From a
cursory scan of several Pagan blogs, it appears to me that lots of Pagans have
been devoting their thinking to the notion of inclusivity. Who is welcome in whose circles? How Pagans can demonstrate their love
for all humankind by rolling out the welcome mat to one and all? In principle I agree that our groups
should be welcoming to all who are called to a Pagan path, although we all know
that there are many Pagan paths and not every one is suitable for every seeker.
Exclusivity
There are
men’s circles and groups,
gay men’s circles, circles of men with mixed forms of sexual expression.
There are women’s circles, teen
circles, children’s circles, crones’ circles, as well as groups especially
created for LGBTs.
When I first
came to Craft via Second Wave Feminism, it was important not only for me to
have found a feminine image of the divine, but equally important at that time when I was learning to
worship and work magic that I do so with my sisters only, in a group
priestesshood. I think many people
seek to explore their spirituality with others with whom they identify. Just as there is a Dianic Wicca, there
is also Faggot Tradition Witchcraft.
There is, or at least has been, a Minoan Brotherhood, a Minoan
Sisterhood, and a mixed-gender Minoan Fellowship, all kin under the overall
aegis of Minoan Witchcraft. At
PantheaCon in past years, my gay male friends have left my company for a while
in order to attend a gay men’s ritual.
There are
circles organized around ethnic affinities, such as Celtic or Norse or
Italian. Some practitioners of
Norse traditions believe that their spiritual path is suitable only for those
with a Scandinavian ancestry. There are also groups that have a particular cultural focus,
like Kemetic or Hellenic, Welsh or Polish. And while most of these paths look toward European
ancestors, and Wicca itself originates in Britain, the fact that we now live in
a rich multicultural, multiethnic country populated by people from the world
over means that our Pagan religions are exposed to, and often informed by,
other spiritual thinking and praxis.
Further, since contemporary Paganism, in the U.S. and elsewhere, is a
new religious movement (“NRM”), having existed for fewer than 250 years, it
remains for the most part free of orthodoxy and hard-line dogma. Our Paganisms are alive and growing and
changing, hopefully in meaningful ways that practitioners find satisfying.
There are
circles with a political focus, such as eliminating domestic violence,
opposition to nuclear power proliferation, or saving old-growth forests.
There are circles formed for a
particular project, such as ritual theater, mask work, dance, a community
garden or painting a neighborhood mural.
These groups may or may not be open to non-Pagans.
I know there
are some circles comprised of
deaf
people.
In those circles,
invocations and all conversation are, as I understand it, done in
Amislan.
I would imagine that there are other
groups who use a language other than English
Tara Miller maintains
Staff of Asclepius,
a blog about Pagans with disabilities. Perhaps there are Pagan groups for blind
people or others who have different parameters than most.
We would also be wise to consider that
many disabled folks have
special
abilities that are absent or uncommon among much of humanity.
In real life,
though, most of us Pagans meet in smaller groups that foster intimacy and
depth.
We come together around
shared interests and
sympatico
as well as geographical proximity.
A group may include a blind person or perhaps someone with
diabetes (a condition not visible to others).
However, the choice of whom to include is determined by the
group itself and any egregore
it may have engendered.
The choice
is not made in order to confirm the relative political correctness of the
circle and its members.
(Or maybe
with some groups it is. ??)
You
circle with those you wish to worship and work magic with rather than according
to any kind of PC quota.
Personal as Distinct from Civic
Then there
is the matter of secrecy and mystery
as opposed to open public rites.
Many of us take to heart the words of the Star Goddess when
she says,
Whenever you have need of anything,
once a month, and better it be when the moon is full, you shall assemble in
some secret place and adore the spirit of me who is Queen of all the Wise.
Is Craft a
“mystery religion” as it has been described? If so, then why offer rituals to the public at all? Unlike mainstream religions that seek
to convert everyone they encounter to their ways, Witchcraft has always been a
religion of the few. It is not the
path for everyone, and that’s just fine.
Unfortunately, there are some among us who seem to feel the need to grow
in numbers. Expanding Craft and
Paganism has never been my goal.
However, free access to sun and rain and nutrients to grow in society at
large is important to me. I don’t want us to feel we need to hide
or to feel threatened by the more evangelical of the mainstream sects. That is why I work in the interfaith
arena.
This topic
leads into determining distinctions between personal religion, that of the
individual and/or family, and civic religion, that sanctioned by the state.
During the Roman Empire, the state
forbade the practice of a little mystery religion being formulated by followers
of Jesus and now known as Christianity (in all its myriad iterations).
Our ancestors came here in order to
practice their religions, nearly all of which were varieties of Christianity,
free from interference.
When they
joined to form a nation, they valued this freedom so much that they enshrined
it in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, to wit:
“Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
So we know
we can practice any religion or no religion, but so far I don’t see that we’ve
paid much attention to the distinctions between personal and civic.
Public Ritual/Private Ritual
I happen to
believe that there is a place for public Pagan rituals. It would be hypocritical of me to claim
otherwise, since I have created, co-created, and participated in public rituals
for my entire Witchen life.
