well well, where to start...name and whatnot i suppose.

I am Thomas James Rockwell, but most call me TJ. I answer many names, mostly because i think its better to have someone find what they're comfortable calling me. I respond to TJ, Tom, Thomas, Rocky, Rockwell, and...well, try me :) . Im 20 now, twenty one next October. Im a college student at San Diego State University, majoring on both Religious Studies and Art emphasizing in sculpture.

Ive been an active Unitarian Universalist going on 6 years at least, maybe more (i have issues keeping track of time). I used to be a Presbyterian Christian, but that was pretty much only because I was raised that way and didnt know of anything else. When I was ten, I shifted away from Christianity and did not identify with any religion, spurred on the the life shattering deaths of my aunt and uncle who I was very close with. I used to think i was atheist, or agnostic, but the real truth was I didnt yet know words to describe what i believed.

I went to a liberal Catholic High School, where i felt unduly uncomfortable because of my unwillingness to put myself in a position of being the unknown. After I got over that, I began identifying as Pagan.
It has been difficult to communicate exactly what that means to people for the most part, so i generally give them a basic rundown of things i DO believe, and then let them ask clarifying questions if they feel comfortable doing so. I believe the world itself is a living spirit, which i identify as a mother goddess sustaining us as the cost of her out suffering (as parents will do). i do not see her as an expressly female spirit (i believe that she is balanced by a male spirit - Mother Earth and Father Sky). I believe in many gods and goddesses from many pantheons, as well as spirits and forces both within and beyond the world in which we live. I believe in the reincarnation and transmigration of the soul, and that our souls can and in all probability have spent time as spiritual guides for others among the living. I believe in past lives. I revere nature and animals, both in form and their spirits. The Bear is my totem, hence the user name. My Familiar/Spirit Guide is also a Bear, and i Love him dearly.

Currently i'm in my third year at SDSU, with plans to attend the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley when i finish here. Still debating on M.Div or MA Theo.