Category Archives: Paganism

News, Paganism, Society

Syracuse University Appoints New Pagan Chaplain

1 Comment

The Campus Chatter blog over at ABC news reports that Syracuse University has appointed Mary Hudson as Pagan chaplain for the campus.  This is a somewhat historic event, as the blogger explains:

That makes Hudson, 50, the second pagan chaplain appointed at a U.S.
college. The only other known school to have a pagan chaplain is the
University of Southern Maine.  Internationally there are a few in
Canada, Australia, and the UK.

I find this good news and take some comfort and pride that this appointment took place not only in my state of residence, but at a university a mere hour from me.  And it sounds like Hudson is ready to hit the ground running.

Hudson said education is her primary goal.  “This involves both
education of non-pagans as well as helping student pagans find their
spiritual path,” she added.  “That can mean something different to each
student.”

Both community education and helping students who are already on a Pagan path or are considering one are both noble goals.  I wish Ms. Hudson the best as she pursues both goals.

In addition, I’d like to applaud the Campus Chatter blogger for writing a thoroughly positive article, without falling into the trap of looking for “balanced” input from highly critical spokespeople from conservative Christians circles, a practice that Jason Pitzl-Waters has often noted is common among some journalists.

Related articles by Zemanta
Paganism, Witchcraft

Solstice Night

5 Comments
Hemavan

Image via Wikipedia

Winter solstice night is the longest night of the year.  It is the time when the darkness is at its strongest.  The world is deep in its winter slumber, and many creature have withdrawn into their dens to escape and protect themselves from the frosty grip of winter.  This slumber is important, for it allows all living things time to rejuvenate.  It is this time of rest that conserves and builds the energies that will be expended in the active pursuits of life later on.

And while solstice night marks the peak of this time of contraction and conservation, it also marks the turning point.  For this long, dark night shall end with the rising sun, adn that moment will hail the decreasing rein of darkness.  The days to come shall then grow a bit longer in turn, and the sun’s warming influence, though imperceptible at first, shall likewise grow and strengthen.  In the months to come, we will see what was started with that first fragile sunrise.

For now, we wait in eager anticipation of that first morning, haling the change it represents and the new life it promises.  And we turn inward to see what may be stirring anew in our own lives.  For like the trees and animals, we also experience times of withdrawal and contraction.  Like them, we too need those times of deep rest and rejuvenation.  And as with the longest night, there comes a time when something stirs within ourselves to let us know there is new life and growth to be experienced.  Our time of rest is not eternal.

So let us anticipate an end of our own withdrawal and time of silence this solstice as well.  Let us become aware of that inner stirring that speaks of new projects, new celebrations, and new goals to come.  Let us welcome that fragile awakening and nourish it so that we too may become active and lively in the days and months to come.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Magic/Magick, Paganism, Religion, Witchcraft

Choice and Power

Leave a comment

Yesterday, I blogged about how the belief that we have no choices in situations is detrimental to our ability to live an ethical life.  Today, I want to discuss another reason why this belief is problematic for witches(1).  A belief that we have no choice in a given situation also destroys our personal power in a given situation as well.

We in the Pagan community talk about self-empowerment a lot.  It’s a key reason a lot of us came to a Pagan path, at least in my experience.  However, sometimes we talk about it in rather vague terms, never really making it clear what it means to be self-empowered.  To that end, I would like to suggest my own definition:  Self-empowerment is the act of embracing the realization that no matter what situation we may find ourselves in, we always have the ability to choose how we will respond and act.

Note that self-empowerment doesn’t mean we always get to control the situations we find ourselves in.  Nor does it mean that we can magically change everything in our environment to suit our needs.  Such a concept of self-empowerment would simply be out of step with and contrary to reality.  Hardships are going to befall us.  People are going to do things we don’t like and that hurt us.  Circumstances are going to limit our options and even make us face some unpleasant choices.  Those who want to find a way to turn their lives into a fairy tale need to keep looking.  They will not find it here.(2)

But what the principle of self-empowerment tells us is that no matter what those situations are, our actions are our own to choose.  It tells us that even if our choices are limited to unpleasant ones, there are still choices to make.(3)  Self-empowerment teaches us that no matter what is beyond our control, who we choose to be and how we choose to act is still our personal domain.  And that is an incredible power to wield, in my opinion.

