Shinto Practice for Non-Japanese (Mimusubi Essays on Shinto)

My recommendation to you is to read a little about Shinto. You're getting some well-meaning people giving you advice, but unfortunately it is not very good advice. Shinto is very different from Western religions, like Christianity and Islam. In many religions, it's important to believe in certain things in order to be labeled as a follower of that religion. For example, generally speaking to be Christian you have to believe that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God and the only way to salvation, where as in Islam it's expected that you must believe that there is only one God and Muhammed is his Prophet. This is called "orthodoxy", or "correct belief". Shinto, however, is different. Instead of orthodoxy, Shinto is orthopraxic (orthopraxy), "correct practice or correct conduct". That is, Shinto is far less, to the point of not really, concerned about what you believe or not believe. What Shinto cares about is that you conduct the rituals, the prayers, the actions, the correct way to honor the kami. Does that mean, "Oh, so I can't just close my eyes and thank Amaterasu Ōmikami for the great day?" What I would say is, "No one is going to stop you, certainly not Amaterasu Ōmikami, but what you're doing isn't actually Shinto," and that's the thing. You can do whatever you want, I'm certainly not going to be upset about it, and neither are the kami. But if you really want to actually practice *Shinto*, rather than a sort of Neo-Pagan syncretist blending together of different ideas in a, "Oh, I'll just do whatever and it doesn't really matter," kind of way, then there are certain practices that you should follow. If that doesn't sound like your kind of thing, no worries. it just won't be Shinto. There are two books I would *highly* recommend to you if you are interested in practicing Shinto, or if you just want to learn a little more about it before you decide to go deeper into Shinto. They're not the only ones you could choose, but you could do worse. One is "The Spirit of Shinto: Finding Nature and Harmony on Japan's Sacred Path" by Hector Garcia. This will give you a very gentle introduction to Shinto's principles, rituals, symbols, and a little history on how Shinto has integrated into Japanese culture. The other is "Shinto Practice for Non-Japanese (Mimusubi Essays on Shinto #5) by David Chart. David is a Westerner who became a naturalized Japanese citizen and works with Jinja Honcho, the largest association of Shinto shrines. Chart's book will give you step-by-step instructions on how to practice Shinto outside of Japan, which can present challenges at times. The Spirit of Shinto: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DZXTYXPR/Shinto Practice for Non-Japanese: https://www.amazon.com/Shinto-Practice-Non-Japanese-Mimusubi-Essays/dp/B0C4MM5MC4/ Good luck to you!