Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hey guys, come here to introduce yourself if you're new, or just want to give us a little bit (or alot) of your religious history.

My name is Tigress, and I was born and raised Catholic. For 14 years I was spoon fed every teaching that church could provide, then I slowly started questioning. Asking "Why?". Later on my parents wanted me to be confirmed into the religion, but it didn't work out that way. I ended up not being confirmed and I ended up hating the Catholic church. It got to the point where my views were so off with the church, that my mother didn't want me to recieve the Eucharist anymore. So I guess you could say I've been officially kicked out of that religion.

I decided to start studying religions back during my sophomore year, and I went from Catholic, to Christian, to Agnostic, to aethiest, and back to Agnostic within half a year. As of now, I am studying any religion I can get my hands on. This guild has really help me broaden my knowledge of different religions, and I hope it will you too.

I was Christian, born and raised (though I suppose I'm technically still BEING raised...). I just found that it didn't fit with me, personally. Thus, I began my search. In grade eight, I found Paganism. I looked further into it, and am still looking, though I consider myself to be a part of it now.

Hi, I'm Naeryn, and I'm Wiccan!

I was born and raised a Southern Baptist Christian (Right in the middle of the Bible Belt), and during my early teenage years I became somewhat agnostic for a couple of years, and then in my late teenage years I began heavy personal research into Early Christianity (Gnostic and Orthodox) and ancient Jewish/Christian Mysticism, and after having many personal spiritual experiances and ascension of spiritual consiousness to God from delving into Christian Gnosticism and spiritually "awakening", and having personal mysticism ascension experiances (gnosis) over the years, I've become what I am now, a Valentinian Gnostic Christian and a student of Jewish Kabbalah, and also a heavy researcher into Jewish/Christian Mysticism and Zoroastrianism and Hinduism and Taoism and Buddhism and Hermeticism and even Neo-Paganism. For me, I Spiritually "Awakened" and found God through many Personal Spiritual Experiances and Ascension of Spiritual Consiousness to God, a "Spiritual Rapture" / "Spiritual Resurrection" if you will, God was always there, I just needed to "Awaken" to God and His/Her prescence. Resting/Reigning with God in the "Silence" of the Fullness, the True State of "No Mind". That's my story.

Valentinian Christian Gnosticism:

Valentinus (100AD-155AD) was a second century Christian mystic and poet. He is sometimes refered to as a "Gnostic" because of the importance that mystical knowledge (gnosis) plays in his thought. Valentinus was born in Phrebonis in upper Egypt about 100 AD and educated in nearby Alexandria. There he became a disciple of the Christian teacher Theudas who had been a disciple of Saint Paul. He claimed that Theudas taught him secret wisdom that Paul had taught privately to his inner circle.

Like many early Christian mystics, Valentinus claimed that that he had a vision of the risen Christ. Following his vision, he began his career as a Christian teacher at Alexandria around 120AD. His esoteric theology quickly attracted a large following in Egypt and Syria. In 136 AD, he went to Rome after stopping briefly in Cyprus. At Rome he quickly rose to prominence and was widely respected for his eloquence. He was so well regarded in the Roman church that in 143 AD he was a candidate for the office of bishop. It seems likely he refused the position. He continued to teach in Rome for at least ten more years.

Nothing certain is known of his later career. He may have died at Rome around 155 AD. According to a late source, he left Rome and went to Cyprus. Some of the legends about "Saint Valentine" probably reflect the lasting prestige he enjoyed at Rome. After Valentinus' death, his disciples further developed his ideas and spread them throughout the Roman Empire.

Valentinus was one of the most influential Gnostic Christian teachers of the second century A.D. He founded a movement which spread throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Despite persecution by the Catholic Church, the Valentinian school endured for over 600 years. Valentinus' influence persists even today. The Valentinian Gnostics were the very first Christians ever to write extensive commentaries on the New Testament. The Valentinian Canon of Scripture contained most of the Old Testament and New Testament and various Christian Gnostic Apocrypha/Pseudographia.

It appears that the Gnostic Valentinus derived his own Gnostic Teaching from Saint Paul the Apostle through a disciple of Saint Paul named Theudas. He had a chance at being Pope. Many early Catholics admired him, some joined his ranks. His school lasted up to 600 A.D.

1 Corinthians 2:6-8 We speak gnosis among the teleioi (mature), but not the wisdom of this age or of the archons of this age, who are passing away. But we speak of the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God ordained before the aeons for our glory. None of the archons of this age knew this; had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Valentinians taught a type of esoteric or "Gnostic" Christian theology. It stood in much the same relationship to mainstream Christianity as the Kabbalah does to mainstream Judaism. Valentinians made use of a series of elaborate metaphors to describe how human beings have become alienated from God and how they can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/ - Valentinian Christian Gnosticism and the Valentinian Tradition

http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Detailed_Articles.htm - Detailed Articles on Valentinianism Gnostic Christian Theology

[Sophia and Eve, The Pair (syzygy) in Valentinian Thought, The Role of Christ, The Doctrine of the Name, Valentinian Monism, Psychology and Salvation, Realized Eschatology, Faith (pistis) and Knowledge (gnosis) in Valentinian Thought, The Church as the Body of Christ, Joined to an Angel, Valentinian Teaching on Sin, Ethics, Sacramental Practices, Valentinians and the Jewish Temple, Valentinian Scriptural Interpretation, The Demiurge in Valentinianism, The Figure of "Error" in the Gospel of Truth, The Valentinian View of the Creation (draft), Bibliography]

EDIT:I'm not Hedge123 anymore, now i'm Captain Jack Sporky.

