Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth

In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.

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Is Paganism an -Ism?

Hey, Pagan Pride: I've got a suggestion.

A web-search for Twin Cities Pagan Pride turned up (in more than one location) the following lead sentence.


"Pagan Pride is a free fall event, open to the public, that offers education about Paganism to the larger community."

With all due praise to the local Pride committee—who work their butts off every year to offer to pagan and cowan alike a beautiful event in a sacred place, an event that we can truly be proud of—I'd like to suggest a gentle rewrite.

Whether or not such a thing as a unified “Paganism” ever existed anywhere but in the minds of those who hated the Old Ways, I very much doubt. It didn't exist then, it doesn't exist now, and (thank gods), it never will exist. This fact is encoded, genetic: the very nature of the “pagan” religions, new and old alike, militates against such a unity.

“Paganism” isn't an “-ism.” “Pagan” is a descriptor, an identity perhaps: a way of talking about something that already exists, not a thing in and of itself.

So here's my suggestion for an opening that's truer to lived Pagan reality:

"Pagan Pride is a free fall event, open to the public, that offers education about the New Pagan religions to the larger community."

My thanks and praise to the Pride committee both here in the Twin Cities and everywhere else for all the hard and (pagans being pagans) vastly under-appreciated work that you do. Truly, you're an inspiration to us all.

Let me just mention that at the last few Prides down at Minnehaha Falls, I've noticed something interesting: with lots of pagans and cowans (that's Pagan for “non-pagans”) walking around, there's no trouble at all to tell which is which. Even the cowans (you can tell) notice. You can see them thinking: Who are these people?

It isn't just the beards, the tee-shirts, or the jewelry. There's something indefinably different about us. The style? The way we carry ourselves? Our very "thereness"?

I'm still trying to figure it out.

See you at Paganicon.

 

Steven

 

 

 

 

 

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Poet, scholar and storyteller Steven Posch was raised in the hardwood forests of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer. (That's the story, anyway.) He emigrated to Paganistan in 1979 and by sheer dint of personality has become one of Lake Country's foremost men-in-black. He is current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser.

Comments

  • Ian Phanes
    Ian Phanes Tuesday, 22 January 2019

    I like to talk about paganisms in the plural, but not as a division, just in acknowledgement of the complexity of the reality. I've been known to say that "All real paganisms are spaghetti."

    To unpack that a bit, I know many people who participate in more than one pagan group, and even more than one of the following categories: modern pagan witchcraft, druidry, devotional polytheism, various reconstructionist movements, ceremonial magic, etc. Given that overlap of membership, it seems false to treat these as fundamentally separate; however, given the diversity of practice and cosmology, it seems equally false to claim that they are all the same. To me, they look like a plate of spaghetti: multiple strands interweaving and touching each other in seemingly random ways. But oh so very tasty together!

    I've been advocating for a couple of decades for a single-point shared pagan ethos: Diversity is good!

    If we all approach other individuals and other groups through the lens of "Diversity is good!", we will be more able to see and name our differences without it turning into debate. We don't have to have identical experiences to learn from each other. In fact, it's only from diversity of experiences that our perspectives can be broadened.

    Please note, I am advocating honoring both our similarities and our differences...which requires us to do the work of listening to each others' experiences to the depth where we come to understand those similarities and differences. I regularly learn from people who practice things I will never be interested in incorporating into my life and practice in any way. And every so often, by doing the work of learning from others, I find something specific that I can take into my practice, making it my own, which I would never have come to otherwise.

    Diversity is good!

  • Mark Green
    Mark Green Tuesday, 22 January 2019

    I talk of Paganism as "a constellation of religious paths", the sole true commonality of which is self-identification as Pagan. There are atheist Pagans (like me), monotheist Pagans, polytheist Pagans, Earth-revering Pagans, Earth-ignoring Pagans, etc.

    But we share a community identity and certain common interests, like the desire to be free to practice our paths and for Christianity not to become baked into our government.

    I think there is a value in that identity and the common cause it brings us together under. I find it disappointing when some who clearly belong within that "constellation" reject the label "Pagan" out of some desire to distinguish themselves as different, when the only meaning of the term is membership in a broad community and support for that community's common interests.

  • Murphy Pizza
    Murphy Pizza Tuesday, 22 January 2019

    Thanks for feedback all - and no offense taken, Virginia. :)

    And as an Italian American girl myself, I can totally get on board with spaghetti as a religious metaphor! (I had three crazy Italian aunts that surreptitiously made the long simmering sauce together... crones over a cauldron?)...

    The practicing of many paths that I'd argue most Pagans do is duly acknowledged; I'm actually participating in a panel at Paganicon this year on what I've called Pagan Polyaffiliation, which is just that. Maybe we'll serve spaghetti...

    I rather like the poetry of our movement as a constellation as well..many worlds close enough to make a beautiful pattern...

    Why focus on similarities? Well, as anyone long in the movement will tell you, coming together to join forces gets things done. There have been many legal issues that Pagans of various stripes have fought for, and they became victories when differences were set aside. Again...we encourage and love diversity, but when there are bigger issues at stake, hanging together works better than hanging apart. Just that.

    And.so often, the reasons Pagans sometimes give for differentiating themselves and criticizing fellow movement members can be just dumb. The critical focus needs to stay on *real* problems that need management between us, not the identity nitpicking that I've been witness to too often...

    I have been involved interfaith work for a long time. If we're going to learn to get on with others in our society, and have them get on with us, we need to get on with each other..
    True! Diversity is good! So are our commonalities. :)

  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch Wednesday, 23 January 2019

    Diversity is healthy. Diversity is sustainable. Diversity is inevitable.

  • Aline "Macha" O'Brien
    Aline "Macha" O'Brien Tuesday, 22 January 2019

    I agree completely with Murph, Ian, and Mark's comments. We are weakened by divisiveness and strengthened by solidarity. In the current [i]zeitgeist[/I] that is all the more important. At our best and strongest, we are a [i]bouillabaisse[/I].

    I also engage in interfaith a lot and learn in that context as well; and, yes, most of them see the world thru an Abrahamic lens. I have to disabuse them of this notion.

    I have a good Kemetic friend who works meticulously at accurate reconstruction, including reading and writing books, going to grad school, learning Aramaic, Akkadian, et al. I would call him a hard polytheist. He attends Pagan events, calls himself a Pagan in the broader sense, engages in both intrafaith and interfaith activities. He and his co-religionists certainly do not work in circles with watchtowers, etc.

    You can see where the challenge is when asked to talk about Paganisms to prison chaplains, all of whom, except for the Native Americans, who have to conflate their beliefs and practices in that context, tend to want hard and fast rules. They work in a super rigid rule-bound environment.

    This document was written over the course of months by reshuffled groups of Pagans of all stripes from several countries. https://ecopagan.com/. Try it on for size.

    BTW, I've changed the title of my presentation to "Have Paganisms Gone Mainstream? The Spiritual Meets the Secular." I'm super-challenged getting this to be clear, accurate, comprehensive, and what I want it to be. Been pulling all-nighters. Need to have it finished by the time we head south for LA early Friday morning.

  • Mark Green
    Mark Green Wednesday, 23 January 2019

    Macha, did you see this post of mine? It's about exactly your topic.

    https://atheopaganism.wordpress.com/2019/01/08/talking-paganism-in-the-mainstream/

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