A Personal Introduction

My name is Bill and I am a graphic designer and multimedia producer living in Pittsburgh, PA with my wife and many animals.

I grew up Roman Catholic and Charismatic. Soon after college, I drifted about spiritually, dipping my toe in many religions and philosophies, especially Vedantic Hinduism. And I even went so far as converting to Reform Judaism for a few years. Then I kinda slid into basic Deism.

But, alas, it was by searching deeper and deeper for and into the divine, I got the feeling that the divine just might not be there. (And I have to say that Richard Dawkins did have a hand in some of this.)

Then, on the way to work one morning on my city’s light rail transit, I noticed a poster for a lenten fish fry. And it strangely gave me a sudden yearning for Lent. I thought that if I was Catholic, Lent would be a great opportunity to whittle down some negative habits, such as prolonged internet time. Then, I wondered if there was a time- or earth-based version of Lent that would be devoid of any reference to the divine.

Well, after some research at work, I discovered that Lent, in fact, is a forced Christianization of the 40 days leading up to the pagan Feast of Tammuz. I also discovered an article by a time-based priestess about Pagan Lent.

More research led me to neo-Druidry. And much of what I discovered, I really liked. Especially the connection to nature and the seasons.

I see no evidence of the divine, supernatural, or even an intrinsic meaning in the universe, but I know that I desire grounding. And since the things that seem to exist th most are matter/nature and change/energy/time, why not ground myself in these concepts.

So here I am, taking a little bit of Druidry, a bit of Taoism, a huge chunk of rational humanism, and smidges of every other religion I've perused or participated in (including Dudeism), and trying to get through this thing called life.