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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in pagan clergy

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Pandemic Fallout - Clergy
There has been a trend in the Pandemic across all religious lines that clergy leaders are changing professions. Paganism is not immune to the trend. 29% is a huge amount. In Wicca, where there are already so few trained and trusted leaders, we can't afford to lose any good people. Yet we are.
 
What can you do to help? Be aware of the struggles our clergy face. They don't have a salary. They don't have financial security for themselves or their families. They don't even have respect and safety. Mention religious leaders in a public forum and there will at least be a couple of people who devalue our leaders and leadership, not individuals, just leadership in general. Don't let them get away with it. Report mean spirited posts. Confront disrespectful, ignorant, or inconsiderate people. Refuse to participate in hurtful conversations or support people who are generating negative commentary.
 
Consider what life would be like without the work of your leaders and have respect, appreciation and compassion for the role religious leaders play in your life. Protect them and take care of them. Let them know they are appreciated. Treat them with the principle "Though Art God, Thou Art Goddess". Remember that the path is perfect and just because someone is mad, doesn't mean they don't deserve the experience they have created, and that there are always two sides of the story.
 
Pete "Pathfinder" Davis, founder of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, founded in 1979, cultivated a tolerant utopia in Seattle. He made a lot of people angry along the way. He is responsible for so many of our rights that we take for granted today. His life was the life of a warrior. He died with bitterness in his heart, feeling unappreciated and abandoned by the majority of his congregation.
 
Religious leaders are different, and few. There are not many people who have the ability and the willingness to do what your leaders do. After spending a year with nothing but the hatefulness of facebook cluttering their minds, their spirits are defeated and wondering if it's worth it. Yes, Pete had his flaws. He was a great man. He was a fighter. He was often misunderstood by fragile egos, who were more focused on the promotion of their personality than the bigger picture.
 
All religions suffer from those who long for greatness, but can't achieve it. All religions suffer from the mentally ill, who feel that attacking someone of notoriety will bring them attention. A man once attempted to assassinate the President of the United States to get an actress' attention. Desperate people distort reality to fit their world view. When you give power to this behavior, it robs everyone of the world that can be created by love, trust, compassion and understanding. When religious leaders are surrounded by lack, giving all they have to create a better world, and nothing is standing between them and those who would take pleasure in watching them fall, so that leader won't be competition for their ego, the world is worse off for it.
 
If we are going to make the world a better place, we have to do it together. We must stand for love. We must stand against hate in all it's forms. Even hate disguised as pain. Hate is infectious. You cannot heal it, you can only confront it, call it out for what it is, and then walk away from it.
 
Take action when you see your leaders, or other leaders being disrespected. You might not know what amazing things that have done, and if they quit, you will never know what amazing things they would have done. The world cannot afford this right now.
 
https://www.christianitytoday.com/better-samaritan/2021/june/has-pandemic-made-your-pastor-want-to-quit-probably.html?utm_source=CT%20Pastors%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=99120&utm_content=5748&utm_campaign=email
 
Belladonna Laveau is the Archpriestess of the ATC International. 
https://www.christianitytoday.com/better-samaritan/2021/june/has-pandemic-made-your-pastor-want-to-quit-probably.html?utm_source=CT%20Pastors%20Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=99120&utm_content=5748&utm_campaign=email
 
https://churchanswers.com/blog/six-reasons-your-pastor-is-about-to-quit/
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In Support of our own: understanding Unitarian Universalist Idealization

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."  -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Last year this time I responded to an essay written by John Michael Greer titled, "A Bad Case of Methodist Envy:  Copying Christian models of clergy is a Pagan dead end."  His essay argued against the notion of payed professional clergy and my response was to argue in favor of professional clergy -- at least having the option of professional clergy.  In this essay it is my hope to build upon the ideas I shared in last year's essay but also share further reflections on the subject of the evolving nature of Paganism in general and Pagan clergy in particular.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Mariah Sheehy
    Mariah Sheehy says #
    It seems we all have different ideas of what "clergy" means, and I think people here are talking past each other a little bit beca
  • Wendilyn Emrys
    Wendilyn Emrys says #
    Ancient Egyptian priests most often donated their time and assets to the Temples. They might get to share in food offerings, and g
  • Jenni West
    Jenni West says #
    What benefit does a clergy based hierarchy provide for such a belief system? It opens the door to abuse of power and canonization
  • David Oliver Kling
    David Oliver Kling says #
    Jenni, there have always been clergy within the Pagan movement and there has always been abuse of power within the community by so
  • Jenni West
    Jenni West says #
    With all due respect, if Paganism becomes clergy based, I will slip further from the public path.
Activist Clergy: Protesting from the Sidelines

