As a continuation or as a supplement to my earlier written pieces
'Living in Two Worlds' and 'A response to - "Spare me this Pagan
Revival." I wish to share with you my thoughts on the misconceptions and the
many preconceived expectations, which people have towards those of us engaged
is esoteric study.
It is a common human frailty to make an assumption and of course
it has a benefit as a behavioural trait. It saves us expending unnecessary time
and energy, exploring every nuance of our interactions with others.
Psychologists recognise this as a necessity and it is very often, part of our
normal day to day existence.
There are however, other times when such presumption is not
beneficial. There are instances obviously, when such actions can be a source of
misunderstanding. I as a Pagan and a folklorist face this almost daily, as
people often think that because of how I self-identify and because of my publicly
known interests, I may share many other interests automatically.
As an example I share a telephone call that took place on the 5th
of November 2019. I was at home and the time was a little after 5pm. A young
lady called me and asked, "Do you do spells?" I asked, "Whose
calling?" She had not even given her name. She replied "Yasmin"
and asked again, "Do you do love spells?" I told her, "I do not
provide services." I then ended the call. If I may quote the musical 'The
Producers;' "How do they find me? They all come here." I do seem to attract
them. and they sit next to me on the bus.
Seriously, I note that she did not start the conversation in what
I consider a normal manner, such as by introducing themselves but instead she blurted
out her question. This has led me to suspect that someone has my business card
and may have called me as a prank, I do rather give them out like confetti. The
example still has validity even if it was a prank and of course, I cannot be
sure it was anyway. It still serves to illustrate how people make assumptions.
People
will quite simply, wrongly assume that because we share opinion or values
regarding for example, subjects A, B & C. We all automatically share the
same opinion or values regarding subjects X, Y & Z. This is intellectually
and emotionally immature. The reality is that people often fall somewhere in
the middle of our imaginary alphabet, sharing opinion and values on for
example; P, Q, R, S & T. What however, does become apparent, is that often
we do not know people as well as we perhaps thought. Often we have far less in
common than we hoped for or expected.
As
I have got older I have changed; as we all do. The result of this maturing is
that I have become increasingly intolerant towards the New Age Garbage (NAG)
and the Mindless Bullshit (MBS) that is prevalent today. Gradually over the past
decade and most certainly within the last five years, I have become aware that
I have less and less in common; with so many that call themselves Pagan. That
is outside of sharing that identifier in itself and obviously this raises many
questions. Since I no longer feel at home within the community of the tree-hugging,
crystal kissing hippies that many appear to associate with contemporary
Paganism; am I still a Pagan? What does it mean to be a Pagan?
I
postulate that Paganism can be defined as a Polytheistic or Pantheistic nature
focused religion or collective of spiritual paths. Under that broad description
then I am indeed a Pagan. If however, the required qualification is that I
submit to the 'Three Fold law' or 'Harm None' then the answer is no. Of course
the maxims referred to above are predominantly Wiccan but not even all Wiccans subscribe
to them. This may come as a surprise to some people and does therefore,
illustrate a further misconception.
The
misconceptions we have of contemporary Paganism is not unique to those outside
of the collective. The assumptions and the misconceptions are common within it.
Many Pagans and perhaps Occultists to a lesser extent, will assume that other
Pagans all vote for the same political party. The real life that exists outside
of the echo chamber that we call Social Media, is simply not like that. Not all
British Pagans vote Labour, many vote Conservative. Not all American Pagans
vote Democrat, many vote Republican. Not every Pagan is a vegetarian and we
don't all smoke cannabis. We don't all like Star Trek and we don't all read
Harry Potter. To state that someone is not a Pagan because they do not vote a
particular way, eat a certain diet, share the same interests or even enjoy the
same hobbies, is beyond being a simple error. It is foolish, it is absurd. We
do not all share the same opinion, the same values or the same principles.
In
looking back at my own journey over the past thirty odd years, I sometimes feel
that I have delved into contemporary Paganism and then passed right out the
other side. The lack of commonality I have with that community today is marked.
I am still a Pagan, I can still declare that Paganism is my religious standpoint.
I am however, not the kind of Pagan that many appear to think I am or even expect
me to be. I am my own man.
LIVING IN
TWO WORLDS
A RESPONSE
TO - 'SPARE ME THIS PAGAN REVIVAL'
IN DEFENCE
OF INTERFAITH
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