My Spirit Walk, Part One: Some History

Part of the aforementioned inner journey has been trying to figure out where I fall on the religious spectrum. For those of you who have never been privy to the Jasper experience, I was raised as a Catholic. Oh, so Catholic. Knew the sacraments, the saints, prayed the Rosary, memorized the Hail Mary and Apostle's Creed for religion class. I can stand and sit and kneel in unison with others on cue, which actually may have been great for my dance and theater training. A group of gals in my class and I all wanted to go to Marian Heights Academy (a former area Catholic high school) and talked about it almost daily. They changed their minds later when they realized that there would be no boys at the school. I changed my mind because they didn't have a color guard. Priorities, you know.

I drifted away from my Catholic roots in high school, veering off into a distinct agnostic oblivion for a time. I veered even further off the path in college until an intrepid soul named Katey decided that I needed some religious grounding. I explained to her that my background with Catholicism made me hesitant to get involved with God-driven hoopla of any sort, so she handled me gingerly and introduced me to Christianity that didn't involve a guy in a white robe with a tall, pointy hat.

My public spiritual practice waxed and waned during college. As is most things with me, I kept it close to my heart but did not share it very freely, rarely going to services (not "mass," which I still call it regardless of what church I visit) but continuing to read the Bible (which, oddly enough, we didn't do in my Catholic schooling) and studying the message of the Word. I also developed an interest in other religions: how they practice, how/who they worshiped, how the people who believe relate to the world around them.

Recently, I decided that part of my broken self that needed fixing was my spiritual identity. I was tired of floating and needed an anchor. So, I began putting together what I had learned, focusing on what my "true self" believes, and trying new religions on for size. It was a crapshoot, really. Very little direction. Then, I found an online spiritual quiz that actually held some clout from a reliable spiritual network not associated with any one religion. No one was going to contact me or recruit me or try to help me "become clear." The information was just for my knowledge, my comfort.

And that's where Part 2 will start. It was interesting.