I wrote this piece to the discordant music of police helicopters circling above.  Monday night my friends and colleagues marched through the streets of Berkeley, CA, protesting the killing of unarmed black men in the United States.  While many of them went home after awhile, some stayed to shut down Interstate 80 for a time.  Those dozen or so folks were part of a group that were cordoned off, surrounded by the police.  While they awaited arrest, the chaplains and ministers I spend my days with here at the Pacific School of Religion led the two hundred or so activists in Christmas carols, pop songs, and hymns.  Our Professor of Worship served a communion of almonds and tea to anyone who wanted to partake.  The group sang to the police for hours and the peaceful presence of the religious leaders kept things calm on both sides. It is the kind of work that I think religious leaders are well suited for.  I was with them many hours before, offering energy-based activist training and my loving support as they prepared for this action.  I've shed many tears this last week, filled with anguish for the injustice I see happening in my country and frustrated with my body's inability to march in the streets.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Anne Newkirk Niven
    Anne Newkirk Niven says #
    This brings back memories of my past protesting at Lawrence Livermore Lab when I, too, was a student at PSR. Though it's been deca
  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham says #
    Thank you for all the work you did readying the group and supporting in the long hours that followed.
  • Kai Koumatos
    Kai Koumatos says #
    THANK YOU, Lizann, for your gentle invitations and unwavering support. You are a gem.

It's a pleasantly cool August night, and my partner and I are drinking Mojitos on the patio, the laughter from our friends drift up from the pool. Once in awhile, we hear the melodic chants of the guest Coven, raising energy in the new sacred space we carved out in the woods just last week. The lights are dim in the freshly painted cabins, as some of the greatest minds in contemporary Paganism arrived last night to circle and discuss Magickal and theological gems. Within the walls of our sacred Pagan space, we have no need to explain ourselves. Trees get hugged, and there's no eyebrow raising. The Fey get their due respect without reminders. The Unicorns are only ever fed with the produce from our collective garden and Peter Dinklage makes a nightly stop to simply have a chat and sometimes lets us ride his pet dragon around the area. It's a great place.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Phaedra Bonewits
    Phaedra Bonewits says #
    I've never quite understood why people think that it's not ok to pay to take a class, but it's ok for a teacher to pay out of pock
  • Courtney Weber
    Courtney Weber says #
    Thanks, Phaedra! It's an important conversation. Nothing is ever truly "free."
PaganNewsBeagle Fiery Tuesday: Activist News for July 29

It's fiery Tuesday here at the PaganNewsBeagle, and we've got a full plate of activist goodies! Satanic activists take advantage of #HobbyLobby; open carry -- prayer; the IRS investigates churches; should Pagans have "ministers," and heretical Founding Fathers of the U.S.

Under the category of "Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword" the Satanic Temple (hardly the Christians who brought the original case) is now invoking the #HobbyLobby SCOTUS decision to demand a religious exemption to anti-abortion laws in several states. While it's not obvious if these Satanists are actually religious, or just clever activists, they are certainly doing a nice job of getting attention.

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PaganNewsBeagle Faithful Friday July 11

Lots of amazing Pagan news for today's Faith-Filled Friday.

Central European Paganism is a growing movement -- in Poland! http://www.krakowpost.com/article/6956

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“The very same people who “can’t afford” to donate to a Neopagan temple, community center, website, or other organization on a regular basis have no problem finding the money to buy science fiction books, videotapes, DVDs, game cartridges, music CDs, comics, beer, pizza, cigarettes, movie tickets, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, crystals, robes, capes, etc.  -- Isaac Bonewits.

     In issue #28 of Witches and Pagans magazine columnist John Michael Greer wrote an article titled, “A Bad Case of Methodist Envy: Copying Christian models of clergy is a Pagan dead end.” In this essay Greer recommends against Pagan clergy and specifically full time compensated clergy. I would like to note that I have admired many of Greer’s books especially Inside a Magical Lodge, A World Full of Gods, and Druidry Handbook; however, I can simultaneously admire his work and disagree with some of his thoughts. 

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Recent comment in this post - Show all comments
  • Anna M.H.
    Anna M.H. says #
    While I am, in general, a big fan of Greer's, I really disagree with his point of view on this, and feel you made many good points

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