C is for Community

Here is my chance to talk about the issues that have been floating around the pagan blogs this past month. A little late, but I thought I would take sometime to reflect on what I really wanted to say about the whole thing.

I was surprised with the reactions people had to Star's original post. I was surprised, I had been reading her blog for awhile and was sad when she suddenly disappeared. But honestly it is her choice on what she wants to call herself and where she finds happiness is where she belongs.

But the really shocking thing was how this one post touch of the debate on if we still need a pagan community and who belongs in that community. There are a couple things that I took away from those first couple of days of postings.

1) Some where along the line some one decided the Wicca=Pagan. Never thought that before.
2) Apparently it is alright for me to make belittle your path and cast you out of the Pagan "umbrella". And it is alright if I label you. But the moment someone does the same to me, I can get angry about it.

After those first few days, and people cooled of a little, some really meaningful discussion occurred. People started using more rational reasoning. They started explaining themselves instead of attacking others. And it is apparent that things are going to start changing.

It may have reached a point where people stop just describing themselves as Pagan. It maybe time for individual traditions to start standing on their own.

But I don't think that it is time for us to abandon the idea of a Pagan community all together. I get most of my pagan community through the internet. Though it is not the ideal way to see things, I can still get an idea of what is going on. And I think that at this point there is still more that connects us than divides us. We all have different views of divine and different ways of showing our respect. And we can still discuss our ways and find things in common. We might also find new ways to enhance our own practice. 

To keep the community together, we just need to remember to respect each other. In the end we are human. We are all just trying to find our way.
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Thoughts? Is community something that is important to you? Any tips for newbies looking for community?

Exciting Group-Solitary Druid Fellowship

One of my favorite blogs is Teo Bishop's "Bishop In the Grove." He is a wonderful writer and his posts always leave me thinking. For the past few months, Teo has been writing about creating a fellowship for solitary pagans.

So today I was really pleased to get an e-mail announcing the launch of the Solitary Druid Fellowship website. According to the site

The Solitary Druid Fellowship (SDF) is an extension of Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), an independent tradition of Neo-Pagan Druidism. It is organized to provide solitary Druids, as well as any solitary Pagan in the general public, with an opportunity to engage more deeply with their ritual practice, while at the same time forging spiritual bonds with other solitaries through the adoption of a shared liturgical form.(1)

I have spent some time looking around the site. Though there isn't a whole lot there right now, the articles that are up are very interesting. The site is well organized, clean, and easy to navigate. I think that it is an interesting idea that this site will be for information, not a replacement for groves or communities.

I love the idea of being able to share a common ritual with others, but still being able to worship on my own. I believe that this site is going to be a wonderful tool for many Pagans. I am looking forward to reading the Yule ritual and using it my practice.

Notes:
(1) Taken from the "What we are" page- http://www.solitarydruid.org/what-we-are/

P is for Paths

I think that one of the wonderful things about paganism is how everyone comes to it in a different way. Some come from a difficult situation in another religion. Some come out of a search for a world view that fits with their own. Some now are being born and raised in a pagan household.

All of our experiences are a little bit different. We all believe slightly different things. We are all in different places in our practices. It is wonderful that paganism allows us to walk these different "paths".

But now the question becomes, "Where are these paths leading us."

I am not referring to what happens when we die. That is part of the believing different things.

I wonder if we can ever pull our paths together to create a community. That appears to be a hot button issue right now across the pagan blogs and websites. And it is something that I think about. I have to admit I don't have a lot of real world experience in this area. Right now I am looking at the pagan community through the computer screen. And some of what I read about makes me nervous. I know with all groups there will be bickering. I know that not everyone will agree with everything. And I know that what I see through the internet is just a small part of what is going on.

What I hope is that people are going to be willing to work together.
I hope that we are going to be working toward a future where people are not afraid to "come out of the broom closet".
I hope we are headed toward a place where bickering is put aside to work toward a common goal.
I hope we have a group or groups of people that are willing to stand up and take charge when needed.
I hope we don't only focus on the spiritual side of things. We should do things here in the physical world. Build things (centers, business, etc.) and show positive character to world around us.

It is going to take time. It is going to take commitment. It is going to take money. It is going to take some people learning a new set of skills. It is going to take people (including myself) coming out from behind computer screens and their own personal bubbles. It is going to take those people saying "I am pagan (or what ever your 'path' is). I am here. I am ready to put the little things that separate us aside. I am ready to create a community and a future for us."

I hope our paths eventually converge. And when the do, I hope they have lead us to a place where we are all still individual, but united toward creating a wonderful future.