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<\/a>Where are all the Pagans?<\/strong><\/p>\n In the Part 2<\/a>, I proposed the theory that what the religious \u201cNones\u201d<\/a> may be\u00a0looking for is not the \u201creligionless church\u201d<\/a> offered by the Sunday Assembly and Unitarian Universalism, but \u201cchurchless religion\u201d \u2014\u00a0symbol, myth, and ritual, without the moralism, dogmatism, and hierarchy \u2014 a kind of \u201cHinduism for the West\u201d.\u00a0 And it so happens, that is how I have heard Paganism described sometimes.<\/p>\n So why aren\u2019t people flocking to Paganism? I suspect that part of the reason we Pagans have not yet capitalized on the growth of the Nones is that people can\u2019t find us<\/em>. \u00a0Sure, we\u2019re easy to find on the Internet.\u00a0 And you can still find Pagan books in the (rapidly shrinking) metaphysical section of (rapidly disappearing) bookstores. \u00a0But I question whether people can really experience Paganism virtually or by reading a book.<\/p>\n Imagine someone wakes up on Sunday morning (because that\u2019s the day they\u2019re conditioned to think about religion) and they decide, \u201cI want to check out Paganism.\u201d \u00a0Where do they go? \u00a0Reading a book or surfing the net are no substitute for physical religion. \u00a0Where can a person physically go and experience contemporary Paganism in the flesh?<\/p>\n \u201cThey can go anywhere,\u201d you might say, \u201cthe holy\u00a0is all around us.\u201d \u00a0True enough, but it is a fact of the human experience that we tend to be blind to things which are everywhere. \u00a0Sometimes, when the holy\u00a0is everywhere, it seems like it is nowhere.\u00a0 We need special places and special times to remind us of the everwhere-ness and the everywhen-ness of the holy.<\/p>\n So where can a person go and experience public Paganism? \u00a0I live near Chicago, which is the third largest city in the U.S., and as far as I know, there is no special place for Pagan worship.\u00a0 If I\u2019m lucky, it will be near one of the eight Pagan holy days, and I can find a public group to circle with.\u00a0 But if not, I have to six weeks until the next station on the Wheel of the Year.\u00a0 What to do in the meantime?<\/p>\n Pagan Temples<\/strong><\/p>\n The solution to this is obviously to build something \u2014 somewhere where people can physically go to, individually and collectively, practice Pagan religion.\u00a0 Such structures provide a place for the curious to go to and provide a kind of symbolic legitimacy in the eyes of the non-Pagan community.<\/p>\n Recently Pagans have been\u00a0talking about temples again.\u00a0 Some of this was spurred by the announcement of by the Icelandic Asatru Association, \u00c1satr\u00faarf\u00e9lagi\u00f0, that they were building the first pagan temple in that country in 1000 years<\/a>. \u00a0You can read The Wild Hunt\u2019s coverage of it here<\/a>.\u00a0 Stories like these inevitably cause Pagans in other parts of the world, like myself, to start fantasizing about what it would be like to have a temple of our own. \u00a0For example, you can read about\u00a0Star Foster\u2019s beautiful vision of a contemporary Hellenic temple<\/a>,\u00a0which she wrote about back in 2012.<\/p>\n But there are number of practical reasons why most of these\u00a0dreams\u00a0are doomed to failure \u2014 at least for the foreseeable future. \u00a0Cara Shulz ran a great 2-part<\/a> series<\/a> at The Wild Hunt on the challenges of \u201cBuilding Pagan Temples and Infrastructures\u201d<\/a>. \u00a0 I tend to agree with Jason Mankey\u00a0that building something like the\u00a0something like the\u00a0<\/a>\u00c1satr\u00faarf\u00e9lagi\u00f0<\/a>\u00a0temple\u00a0in the U.S. is probably a pipe dream<\/a>, at least in the foreseeable future.\u00a0 There are some notable exceptions, including the New Alexandrian Library<\/a>, but it\u2019s not really a temple.<\/p>\n That which we would call a temple by any other name \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Which brings me to the question of what a temple is. \u00a0What I find interesting is that most of the discussions of Pagan temples seem to have in mind something\u00a0that is both a place of worship and a community center. \u00a0The concept seems modeled on the Christian concept of a church.\u00a0 But if we look back at ancient pagan places of worship, many of them looked less like community centers, and more like what I would call \u201cshrines\u201d. \u00a0For many Western religions,\u00a0these two functions are merged in one building. \u00a0And when Pagans talk about building \u201ctemples\u201d, we often follow this model, which unifies the community center with the shrine. \u00a0It\u2019s another manifestation of the conflation of \u201cchurch\u201d with \u201creligion\u201d, which I talked about in Parts 1<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a02<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s somewhat surprising, given the degree of theological and ritual innovation in the Pagan community, that we don\u2019t seem to think very far outside the box when it comes to places of worship. \u00a0As I wrote about in Part 2<\/a>, Mormonism<\/a> serves as an interesting example of the\u00a0separation of two functions, and I wonder if Pagans might benefit from this model. \u00a0Many contemporary\u00a0Pagans tend to eschew such divisions (which hint at metaphysical dualism) in favor of bringing all parts of our lives together in one place and time. \u00a0But there are problems, both practical and psychological\/aesthetic, with trying to worship in a place that doubles (or triples or quadruples) as a bookstore, dining hall, and location for intermediate basket weaving classes.