I'm an atheist but I'm still drawn to magic, how are you all? Nice to meet you :)

[Demoncard]

Hello

I'm 23, I live in a state of Misery(Missouri) and I have 5 cats who are spoiled little brats. I love nature but I also love air conditioned indoors with a laptop and some tea.

So, I'm a newbie to this forum. Not to paganism as a whole though. I've studied and practiced for 4 straight years but in the last year, everything just went blank. I realized I was a complete atheist. That I didn't even believe we have a soul. So, I stopped practicing magic, doing rituals or even reading about it. I felt like a hypocrite. But at the same time, I'm still very drawn to magic. I still want to practice it but how do you when you don't believe in anything of the spirit nature? That's why I've come here.

I just don't want to offend anyone or do something wrong. Can you still practice it as a way to cement your goals? Make them stick in your mind? If that makes sense...

Nice to be here. I can't wait to get started.

[Emma Eldritch]

Hello

I'm 23, I live in a state of Misery(Missouri) and I have 5 cats who are spoiled little brats. I love nature but I also love air conditioned indoors with a laptop and some tea.

So, I'm a newbie to this forum. Not to paganism as a whole though. I've studied and practiced for 4 straight years but in the last year, everything just went blank. I realized I was a complete atheist. That I didn't even believe we have a soul. So, I stopped practicing magic, doing rituals or even reading about it. I felt like a hypocrite. But at the same time, I'm still very drawn to magic. I still want to practice it but how do you when you don't believe in anything of the spirit nature? That's why I've come here.

I just don't want to offend anyone or do something wrong. Can you still practice it as a way to cement your goals? Make them stick in your mind? If that makes sense...

Nice to be here. I can't wait to get started.

 
You can totally still practice magic as an atheist. Magic and religion do not have to be intertwined, and you don't need to utilize gods in your practice.

Also: welcome to the Cauldron.

[NanLT]

Hello

I'm 23, I live in a state of Misery(Missouri) and I have 5 cats who are spoiled little brats. I love nature but I also love air conditioned indoors with a laptop and some tea.

So, I'm a newbie to this forum. Not to paganism as a whole though. I've studied and practiced for 4 straight years but in the last year, everything just went blank. I realized I was a complete atheist. That I didn't even believe we have a soul. So, I stopped practicing magic, doing rituals or even reading about it. I felt like a hypocrite. But at the same time, I'm still very drawn to magic. I still want to practice it but how do you when you don't believe in anything of the spirit nature? That's why I've come here.

I just don't want to offend anyone or do something wrong. Can you still practice it as a way to cement your goals? Make them stick in your mind? If that makes sense...

Nice to be here. I can't wait to get started.

I've known plenty of spellcasters who are also atheist. Some of them see the Gods as being more Jungian archetypes and others don't consider them at all.

I also know many spellcasters who do believe in the Gods, but who don't call upon them for doing spellwork. Like the atheist spellcasters I know, they believe the magic is created through personal energies and not by divine intervention.

[Demoncard]

I've known plenty of spellcasters who are also atheist. Some of them see the Gods as being more Jungian archetypes and others don't consider them at all.

I also know many spellcasters who do believe in the Gods, but who don't call upon them for doing spellwork. Like the atheist spellcasters I know, they believe the magic is created through personal energies and not by divine intervention.

 
The archetypes actually make a lot of sense. I was reading into that prior to just quitting all together. Just how they exemplify certain aspects of humanity etc.. It was really interesting. Thank you for bringing this up.

Thank you for the welcome

[Viv]

Hello

 
Welcome to TC

[RandallS]

Hello

Welcome to The Cauldron!

So, I stopped practicing magic, doing rituals or even reading about it. I felt like a hypocrite. But at the same time, I'm still very drawn to magic. I still want to practice it but how do you when you don't believe in anything of the spirit nature? That's why I've come here.

Magic need not involve religion (or deities) any more than religion has to involve magic. In other words, you don't have to believe in or wiorship any deities to practice many forms of magic.

