I'm a solitary practitioner. I am a member of the AFA but they don't have any groups or anything close enough to where I live. I don't partake in rituals really but I am thinking about becoming more active, even if I go it alone.
I was born into a nominal Baptist family. My parents never attended church or read from the Bible, but they strongly believed, and still do by the way, that one must "ask for forgiveness and accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior." Though they don't attend services or anything they are intensely religious and it's important to my parents that I believe in Christianity. My religious beliefs are never discussed with them.
I converted to Catholicism in high school and was in and out of church for the past 4 or 5 years. In that time I dabbled in various denominations (hell I even flirted with Mormonism) and various religious traditions. I wanted deeply to find "the truth," to find the answer that I was looking for. Finally I dropped all religious affiliation and called myself an atheist. I found the atheist worldview lacking and I started researching my ancestry and my cultural lineage. I wanted a sense of myself and my bloodline's history, I wanted to see what made me who I am.
I first discovered Heathenism roughly a year ago but I really didn't want to get started with another religion and be dragged back into the craziness of organized religion. I was also initially scared off because I thought it was a religion for bigots. However the more I looked, the more my soul sang out for Asatru. One of the beautiful things about this way of life is that it's not organized religion. It's a fiercely independent religion. I've also come to realize that Asatru, true Asatru, has NOTHING to do with racism or any garbage like that. If anything heathenry teaches that you are to respect and treat all other peoples and cultures with respect and honor.
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