Saying we have no choice in a situation robs us of that power.  It turns us into victims of our circumstances rather than people who are working to not only make the best of our circumstances, but improve it insofar as we can.  And that is a great tragedy.

And again, this is a creeping problem.  The belief that we had no choice tends to spread throughout our lives.  What started as one instance where we thought we had no control or no power becomes two.  Then it becomes five.  Then it becomes a regular occurrence.  Soon, we are never empowered because we fail to see our choices.  And then we wonder why our lives are nothing like we want them to be.(4)

Now some may be ready to ask me, “But what about magic?”  And it’s a good question, so I will answer it.  Back in 2007, I blogged about the role one’s will plays in magic.  At that time, I suggested that our will is the part of our psyche that initiates action.  It’s the part of us that actually goes about making all of these choices, and it’s central to the process of working magic.

So what happens when we say that part of us is incapable of making choices because there are none to be made?  We are effectively subjugating it or turning it off.  A belief that we have no choices actually hinders our will.  And a subjugated or hindered will simply cannot operate effectively.  Which means our ability to do magic effectively disappears as well.

Notes:
(1)  As witches are not the only people who believe in or value self-empowerment, I’m sure many other people will be able to identify with much of what I’m saying here.  I think that’s great.  But since I’m a witch, I’m going to focus on witches.  Though I do hope anyone who isn’t a witch still shares with me what value they might find in my thoughts.

(2)  In reality, I suspect they won’t find it anywhere.  But I respect their right to continue searching.  That’s their choice to make.

(3)  The other advantage to realizing you still have choices, even if they’re all less than ideal, is that it gives you the freedom to think creatively and look for even more choices.  The ones you see immediately may not be the only ones laying about.

(4)  Of course, there are also times when our lives are nothing like we want them to be because our desires are simply not realistic.  Again, this is because self-empowerment is not about living a fairy tale life.  Sometimes, we just have to find a way to live within our limitations.  But my experience is that even within our limitations, there’s a life that’s well worth living.

Movies, Paganism, Religion, Society

Religion and Movies

8 Comments

DVDs.jpgWhile guest-blogging at The Wild Hunt, John Morehead proposed using science fiction movies as a basis for interfaith dialogue. His idea and the post itself are fascinating, and I strongly encourage my readers to check it out.  It’s certainly a concept I want to think over and explore more closely.  In the meantime, though, I’d like to turn my attention to one of the responses that John’s post generated.  Hadiah Starlight commented a bit on the poor representation of Wiccans and other Pagans in cinema in general:

I agree that cinema is a reflection of what is going on socially in our
world, but as a Pagan I find it very sad, and disheartening that we are
still not presented in a more “positive light”, and that people’s idea
of witchcraft is the Harry Potter films, or The Craft. We are briefly
presented in a more positive light, in the Lord of the Rings series,
but until we are presented as anything other than “Science Fiction” we
will never be taken seriously.

Leaving aside the question of whether or portrayal in cinema really affects how seriously we’re taken (I’m personally inclined to think that if any causation between the two points exists, it’s more likely to run in the opposite direction), this comment caused me to wonder how Christianity and religion in general fairs in cinema.  So I walked over to my media cabinet, combed through the 300+ DVD’s I currently owned, and started pulling out any DVD I felt had some sort of religious portrayal in it.  I ended up with about 25 DVD’s (a smattering of them are represented in the picture attached to this post).  Furthermore, I felt my choice to include some of the titles might have been a bit generous.

While I don’t claim that my personal DVD collection is a representative sample of all cinema out there, I do think that the relatively low percentage of titles I pulled that I felt had some religious content is quite telling.  It would seem that a great number of movies simply don’t have much to say about religion at all.

I began to comb through the titles that I had pulled out and started considering the similarity between how religion was incorporated into the movie.  I began to notice that the titles seemed to fit a few different categories.  The first and most obvious category were those movies that were intended to offer editorial commentary on religion or certain aspects of some religious subcultures.  Two such examples are Saved! and Dogma.  As these kinds of movies tend to be heavy in satire and highly critical, I’m not sure we as Pagans sould be in a hurry to see these kinds of movies about our own faith traditions.  They may be helpful in the future as our traditions become more established and could benefit from such criticism.  But for right now, I think we’re better off being grateful that our religions aren’t being represented by these kinds of movies.

