Part of the problem in trying to do this is that both the concept of "religion" is very much a modern, Western artifice. The manner in which "supernatural" is understood is also very modern, Western artifice. So you can make up the story to suit whatever you want to tell yourself about it, honestly. But you will misunderstand many religions if you take to them Western ideas about what religion is and insistence on supernaturalism to understanding them.
Thank you so much.
I'm actually very aware that religious scholars themselves debate exactly what religion is. Back when I was young and velociraptors roamed the earth, I took a class at the university called "Religion in Literature." We spent an entire lecture discussing what a religion was and wasn't, all the competing ideas. In particular, one definition was that your religion is whatever the "axis" is that your life turns upon. To understand this, we read a completely secular book called "Ordinary People." It's about a family that had wrapped itself around one of the sons, who was a sports champion, and then suddenly the son dies, and the family falls apart. They all feel utterly lost, because that thing which had given their lives meaning, devotion, and structure was suddenly gone.
However, despite the importance of such discussions on the nature of religion, I think it is nevertheless ordinarily true that, at least in English speaking countries, religion necessitates the belief in something supernatural.
By supernatural, I mean something that is not bound by the laws of nature. Examples (and this is not meant to be an exhaustive list) would be:
Souls or manna which animate all the things in the universe, as in animism
Belief in ghosts, or souls which otherwise survive into the afterlife.
Belief in angels and/or demons.
Belief in leprechauns, fairies, trolls and other mythical creatures
Belief in human shapeshifters, such as werewolves or skin walkers
Belief in animal spirits that guide you.
Belief that the earth itself, or the universe, has consciousness.
Belief in some kind of soul or essence that continually reincarnates.
Belief that the forces of nature or common abstractions are entities, such as in polytheistic pantheons.
Belief in a single Creator Deity which we can call God.
Belief that any text has a supernatural origin.
My own - a reconstructed indigenous religion - is one of them.
Which indigenous religion are you reconstructing? Most of the indigenous religions I've looked into, such as Native American spirituality, Druidism, African animism, etc., all have supernatural beliefs, beginning with animism. Perhaps it is specifically because your own is reconstructed that you have chosen to not have any supernatural beliefs?
I look forward to hearing from you.