<\/p>\n So how can we Pagans offer the experience of \u201cchurchless religion\u201d to people?\u00a0 The answer, I think is public shrines<\/em>.\u00a0 I got this idea after reading a story about a neighborhood in Oakland<\/a> which was plagued by drug dealers and illegal dumping.\u00a0 One community member,\u00a0Dan Stevenson, bought a small statue of the Buddha at an Ace hardware store and put it in the median.\u00a0 Dan wasn\u2019t even Buddhist.\u00a0 Over time, though, people began leaving offerings of flowers and fruit.\u00a0 Eventually, they erected a shrine around the Buddha, which the city allowed to remain.\u00a0 People come every morning at 7 a.m. to pray.\u00a0 And perhaps most remarkably, the crime rate for the neighborhood dropped 82%!\u00a0 (Here\u2019s<\/a> some<\/a> more<\/a> links<\/a> to get the rest of the story.)<\/p>\n Inspired by this story, I came up with three ways that we can bring Paganism physically <\/em>to the public without building a full-scale community center or church \u2026<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Public Pagan Statues: America\u2019s \u201cGreen Men\u201d There are dozens, if not hundreds, of public statues and other public art with Pagan themes spread throughout the country.\u00a0 We can claim these works of art as our own, by staging public rituals around them, and by turning them into shrines where offerings can be left. \u00a0Here\u2019s a map of the U.S. with 30 public Pagan statues<\/a>, and I know there\u2019s got to be dozens more spread over the country. \u00a0When I was in San Jose for my first Pantheacon, I left an offering of cornmeal at the\u00a0Quetzalcoatl feathered serpent statue<\/a>\u00a0there. \u00a0I also found\u00a0a wonderful Dionysian sculpture<\/a>\u00a0(Pome De La Vigne) by Gustave Dore in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On one family road trip, we stopped and\u00a0poured\u00a0a water libation at the statue of Isis at the\u00a0Herbert Hoover National Historical Site<\/a> in Iowa (conveniently located just off I-80). \u00a0The statue of Ceres in Chicago<\/a>\u00a0which is listed on the map<\/a> is somewhat inaccessible, sitting on the top of the Board of Trade building, but in front of the building are two other\u00a0statues, one of Ceres<\/a>\u00a0and another of a goddess of industry<\/a>\u00a0(which are not listed on the map), where I plan to leave\u00a0offerings next time I\u2019m in town. \u00a0And at one time, there was a wonderful Cybele statue by\u00a0Mihail Chemiakin<\/a> in New York City (not sure where it\u2019s gone<\/a>).\u00a0 And let\u2019s not forget the Baphomet statue which has been in the news lately<\/a> and is being erected by the Satanic Temple\u00a0at the capitol building in Oklahoma City.\u00a0\u00a0There are Pagan gods hidden all over the U.S. like Green Men in the Europe. One advantage with working with existing statues is that they are public property. \u00a0While such statues are not entirely safe from vandalism, as the recent case case of the theft of the statue of\u00a0Manann\u00e1n mac Lir<\/a> in Ireland demonstrates, public authorities have an incentive to prevent vandalism.\u00a0 One complication is that offerings themselves might be interpreted by local authorities as litter, a \u201cpublic nuisance\u201d, or even vandalism, so we would need to do some research and plan in advance for encounters with overzealous police.\u00a0 The treatment of roadside memorials<\/a> might provide Pagans with some legal precedent in this area.<\/p>\n In any case, I recommend not just leaving offerings, which have to be cleaned up by someone, but \u201cadopting\u201d the statue \u2014 kind of like adopting a highway.\u00a0 In so doing, we would commit to keep the space clean and to preserve the appearance of its sacred character.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not into anarcho-spirituality, perhaps an arrangement could be made with the local government to keep the site clean in exchange for an easement which would allow worshipers to leave offerings.<\/p>\n If you know of the location of other public Pagan statues, you can share in the comments below.<\/em><\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Eco-Shrines: Reclaiming Our Green Spaces<\/strong><\/p>\n But that\u2019s just statues. \u00a0There are thousands of sites of natural phenomena, which have been created stone, water, wind, or living wood, which could serve as shrines.\u00a0 However, we would need to be conscientious about the impact that anything we leave would have on local flora and fauna.\u00a0 To that end, Mark Green, over at Atheopaganism<\/a>, has come up with an idea of creating temporary\u00a0shrines from natural materials:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026\u00a0sometimes when I\u2019m in nature, I just like to build a little altar-y thing\u2013an assemblage of found materials nestled, perhaps, in the hollow of a tree or on a flat stone: some spot that seems special. To me, they are offerings, kind of like love letters to nature; they say, I am connected to you, I was thinking about you, I love you.