I\u2019d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the organizers of the event, both the national board and the local committee, for the invitation and for showing me such a good time. \u00a0I\u2019m looking forward to the next one!<\/em><\/p>\n Good morning.\u00a0 My name is Sable Aradia, and I\u2019m very honoured to have been invited to do a keynote presentation here at the Canadian National Pagan Conference<\/a>.\u00a0 Today I\u2019d like to consider a contentious and many-layered subject: Pagan Theology.<\/p>\n Theology <\/a><\/strong><\/em>is either \u201cthe systematic study of the existence and nature of the divine and its relationship to and influence upon other beings,\u201d[i] or \u201ca specific branch of this study, undertaken from the perspective of a particular group.\u201d[ii] We\u2019ve tried to avoid this subject in recent years for fear of angering everyone else.\u00a0 But I believe that avoiding a subject just makes it more difficult when it finally breaks through the surface of our repression.\u00a0 If it\u2019s contentious, I think that talking about it is even more important.<\/p>\n Chaos theory tells us that at the beginning of a thing, even extremely small variations can have long-reaching and permanent effects.\u00a0 We live in interesting times.\u00a0 Paganism, as practiced in the modern era, is a new religion.\u00a0 Even if you practice a Reconstructionist tradition, our Paganisms are being interpreted in new ways, as part of a broader spectrum, for a modern people.\u00a0 In other words, this is the beginning<\/em>.<\/p>\n Here, now, in this room \u2013 we<\/em> have found ourselves in the position of the Christian church fathers.\u00a0 Not because we are special snowflakes; not because we\u2019re particularly bright, or particularly interesting, or particularly charismatic; but because we are the ones taking an interest who are here at the beginning.\u00a0 Everything we write, everything we blog, everything we say<\/em> about the subject, will become foundational doctrine for the Pagans of the future.\u00a0 That is, if Pagans exist in the future; and that\u2019s by no means assured, especially if we\u2019re willing to bury what makes us unique in the mire of fads and popular opinion.<\/p>\n Think of it!\u00a0 Someday someone in a school of theology, pursuing the future equivalent of a doctorate of divinity, will quote the works of Brendan Myers<\/a> or Kerr Cuhulain<\/a> in the same essay as the writings of St. Augustine!<\/p>\n Our Pagan ancestors had theology, and their theology was involved and complex.\u00a0 From our Stone Age animist roots to the elaborate cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, our Pagan ancestors had consistent spiritual understandings of the world, though there were many variations and they debated those understandings extensively.\u00a0 They were faced with many of the same issues that we are faced with now, such as what to do when one encounters a vastly different theological perspective.\u00a0 Some (like the Greeks) chose syncretism and eclecticism; others (like the Romans) chose a mostly \u201clive and let live\u201d path; still others (like the Aztecs) chose to enforce their theology with war.\u00a0 We, too, will have to make such choices.\u00a0 We\u2019re in the process of making them right here, right now.<\/p>\n I doubt that Augustine considered the future impact of his work when he was creating it; and as I learned in the writing of this speech, thinking about it too much can result in paralyzing fear and self-doubt.\u00a0 Augustine was just giving serious thought to his young faith and trying to figure it out and understand what it meant.\u00a0 He probably had no idea that his interpretation of the myth of Eden, and his take on the concept of \u201coriginal sin,\u201d would result in the theologically-supported oppression and abuse of women and anyone designated as being of a lower class for almost two millennia.\u00a0 He was just trying to understand why life was so hard when an omnipotent God could just fix all that.\u00a0 Small seeds will grow into very big thickets.<\/p>\n But one good thing about Pagans is that we tend to be pretty self-aware.\u00a0 I think we should consider this.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it should stop us from coming to the conclusions we believe are right, but we need to consider the possible consequences of those conclusions.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t want to have this conversation.\u00a0 That\u2019s because of something I call the Curse of Pagan Niceness<\/a>.