Unsurprisingly, a considerable number of movies in this category were science fiction movies.  In these movies, religion became framework for understanding the classic battle between good and evil that drive these movies.  The Exorcist, Ghost Rider, Constantine, and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe are all good examples of this category of movie.  Indeed, the abundance of these kinds of movies suggests that it’s not just Pagan religions that are most easily explored, represented and expressed through science fiction.  So that’s a limitation we may simply need to accept for now.

I will note, however, that Christian-themed science fiction does appear to be of a theologically superior quality than Pagan-themed science fiction most of the time.  Each of the movies I listed above spend a great deal of time exploring a cosmology and theology that explains the world where these fantastic and even supernatural stories take place.  The nature of heaven and hell as well as their relationship to the “natural world” is explored in Constantine in fascinating detail that suggests a worldview far more complex than anything seen in The Craft.

But when one considers the amount of Christian theology and cosmology that is readily accessible to the average screenwriter, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.  Many of them probably grew up learning about it.  Almost all of them have spent their lives surrounded by it.  And then there are simply libraries full of books that they can learn about it from.  And some of the best religiously-themed science fiction — such as the Chronicles of Narnia — have been written by Christian theologians themselves.

Compared to this, Pagan theology and cosmology (in its numerous forms and variations, no less) isn’t as easily accessibe.  There’s not nearly as much written about it.  Most people have not learned it first hand, nor do they come into contact with it regularly.  Is it any wonder that Pagan theology is less well developed in the movies then?

The final general category of movie I found was those movies in which religion somehow influenced the plot and created.  The best examples of this in my collection include Latter Days and Rock Haven, which are movies about young men who find themselves facing romantic and sexual feelings that their religious says are sinful and must be changed or repressed.  These movies then center around that conflict, the effects it has on the characters, and the eventual resolution.  Similar movies exist that deal with other faith struggles, such as understanding and coming to terms with tragedy and loss.

Personally, I would love to see similar movies from a Pagan perspective.  I would love to see movies where a Pagan character tries to reconcile his faith with life issues or find comfort and guidance through tragedy and difficulty from his faith.  The problem is, writing such a movie again requires a deep understanding of Pagan theology and philosophy, as well as how the affect the rest of an adherent’s life.  This is not the kind understanding that the average screenwriter is going to possess.  In short, Hollywood isn’t going to make this kind of movie simply because it’s ill-equipped to do so.

If we as Pagans really want to see positive portrayals in cinema, I think we’re going to have to find those in our community who are ready to be the story-tellers and the screenwriters who will do it.  After all, we are the only ones who can portray our lives because we are the only ones living our lives.

So as much as I’d love to see better portrayals of my faith on the big screen, I won’t hold my breath until I or another fellow Pagan is prepared to write them and try selling them to a movie studio.

 

Paganism, Religion

Community and Life

Leave a comment

100_0078.jpgPax posted an entry today talking about building Pagan community.  It’s well worth reading, and I highly recommend checking out.  (I also recommend checking out Pax’s blog in general.)

As one or two of my recent entries may have indicaed, the thought of community has been on my mind a lot, so Pax’s post really rang home with me.  I especially appreciated the following comments that he made when discussing the nature of Paganism:

I would observe that for the different Pagan faiths and paths there seems to be an overall theme of development into being a better person (personal growth and perhaps enlightenment, although it is not neccesarilly phrased as such) by practicing certain rights, and developing our relationships with the Divine (or the All That Is) and with the Spirits of the World Around Us (Elements and Land Spirits), and living certain  (intertwining and overlapping) virtues and values, and by building our relationships with others in our groups and faiths and societies through those virtues and values and practices…[Emphasis mine]

I’d say that overall, Pax pretty well sums up many of the central themes unfolding as I follow my own spiritual path.  But lately, it’s that last part — the part I emphasized — that has really been waying on me.  There is an aspect to my spirituality that is very dependent on my connection to others and my place in community.

