Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm a Kemetic Reconstructionist- that is a modern revival of the ancient Egyptian religion. There are quite a few reconstructionist religions out there, far more than there were when I first entered the Pagan community. I am interested to see this particular branch of our family tree growing.

As for the Wicca/witch/spellcrafting thing... I used to be Wiccan, and although I was always interested in magical theory I didn't actually practice it all that much. There are two aspects to Wicca in my opinion. That's a gross generalization, but I think that most practitioners will agree that there is the theological side, and the magical side- some are more into one, some the other, and some ride the fence between. *shrugs* We all have our different focuses.

I'd also like to point out that not all witches are Wiccan. A witch is simply someone who practices magic- if you want to get picky, it's generally a term applied to someone who practices some form of European folk magic or a school of magic which is at least rooted in Western occultism. There are quite a few members of the modern Pagan community who identify as witches, but aren't Wiccan.

As for me, however, I don't really consider myself a witch- even though I practice magic on a much more regular basis now than I ever did as a Wiccan. The Kemetic idea of "magic" (which we call "heka") is a little different from Western conceptions of that term- and admitedly, that can sometimes cloud my perceptions of other schools of magical thinking despite my best intentions. I find that, as with many subjects within Kemetic reconstructionism- the concept of heka clicks a great deal more with my worldview than what I've read elsewhere (although I still find other schools of thought fascinating!). Religion and magic are far more intimately intertwined in Kemetic life, for example; I tend to think of heka as simply the science of applied religion. I use what I have come to understand about the world and its workings- both physical and spiritual, since Kemetic culture does not value one above the other- and apply that in an intelligent and conscientious fashion. Ergo, heka is as natural a part of my life as my spiritual experiences and practical personality.

I currently don't have a religion...
I was Christian when I was younger. My mom would occasionally take me to church, but even then everything that they said seemed to just fly over my head. The huge, extravagant church, the songs we sang (that I never learned the words to), even what I read from the bible seemed... superficial, for lack of a better word. Something about it just irked me.

And the older I became, the more I realized that Christianity wasn't for me.

I still carry with me a lot of the moral values of christianity, (as do a lot of Americans I think, due to the way our country/culture is based) but I've taken aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Shintoism and added them to my beleifs as well.

As far as the future goes... the two religions I'm leaning towards taking seriously are Buddhism and Shintoism. Both learn about the world by observing nature and the nature of people, which I already do much of the time. Plus, Buddhism applies a lot of intro-spection through meditation, and after taking a couple of meditation classes (two sitting, one Tai Chi) I've really seen the benefits of looking at oneself intently. Especially as a person with very little self-confidence, among other internal issues.

Cool beans, one of my good friends is Mormon. She was my roommate in Nevada when I was going to school there for a year. Sadly I didn't finish school there because I found that I didn't suit my major very well.