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Why We Work in a Sacred Circle
Some non-witchen Pagans have criticized Witches and Wiccans who do interfaith work and in other ways represent the Pagan movement and Pagan religions in secular situations for what they consider to be witchen-centrism, for want of a better term. In the next few blogs I’ll attempt to describe the reality of the situation, and why I, ostensibly serving a Wiccan circle, in reality am about as eclectic as one can be. First, the setting…
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As a product of the counterculture, I tend to mistrust and avoid institutions. I suspect this is a common attitude among “first generation”[1] NeoPagans in the U.S. We found existing institutions, be they religious, educational, or governmental, to be oppressive, unfulfilling, and irrelevant to the conditions of the world in which we found ourselves.
Let’s face it: established religions such as Christianity in its many forms, were created and gained ascendency in other times and places. There was no threat of nuclear annihilation, no looming environmental degradation, no water shortage, no organ transplants, no vaccinations against such diseases as smallpox and polio. Those religions addressed the concerns of the peoples in other times and places. Further, few of these religious institutions adapted to changing circumstances. Nowadays some are trying to be more relevant, often by adopting practices, such as involving lay people in their rituals and dancing during worship.
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