Pagan-Dao-ist--->Shamanic Daoism.

This is just a matter of clarification. I have recently found that "Daoism" can mean a host of different things. Like any religion it is not just singular, you christians should know that most of all.
And one form can be VERY different from the other. SO I got to thinking, if i go to japan and tell that I am a Daoist, I am going to be SEVERELY misunderstood. And a LOT of people from the west misunderstand Daoism as well. Well, as luck has it, there is a kind of Daoism which is not misunderstood. Daoism as it was practised before Lao Tzu, before the western civilisation, before china was even one country.


Before I go any further I would like to mention one other thing, ever since I have encountered Shamanism, I have always had an affinity towards it. You see, Religion has 2 sides to it, Philosophy and Practice. Or Theology and Worship. I had the Philosophy down with "Daoism". Just to distinguish from Daoists of China and Japan, who are very much influenced by buddhists: I called myself Pagan-Daoist.

But it seems to me that Paganism doesn't even begin to cover the other side of the coin, practice. For a while I have wondered, how do I go about practicing what I believe now that I know it? This is where Shamanism comes in. Shamans by nature are very Daoistic. In fact Daoism started out from the Shamanic Practices of the ancient east.

So here it is, the final draft of my religion and way of life: it is called Shamanic Daoism. The Daoism tells you specifically what my philosophies are and it is needed since Shamanism is just such a broad term, and I in no way will fit in with the shamans of Native america for instance, our beliefs are quite different. The Shamanism clarifies the label as not just purely philosophical, or anysuch thing, and gives the much needed Practicalness, I find it avoids misunderstandings that I have had every time I just say "i am a daoist".

-Tj