In the past, I’ve explored the theme of passion and living life to the fullest, which is another important aspect of my walk.  To be frank, with a patron goddess like Freyja, it’s kind of hard not to take a passionate, fully-involved view of life.  And in some ways, I see this concern with community as a natural outgrowth of such an approach to life.  After all, the people we interact play an important part in our lives and are often an integral part of enjoying it to the fullest.

I think it’s safe to say that most of us are not hermits or recluses.  I know I’m certainly not one.  (Indeed, over the past few years, I’ve discovered just how much of a people person I really am.)  As such, while we may need, enjoy, and even cherish our moments alone, our lives would not be complete without sharing our lives and many of the special moments with others.  Indeed, I would argue that time spent with others is what actually makes a significant number of those moments so special.

Community enables us to help, heal, strengthen, and rejuvenate each other.  It makes even the strongest individual even stronger.  It is that glue which enables us to build something that is greater than each of us — both individually and collectively.  Because in the end, that whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

(The picture in this post is of the participants of an open Lammas rite sponsored by the now defunct Pagan Outreach Center back in 2006.)

 

Paganism, Spiritual Development

On Community and Wyrd

1 Comment

Thread of golden light and red fire weave throughout the universe. the connect, intertwine, merge, and separate. This complex web hold everything together, binding and supporting it.

This is the web of wyrd, that runs through everything. It is not static, but fluid and ever-changing. Threads shift and reweave themselves, changing the tapestry and the very universe.

The very universe changes itself in this way. And as a part of it, you are an agent of this constant change. Each action, each choice alters the fabric of the universe, reconfiguring and recreating it.

This is why community is so important. Every individual’s changes in the web radiate outward, affecting all. Being aware of this calls for consideration for all those around you who are affected.

More importantly, community allows for communal efforts in the weaving process. Building and strengthening community strengthens the strands that connect the community’s members. It creates bonds that strengthen the whole web. And such community bonds allow for a greater reweaving of the web.

Paganism, Religion

On Holy Passion

Leave a comment

Late last night, I ran across a copy of a typed transcript of a letter I sent to some college friends back in 2003. A month or two before that, we had talked briefly with each other during a get-together of old friends. During that conversation, both Tim and Kathryn had asked me about my spiritual path. Circumstances really didn’t lend themselves to the lengthy, private conversation their questions deserved, so I wrote them the letter instead.

As I read the letter, I thought about how I might write it differently today, after five more years of coming to understand my spiritual path more fully. In that spirit, I thought it might be nice to post a few excerpts from it and offer a bit of commentary.

For this post, I would like to focus on what I said in the letter about my patron goddess:

If I were going to try to describe my sacred lady in a single word, that word would have to be ?passion.? Or perhaps ?passionate? would be better. To her, life is one great passion which should be embraced and nurtured. To her, there is nothing worth doing that should not be done with great, unreserved intensity.

Naturally, she is a goddess who finds the passions of love and love-making sacred. Indeed, it is my experience that her love is a sensual love, even when it is the sensuality of a tight embrace between friends. (Indeed, communing with her often has the residual effect of heightening my awareness of my own senses.)

But her passion is not limited to romance and eroticism. It spreads to any and every undertaking in every aspect of life. This often makes her quite determined and single-minded when she sets her mind to any course of action. And she is inclined to nurture this quality in her devotees.

To this day, the initial description of Freyja still follows this same pattern. To me, understanding my lady’s passionate embrace of all life and her desire to share that passion with those who come to her is central to understanding her very nature. Those who wish to find her are likely to do so where life is not only revered, but celebrated and lived to the fullest. Some of the moments that I have most strongly felt her presence include times when I was dancing at a nightclub, having dinner with friends, or in the middle of a lively discussion at one of the local coffee shops.

I have come to understand that this is because to her, life itself is one of the sacred mysteries to be explored, enjoyed, and cherished. Her way is not one of self-denial (at least not self-denial for its own sake or as an end in itself), but one of responsible self-indulgence. It is one which honors life’s joys and sorrows (the latter being an inherent shadow side to the former) and recognizes them as sacred.

