The Circle of the Sacred Well
An Eclectic Neopagan Circle
Open Letter
True
spirituality is not the exclusive province of any one religion, nor
is there one 'right and only' way to commune with the Divine.
There are many religions, and within each religion, there are many
who find that the practice of that particular religion brings them
into communion with the Divine. There are as many who have
achieved a truly spiritual relationship with the Divine outside of
any recognized religion. Their experience is no less valid.
Nor does any one person have the right to judge another person's
spiritual path as inferior based on his or her own religious views
or path. In short, an individual's relationship with the
Divine is more about his or her internal spiritual seeking and
growth than about any 'external' religious practice or recognition.
Many
neopagans who read the above paragraph would agree. They would also
assume that the paragraph is referring to the exclusivity that many
of the world's 'main' religions claim. They have heard the
above said before; perhaps even said something similar themselves.
They would be correct. It is. However, it is also referring to
the neopagan religions.
While
many individual neopagans are the most religiously tolerant
individuals, it sometimes seems that, when we form a group, we have
the same tendencies to exclusivity as groups practicing the 'book'
religions (Christianity, Judaism & Islam). This is not to say
that individual neopagan groups should not have their own set of
religious beliefs and practices that their members are expected to
adhere to, nor is it to say that these same groups feel that other
pagan groups have 'wrong' beliefs - it is merely to point out the
tendency for groups to feel that that these other groups are not as
right as their group!
This
feeling of 'rightness' (i.e. we are right and they are wrong - or at
least not as right as we are) can be very detrimental to the
formation of a healthy spiritual community. The larger
religions can take this in stride. They each have enough
members within their own particular denomination or sect to make it
possible to host a sustaining spiritual community within their own
group. It is our view that those who follow a neopagan path do
not have the same luxury. Our groups are often small and
usually closed. Prospective attendees are often screened
before being allowed to participate in a group ritual.
Prospective members are further screened before being allowed to
join the group. This often leads many to become or remain
solitaires. There is nothing wrong with practicing as a
solitaire, however, if the reason for doing so is because you
haven't been invited to learn the 'secret handshake' of a closed
group, you can't find a group that feels right to you or because you
thought you had, only to be rebuffed or treated badly in some way,
then this is a failing in our spiritual community, not a reflection
on you.
This
'closed' approach is often supported by saying that 'this is the way
it has always been' or 'we have to keep things secret - remember the
Inquisition?'
Two
things:
1.
This is not 'the way it has always been' - there is no always.
Wicca, Witchcraft, Asatru, Druidism, and most other neopagan
religions are modern reconstructions of (not replicas or
continuations of) a variety of ancient pagan religious practices,
often with a healthy amount of medieval and revival ceremonial magic
thrown in. The roots of modern neopagan practice go back no
further than the late 19th century, with Theosophy, Spiritualism,
the Romantic Poets and even the Industrial Revolution playing a
role. The plant of neopaganism grew through propagation by
Gerald Gardner (no matter what one thinks of him) and the flowers of
neopaganism are the many paths we see in the religion today.
Also, often, the phrase 'this is the way it has always been' is used
by a High Priest(ess) to support his/her absolute, unquestionable
authority and control over a group. Again, there is no basis
in fact for this, unless 'always' refers to Gerald Gardner's status
as High Priest of his group.
2. The
Inquisition had nothing to do with any modern neopagan religion.
During the Middle Ages, the term 'witch' was used to describe anyone
who was considered in the service of the Devil - himself a being of
Judeo-Christian beliefs. Most of those who were accused as
witches fell into one of three categories: (1) they were
elderly and had no immediate family, (2) they were mentally ill or
retarded or (3) they were wealthy, with lands and goods others
coveted. Those labeled witches had one other thing in common:
they were devout Christians, just as were their accusers.
Modern historians have found no basis in fact to support the belief
in an underground Pagan religion, whose practitioners, when caught,
were accused as witches. The similarity in the confessions
wrung from the accused witches is thought to result from a number of
factors, among them: (1) as a result of Church teachings on the
subject, it was common knowledge what a 'witch' was supposed to be
doing and (2) leading questions asked by the Inquisitors when they
tortured their victims (so, your dog Toto is your familiar, isn't
he? and Satan talks to you through him, doesn't he?). Also,
historians believe that the number of accused witches who perished
during the 'Burning Times' is much lower than previously believed.
Closer to 100,000, rather than the widely-reported 9 million are
actually thought to have been tried and found guilty of witchcraft
during this time.
Perhaps
it is time to rethink our approach to the practice of our neopagan
religions. We bemoan the fact that people don't think Wicca,
Asatru, and other neopagan paths are religions, we cry
discrimination when someone misunderstands our beliefs, yet we keep
our doors firmly closed and guard our 'secrets' as if the
Inquisitors are around the next corner. We cling to
outmoded and inaccurate ideas concerning the history and origins of
our pagan religions. Perhaps is it time for more of us to
reevaluate our pagan religious roots and practices, and time to
demand honesty and historical accuracy from our leaders and from
each other and time to 'come out of the closet' about our
religions. Time to go beyond the 'old' way of thinking and
doing things and work to build a spiritual community, with many
'leaders' but no central authority figure. Hold open,
regularly-scheduled rituals. Hold open study groups, classes
and workshops. Do public charity work in the name of our
religion. Write our by-laws and become incorporated as
tax-exempt religious entities. In short, do all of the
community-building things that the 'main' religions do - not because
we have to, but because we want to and because we have a right to do
so - despite what some Christian fundamentalists and others would
have us believe. We don't have the luxury of all being of the
same 'denomination', we are too few and too diverse - does that
mean, however, that we can't still work to form a spiritual
community based on our commonly-held beliefs - we have more in
common than many of the 'closed' groups may like to admit.
There are other open neopagan spiritual
communities scattered throughout the country - some even in the most
unlikely places such as the
COSW Circle Council – 2003
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