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, first find a \u201cmagic place\u201d: a tree with a hollow, or a flat rock in the middle of a stream, or a place where the sun angles down through the trees and illuminates the ground\u2013anywhere that strikes you as special.<\/p>\n \u201cCollect materials and place them, making careful consideration of their arrangement. This can be a highly meditative process; it is likely that you will\u00a0find yourself in the Ritual State simply by focusing on creating the \u201cart\u201d of your installation.<\/p>\n \u201cFinally, \u201cconsecrate\u201d your installation. Say or sing words to commend your artwork to that place, or to the world, or whatever is meaningful to you. Express\u00a0your feelings until you know that the work is done.<\/p>\n \u201cBe careful not to alter anything in a permanent way. These installations are moments in time, not monuments. So little is left of the wild places in our world that junking them up with durable human \u201chandprints\u201d is not appropriate: make your installation something that will naturally fall back into disarray as wind, weather, decay and the movement of animals scatter its components. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Anna Walther also talks about this practice in her essay, \u201cFour Devotional Practices for Naturalistic Pagans\u201d.<\/a>\u00a0 Natural materials can be arranged in geometric shapes, like the familiar quartered-circle to make a natural \u201cmedicine wheel\u201d.\u00a0 Stacking stones is an ancient way of marking a holy place (and is even attributed to a Biblical patriarch: Gen. 28:18<\/a>).\u00a0 Rocks can be balanced on top each other<\/a> in all kinds of interesting configurations to create natural monuments.\u00a0 They can also be stacked to make an altar on which other natural objects are placed.<\/p>\n Or we might emulate the Shinto practice of tying a rope around a tree, or hang ribbons from the branches of a tree, to mark it as a sacred spot.<\/p>\n I think Mark has in mind doing this in secluded spots, but I see it also as a way to reclaim our public green spaces from the desacralizing influence of modern urban and suburban planning, a kind of\u00a0guerrilla art<\/a>\u00a0that can be employed to re-enchant our public green spaces. \u00a0Public parks or any other green space, even a highway median, can be \u201creclaimed\u201d in this way.<\/p>\n At first, at least, we would have to expect that these shrines would be removed by landscaping or maintenance staff or desecrated by ne\u2019er-do-wells or iconoclasts.\u00a0 But one of the advantages of the eco-shrine is that it is relatively easy to rebuild.\u00a0 Some especially parochial people are bound to be creeped out<\/a> by public shrines.\u00a0 But I imagine that, if we kept returning to the same spot, rebuilding our natural shrines, that one day we would find that someone else had followed suit and built an eco-shrine before us. \u00a0And after years, the place might indeed become a holy place in the mind of the non-Pagan public as well.<\/p>\n If you have ideas for building an eco-shrine, share in the comments below.<\/em><\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Permanent\u00a0Pagan Shrines<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, if individuals or groups have the means, we can build more permanent shrines.\u00a0 These would be smaller in scale than the community center or church, and thus more feasible for individual Pagans and Pagan groups.\u00a0 Wonderful examples are the Sekhmet Temple in Indian Springs Nevada<\/a>, which has shrines to Sekhmet, the Lady of Guadalupe, and the\u00a0Mother of the World, and the Eco-Shrine of Diana Graham<\/a> in Hogsback, South Africa.<\/p>\n If you know of another permanent shrine, share in the comments below.<\/em><\/p>\n This is not intended as a one-fits-all answer to the question of the \u201cspiritual but not religious\u201d demographic.\u00a0 But I do think we Pagans might benefit from shifting from church\/community center model to a shrine model of public religiosity.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s somewhat surprising, given the degree of theological and ritual innovation in the Pagan community, that we don’t think very far outside the box when it comes to places of worship. We Pagans might benefit from shifting from church\/community center model to a shrine model of public religiosity. Here are 3 ways Pagans can offer the experience of “churchless religion” to people. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1538,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1358,1360,248,1357,1361,121,1363,1359,1362,395,1354,1355,1356,1353],"class_list":["post-8124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adopt","tag-buddhist-shrine","tag-church","tag-holy","tag-oakland","tag-pagan","tag-pagan-shrines","tag-public","tag-public-pagan-statues","tag-sacred","tag-shrine","tag-statue","tag-statues","tag-temple"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"balancing-rocks\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/363\/2015\/03\/balancing-rocks-738x1024.jpg\")
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