However,
that’s not to say I think every event should accommodate every single person in
society. Private rituals are just
that – private. Would you invite
everyone in the neighborhood or in your town to share your evening meal with
your family in your dining room at home?
I doubt it. Would you wish
to share you bedroom with anyone in search of a sleeping place? Not likely. So why should you feel obligated to share every circle
experience, every worship service, every rite of passage, every seasonal
celebration, every meditative experience with all comers? Like everyone else, we love to share
some family events, like a wedding, an Ostara egg hunt, or a Yule feast.
Boundaries
Boundaries
have their place in this world.
They serve a useful purpose.
One of the powers of Air is discernment. The blade is the tool with which, with precision and
clarity, we can separate this from that.
Just as it’s not appropriate to share details of your personal sex life
with the pubic, so, too, is it inappropriate to share every spiritual
experience. Aside from the
intimate personal nature of spiritual phenomena, it’s also likely that others
might have no understanding of what you’re attempting to share.
At this
point in my life, generally speaking, I enjoy circling with women and men, as
well as with people who have both conventional and unconventional sexual
expressions. This applies to both
private and public rituals. I
welcome everyone except antagonists into public circles. If an individual arrives and is unable
to participate other than in a disruptive way, that person can be asked to
leave. She can be excluded from
the meeting, be it public or private.
This is not
to say there are circumstances when I believe a “sameness” circle might be
appropriate. An example is a
menarche ritual for a young woman, the purpose of which is best served by
limiting the “women’s mysteries” circle (assuming there may be a larger
extended gathering for all those who are important in a girl’s life). It’s not appropriate for everyone to
attend an initiation ritual; that event would be limited to other initiates of
that tradition. Not open to
students. Not open to friends and
family who aren’t also initiates of that trad.
Perhaps we
might view each Pagan circle as a pebble in the pond, radiating out from its
center and sending waves to the banks.
Each successive circle covers more water, and other circles meet and
overlap with these primary circles.
Then, does the work get watered down?
Proselytizing
I was reared
in a Christian environment of propriety and piety, preaching and rules, shoulds
and shouldn’ts. All those
standards of behavior were considered to be the right and proper conduct for everyone. Christianity, whether Catholic or Protestant, was considered
the one, true, right and only way.
In order to gather converts and bring others to a right way of thinking,
i.e., to salvation in Jesus Christ, members of these churches need to
evangelize. This practice has
always pissed me off. I don’t want
or need anyone else to tell me what to believe. I resent anyone else telling me how to live. Further, I have seen efforts to recruit
being exploitative of people who may be damaged, weak, or in crisis or in some
other ways compromised. These are
times when coercion is easier.
Quarry may be shamed in front of others in order to foster conversion,
obedience, and conformity.
My
activities in interfaith arenas have shown me that certainly all Christians are
not like that. But that was the
pervading atmosphere of my childhood.
So what
happens when one finds a spiritual path that is on the fringes rather than of
the mainstream of society? What
happens when one finds Craft or the Goddess or Coyote or Thoth? Well, if we experience a genuine
affinity to our new and freely chosen path, then we get excited. How many times have you heard Pagans
say, “I’m home.” “I’ve found my
people.” We have a primal desire
for tribe. We are hardwired to
need to belong. For many that kind
of excitement means that we want to share. We want to tell our friends about our new
understandings. We express what I
call “the zeal of the newly converted.”
As exciting as that is, it goes against the direction to “assemble in
some secret place and adore me, who is queen of all the wise.”
There are reasons
for discretion. Not only in terms
of threat from narrow-minded neighbors or employers, but for other reasons as
well. Because mystery is just
that, mysterious, and cannot be adequately expressed but only approximated
through the arts. Because one’s
relationship with the divine is an intimate one, not a public one. Because others with set/ossified ideas
cannot understand, nor do they desire to understand. I’m sure you could cite reasons of your own.
But besides
the desire to share our new understandings and enlightenment (or perhaps
“endarkenment”), we are all products of the overculture.
We arose from within the social matrix
that is America
.
Our society is overwhelmingly
Abrahamic, not Pagan or polytheistic or pantheistic or any other kind of theism
than monotheism.
And that
monotheism, in particular the latest iterations of Christianity and Islam, does
seek to recruit others to their ways.
So here we are, in the midst of an evangelical culture, accustomed to
people making declarations about their religion, and moved to tell others about
our religion(s), and yet we find this at the very least imprudent to do.
Before we stop to ponder, we think, “Of
course I want to proclaim my joy.”
Then we reconsider.
I think it’s
perfectly understandable that one might want to share one’s excitement with
others, because of our common incubation in a conversion-oriented
overculture.
Add to that the
“bigger is better” values fostered by consumerism.
So what do we do?
Well, each of us does what she is called to do.
May you find counsel, as I do, in Paula
Walowitz’s words
:
Blessed be and blessed are the ones who
stand together.
Blessed be and blessed are the ones who
stand alone.
Blessed be and blessed are the ones who
work in silence.
Blessed be and blessed are the ones who
shout and scream.
Blessed be and blessed are the movers
and the shakers.
Blessed be and blessed are the dreamers
and the dream.
©
Aline O’Brien