One of the other things that I have noticed as I’ve felt her presence and even conversed with her in these celebratory settings is that these joys and sorrows are meant to be shared. Her passion for and celebration of life are not meant to be a solo pursuit to be cherished alone. But instead, these are things that are meant to be celebrated with others, so that others may experience them and catch them. To put it another way, these are things that are meant to be contagious and be encouraged to spread like wildfire.

Of course, not all celebrations of life must be chaotic and wild. One of the other things that I have learned lately is that there is such a thing as a “cool passion,” much like the glowing embers of a carefully tended fire rather than the raging inferno. This approach to life has its place as well. Indeed, one of the challenges of following my goddess is coming to understand when each type of “fire” is most appropriate.

Paganism

The Road to Folkvang

Leave a comment

When the musician and follow witch, Castalia, put together her second music CD, she included a chant called “We are the Wick.” As I think about my own journey into Paganism and witchcraft, I find it appropriate to relate the first part of that chant:

We are the wick
That feeds the flame,
The flame that is the love
Which brings us back again.

Castalia and I follow different traditions, and what I’m about to say doesn’t fit exactly with the message of her chant. However, I’m hoping that our bonds of affection would put her in a place where she would be okay with me using her powerful lyrics as a springboard into my discussion.

This chant is, in part, about being drawn back into the Craft. It’s about being drawn to that “flame” — the love of the brotherhood of the Craft — and (back) into the fold another time. That idea of an irresistable draw is very salient, as it is something that I have felt in my own life as I travel the roads from the faith of my parents into loving devotion and service to my patron goddess, Freyja.

Why did I become a Pagan? The shortest, simplest, and most true answer is that everything in my life has gently — and on occasion, not so gently — propelled me down the path which led me here. Many events, both big and small, almost seemed perfectly orchestrated to lead me in this direction that if I were inclined to believe in fate, I would declare that it was my fate to be a Pagan. (And maybe there’s some truth to that. But my mind is still undecided when it comes to the idea of fate.)

In many ways, coming out of the closet as a gay man back in 1996 was one such event, and a significant one at that. Unfortunately, in some people’s minds, it seems to be the only such event, which is unfortunate. In reality, however, it’s significance is due to the fact that my coming out served as a catalyst for the greater process. Coming out put me in a position where I began to take stock in what I believed in and why. It created a myriad of questions in my mind, and invited more questions to the party as time went by.

Another major event was my breakup with my first boyfriend and the loss of my best friend in a single weekend. This event was significant because it put me into an emotional tailspin which in the end, required me to take a hard look at how I perceived myself, the world around me, and Divinity. I realized that in order to survive, my perspective needed to undergo a radical change. That change came in the form of embracing a Pagan path.

During all this time, I also found myself questioning much about the theology I was taught growing up and while attending college. I began to question such concepts as sin, original sin, the total depravity of man, and even the need for salvation. I began to question everything. I found that many of the basic assumptions that were central to the faith of my childhood and youth no longer made sense to me.

This meant a process of examining those assumptions, considering why they no longer made sense, and coming to knew conclusions. When the dust settled (well, as much as it has to date), I found myself more in line with Pagan worldviews.

There was also the issue of psychic abilities, which played a major contributor. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been empathic (meaning that I could sense and even experience other people’s emotions). This would create problems for me at various times in my life. Often, I’d find myself overwhelmed by the strong emotions of people around me. When began to follow Pagan pathway, I found ways to prevent that. And I found ways I could use those abilities to help others.

There’s much more I could write about. I could write about being a child and “imagining” energies flowing all around me, only to discover in my mid-twenties that such a fantastic reality really does exist. I could write about how my passions for all things North European and especially Norse led to me to Freyja. I think I could write for days without exhausting the tales I could tell of my journey. However, I hope what I have written provides a small taste of that inexorable draw to the “flame” that I have felt and responded to.

Paganism, Politics, Society

With special thanks to Mike Hein

2 Comments

This weekend, I received a strange and unexpected mass email from one Mike Hein. This email (which contains the entire text of the first post in public message board thread) basically informed me of the latest activities of Rita Moran, a Maine Pagan attending the Democratic National Convention as an official delegate for her home state.

