Rose Ariadne's Chitchcraft Blog

Dear Friends,

Previously I touched upon a few basic principles of Paganism. One of those principles was that you are the one that is solely responsible for choosing your own beliefs. For some people however, it can sometimes be difficult to truly identify what their beliefs are.

There is a simple exercise that you can use to help you in identifying these beliefs. Even if you are one of those people that feel you already know what your beliefs are and have no need to identify them, this particular exercise can be very enlightening and I strongly recommend doing it anyway. There is no limit to the amount of spiritual growth that a person can enjoy, and exercises such as these help to add to that spiritual growth.

To do this exercise, you will need four sheets of paper. Each page will have it’s own label, and those labels will be Childhood, Teenager, Young Adult and Now. Depending on your present age, you may not need to use one of these pages so just adjust them accordingly.

Start with your Childhood page. Write down what your beliefs were during that time period. What did you believe about life? Your parents? Your responsibilities in life? God or Deity? Religion in general? What did you believe was moral or immoral? Take your time in evaluating these things and filling out your pages. This is not an exercise that needs to be performed all at once, you can spread it out and work on one page as long as necessary. Taking however long you need, complete each page representing the time periods in your life.

Once you have finished your pages, it is time for evaluation and soul searching. Look at the pages and examine them together as one. Do you notice any patterns occurring? Are there some beliefs that you have that have not changes since childhood? If you have some beliefs that have never changed, take them and write them down on a new piece of paper.

Looking at these long held beliefs, where do you believe they came from? What is it about them that makes you believe they are true? How do you believe these beliefs have influenced your life? Do you feel that the limit you in anyway, or are they beliefs that help to free you? You can write the answers to these questions down on your paper, or simply reflect on them internally. Evaluation is key to knowledge, so take time to thoroughly evaluate your answers.

You will also want to evaluate those beliefs you once held that have changed dramatically as you have aged. Write these beliefs down on yet another piece of paper for you to review. What was it that changed those beliefs? Was there a particular event or person that was responsible for those beliefs changing? Do you believe that changing these beliefs has made you more free?

Using this exercise will help you to identify your beliefs and how you came to your particular belief structure in the first place. There are many people that “believe” in something without really knowing just why they believe it. However, when you fully take the time to evaluate they why behind it, you may discover that you really don’t “believe” at all. On the other hand, a proper evaluation of your beliefs may actually help to reinforce and strengthen them when you can determine why you believe the way you do, and why those beliefs are important to you.

I hesitate to say that our beliefs form who we are, but in a way they really do. The beliefs that you hold influence who you are and what choices you make in life. By understanding and identifying your beliefs, you better enable yourself to make the choices that are suitable for you and be confident in who you are.

Brightest Blessings,

Rose Ariadne
Your Warm and Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”