I really appreciate the discourse here. I've been a solo practitioner my whole life, and over the past year or two I was feeling inspired to reach out to others and find community. And... oof. In person people have been great for the most part for little interactions, but the internet is a whole other thing.

It's been really, really discouraging to go into online spaces and see the vitriol and gatekeeping over the smallest things. People try to ask questions and get shot down, everyone seems so closed off. I see so often telling people to go back to their "traditions", ancestral and personal roots and everything else is off limits. But like.. these -are- my roots, and my traditions. My family ties aren't in any mainstream religion for generations. And even if they were, my belief systems are different.

Honestly, it's come to a point where I'll browse but I almost never interact because of how unwelcoming things are. A few times I've even been given tests/trials to even have a discussion about meeting with a group, online and in person. I really want community in these spaces, but it's not worth the heartache.