Now, if the names Rita Moran and Mike Hein sound familiar to you, there’s a reason for it. Mike Hein wrote an article for the Christian Civic League of Maine’s online newsletter back in June 2007 which outted Ms. Moran as a Pagan. At the time, Hein was trying (at least that’s what it looked like to this and several other bloggers) to drum up fear that the Democratic Party in Maine was being secretly taken over by Pagans. I wrote my own post about this situation back then, and covered some of the other unethical tactics (most involving an attempt to intimidate or harass anyone who disagreed with them) the CCL of Maine chose to engage in around the time of this story.

As a result of this outting and subsequent harassment, Rita Moran decided to become more outspoken about her faith and became something of a Pagan spokesperson in the Democratic party. This is part of what took her to the DNC this year. So in many ways, I think we Pagans might want to thank Mr. Hein. What he did back in 2007 was deplorable, but it turned out quite well for many of us.

For whatever reason, Mr. Hein can’t seem to leave Rita Moran alone though. Almost a year later, he’s once again reporting on her doings. Though this time, it’s even less clear what he’s hoping to attempt with his mass mailing. I suppose in his mind he’s hoping to drum up the fear of the scary Pagan that’s a visible part of the Democratic party. And I suppose most of his audience might see the reason for that fear, but not me.

Though I will say that it’s nice to know what’s going on with Ms. Moran, and the mass mailing provided me with a link to Rita Moran’s and Ed Lachowicz’s blog for the convention. So thanks again, Mr. Hein!

Paganism

A rose by any other name?

4 Comments

Erin has asked a great series of related questions:

In your opinion/experience, how do the terms most Christians commonly use for so-called “Pagan” belief systems differ? (Specifically Pagan, Neo-Pagan, Wiccan, and Heathen.)

In your opinion, is one term more correct or appropriate than the others when speaking generally of such belief systems? Is there another term I have not mentioned that is more acceptable for Christians to use?

Part of the problem with a lot of these terms is that not everyone can agree on what these terms mean. As such, many of the more common definitions tend to be rather broad and even vague at times in order to gain wider acceptance.

My personal definition of Paganism would be a collection of religions and spiritual traditions that are based on and/or inspired by the pre-Christian, polytheistic religious cultures of Europe, India, and Northern Europe. Such religions and spiritual traditions have many common (though not necessarily universal) themes running throughout them. These themes include:

  1. A pantheistic or panentheistic view of Divinity
  2. An understanding of Divinity that encompasses both male and female genders
  3. Some degree of polytheistic belief
  4. Reverence for all of creation and a strong belief that humanity is just another part of that creation

As an aside, I’ll note that many, if not all, of these themes are pulled directly from Gus Di Zerega’s own discussion of the common themes of Paganism in his book, Pagans and Christians: The Personal Spiritual Experience.

Now, if you pick at this definition too closely, you will likely find a Pagan religion that doesn’t quite fit the description. You might also find a non-Pagan religion that fits the description. Like I said, definitions are not perfect.

The term “Neo-Pagan” was a term adopted by many (and Isaac Bonewits certainly helped get the term out there by using it in the name of his website) to distinguish people who are following modern Pagan paths from the ancient pagan paths they are trying to reconstruct or reinvent. However, many of us, tend to use the words interchangeably. (Personally, I figure most people can tell whether I’m talking about the Paganisms of today or those of centuries past based on context.)

Heathenry is a term which has been adopted by many people who base their spirituality on the myths, legends, and cultures that came from the Germanic tribes. This includes both lore of the Icelanders and the Anglo-Saxons, as well as a few other sources.

Wicca is a term which I find particularly hard to define. This is partly due to the fact that a few years ago, I chose to use a very limited definition of the word on my blog. That’s actually still my definition of choice for this blog. However, much of the greater Pagan community disagrees with me.

As near as I can tell, the majority of Pagans tend to define Wicca as a specific religious tradition that honors a Divine Pair in the form of a God and Goddess, celebrate eight solar holidays a year along with lunar observances, cast circles and call Quarters (most often views as Elemental guardians) as a part of their rites. But in the end, you’re probably best off asking a Wiccan what they understand the term to mean in conversation.

As for what word to use when talking about people generally, the most widely accepted word would be Pagan. The only group that doesn’t seem to care for that word are the Heathens (and even their reactions can vary from individual to individual), as they often prefer to keep a certain distance and distinction between themselves and (other) Pagans.