Immanence
If we believe that the whole of creation is sacred, that Deity is immanent, then this means we are sacred too, as is everyone else.
Interdependence
We understand that each of our actions has far-reaching consequences, most of which we’ll never know about. What I do will affect you, what you do affects me.
Power
Power is fundamental to Paganism, it’s why we’re not Christian or Buddhist or Muslim or anything else. Being Pagan, we understand that humans use power to effect change and most of our life as a Pagan is spent learning how best to use or not use that power.
There are 3 types of power
- power-over: domination and control
- power-from-within: personal ability and spiritual integrity
- power-with: cooperation among equals.
Community
We know that The Truth is a nebulous thing, and that abuses of truth are also abuses of power. Some part of us has always to be alert to what is real and what is not real, from knowing what is actually, faithfully genuine in our own private spirituality, knowing what is authentic in relationships, knowing what truths and lies we are willing to endure.
We can only do this with other people, and those people have to be trustworthy at a fundamental level, on a quest for truth and using power with integrity. Beware the glamour queens and all-knowing kings of Paganism. You need to be treated as an equal, even if you are an absolute newcomer. One of the things that keeps many of us from equality is a deep-seated need to follow a leader: exploring those tensions in ourselves is one of the most important quests we can undertake and it can only be undertaken with others.
Balance
It’s easy to talk all day about the light or to embrace cinematic ideas of living in some kind of underworld. Pagans strive to achieve balance. The dark is where seeds germinate and grow, where we sleep in a healthful and restorative way, where our deepest shames are hidden and gain power over others and ourselves. The light illuminates and clarifies and can blind us and send us mad.
When we’re ill, when we reach moments or extended periods of distress, uncertainty and bereavement, we don’t need to engage in philosophical discourse about avoiding dogma. We need support, answers, and assurance in ways that fit our way of being. When we’re on our knees in suffering we need someone to hold us and do things for us rather than indulging in psychobabble. And we need people who can manage this perfect opportunity for the abuse of power with delicacy and sureness.
Consider if you might be one of those people.
Hi Clare, I've dropped over because I suspect we both got Bo's invite at the same time. I am completely un-pagan, believing in that nice white-bearded old man that lives in the sky (not Santa). The only 3 religions I can claim any sophisticated knowledge of are the Abrahamic, and their teachings have arrived in 2009 with a fairly comprehensive, if regularly disputed, textual history of revelation and commentary.
ReplyDeleteSo my really basic question with paganism is - how do you know? I am not being derogatory when I say that when I read the above, I think, common sense. What makes it paganism? How do you know it's paganism?
Hello Titus, there are better people than I who can answer this question bearing in mind that it’s a question that can never be answered to the satisfaction of a scientific mindset. Just as Christians believe that Jesus is the foundation of Christianity, despite there being no credible evidence for the existence of Christ, so faith and accumulated culture have their place in Paganism. Our accumulated culture is, of course, minute but a religion has got to begin somewhere!
ReplyDelete>So my really basic question with paganism is - how do you know?
I knew when I read my first book on Paganism that this is what fitted in a way that other religions didn’t. I have enormous and genuine respect for the peaceful aspects of Abrahamic religions and I’m baptised both into Catholicism and Anglicanism but they just didn’t fit. Paganism does, and that’s how I know.
>What makes it paganism?
Only the accumulated culture that unites those people who call themselves Pagan.
How do you know it's paganism?
Because it’s not anything else. For Pagans, Deity is present in everything, which is my understanding of animism. AFAIK, animism isn’t part of the Abrahamic or other non-Pagan religions.
I’m not the person to have a theological discussion with! There are some excellent scholars of Paganism – Graham Harvey, Michael York, Carol Christ, Starhawk, Ronald Hutton– and they are far better able to address the questions that many other non-Pagans ask. Best wishes!
Thanks for the honesty and direction! I shall pursue, probably once my two littlest animists are back at school (hectic summer). I do enjoy finding new areas of knowledge I know nothing about, so cheers. But expect I'll be back.
ReplyDelete