\u00a0 The problem is that we\u2019re so eager to get along and to not rock the boat in any way that we allow antagonists into our midst whose goals are not to have meaningful exchanges of faith or even to just celebrate with other like-minded people.\u00a0 We respond to challenges with a recitation of our rights to individual beliefs, even when those challenges are intended to destroy rather than to merely invite debate.<\/p>\n Out there in the blogosphere the community is dividing itself along theological rifts.\u00a0 I think that, largely fueled by the black-and-white, right-and-left political climate of the United States, the Pagan blogosphere wants to separate things into dualities and then tell us why everyone not on their side is wrong and is trying to destroy civilization.<\/p>\n I think there\u2019s a better way.\u00a0 I believe that perhaps Canada is uniquely suited to provide a model as a framework for that process.\u00a0 In Canada, at least in principle, we believe in a \u201ccultural mosaic.\u201d\u00a0 We are happy \u2013 again, at least in principle \u2013 to embrace anyone of any race or cultural background, who is willing to adhere to a handful of \u201ccore Canadian values,\u201d as a Canadian.<\/p>\n I think we are present at a time at which we find it necessary to decide on some \u201ccore Pagan values.\u201d\u00a0 We know what Paganism is \u2013 we recognize it when we see it \u2013 but we have difficulty articulating this.\u00a0 Then, once we have decided, collectively, on those values, we can embrace all those who would be part of Paganism without needing to fight so hard to assert who we are, lest we lose it.<\/p>\n Ultimately my goal for today is to consider some of these values; the things that unite and divide us, the things that make us who we are; and to propose a vision of Paganism that is as inclusive as possible without compromising its internal sense of identity.\u00a0 I hope to spark similar thoughts and conversations.\u00a0 Like most Pagan theologians I will qualify my statements by saying that these are merely my opinions and in some cases, not even opinions, but thoughts and questions. I do not believe I have all the answers.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve been doing this for a long time now and I practice, read, and write quite a lot about the subject, and I hope that at the very least, what I have to say will inspire all of you to think about it.<\/p>\n One of the reasons that faith exists is to confront, and possibly answer, some of the big questions about life, the universe, and everything.\u00a0 Perhaps there is a consistent Pagan theology in our beliefs about those things.\u00a0 What do you think?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I bet that none of us have the same answers to those questions.\u00a0 I bet that some of us have even more than one answer for some of those questions!\u00a0 (Like me.)\u00a0 Part of that is because the modern Pagan movement is so new that we\u2019re still trying to figure all of that out.<\/p>\n But remember that the title of this presentation isn\u2019t \u201ccreating\u201d Pagan theology.\u00a0 It\u2019s \u201creawakening\u201d it.\u00a0 Other Pagans who preceded the Christian world had their own ideas about those sorts of things, didn\u2019t they?\u00a0 And though much of what we\u2019re doing is new, we are looking to those old beliefs.\u00a0 I wonder what the ancient Babylonians thought about Du\u2019at.\u00a0 What did the Egyptians think of Elysium?\u00a0 What did the Romans think about Annwn?\u00a0 When they collided with other cultures, did the ancient Pagans argue that the Otherworlds of those cultures were delusional?\u00a0 Did they view these other realms as the same ones they knew about, only with different names?\u00a0 Or did they decide not to worry about it on the assumption that Norsemen go to Niflheim and Asgard, and Celts go to Annwn or Tir Nan Og?<\/p>\n We don\u2019t really know because for two thousand years or more the followers of some religions have been slaughtering everyone who doesn\u2019t agree with them.\u00a0 Even most of the literature we have from those cultures has been copied with particular spins by the peoples who ultimately supplanted them; \u201cde-Christianizing\u201d Pagan literature is a constant challenge for the historian.\u00a0 So anything we do at this point is starting over and rebuilding.\u00a0 The sleeping giant of Paganism has actually been in a coma, not taking a cat-nap.