Ordained

Its a funny thing really. My last posting was religiously based, and after making my post and speaking my peace on the matter, thought I would be done and over with the subject. I did however mention towards the end of my post wanting to see about becoming a certified pagan priestess for the sake of saying its one more thing I've accomplished for myself, so I began looking into what it would take to become that very thing.

Now, "Why?" you may ask would I want to count that among one of the accomplishments I've made in my life. There are several reasons really, but it mostly boils down to wanting to be able to legally say that I am capable of performing things like weddings, funerals, and other such ceremonies and rites of passage, without having to go through a Christian church to do so. During my investigations on becoming such a thing, I came across reading material about Druidism. After all, the term "Pagan" is a general term, for anything that isn't directly "Christian" is considered pagan belief, and there are hundred of them out there.

After going through various pagan religions, I found that where I stand on life and everything in it is vastly similar to a Druid outlook on life. I still hold a generally Gnostic point of view, but it just so happens that Gnosticism and Druidism are very similar in many ways. Suppose I've been a Druid all these years without ever really waking up and realizing it.

So I'm a Druid. I've found where I stand, but how again do I become legally recognized as a priestess? The answer was much much MUCH simpler than I imagined.

Turns out my field of search wasn't entirely accurate for the knowledge I was seeking when I first started my investigations. When starting, I neglected to search under the term "ordain". Including this in my search however brought about more direct result.

Under the Universal Life Church, all religious views are welcomed and embraced, and all members are capable of becoming ordained members of the church regardless of personal faith, as they hold but two tenets -

-to promote religious freedom
-to do that which is right.

I'd never heard of or seen a church that was all accepting of faiths, and willing to ordain anyone under their faith in the name of their church. But, I decided to climb on board, and seek ordain-ship through them. It was as simple as filling out a very short form, and thanks to the wonders of electronic communications, my information is now documented in the United Life Headquarters as an ordained member of the church. As such, I am free to practice and fellowship among others of my own beliefs, legally perform weddings, funeral, and other ceremonial rites of passage, and can even start my own church if I wish (which I don't).

So here I am. A Druid, and legally ordained. I can officially be claimed by law as a Druid Priestess (even if I'm not part of any coven or Druid sect that would recognize me as such). I prefer a solitary path anyway.