[Unakite5]

. So, I stopped practicing magic, doing rituals or even reading about it. I felt like a hypocrite. But at the same time, I'm still very drawn to magic. I still want to practice it but how do you when you don't believe in anything of the spirit nature? That's why I've come here.

I just don't want to offend anyone or do something wrong. Can you still practice it as a way to cement your goals? Make them stick in your mind? If that makes sense...

Nice to be here. I can't wait to get started.

 
From one newbie (here) to another, welcome. Just like everyone else has said, the great thing about the magickal path, it seems, is that you cannot do it wrong. It is inherently...customizable? That's a really bad word choice but...

I've also heard a lot of great things about depth psychology--dealing with the psyche instead of with the G/gods.

And, concerning the Cauldron specifically, it seems diverse enough to withstand a bunch of people with their own understandings of the nature of the universe. I think as long as you're respectful, everyone else will be too.

:-)

[yewberry]

I still want to practice it but how do you when you don't believe in anything of the spirit nature?

 
I'm a non-theist (if they exist, they've never revealed themselves to me), don't care at all about "souls" (I only care about thoughts and behaviors) and a practitioner of magic.  If I put my mind to a truly woo-less lifestyle, I might even be able to make magic work as a meditation/contemplation/personal development device without worrying about specific outcomes.  But the woo keeps finding me, so until then I'll continue to "believe" magic works...or at least pushes things around a little.

That was all a long-winded way of saying welcome.  

Brina

[AlexaHunter]

"Hello"

 "..I realized I was a complete atheist..."

"...But at the same time, I'm still very drawn to magic..."

 
I totally understand I'm actually in the same boat! I feel like even if I don't believe in gods I do believe in spirits because well I have a group that seems to follow me around and cause weird stuff to happen so that's how I sort of rationalize it for myself. Not the best word choice but you know what I mean.

Oh and Hello by the way!

[Demoncard]

I totally understand I'm actually in the same boat! I feel like even if I don't believe in gods I do believe in spirits because well I have a group that seems to follow me around and cause weird stuff to happen so that's how I sort of rationalize it for myself. Not the best word choice but you know what I mean.

Oh and Hello by the way!

 
Thanks for all the welcomes guys. I really appreciate it

[Flame]

Hello

I'm 23, I live in a state of Misery(Missouri) and I have 5 cats who are spoiled little brats. I love nature but I also love air conditioned indoors with a laptop and some tea.

So, I'm a newbie to this forum. Not to paganism as a whole though. I've studied and practiced for 4 straight years but in the last year, everything just went blank. I realized I was a complete atheist. That I didn't even believe we have a soul. So, I stopped practicing magic, doing rituals or even reading about it. I felt like a hypocrite. But at the same time, I'm still very drawn to magic. I still want to practice it but how do you when you don't believe in anything of the spirit nature? That's why I've come here.

I just don't want to offend anyone or do something wrong. Can you still practice it as a way to cement your goals? Make them stick in your mind? If that makes sense...

Nice to be here. I can't wait to get started.

 
I'm the same way as you! Its very....interesting.

[Lightdragon]

Hello

I'm 23, I live in a state of Misery(Missouri) and I have 5 cats who are spoiled little brats. I love nature but I also love air conditioned indoors with a laptop and some tea.

So, I'm a newbie to this forum. Not to paganism as a whole though. I've studied and practiced for 4 straight years but in the last year, everything just went blank. I realized I was a complete atheist. That I didn't even believe we have a soul. So, I stopped practicing magic, doing rituals or even reading about it. I felt like a hypocrite. But at the same time, I'm still very drawn to magic. I still want to practice it but how do you when you don't believe in anything of the spirit nature? That's why I've come here.

I just don't want to offend anyone or do something wrong. Can you still practice it as a way to cement your goals? Make them stick in your mind? If that makes sense...

Nice to be here. I can't wait to get started.

 
pretty much what everyone else said on the matter.  and Welcome to The Cauldron.