I am starting a very important initiative that will need the help of those who wish to make real impacts where they matter the very most to nature-based faiths! ALWTA is The Ancestral Loom & World Tree Alliance! This initiative is designed to bring all of us together under a CAUSE! We are always going to be arguing with other religions that want to give us a bad name. But they wont have a thing to say when we stand together doing amazing things for the benefit of nature. Standing at the helm of stopping corporate clear-cutting, seeking protections for ancient trees, doing work to bring environmental awareness to local spiritual communities and that it is our most SACRED duty to begin pulling together! One of the things that makes these paths so difficult to really feel close to at times is because we have a lot of "gatekeepy" types, we have people who focus on insignificant differences and make others feel as though they need to be defensive of their own place in their path. They don't seek to teach, they seek to humiliate. They seek to hoard their members as if they are the only ones who should be teaching! And they don't reach out. They want everyone in their group but wont allow us to share our own group posts! It's all very "culty" and true spiritual autonomy should never feel that way! We have a lot of different views based on our own exoeriences of spirituality and what we grew up with! And that shouldn't be a problem! But even as we all seek that autonomy, many just want to say they don't think certain other people should practice or they think people shouldn't practice outside their own ancestral background. But the true picture can not be found in one or two or 10 different cultures. Oh no, it is part of them all! That is what is most important to understand about the wide worldview of Paganism. We are not obligated to exclude! We are also not obligated to include! We follow what calls to us! There are no set rules on how we gain knowledge as long as we seek it honestly!

What is animism? This topic is paramount to changing the worldview we hold in today's modern society, to one more tuned to the understanding of the old cultures. Animism is the term we use for the vision to see all life force. Spiritual, physical, temporal, all things, all life forms and even seemingly inanimate natural materials. And what do we have to prove it exists? Science! When you look through a microscope so powerful that you can see the building cells of an object, there is energy. There is a force binding each of these molecules to one another. Creating a blueprint of the object it forms. Keeping it's shape despite the infinite forces around the cosmos. That force isn't gravity. It is a perfect combination of many forces. Science would call them astatic, or the processing of energy. Animism calls them living sentient forces, fully aware of their duty. In Quantum mechanics, we can see that nothing is defined alone but in relation to everything around it. This is core to animism as well. What entity exists that doesn'thave a purpose or interaction with what is around it? We have a physical ecosystem in nature. It is measurable in various ways. Nature itself is loaded with sentient energy. Every tree, flower, blade of grass, herb, weed, all co-exist in an ecosystem that connects them. They give off chemical reactions and can recieve them as messages. A spiritual ecosystem isn't so different. But to be aware of it, means giving into your own energy. You are an energetic being inhabiting a physical body made up of earthly materials. Your body is physiologically bound to everything else. Your energy is what animated the flesh. Your energy isn't just animating your body but it connects you to all the spiritual energy around you. Learning how to sense energies requires stripping your mind of everything you consider "reality" and recognizing that you can't see air. But that doesn't mean it isn't there! So, the spiritual energetic ecosystem is no different! And one day if we are lucky, we might lift the veil over our mind's eye and see once again, what is on the other side of that spectrum!

What concerns you most about our struggle to make Paganism more accepted in mainstream society? (Feel free to elaborate or state a different concern in comments!)

As an admin, I can see a rough idea of where each of my members are, but you cant see where your fellow classmates come from! So let's get to know this basic info about each other! Just give us a rough idea. Country and state or county/region. I am currently in Florida, USA! Originally Rhode Island, the smallest of all US states, aka The Ocean State!

Today is Self Promo Day as is every Sunday! Share your skool, tell us about it in detail, and see who might come knocking at your door! We all must help each other through the struggle of moving up in this world! That is what a tribe is meant to be! An all encompassing support system! Let us all thrive together!