\u00a0 That deep of a sleep, for that length of time, means that there will be significant changes in personality; and \u2013 let\u2019s be honest \u2013 a lot of physical therapy is needed.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a beautiful thing that we can all share the same faith, or faith-group, and have such differing beliefs. \u00a0\u00a0I hope we can maintain that because it\u2019s one of the aspects of Paganism that I love most.\u00a0 But obviously, core beliefs about life, the universe, and everything are not what bind us together.\u00a0 I guess we have to look elsewhere. John Halstead, who, for those who don\u2019t know, is a fellow Patheos Pagan channel blogger, wrote about a concept which he called the Three Centers of Paganism<\/a>[iii].\u00a0 He believes that they can be shown as three interlocking circles, and most Paganisms will fall somewhere in the middle:<\/p>\n John Beckett, another Patheos writer, expanded it into four centers<\/a>[iv]:<\/p>\n He likened the Pagan umbrella to being a very big circus tent<\/a>[v] that sheltered many disparate groups, and he figured that the tent had four major poles around which we conglomerate.\u00a0 Most Pagan theology will include at least three out of the four.\u00a0 I think this is a really useful starting point for our conversation and I\u2019d like to examine it in greater detail:<\/p>\n Obviously we go right to thinking about how many of us describe ourselves as being \u201cearth-centered,\u201d and that\u2019s a big part of the Nature-oriented pole.\u00a0 But this also includes love of the body and being physical; celebrating rites of passage and the changes of the seasons; and wonder and awe for the cosmos and the natural universe.\u00a0 Related to these is the concept of imminent divinity; that is, the spirits, gods and holy powers we worship are part of this world and exist right here<\/em>, not somewhere out there and beyond us. We give lesser and greater emphasis to these aspects but I think we can safely say that, understood that way, this is a core principle of Paganism.<\/p>\n At its heart, Paganism is a humanist<\/strong> <\/em><\/a>faith group.\u00a0 Lately this has been used as a \u201cpolite\u201d synonym for \u201catheist,\u201d but that\u2019s not the meaning of the word.\u00a0 What it means is \u201cany system or mode of thought or action in which human interests, values, and dignity predominate,\u201d[vi] or, in philosophy, \u201ca variety of ethical theory and practice that emphasizes reason, scientific inquiry, and human fulfillment in the natural world and often rejects the importance of belief in God.\u201d[vii]\u00a0 In other words, humanism believes that being fully human, and accepting and embracing the human experience and the nature of the human animal rather than trying to repress it, is the path to enlightenment and a good and ethical life.<\/p>\n Another element of the pole of Self is self-improvement.\u00a0 We are seeking to better ourselves.\u00a0 Our visions of what that entails sometimes differ, but having rejected the Christian doctrine of \u201coriginal sin,\u201d we spend a lot of effort in overcoming the programming of guilt and shame that our culture indoctrinates us with (see what I did there?\u00a0 In-DOCTRINE-ate) and aspiring to be good and noble people.\u00a0 Brendan Myers writes in The Other Side of Virtue<\/span>[viii] about reawakening the Pagan virtue of \u201chonour.\u201d\u00a0 Pagans aspire to be honourable; though again, what that entails is individual and personal.\u00a0 Kerr Cuhulain has also written about Honour[ix].<\/p>\n We also talk about \u201cfollowing our bliss\u201d; or, as the ritual magicians call it, our \u201cTrue Will.\u201d\u00a0 Some of us believe that each of us has a goal, a plan, that is our inner purpose; and pursuing this is the meaning of life.\u00a0 That, too, would be a Self-focused belief.<\/p>\n The third major area of Self-development is magick.\u00a0 Any tradition that makes use of magick, whether you believe it to be the manifestations of the powers of the gods, your own personal will, or the power of positive thinking and the placebo effect<\/a>, magick is, by definition, a path of self-focus.<\/p>\n For some, community and tribe are the focus of Paganism.\u00a0 These are the people who create Pagan festivals, found Pagan churches, and come to conferences like this.\u00a0 Community-centered Pagans are focused on coming together in fellowship and relating to others, so they concentrate on building relationships and structures and interacting with the outside world.<\/p>\n So this sounds like a bad joke, but: what do Asatru and Reclaiming have in common?