I was born and raised Baha'i, My father was a Baha'i and my mom- well, undecided. I like the Baha'i Faith because of it's acceptance of other religions. For several months in our local Youth class, we studied just other religions. It was very enlightening. And now, a brief over view of the Baha'i Faith:


The Bahá'í Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Its founder, Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), is regarded by Bahá'ís as the most recent in the line of Messengers of God that stretches back beyond recorded time and that includes Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ and Muhammad.

The central theme of Bahá'u'lláh's message is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification in one global society. God, Bahá'u'lláh said, has set in motion historical forces that are breaking down traditional barriers of race, class, creed, and nation and that will, in time, give birth to a universal civilization. The principal challenge facing the peoples of the earth is to accept the fact of their oneness and to assist the processes of unification.

One of the purposes of the Bahá'í Faith is to help make this possible. A worldwide community of some five million Bahá'ís, representative of most of the nations, races and cultures on earth, is working to give Bahá'u'lláh's teachings practical effect. Their experience will be a source of encouragement to all who share their vision of humanity as one global family and the earth as one homeland.


Bahá'u'lláh taught that there is one God whose successive revelations of His will to humanity have been the chief civilizing force in history. The agents of this process have been the Divine Messengers whom people have seen chiefly as the founders of separate religious systems but whose common purpose has been to bring the human race to spiritual and moral maturity.

Humanity is now coming of age. It is this that makes possible the unification of the human family and the building of a peaceful, global society. Among the principles which the Baha'i Faith promotes as vital to the achievement of this goal are

* the abandonment of all forms of prejudice
* assurance to women of full equality of opportunity with men
* recognition of the unity and relativity of religious truth
* the elimination of extremes of poverty and wealth
* the realization of universal education
* the responsibility of each person to independently search for truth
* the establishment of a global commonwealth of nations
* recognition that true religion is in harmony with reason and the pursuit of scientific knowledge

Find out more at : http://bahai.org/

Firstly, Hi, Prongs! *waves* I've seen you around the Dead Sirius HP guild that I'm in, so I thought I'd, you know, wave.

Anyway, my name is Erin, and you call call me either that or Elias (which is my Gaia name). I was born and raised nothing. When I was about ten, I found myself thirsting for knowledge, and religion in general fascinated me. Since I only knew of one religion that exhisted, I turned to Christianity. Through that, my mother came back to God and started raising me from then on out as southern baptist. But to me, nothing at church made sense. Sure, I could answer all their questions and memorize bible passages, but, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make myself believe a word of it. Trust me. I tried for five years. crying Anyway, I started doing some reasearch and found Paganism. It spoke to me in ways I didn't know were possible. As you can imagine, my mother was not happy. She's very intolerant of my religion, so I tend to want to spread the message of tolerance.

Anyway, it's really good to be here. Hi, everyone. *waves again*

Hello everyone, I am Lauren, aka Kido (key-doh). I was born and raised a Baptist Christian. Later, around the age of 14, I became a non-denominational christian. Now, I am a non-debominational christian witch. I do not like people telling me that it is not possible, which it is. Witchcraft is a craft. People refer to it as "wiccan" only and that makes me mad because I am a firm believer in god and I do all my tarot readings through him. Everything I do, any form of healing, is through him. People, to me, seem to not understand what is seen in their eyes as "right". I am what I am and I believe what I believe. No one knows what is right and what is wrong, only God knows (if you believe in him). I wear a necklace with a pentacle and a charm of Archangel St. Michael. I am suprised no one has called it "blasphemy" or anything else along those lines. I thank you people for understanding that people have their choices. What is right in their eyes might not be what you find right, but their decisions and belief is theirs and theirs alone. It is best to not argue, because one's views will only change if they want to change it. I thank you all for understanding these things and I am proud to be in this Guild.

Certainly. Feel free to copy this and put it in your sig:

Hello Hello, Greetings to all! My name is Rissa, but my lovelies call me Raven. I was baptized into the protestant Christian religion when i was two years old. My mothers side of the family were raised religiously, considering my grandfather was a pastor. But he taught a little differently. He was more open to other people and taught tolerance along with the most promienet teachings a human being should know of the bible. When I was born I had a sister who was my senior by 9yrs, and a brother that was my senior by 12yrs. My brother never cared for religion, he did as he chosed, but he always did the right things naturally. Hes a great guy. and after I started growing up, my sister ended her facination with the church and the protestant religion. So let me fast forward to now. My sister Has been a wiccan for 14yrs, and has practiced witchcraft for about 10yrs. {for those of you that dont know, those 2 things arent necessarily related} and though it seemed that I was following in her footsteps, i am in fact just broadening my knowledge of other religions. 'An ye harm none, thou shall do as thou will' is the thesis of the wiccian rede that i just love. But after I finish up a book I am currently reading {"Distortion Lens" by Jacob Waletzsky} which is about a Mormon college students wanting to portray City night life, the use of drugs and sex as a backwards fascination of finding God, I will be reading Siddarthra, which is about Buddhism. So here I am, a Raven. A child in the dark thats trying to catch a hold of any knowledge she can. ^_^