While I was raised Christian, it never took. Instead it was science that was always my religion. It still is in fact, even after becoming a Witch. I know that some people find religion and science to be two entirely contrary things, like honesty and politics. I have never found it so. Rather I find religion to be something that is very deeply embedded into the core of human psychology, and psychology was always my favorite subject after history and mythology.

Like most Pagans appear to, I believe Divinity is something that is an integral part of the Universe and everything in it. In fact, to me the words Universe and Divinity are interchangeable. Being that I am a part of the Universe, that of course means that Divinity is a part of me (and me of it), as are all of you reading this. As is the computer screen I am looking at, the air I am breathing, the chair I am sitting on, etc...

This is of course Pantheism at its basic level. Yet like many people, I do not find Pantheism to be very appealing to me. It is just not  personal and romantic enough I suppose. Or to put it another way, the Universe is a pretty daunting and amorphous concept. The scale of the Cosmos is so staggering and there is so much to it we do not understand, that we homo sapiens can have a difficult time finding a way to relate to it. So finding a common ground that our minds and our experiences can latch onto and link us to it is not an easy task.

So our brains translate Divinity into something that we can relate to. Deities. Spirits. Other Worlds. These correspond with Archetypes that appear to be ingrained deeply within the human psyche. I am not sure if it is due to out biology or perhaps the shared constants of human experience, or both. But when we look throughout the various cultures throughout the world, we find religion everywhere, and we tend to find similar Archetypes represented within those religions. Each naturally defined through the lens of their own culture, but similar in nature and character none-the-less.
       
Carl Jung was the first to study this, and described the phenomena as the Collective Unconscious. The Collective Unconscious is sort of a reservoir of psychic memory/energy created by humans since the dawn of the race. It is the sum total of the human experience, what we all have in common, which is manifested in Archetypes and Symbols that are shared by all humans across the world throughout time. It is separate from the Personal Unconscious in that the latter stores information which is unique to that individual only.
       
Jung postulates that the Collective Unconscious is a product of the human psyche. But this is of course all very theoretical. It is also quite possible that the reverse is the case. Perhaps the human psyche is the product of a greater shared experience? An individualization from a larger whole given independence of thought and experience, that ultimately returns to that whole along with the knowledge it gains. In any case, to me it is rather like the old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg? What difference does it really make?
       
I see much of Jung's work in mainstream Neo-Paganism, often refined by Joseph Campbell, perhaps the world's most prolific scholar of comparative religion. The Collective Unconscious, the Shadow Self, the Anima/Animus, and more are all Jungian concepts. He believed that "the spiritual potential of an individual seeks realization in the unity of the whole organism, incorporating the various elements of the personal unconscious and establishing access to the collective unconscious". Religion, put in scientific terms.
       
Back to the Archetypes. In mainstream Neo-Paganism we have The God and Goddess as our most basic archetypes. Each in turn often fleshed out slightly more into aspects such as the Stag King or Moon Goddess. Those are often further refined by using individual deities from Pagan cultures such as Dionysus or Diana. By giving Divinity a name and face, a story, feelings, needs and desires, it becomes something that we can easily relate to, as we see our own traits echoed within those deities.
    
Personally, there are several deities whom I feel an affinity for, but there are really only two with whom I work very closely with on a continual basis. First there is Hekate, whom I am Dedicated to as one of her Semnotatoi. Then there is Freja, who seems to have habit of insinuating herself in my life whether I desire it or not. I have met both in my Astral Temple numerous times and I always interact with them very personally. When I Draw Down The Moon, it is always Hekate I call down to join me, and I know she is with me when she does. Make no mistake, they are both very real.
       
However, do I believe they are actual, singular beings living in a cave somewhere under the ground or on the other end of a rainbow bridge? No. I am a scientist, I would need some real hard evidence to accept that. Having an understanding of psychology, I believe that they are nothing more than constructs of my own brain and from the Collective Unconscious. Archetypes which I have unconsciously applied so that I might understand and better interact with the Divine (and so with both the Universe and of course with my own self too).

Does all this mean that Hekate or Freja are any less real? No, of course not. They are as real as I am. I see them, I touch them, I talk to them, and do a lot more. They have a very real effect upon my life. They change it. They are more tangible to me than most people on the planet, because they are directly and personally involved in my life.

To quote Joseph Campbell: "I'm calling a symbol a sign that points past itself to a ground of meaning and being that is one with the consciousness of the beholder. What you're learning in myth is about yourself as part of the being of the world. If it talks not about you, finally, but about something out there, then it's short. There's that wonderful phase I got from Karlfried Graf Durkheim, "transparency to the transcendent." If a deity blocks off transcendency, cuts you short of it by stopping at himself, he turns you into a worshiper and a devotee, and he hasn't opened the mystery of your own being."

This wonderful quote underscores the power of mythic symbols in and of themselves to provide spiritual mentorship. The key here is understanding that it is the elementary forces which the symbol represents that provide an individual with a greater awareness, not the specific person, place, or thing the symbol describes. It is the forces which the symbol represents that matter, not the specific form of the symbol itself. Myths, Symbols, and Archetypes are not meant to be taken as facts, because when taken literally they cease to directly relate to the individual. They become a history and dogma outside of the person, rather than an inspiration within.

Since I am very comfortable with psychology and science, I suppose it is only natural that I experience religion though this particular lens (which I do not claim is the only way to relate to Divinity). That is how I am a scientist and yet still religious. Deeply so according to several people.