\u00a0 The answer of course is that they are both community-centered Paganisms.\u00a0 Asatru is tribal, concerned with relationships with the ancestors and the good of the folk.\u00a0 Reclaiming builds big organizations and teaching structures and is charged with the energy of its activism.<\/p>\n For some of us, Paganism is all about our relationship with the gods and the divine powers as we understand them.\u00a0 From sworn service to the Great Goddess to keeping altars for the lwa, we look to several colourful pantheons to inspire, guide and direct us.\u00a0 Deity-centered Paganism tends to include most Reconstructionist and Polytheist traditions.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s consider the Pagan concept of divinity.\u00a0 First of all, let\u2019s start with how many there are?\u00a0 Wiccans conceive of a binary image of the Divine; we honor both God and Goddess.\u00a0 But are these two separate beings, two aspects of a Divine One, or many gods and goddesses who are each separate and distinct individuals?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s break it down further: what are the gods, exactly?\u00a0 Are they literal beings, metaphors, archetypes, or some personified consciousness that we will never truly understand?[x]\u00a0 If they are actual beings with agency as opposed to symbols, are they so alien that we humans will never truly grasp what it is that they are, or are they basically people without bodies; or are they something in between that?<\/p>\n How do the gods relate to each other?\u00a0 Are they all harmonious aspects of a whole that ultimately get along together no matter how you work with them?\u00a0 Do the different cultural names for an archetype (such as the Goddess of Love or the God of the Harvest) refer to the same being in different aspects, or are they all individuals?\u00a0 If they have personalities, how do those personalities interrelate (or clash?)\u00a0 Is it okay to call deities from different pantheons at the same time or is that an act of grave offense, or does that vary according to deity and pantheon?<\/p>\n What sort of relationship should we have with the Divine?\u00a0 Should we worship them with all due reverence?\u00a0 Should we merely respect them?\u00a0 Should we co-create with them?\u00a0 Are we their equals, their subjects, or something in between?\u00a0 How important are we compared to divinity?\u00a0 How important are we to the Divine?<\/p>\n How about other spiritual entities, such as angels, faeries, and so forth?\u00a0 Do they even exist?\u00a0 Are they gods of a sort or are they non-physical entities that rank on the same level we do (wherever we rank,) or do they fit somewhere else in the hierarchy (if you even believe in a hierarchy)?<\/p>\n What do the gods know?\u00a0 What kind of powers do they have?\u00a0 Do we have similar powers or different ones, or does all power come through them?\u00a0 Did we create them, did they create us, or did we create each other?<\/p>\n Let me ask you all a question, and I want you to consider the answer carefully; do you think belief<\/em> in the gods is a necessary component of Paganism?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I ask because this is one of the biggest rifts in the Pagan world at the moment.\u00a0 On one side we have the Hard Polytheists<\/a>.\u00a0 For them, the gods are individuals and They are<\/em> real, and Paganism should be all about worship of the gods.\u00a0 Wiccans are insulting to them because of the hegemonic claim that all goddess are aspects of the Great Goddess, and Humanistic Pagans and Atheopagans, who believe in the sacred but not gods per se<\/em>, are completely incomprehensible to them.<\/p>\n On the other side, many Atheopagans and Humanistic Pagans<\/a> sneer at Hard Polytheists, Wiccans and Thelemites because gods, to them, are archetypes of the human psyche and belief in supernatural magick powers is just stupid.<\/p>\n How is it even possible for two such different theological views to co-exist with one another?<\/p>\n Let me ask you another question: Is it possible to be a monotheist and a Pagan?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Why do I ask?\u00a0 Because we have those too.\u00a0 Some Dianic witches believe that the Goddess is the totality of Creation.\u00a0 Some Feri practitioners believe that their Star Goddess holds that position and title.\u00a0 Some Wiccans believe that in the beginning, there was the Universal One, and that Source divided into the polarity of the Lady and the Lord.\u00a0 Some of us are even Christian Witches.