Your Experiences With the Pagan Community?

[☆Dreamwind☆]

I mean in terms of interacting physically rather then online. I've literally only met a handful irl. And yeah yeah, I know it depends on the people, because it takes all types to make a world. But I'm just curious I suppose, as to what I've been missing, how it's evolved from the viewpoint of long time members etc.

 

[Bear Wild]

I mean in terms of interacting physically rather then online. I've literally only met a handful irl. And yeah yeah, I know it depends on the people, because it takes all types to make a world. But I'm just curious I suppose, as to what I've been missing, how it's evolved from the viewpoint of long time members etc.

I agree. This is the problem of a developing religion. Considering our contemporary pagan religions really did not seriously start to surface in the greater social community until the 1950's and just started to spread out in the 1960's, we have a very short modern history (based on a very ancient history). In a way its strength and its weakness were because it lacked central organization to it, multiple different paths were developed with different mythologies, there was a pride of individuality and personal gnosis, fear of authority to dictate what is correct, significant early problems by the majority Christian culture which labeled it as evil the work of the devil (we have to thank secularization of modern culture for softening that view), and a small number of people in a large population separated by distance. What I see happening is a maturing of the religion with increasing depth of knowledge and experience. I think it has been hindered by the commercial consumerism with people trying to sell you something so that they can make a living - you know just take my online course and retreat for only the cost of " *** " and you too can become an official pagan priest or druid. I have no idea how I ended up with two neighbors that were pagan who did not even know the other was, but it helps to know someone to share the experiences. I felt fortunate when I found the organization of the New Order of Druids which has change my life allowing me the ability to form a meaningful context in my life. Usually however I just share my pagan rituals and activities with the squirrels, raccoons, birds, trees, dragonflies and a host of others where I live.

 

[☆Dreamwind☆]

Thanks for sharing your story and perspective Bear Wild.

 

[Bear Wild]

Thanks for sharing your story and perspective Bear Wild.

Nice to have others to share with that don't think you have lost it but becoming pagan.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I have been a part of a couple of different groups, but they were remarkably short lived. I think @Bear Wild makes a good point about the decentralized format leading to very individualized characteristics.

What I enjoy is having pagan friends that, while we may not celebrate or do rituals together, we can share music, art, and experiences and be open about our paths.

 

[☆Dreamwind☆]

Oof sounds like you had at least one annoying encounter in that department Bear.

That is pretty nice Guitar. ^^

 

[The Hammer]

I mean in terms of interacting physically rather then online. I've literally only met a handful irl. And yeah yeah, I know it depends on the people, because it takes all types to make a world. But I'm just curious I suppose, as to what I've been missing, how it's evolved from the viewpoint of long time members etc.

I've only recently found an active pagan church near me that holds regular ritual, and the couple times I have been it has been nice. The people and community is friendly and engaging. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a recluse and have a hard time making friends as an adult so the most I've done is show up. I'm a bit awkward in groups.

 

[☆Dreamwind☆]

I've only recently found an active pagan church near me that holds regular ritual, and the couple times I have been it has been nice. The people and community is friendly and engaging. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a recluse and have a hard time making friends as an adult so the most I've done is show up. I'm a bit awkward in groups.

I can certainly relate to that, I've become a bit more reclusive then I used to be over the years. It's often awkward being the "new kid in town," so to speak.

 

[Callisto]

I've always been part of a robust Pagan scene as I've lived in areas that have had communities since the start of the Pagan movement.

As to my experience, back when I began there were occult and pagan magazines and local newsletters. Those usually had classifieds. I was living in a college town and there were a couple of metaphysical bookstores I'd frequent. One carried a local pagan newsletter and that set me in the direction of networking. There was a group that hosted a monthly "coffeehouse", basically a meet up before there was a Meetup (.com). Sometimes we met in the basement of a church on one of the campuses, other times it would be at the larger of the metaphysical shops. Sometimes people performed (music etc.), other times if a well known author or pagan leader was in town there'd be a Q&A or panel discussion. Other times, it was just a chance to hang out and connect with others. The newsletter was published the local Wiccan community and eventually I connected with those folks. That led me to my coven.

 

[Quintessence]

I have been quite disconnected from anything face-to-face for many years now but it was part of my formative years. What you are "missing" really depends on what it is that you seek. I was a UUer for longer than I was involved in the local Pagan community, and I drifted away from that too. Public religion, as it turns out, really is just not my thing. Once you know that for yourself, you aren't really missing anything by bowing out of that arena. Some general things I observed from my time interacting with the local Pagan community:

• Diversity. The diversity of ideas and practices found within the Pagan community is huge. When scholars and commentators struggle with the heterogeneity of the movement and identifying what exactly it is that ties it together, they're serious. And I strongly suspect this has gotten magnified since I've been inactive.
• Herding Cats. Because of the above, attempting to actually run anything resembling organized groups within contemporary Paganism can be hugely problematic. I ran into this once when I tried out a leadership role in the community and was endlessly frustrated with it, ultimately bowing out because of it. Folks genuinely do want to be involved, but the cohesion just isn't there.
• Chill Drama. For the most part, folks in the community were very relaxed, though there was also sometimes drama like any other group of humans that gets together. Folks were really content to live-and-let-live about all this though so drama tended to be cold rather than hot, so to speak, when it did happen.
• Prepare to Think. Even before the demographic surveys came out confirming this more broadly, it was obvious to me participating in the community that these folks were well educated. When you interact with a bunch of Pagans face-to-face, you'd better get ready for some serious intellectual exercise. These are sharp, thoughtful, articulate folks.
• Wiccan Clout. The group rituals I participated in were "generic Wicca" in their structure. This was probably symptomatic of the dominant influence of Wicca in the community at that time as it was considered a more "neutral" way of doing group rituals as it'd be the most universally familiar to everyone regardless of our diverse paths. Not sure how much this is the case today.

 

[☆Dreamwind☆]

Thanks for the great perspectives Callisto and Quintessence, it is interesting to see how each group forms, and yeah when I was at mw, I heard the herding cats phrase a lot and as an online community before it went kaput, there was a fair share of drama too, but it was good for learning and sharing.

I've been a solitary practitioner for years, because I've never been anyplace that had a community, and at this point I don't think I'd know what to do if I did find myself in one. Perhaps I'm just curious to see what its like through others personal experiences?

 

[rocala]

To be honest, it has been disappointing. Posts 7 and 10 pretty much sum it up for me. On the OBOD forum, I started a post about the fact that I had never met another Druid. I live in London which is the capital of a fairly crowded island. I had some expectation of somebody/group saying hi, let's meet for a beer, or at least some encouragement. But no, nothing really happened.

I mentioned in another post about a pagan looking for book suggestions, and that the response was largely about fantasy literature. I think that is part of the problem in that the escapist element is so large in paganism.

 

[☆Dreamwind☆]

To be honest, it has been disappointing. Posts 7 and 10 pretty much sum it up for me. On the OBOD forum, I started a post about the fact that I had never met another Druid. I live in London which is the capital of a fairly crowded island. I had some expectation of somebody/group saying hi, let's meet for a beer, or at least some encouragement. But no, nothing really happened.

I mentioned in another post about a pagan looking for book suggestions, and that the response was largely about fantasy literature. I think that is part of the problem in that the escapist element is so large in paganism.

I can understand fantasy works sparking first interests, and I've found that beautiful or spiritual music can come from unexpected sources, but yeah I wouldn't reccomend fantasy books as knowledgeable material.