Losing my religion was the best thing that ever happened to me.

[Fireball]

I studied Wicca, paganism, Taoism, pantheism, etc. trying to find a belief system that I truly felt was right for me. Everything was hollow and nonsensical.

Sounds like the path I took too.  I started out as a fangrrl of Athena in pre-teenage years, did a high school project on Hinduism, and wrote a modern-day-Jesus character into a story.

I then spent a couple of years with tarot, astrology and Golden Dawn ceremonial stuff; explored Judaism, Christian Science and Jodo Shinshu Buddhism; and spent 10 years in Nichiren Buddhism.

The last little bit of woo-woo was actually pretty funny, and led to My 'Net persona as a somewhat snarky Norse Goddess.  It came about indirectly as a result of a D&D group that I had hung out with in the early '80s.  Someone else in the group gave My daughter his old D&D stuff, including some Dragonlance modules and graphic novels.  For reasons that remain a mystery even to this day I fell head over heels for Raistlin Majere and started doing DL-themed costumes at a local science fiction/fantasy convention.  Someone saw the glow-in-the-dark arcane stitching I had put on the hood of some very nice black velvet robes, and asked "Are those real runes?"

I had just made up the designs, but I had to know.  Studying the runes led to Óðinn and the rest of the crowd from Asgard, and the Eddas, and a few years as a moderately serious solitary Norse heiðin, before giving My head a good shake and going "Wait, what?"

I still have those black robes, BTW.  And a bag of runes.

I got into the Elder Futhark only for the esoteric symbols that I could use on a hiking staff that I had. My carvings would have been a pictograph of a bear, with "raido" "dagaz". The bear comes from strength in the Amerind religion (I am part Native American, as legislated here in the US). "Raido", as you know, means road or path or seeking, "Dagaz" means day or light or knowledge. A lot of it is read in context. Basically, I meant it as "I am on a journey to learn". I'm not in any way supporting the Nordic religious beliefs, by the way. It was just a cryptic conceit, a way to express that I don't have all the answers, but am learning. I earned a B Sc in Physics on that road. The day I stop questioning and learning is the day I die.

Though, to be honest, when some xtian religitard starts spouting his/her crap, I tell them that Thor is going to bring down some lightning. All that superstition!