<\/p>\n I think that one of the most beautiful things about Paganism is that you have to embrace a certain multi-layered level of thinking.\u00a0 Rather than considering that if one thing is true another must be false, Paganism asks you to accept that many contradictory things can be true at once.\u00a0 Rather than saying \u201ceither, or,\u201d Pagans say, \u201cyes, and.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Think about where you stand within those four poles.\u00a0 What\u2019s your primary focus?\u00a0 What\u2019s your secondary focus? And so on? Or do you view yourself as being balanced between them?<\/p>\n We\u2019re going to come back to this later so I\u2019m just going to leave this diagram here for you to ponder. In general, we agree that Paganism is inspired by the polytheistic faiths of pre-Christian Europe, the Near East, and parts of Africa (although of course it includes a much wider variety of deities from many other cultures!)\u00a0 In North America we have also incorporated a lot of First Nations mythologies.\u00a0 As such, we can draw from the works of our ancestors to create a shared mythology and some shared values.\u00a0 Brendan Myers already asked this question a few years ago when he was writing A Pagan Testament<\/span>[xi] but I\u2019ll ask it again: What do you think are the essential myths that a good Pagan scholar needs to be familiar with?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I would suggest that one needs a solid grounding in<\/p>\n If you have studied all of that you are familiar with the cultural soup of mythology that forms the modern interconnected Pagan mythos.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry if you haven\u2019t read all of these things!\u00a0 You\u2019ve probably picked up most of it by osmosis anyway.\u00a0 You can\u2019t help it, because we tell these stories to each other; in ritual, in the Pagan equivalent of Passion Plays, in song and in the works of literature we create.<\/p>\n We also sing.\u00a0 We have a common liturgy of hymns in our tradition of chanting.\u00a0 I think more of our shared myths and shared symbolic language are transmitted in this way than any other.<\/p>\n I think this gives Pagans a common element: we share interconnected mythology, and we do<\/em> have a liturgy; though a very informal one.\u00a0 Our understandings of the meanings of these myths are very personal.\u00a0 But ultimately, each of us as individuals growing up in a Christian culture rejected the Christian mythos in favour of Pagan ones.\u00a0 So what do they have in common?<\/p>\n They are all heroic myths and they value the qualities of heroes; courage, honour, love, and a zest for life.\u00a0 We don\u2019t believe that the physical is evil and vile and must be transcended; we believe that it is good<\/em> to be physical, and that physical pleasure and love of life is holy. \u00a0We don\u2019t believe that servitude and turning the other cheek are holy.\u00a0 We think it is holy to be brave and honourable; though our understandings of what that means may vary.<\/p>\n Also, let\u2019s not forget that the great philosophers of ancient Greece were all Pagans.\u00a0 Though much of what they came up with was borrowed to become foundational elements of the Christianity we\u2019re all rebelling against, Pagan values still clearly shine through many of the great works that have stood the test of time.<\/p>\n Nor should we forget the influence of what these days is derisively termed Orientalism<\/em>.\u00a0 Many of the spiritual influences of the modern Pagan movement were occult orders such as the Theosophists, the Golden Dawn and the Rosicrucians.\u00a0 All of them were heavily influenced by Indian and Asian mysticism, re-interpreted through their Christian cultural lenses.\u00a0 Going back to our chaos theory, I\u2019d like to point out that these roots, poisoned by Colonialism, are producing an amazing<\/em> crop of weeds, such as the Curse of Pagan Niceness, and a great big bastard of a briar called Racism.<\/p>\n None of us want to admit this, but we have borrowed as much from Christianity as they have from us.\u00a0 Humanism began as a Protestant Christian religious movement.\u00a0 Our eight Sabbats, or High Holy Days, or whatever name you want to give to our liturgical calendar, borrowed heavily from the Catholic and Anglican liturgical calendar known as the Roman rite (something I\u2019m going to write a thesis on one day).\u00a0 The woodcraft movement was shown conclusively by Ronald Hutton[xii] to be one of the formative influences of modern Wicca.