Introduction

It seems only right for my first post on this blog to be an introduction post, doesn't it?
Well, I started off as a Catholic. My whole family is Catholic so there's really no mystery though. I begun to sort of drift away from that faith though when I was about 18 years old. I started looking at other faiths. When I was in college I kind of got into Buddhism. What drew me to Buddhism was some of the ideas, the meditation (which I found to be really relaxing) and the bodhisattvas. I also started exploring Catholicism more. Then I discovered paganism.

I had heard about paganism before but only in a wicca-worshipping-nature way. Don't get me wrong. I love nature. I just didn't want to worship it per se and def. not in a (neo)wiccan way. I also wanted some kind of holy figure(s) or a god(s). Then I found a youtube video of someone talking about worshiping the Egyptian gods and I was like "O.M.G. You can do this?" I started researching the ancient gods and mythology more.

The first candle I lit for a goddess was for Bast and the only reason I did it was because I had a statue of her in my room. It was a small black statue that I had gotten as a little girl during a trip to a museum one day because I like cats. I somehow still had it after all of these years. Maybe there's some special Bast-was-always-there-just-waiting-for-me significance behind it. Maybe not. But I lit a candle for her and talked to her. I felt a little silly but there was another feeling there too. It was Bast. Surprise!

Bast was there but I didn't just go "ok, I'm a kemetic pagan now!" I wanted to explore my new religion more. So, I decided to open myself up spiritually and learn more about the various pagan paths and pantheons. I tried contacting the Roman and Celtic gods next because that's my heritage. The Celtic gods never really responded but I found myself with Ceres. Since that day she has become an increasingly important goddess and force in my life.

But I want to backtrack for a minute. Before working with Ceres I was reading a lot about Religio Romana. I was reading about not just the gods but about other aspects of the religion too. I really liked a lot of what I was reading. So, before Ceres contacted me, I set up a make-shift lararium and welcomed the lares, di penates and the gods to my altar and home.

A little bit after the time that Ceres entered my life, I was going through a difficult time. I won't get into those details but Ceres helped me through it. This is one reason why I treat Ceres as more important and place her first in my spiritual path. She helped me and taught me some important things. During another difficult time she told me to speak to her daughter, Proserpina, and I'm grateful that I did. I've been working with Proserpina ever since then.

More recently I have started to describe my practices as Roman-Kemetic. I'm still figuring this out though. But I can say one thing for sure: After years of thinking about religion and figuring out what my beliefs are, I feel like I am in the right place now.