The Blessings of Online Community

There are a lot of Pagans and Heathens who love to talk about how online community isn’t community.  I’ve heard that people online “aren’t real people” (*waves* Hi, I’m a human made of real, physical human parts!), spirituality discussed online is discounted because of the medium that it’s discussed on (the internet wights influence the way you think about things, corrupting your discussions), rituals done with online groups don’t create proper sacred space (they do if you create it individually, and even more so if you find ways to link it), and plenty of other things that run counter to my experience.

On the other hand, there are quite a few people who have benefited and drawn blessings from the availability, convenience, expansiveness, and diversity of online community.  The relatively new tool that is the internet has provided us with new techniques and strategies for community building.  Groups, ideas, rites, and more that would not have been possible a century ago are flourishing now that we can all reach out to one another.

I have several online communities I belong to.  There’s Virtual Sessrumnir, our Facebook group for Freyja devotees, where we discuss the Lady and share prayers and invocations for Her.  I have a (mostly) private online worship group, a tight knit community that provides a space that we all need to honor the Powers we love among like-minded people, provide social, emotional and material support to one another, and explore our faith practices in a context that we would not be able to find or create locally.  I have lots of friends and co-religionists that I’ve only met through the internet that are more supportive and helpful than anyone who I’m likely to bump into in a grocery store (at least where I’m currently living).

(Courtesy of Pixabay)

Online community allows people with similar interests, beliefs, and practices who are geographically separate to find one another.  We have many billions worth of people to work with out there; there are surely some of those who have had similar thoughts and practices.  While the local groups may scoff at your heresy there are many like-minded heretics online who will happily flock to you once you set out your beacon.  When a group of similar heretics get together, they kind of stop being heretics within their own context and can find ways to grow as community.

Online community allows access to expertise unavailable locally.  I’ve heard people lament the unavailability of local practitioners who are skilled/knowledgeable in x, y, or z esoteric subject.  Online community allows for word of mouth in conjunction with application of search engine to help people to find folks who have techniques, skills, or knowledge that they need for their spiritual lives and practices.  There are even less degrees of separation now between you and the training or correspondence that you seek.

Online community allows for exchange of ideas on a global scale.  A lot of important things are formed in close-knit local community.  Local kindreds and groves and covens all develop their own practice and understandings.  Working closely with people does that.  However, with the internet, we can project and share those ideas, many of which have merit.  We can (and do) still have our secrets and private rites but we can also be more public about the things that aren’t meant for family-only, and that exchange of ideas has lead to some amazing things.

Online community can allow for coordinated wide-scale events.  I’ve belonged to multiple Pagan and Pagan-like organizations that have performed international or intercontinental rites as a group. Individuals or small groups gather at the same time, preparing their sacred spaces and often linking to each other through words and images conveyed through our social media.  While there are those who doubt the power of a vast, coordinated rite like this, most of them haven’t participated in one that was well done and meaningful to those who attended.  One of the things we seek in spirituality is to be a part of something greater; global ritual certainly puts you in touch with that through the human element alone.

Online community can be a boon to people with disability, social anxiety, or other limitations.  A person with an autoimmune disorder is guaranteed not to be exposed to dangerous pathogens from an online rite or pubmoot (chatmoot? pubchat?).  A person who has physical and/or financial limitations that make attending a local gathering difficult or impossible can sit at home and use Skype or Zoom to connect and pray alongside others.  For many people it takes far less social effort to attend an online meeting than to travel through hordes of strangers to visit a house full of people who aren’t much better than acquaintances (if that).

Online community is mobile. You can move from state to state and country to country and the only barrier between you and your people will be time zone differences and wifi availability.  Internet community can follow you almost anywhere that you’re likely to go, and that will expand even further over time.  They are a message away and whatever meetings or rites they do can be done nearly wherever you are.

(Courtesy of Pixabay)

The online worship group that I belong to is tighter than almost any group that I’ve belonged to in real life.  We talk daily, gather weekly, offer regularly, journey together, dream together, and provide one another with emotional, financial, and material support.  We care for one another as though we all lived in one big house, and in a sense we do.  It isn’t for everyone, but it’s a blessing to us.

Online communities can be problematic.  Cyber stalking and bullying are problems that need to be kept on top of.  Infiltration by people who do not mean you well is far easier, depending on how close the community is.  They can grow toxic and develop abusive and codependant patterns.  However, any community can develop these problems – and many of the tactics that are useful in maintaining the health of local communities work for online ones as well.

There is a lot to say for local community and in-person rituals.  I’ve planned moves before based on availability of compatible spiritual community and I’ll likely do it again; to me it’s worth it.  I’ve been blessed with the means to do so.  Not everyone has the ability to pick up their lives and move, and not everyone should have to when there are other means to achieve similar affects..  The internet is a new tool for humans, and one that’s evolving more quickly than our ability to catch up with all of its new applications.  There is no reason not to put this tool to good use and apply it to the way that we practice with and engage our spiritual and religious communities.