\u00a0 I was in Girl Guides: it doesn\u2019t get more Christian than that! \u00a0And notice I put the Chronicles of Narnia in our \u201crequired reading.\u201d<\/p>\n I would add one more mythic influence into this already incredibly-diverse mosaic.\u00a0 I would suggest that modern feminist retellings of myths and folktales also have become integral to the Pagan mythic tradition.\u00a0 The stories of Mary Magdelene and Joan of Arc, Queen Maeve and Morgan le Fay, and even Elsa, Elphaba and Maleficent are part and parcel of the modern Pagan mythos.\u00a0 Our goddesses never play second fiddle and are always forces to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n We have more work to do to be truly diverse, but we\u2019re getting there.\u00a0 It\u2019s generally agreed that Pan and Loki are as happy to bed men as they are women; Artemis is a lesbian and Aphrodite loves everybody.\u00a0 We\u2019re opening our arms to the lwa, especially here in Canada, and so Erzulie (who also loves everybody) is sharing spaces with Aphrodite and the Baron Samedi is standing next to Herne the Hunter with his boney grin (or hers; often the Baron is also the Baronne.)\u00a0 It\u2019s by no means uncommon for Pagans to honour Kali, Shiva, Lakshmi or other Indian deities (I have a big bronze statue of Ganesh in my study.)\u00a0 And in Canada, First Nations spirits have been integral to our Paganism since Paganism first came here. Some of us embrace this crazy jumble of influences and cultural tensions.\u00a0 Others believe that this mishmash, at best, creates a watered-down homogeneous hodgepodge of unclear and inconsistent beliefs; and at worst, fosters cultural appropriation.<\/p>\n John Halstead\u2019s \u201cfour centers\u201d might give you the impression that Paganism is a bunch of disparate groups with some views that overlap, firmly encamped in different sections.\u00a0 Of course, my experience (which, I\u2019m sure, is similar to yours) is that Paganism is a constantly churning whirlwind of dynamic tensions.\u00a0 I think that rather than picturing Paganism as a square, we might do better to visualize it as a cube, with a sphere inside it that swirls like a spiralling, changing storm.<\/p>\n Here are some of the high and low pressure areas that drive the winds:<\/p>\n I think we can collectively agree that Paganism\u2019s roots have always been . . . eclectic.\u00a0 But just as we really mean \u201cceremony\u201d when we say \u201critual\u201d and \u201caltar\u201d when we mean \u201cshrine,\u201d we say \u201ceclectic\u201d when we really mean \u201csyncretic.\u201d<\/p>\n Syncretism<\/em> <\/strong><\/a>is \u201cthe attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.\u201d[xiii]\u00a0 Afro-Diasporic faiths are often used as examples of \u201csyncretic religions.\u201d\u00a0 Consider Voodoo\u2019s unique mixture of Yoruban and Catholic elements, blended with a heavy dose of First Nations spirituality and Western occultism.\u00a0 To an outsider it could look as though there\u2019s no rhyme or reason to it at all; just a bunch of weird charms and incompatible mythologies grafted onto one another.<\/p>\n And of course this is exactly the same sort of criticism that is often levelled against Neo-Paganism, Wicca and the so-called \u201cWiccanate\u201d Paganisms.\u00a0 The critics sometimes call it \u201csmorgasbord Paganism.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes I even think they\u2019re right.\u00a0 The danger of an eclectic religion is that it can seem<\/em> to have no unifying elements and no core principles, and a practitioner who doesn\u2019t want to apply herself might take a sip from each glass without ever really understanding any of the rich and complex vintages they represent.<\/p>\n Then again, I\u2019m not sure this is a bad thing.\u00a0 In Wicca every one of us is a priest or priestess, but that was because Gerald Gardner believed that Wiccans were maintaining the traditions of the Pagan priesthood in secret, and that there would again come a time when the witches would be clergy and Paganism would come out into the open to embrace lay worshipers.[xiv] \u00a0The truth is that not all of us are called to the commitment required of clergy.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t see why we should have to be.\u00a0 There\u2019s a difference between not needing intermediaries between us and the divine, and taking on all the responsibilities of clergy.\u00a0 I have given my life to this calling, but people can be faithful and follow other callings.\u00a0 And in no other branch of Paganism is this expectation part of what you sign up for.