Followers of the Polish tradition
Rodzimowiercy announced in December that they intend to build a temple & cultural centre. They've already raised 6% of the total funds needed in a Crowdfunding campaign!
http://wildhunt.org/2017/02/pagan-temple-planned-in-poland.html
I thought it'd be worth having another thread in the Revival section as I'd quite like to hear from my fellow Pagans on this
My view:
I would rather call for a community center than a "Temple". Temples are really houses of the Gods. Temple business is actually what created a corrupt priesthood and ruined religion and ultimately led to the creation of religious monopolies we now know as monotheism. We should not want to revive that and make people join ritual gatherings and all the stuff, except in a general way on some yearly festivities. That way we also leave each other free in worship and ideas.
Pagans rather used sacred places in Nature to gather, sing hymns together. They also created these little shrines spread over the country. Those we can recreate, they do not cost much and are much more useful. People still do that unknowingly. For instance on places were loved ones had a car accident one sees people make little shrines to honor their spirits.
From this tradition came the tradition to build shrines for Maria along roads. They were build and attended by ordinary people often women, These shrines are much more popular than church visits. Even in the big cathedrals you will find that it is Maria worship in little chapels that draws the crowds. People go there to ask help. Ultimately the church was not able to abandon the mother Goddess and she came back as Maria, other Gods came back as Saints. Protestants hate that and call it idolatry. But it is the most popular part of religion.
The problem of course is that if we build or assign Pagan landmarks fanatics and vandals will try to destroy them. A few years ago they chopped down one of the eldest sacred trees in England. So we want to be careful about using such trees that can not be protected. Nor do shrines have to be landmarks. They can be small even unrecognizable for others. We do not have to boast a religion like Abrahamists do. It is a spiritual connection for the lovers, not an advertisement for religion.
The accent in Pagan communities should not be on God worship, but simply having a nice community of people who share the same spiritual mindset and are interested in preserving wisdom and traditions and have a lot of fun in shared festivities. A coming together of good spirits. We should ask people to join on spiritual connection alone, not ideology. That way strong social communities are formed bringing people joy.
We are not and have never been servants of any particular God. We revere spirits in places where they manifest more strongly. At home we can also build our own shrines for the spirits we love.
We should be careful with Abrahamists, Satanists, race supremacist, nationalists, ideology followers. The community should not become an ideological instrument, an excuse for sex rites, animal sacrifices, necromancy, sadomasochism, worship of supremacist gods, magical practices etc. Then it becomes sects and cults of deviants rather at odds with the values and wisdom of our traditions.
Let people who seek these things visit their own churches, gatherings and nightclubs. They may insist on calling themselves Pagans as one of their labels, for me they are what I want to stay away from. I have more spiritual connection with a kind religiously tolerant Catholic revering Maria or some saint, or a kind atheist with true love for Nature. Yes, a community of friendly people, kind folks of what these so-called "pagans" call fluff-bunnies. A community of healthy people that keeps deviants, extremists, supremacists out. Not so easy as you can see on this forum, they have no respect for our wishes. Even if they have their own forums, they still want to dominate this one as well. That is what you get when you allow people in that seek power and the dark side.
