Open Letter

THE CIRCLE OF THE SACRED WELL

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 that their members are expected to share, 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 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 many 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 19th century. 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. Most of those labeled witches had one other thing in common: they were devout Christians, just as were their accusers. 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 commonly believed. Closer to 50,000, 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. Perhaps is it time for more of us to 'come out of the closet' about our religion. Time to go beyond the 'old' way of 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 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 Deep South! Why should there not be one here, in Fairfield County, Connecticut? We feel that it is time to move beyond our differences, beyond our petty disagreements, our political in-fighting and 'witch wars'. Let's work, and celebrate, together.

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