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PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES
Jim Stanford
As a child, my agnostic
parents encouraged me to develop an open mind to spirituality. My
Anglican school ensured that I attended chapel six times a week. Whilst
this gave me an appreciation of the ritual and rhythm of religious
practice, Christianity left me uninspired.
These early
experiences turned me away from organised religion and indeed for a few
years from spirituality altogether. My first true inspiration came from
reading the newly published ground breaking book, Witchcraft and the Gay
Counterculture by Arthur Evans, which I came across in my early
twenties. This reopened my awareness of spirituality and sowed the seeds
for my later development and my personal exploration of Queer Paganism.
More recently this has developed further into joining a community of
like minded queers and finding my tribe. My belief integrates the
spirituality of all nature and of all matter, and in the interconnection
between the body, the mind and the spirit.
I’m a member of the
Albion Faeries, a group which encompasses many people with varying
beliefs, but which has a strong shamanic thread. For me, love, sexuality
and spirituality are indivisible.
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