E is for “E-Religion”

I don’t really think of my faith as being an online faith, but I can see where the mistake can be made. We gather on a forum, we engage in ritual and prayer via IRC, we blog, we Facebook about our faith.

But Kemetic Orthodoxy is about so much more than dot coms and dot orgs and the fact that when I log into freenode’s IRC servers, it tells me that my server is named after Joanne Rowling.

My religion is about building relationships: with people, with spirits, with gods. We build those relationships with the means we have. I live in California, so clearly my relationship with Shemsu in Florida and Ohio is not likely to be based on luncheons after Duas. They’re based on getting to know each other textually, commenting on Facebook statuses, and hanging out on Stickam. I would give all I own to be able to live in a Kemetic Orthodox neighborhood, and I like to think that in the coming years, there will be enough of us in one place to make that happen. As it is, people are unintentionally ending up closer and closer to each other, with conversions and job placements.

I wish I could know the number of pagans who are solitaries in this world by accident rather than choice, and I wish that I could reach out to local ones to start some eclectic group here in California (instead, I spend time at liberal Christian and Unitarian-Universalist congregations that will accept me as I am). It’s beautiful to be in the presence of those moved by the spirit of love (called it Jesus or Netjer, it’s all the same to me), but being in the presence of others who believe as we do is even more touching. This is why I find online paganism so beautiful – not just the House, but this Pagan Blog Project, and those Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and deviantArt pages run by those who love the Old Gods. I’m glad that we use the internet to connect to each other (at the risk of being labeled “internet religion”), if only for that one thing: companionship.

 

Is connecting with others important to your spiritual development? How do you connect?

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