I believe that Jessica may have a very good idea about moving forward and actually trying to get something changed. I’m talking about actually getting a group together thats main goal would be to loosely tie together these isolated communities as well as enhance the national views of the Pagan community. I’ll be brainstorming tonight and emailing back and forth with Jessica in order to come up with some sort of extremely rough plan of attack and see what everyone thinks about it.

Remember that what I’m talking about is not to create a new Roman Catholic Church with a Goddess or God instead of Jesus and the Christian God. I’m talking about creating a network or “web” of communities so that the people that feel qualified to be teachers and role models for novices can actively do that and so that the novices can find their way with a little light shed on some good places to look for their paths. Remember that Pagan paths are never straight and never follow any other person’s path, so no one can truly guide anyone completely.

Think about this tonight and tomorrow and make sure to read tomorrow’s blog. I’ll be wanting anyone who wants to get on the “train” to be commenting tomorrow.

However, a sense of fellowship and community was an important part of the old ways. There should be something more than there is.

Unfortunately, the ideas and beliefs of pagans today are far more disparate than Christians ever were. There is no ‘original’ paganism. It is a religion defined by the individual’s preferences.

That being said, the unifying attribute of all of these is the practice of the Craft.

Perhaps it would not be inappropriate to create a community that allows the different ‘voices’ of paganism (Old Celtic, Norse, Coptic, etc.) to meet and compare notes on spiritual practices.

After all, if magic is universal, it has no cultural preferences. The Ancient Egyptians had different practices from the Germanic peoples of Eastern Europe, but, at least as my theories lean, employed the same forces.

This would unite the wildly-different philosophies that comprise neo-paganism under one collective banner. Governing procedures would be democratic, each group represented by a single representative, no matter how many groups are present (Perhaps shown in major divisions by source region and then further into sub-cults [Seidr as a division of Norse Paganism, for example]).

It avoids the forced assimilation/cross-contamination that affects Christianity while still bringing pagans together in a place where they can share facts and ideas without fear of prejudice.

In my mind’s eye, it grows into a sort of grand consortium of pagans who maintain meeting halls in which to discuss the differences and similarities of their philosophies and practices, socialize, and of course, practice magick in safety…

I do agree that if we had a popular leader, or two or three, who united us in numbers and purpose, our voices could be heard as one (or two or three) and we could create social safety in those numbers. My immediate family has never been prudish about what i believe, but then my parents went into the wild to teach school in Kotzebue, Alaska, 28 miles above the Arctic Circle in the largest native village to date. They did this in the 50’s. They weren’t exactly mainstream, but still, my mother looks at me blankly when I talk about my beliefs and gets a look of relief when I mention the possibility of going to the Buddhist temple nearby. She just has no reference point from popular culture for it. But what if she did?

There are plenty of religions that are not considered safe and acceptable by the dominant Christians in this country, but because they are widely known, widely practiced, and widely discussed, the likelihood of my local Baptist minister uncle giving the “going to hell” talk to one of them (ie: a Buddhist, Muslim, or Jew) is slim to none. But what would he say to me if given the opportunity?

We are not currently at “respectable religion” status, frankly, because we like our secrets, we like feeling like not everyone believes what we believe b/c what would we be, this group of social misfits who didn’t fit into the norm, if our beliefs also became mainstream and acceptable? Then, perhaps, more would join us and we would sink back into the corners of Wallflower City once again, becoming invisible, hiding and fearing something new. It’s my opinion, though most pagans would tell you they’d like to believe what they believe openly and without repercussion, that we fear losing what gives us a place in society as much as we fear being found out. The trouble with taking paganism out of the broom closet as a whole would be making sure we had a group that was willing and making sure that we wouldn’t all lose our social status, fringe as it may be. It’s my opinion that we all need to step up to the plate, lead where we can. I say this knowing how far I am myself from fulfilling that but there has to be a starting place, a seed from which to grow. I’m a willing participant in this movement if others want to go too.

But how do we start? Where do we start? And who starts it? Right here. This post. This discussion. Personally, I’m emailing MFTRW today and opening that dialogue. If there is a train that is going, I want to be on it. And not everyone has to go. I’m not Wiccan and don’t want to be Wiccan, but I have to admit that I blatantly benefit socially from their organization, popularity and numbers. Others will benefit from what we do and no one is required to come along. But what if you could? What if this core group could start it? Would you want to be a part of it? I would. I really don’t want to miss the train if it’s going so I feel a sense of urgency about it.

I have to say that in the UK, where we are, things are very different and our society is much more secular. It’s ironic really as your constitution separates state and belief and ours binds it with a monarch who heads the church. In reality though, there are very few of the fanatical Christian evangelists in the UK that you have over there, so attitudes are very different.

I am out of the closet, totally. I don’t go around announcing what I am, any more than I would if I were Jewish, Hindu or Moslem, but I live very openly in my beliefs.

I have to, politely, disagree with you. The Christian hierarchy and structure that you look at with some envy was set up 400 years after Christ, and it was an attempt to consolidate a vigourous, rapidly growing religion, just like The Craft is today. Before that first conclave, there were as many views on Christianity as there are on Witchcraft today, with different paths, opinions and sects.

The effect of the structuring of Christianity was to give leadership possibly in the way you ask for it, and seeming cohesion. The net result was to begin the process of ossifying the religion, creating a climate where money and power became more important than spirituality, where people were told what to believe and kept apart from their God by the intervention of the clergy. Is that what we want for The Craft? I’d say not.

We may be disparate, we may pull in different directions and it can get lonely working on one’s own, but given the alternatives, I’d take that option every time. There are already too many personality cults within Wicca and The Craft in general and let’s not forget that power corrupts. There are certainly good people who can take a lead, but there are as many self-serving egotists who would repeat all the mistakes of history over again.

I live rurally, though clearly it’s not as remote as somewhere like South Dakota, yet I find myself surrounded by people who are either Craft or very sympathetic to what I believe. I am lucky too, in that we have a great community at whitewicca.com that is supportive of solitaries and provides a cheery place to meet up and learn from each other. That is sufficient for me, though I’m pretty independent by nature.

I do worry about what would happen if we try to become an amorphous mass – I think we would loose all the things that make us special and different from the major world religions – which is why we don’t belong to them!

That’s just my opinion. Bright blessings, S