I am a hedgewitch. I would explain to them that my path involves being as environmentally sound as possible, looking after the earth so that it can survive and look after us. I would explain roughly the Gaia theory as best I understand it - that the world is a self regulating entity, that it works on balance, and that where aspects of its existence are out of balance then natural disasters occur to re-balance. I also believe the world is made up of different energies and vibrational levels - just because you can't see gravity for example doesn't mean we don't know it's there, same with the energies one would use for spellcasting.

Environmentally, I try to leave as little impact as I can. I pick up my litter, I try to commute to work on the train rather than driving, I recycle my food waste, paper, cans and bottles, and plastic bags. I try not to buy blast mined crystals. I buy from fair trade organisations. My spellwork tends to be carried out in the kitchen or through meditations - I don't use a lot of props, and those I do use are kept as simplistic as possible. I do sympathetic magics, using poppets and day to day items.

I don't know, but, I've not had any reason to believe to to be unsuccessful. The find a job spell for my boyfriend seems to have worked. the money spell ensures we always have enough to get by. I've had no more trouble from my stalker. I don't cast a lot of magic, only when I need to.

It seemed the most natural way for me to proceed. I had trouble accepting the idea of a God and a Goddess, or even a whole pantheon of them, outside of mythologies. I've never been a religious person - my path is more of a spirituality than a religion. It's a bit of a mixture of hedge witch, Gaia and the Celestine Prophecy (nice idea, naff book).

I have no experience of otherworld beings, I only know other peoples' stories. In my mind, these beings are archetypes that I would use if I needed to focus my intent upon an outcome. I do not believe in their existence other than outside my own need.

selfish and invented for my own need

It is every aspect of my life, it cannot be separated.

The only certainty in life is death. You are born, you live, you die, and it's what you do in your lifetime that matters. Death is only painful to those left behind, and grief is an indulgence which we allow ourselves to help get over our loss. I grieve whenever I hear of a death, even if i didn't know who died, and that is my way of coping with the news. Hopefully when I die my soul will be reincarnated after a period of rest.

as an artificial construct. as a way of keeping us under thrall to the idea that if you haven't achieved such and such by this time/date/age then you are a failure.

there is no good and evil other than what we make. it is a human construct, so engrained in the human psyche that they are attributed easily and without thinking. every human being has the capability of good and evil within them - it's what their observers say that rules if an action is good or evil.

I don't use a lot of props or sacred spaces - i make my own sacred space wherever i am, be it an office or the shower. if people feel their experience is enhanced by this, then so be it. Likewise, I practice my own craft in whatever I happen to be wearing.

Religion is the cause of all war and subsequent suffering in the world. Where would we be without it? Religion has always been a way of explaining the inexplicable.

it's the new religion. I like science, it backs up a lot of what I believe.

I don't think they relate very closely at all, but then again, how could they possibly. Ancient pagans lived in caves and had to avoid being squashed by mammoths - their form of worship would necessarily be a lot bloodier than a modern day pagan living in a city in an apartment block. However, modern paganism is no less valid because of this.