felt a true connection to or ownership of the title for a while , unlike some of the other ones I bear: artist, witch, wife, bookworm, etc. I've never felt entirely a part of the Pagan community, often feeling annoyed and confused when people would talk about community elders, how "we" as a community are represented, or traditional this and thats which I should adhere to. I've always felt a little out of place in a group that, for the most part, seems to shy away from the darker aspects of life, spirituality and magic. I seek balance; male and female deities, darkness and lightness, life and death as the wheel spins. All aspects represented.

Maybe I'm just too much of a solitary, a one woman heart led show. Too much of a rugged individualist, a spiritual drifter.

I'n grateful for the time I've spent with the blanket of Paganism wrapped around me. For the understanding and expression that it has afforded me over the years. To the homecoming of putting a name to my spiritual leanings for the first time ever, back in my teens. But to grow, we must shed that which no longer fits.

So, I'm claiming a new title for myself. One that doesn't feel like it's boxing me in with a community filled with views, opinions and leaders that I didn't agree to. I'm a polytheist, animist, witch, healer, wind talker, crow friend, trance seeker and bone collector. I follow the beat of my heart as it echoes the beat of the Earth's pulse. I speak for myself and with my own spirits and deities, no one else speaks through or for me.

I'm a Spiritual Rogue. Wild, free and untamed. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

4 comments:

  1. By the way all those things you mentioned by far exceed my definition of pagan! Lots and lots of love!

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  2. I'm such a blog lurker but when I read something that makes me say "I completely understand", I have to comment. I have felt much like you described here. If I explain, I'll be saying pretty much what you said so I won't. I think your label is a very nice one and glad it works for you! Good luck with your continued journey!

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  3. Yes! Brilliance from you, as always. I find labels so sticky - and I have a hard time fitting in to them properly. Rogue - I love it!

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  4. i love spiritual rogue! and yes, labels but not labels ... I get it. and I am most comfortable exploring, wading in, wandering out.

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