A few words about the Wicca Way

I am not what you would call your typical Pagan (or Wiccan, since some like that word better). I never have been a typical anything, but I have been a pagan since I was eleven years old (much to the annoyance of my "super-Christian" godmother). If I am anything, I'm what my best friend calls a "firebug", since I'm far from elementally balanced, and I like it that way. I don't conform to regular Pagan standards, but then, what are "regular" Pagan standards anyway?
Some like the elemental road, some are purely devotional, some are as fanatical as any "bible-thumping" Christian out there. And please excuse me if I seem bitter about Christianity. I'm not really, I just find it very hypocritical. I was raised Lutheran, and it is the hypocrisy of the church, among other things, that I attended throughout my childhood that eventually led me to the Wiccan faith. I suppose, for that, I owe the Christian's a debt of thanks.
I have met hundreds of different types of Pagans, and only very few agree with my own views. My best friend, Ariel Moonspinner, has very different beliefs than I do, but as she says, "When it all comes out in the wash, we're all basically sitting under the same tree, we're just looking at it from different sides."
What prompted me to write this page was a letter I read on the net, from a Satanist no less, talking about the hypocrisy of the Wiccan faith. There's nothing I hate more than hearing someone trash another religion when they are basically doing the same thing we are... Christians worship God (Jehovah, Jesus, whatever), Satanists worship Satan, We worship The Goddess and the God (whatever name you may call them)... Where is the real difference, other than names, faces and titles?
Religion is a big deal to me. I'm studying for a Doctorate in Metaphysics so that I can tell people how to help themselves find inner peace. Some think that I'm going to go on a "Pagan preaching binge" and go from place to place telling people how their religions are wrong and that ours is the only "true and right Way". Why would I do that? One of the things I've learned is that Religion isn't half as important as spirituality. It's more Personal Power than Godly Might that gets things done. I can say that I'm glad to have a Practitioner's Diploma and a Minister's Degree, so that I can show people what I believe is the basis for personal well-being.

Vaia MoonShadow