<\/p>\n Another criticism of syncretic faiths, which probably isn\u2019t unfair, is the risk of cultural appropriation. I think it\u2019s important that those of us who embrace a syncretic path try to remember where the stuff we steal comes from.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t give it the same meanings and associations that the culture of its origin gave to it, we should acknowledge that and not try to claim otherwise.<\/p>\n Syncretism is, in my opinion, a core value of Wicca<\/a>[xv]; and if you don\u2019t believe me, I\u2019ll just point out that the original \u201cWiccan pantheon\u201d included Greek, Roman, Celtic, Norse, and Sumerian deities, along with a handful of deified figures of folklore and Jungian psychology, and leave it at that.\u00a0 I think for us, that\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0 Wiccan and Neo-Pagan traditions should stop apologizing for it and instead admit that we find this desirable.<\/p>\n But on the other side of the coin are the more \u201ctraditional\u201d of our traditions; Reconstructionist and Traditionalist Movements, and also, some forms of Atheopaganism.\u00a0 This group might also be thought to include Wiccan traditions that insist that British Traditional is the only \u201creal\u201d Wicca and pretend that Hutton[xvi] never existed. They might resent the use of the word \u201cfundamentalism\u201d because we associate it with a certain type of Christian that we often find ourselves in conflict with.\u00a0 But fundamentalism<\/strong> <\/em><\/a>means \u201cstrict adherence to any set of basic ideas or principles.\u201d[xvii] In a religious context it also means to take a myth literally (such as the existence of the gods, or whether or not nine million European women were actually burned as witches).\u00a0 That comes back to our question: do the gods exist, and if so, what are they?<\/p>\n The fundamentalist traditions share the belief that we should go back to a more \u201cpure\u201d form of Paganism.\u00a0 We should stick to one pantheon (or avoid \u201cgods\u201d entirely).\u00a0 We should try to get back to what our ancestors were doing.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t imitate their ceremonies and devotionals precisely, then we should at least try to understand and worship the Pagan gods in the ways our ancestors understood them.\u00a0 They demand historically-accurate research, proper adherence to ritual forms, and scientific documentation.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t believe that anyone is actually rediscovering the real<\/em> \u201cOld Religion.\u201d\u00a0 We are not looking at Paganism in the same way, no matter how \u201chistorically accurate\u201d we try to be.\u00a0 We could all be SCA-attending homesteader heathens living in a longhouse, weaving our own clothing and growing our own food, but we would still be products of the modern era, with modern technology and modern ethics and modern laws and culture.\u00a0 No matter how precisely we re-create a faith, we are not the Pagans of the Ancient World and we never will be, and therefore we cannot possibly understand their gods and their faith in the same ways that they did.\u00a0 It might be educational, fun and meaningful to put on a traditional blot, however.<\/p>\n If I have to choose between these tensions, I choose syncretism.\u00a0 But a lot of good comes out of going back to the fundamentals as well.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s essential that we have accurate research and that we constantly question and challenge our beliefs; how else do we know if they\u2019re any good?\u00a0 I resent it when someone claims that it\u2019s a fact because \u201cit is known.\u201d\u00a0 (Do you remember Season 1, Game of Thrones?\u00a0 Daenarys\u2019 handmaiden \u2013 \u201cit is known?\u201d\u00a0 I have no patience for that stuff.)\u00a0 I also think it\u2019s important that we maintain what traditions we\u2019ve established.\u00a0 It\u2019s especially important for our \u201cNew Old Religions\u201d to maintain a sense of continuity and to build group identity.\u00a0 And as I said at the outset, I do<\/em> believe that there are such things as \u201ccore Pagan values.\u201d\u00a0 Without people willing to define limits, we\u2019ll never learn what those are.<\/p>\n The modern Pagan movement is not a special snowflake.\u00a0 The truth is that religious systems do not spring fully-formed out of the forehead of Zeus like Athena and we humans do not exist in vacuums.