In the twentieth century, Paganism organized into discrete communities of belief and joined the panoply of America’s religious denominations.
Goddess, does this chick have a lot to learn about Pagans. "Organized" -- hah! "Discrete communities of belief" -- hah! The WHOLE POINT of Paganism in the 21st Century is the disorganization and the overlapping communities of belief.
This week the "On Faith" section of the on-line WaPo has been talking about Pagans and, generally, getting it wrong, albeit in a nice, we like you, we really like you, kind of way. Saying that Pagans are sometimes called Wiccans. Bitching that Pagans won't act like a nice, organized denomination of Protestantism, with clear catachesims and structures of authority. Pretending that Pagans are "organized into discrete communities of belief."
I'm glad that there are nice xians who want to reach out to Pagans and who agree that, yes, going out on a limb here, if there are Pagans in the military then they are probably entitled to at least one whole Pagan chaplin. Really, I am. But this week has been, IMHO, a clear demonstration of just how much the xians "don't get" about Paganism.=
I've been reading whatever I can find on Pagan Worship, even stop by your blog daily. But I'll have to say Pagan Worshipping is very confusing. And not a well defined blog anywheres on why certain Gods and Goddesses got their title, except for Goddess Dian who seems to be everywhere. So don't blame writers at the WaPo, they likely saw the VA opening the doors to Pagans as a religion and had to play catch up by researching like I'm trying to do.
ReplyDeletezoey & me,
ReplyDeletePagan worship is confusing if you focus on the externals, such as why one tradition worships certain deities and another tradition casts the circle widdershins. If you were unfamiliar w/ xianity, it would likely be just as confusing, trying to understand why catholics pray to St. Anthony when they lose something and why some protestants won't dance or play cards. In Paganism, the evolving, free-form, ad-hoc nature of things is a feature, not a bug. It's a much more important part of Paganism than, say, whether to have Cakes & Ale inside the cast circle or out or whether the Summer Solstice is seen as the Death of the Oak King.
There are many, many pagans in the military.
ReplyDeleteThink of the groups that make up the military.think scotch-irish family tradition, which is probably closest to wicca, think of palo and santaria , think ad-hoc root-work with various gods and spirits,only to suggest a few, perhaps the best known, among many stlyes of paganism actively practiced.
These are not something you give up when you join the military.
Zoey & Me,
ReplyDeletePagan worshipping is very confusing because it is based completely on relativity. Whatever you find relative, you to with it. There are no absolutes in pagan worshipping.
BTW, Hecate...what is "xianity?" If a slam on Christianity, you do realize Chi ("X") is the first letter of Christ in Greek, right? So if you are slamming Christianity, it doesn't really work.
It is with pleasure that I look at your site; he is fantastic. Really very pleasant to read your lovely shares. Continue like this and thank you again.
ReplyDeletevoyance gratuite en ligne