\u00a0 The reality is that we all stand on the shoulders of giants.\u00a0 We need to remember where we came from so that we know where it is that we\u2019re going.<\/p>\n Fundamentalism can lead to dogmatism, something that we Pagans claim to dislike.\u00a0 Another flaw in fundamentalism is that it tends to be very tribal, and while tribes are probably the most natural human social structure there is, it\u2019s a thin line between tribalism and prejudice.\u00a0 And a third flaw is that it can lead to inflexibility and becoming hidebound.<\/p>\n Speaking of becoming hidebound, the second set of high and low pressure areas to generate wind run along an interesting axis that you might not expect.<\/p>\n We claim that Paganism has no dogma.\u00a0 We claim that it\u2019s orthopractic; that is, it\u2019s based in practice, not dogma.\u00a0 Perhaps that was once true when everyone was Wiccan, but it isn\u2019t anymore.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t even true of Wicca.\u00a0 We have no uniform rituals or teachings except within the confines of a tradition, and even then we have a lot of variation.<\/p>\n Gnosis<\/strong> <\/em>is \u201creceived knowledge.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s when someone has a moment of mystical revelation that changes everything.\u00a0 In some religions they have a name for those who have received Gnosis: prophets.\u00a0 We have names for them too: we call them shamans, seers, high priestesses or hedge-witches.\u00a0 In other words, for us they\u2019re by no means uncommon.<\/p>\n And some call them idiots, nutbars or liars, because as far as they are concerned, what Gnosis really means is \u201cmaking stuff up.\u201d The critics have even given their statements a special pejorative: UPG \u201cunsubstantiated personal gnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n We hesitate to use the word \u201corthodox<\/a><\/strong><\/em>,\u201d which means \u201csound or correct in opinion or doctrine, especially theological or religious doctrine.\u201d[xviii]\u00a0 But we have it all the same.\u00a0 For example, another Patheos writer, Asa West, was recently torn apart on her blog<\/a> for saying that the Morrighan had given her a message of peace for Israel[xix] (and she\u2019s Jewish, before anyone wants to take a side on that<\/em>.)\u00a0 People couldn\u2019t imagine that a bloodthirsty war goddess would give any kind of message of peace.\u00a0 But as Asa pointed out, the Morrighan is also a goddess of sovereignty, and perhaps that\u2019s the aspect that she was dealing with.<\/p>\n Okay, quick survey: does Loki have red or black hair?\u00a0 Hands up for red?\u00a0 Hands up for black?\u00a0 Hands up for \u201cwho cares and why am I wasting time with this stupid and pointless question?\u201d\u00a0 Because people get into rabid frothing arguments about it over the internet, that\u2019s why.<\/p>\n We used to run into British Traditional types a lot in the 90s who were like this.\u00a0 The reason why we have the terms \u201ceclectic Wicca\u201d and \u201cNeo-Pagan\u201d is because every time somebody spoke up who couldn\u2019t provide a line graph of their initiatory lineage, this obnoxious minority would show up to tell us that we were doing it wrong.\u00a0 We got tired of being told that so we started calling ourselves something else.\u00a0 Also the term \u201cfluffy bunny<\/a>\u201d was coined by the same group to deride anyone who wasn\u2019t one of them; along with IRAB (I Read a Book).\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s a great irony that these days if you mention that you\u2019re Wiccan, you\u2019ve immediately got five \u201ctraditional witches\u201d who are telling you that you\u2019re<\/em> the \u201cfluffy bunny.\u201d<\/p>\n This kind of polarizing pigheadedness seems like a bad idea to me.\u00a0 But on the other hand, we don\u2019t respect our teachers, and that\u2019s a bad idea too.\u00a0 Do you remember me saying that at the beginning of a thing, even the smallest changes can have unintended consequences?\u00a0 One of the unintended consequences of our ethic of anti-establishmentarianism is to rebel against anything that looks<\/em> like an establishment, even in our own ranks. We actively try to destroy any sort of organization that does appear and coven politics are kind of like living as a drow house noble; the Matron Mother has to expect that her daughter, a.k.a. the Coven Maiden, is going to rise up to try to replace her.[xx]<\/p>\n There are some of us who have gone so far out of our way not to listen to anyone else and to march to the beats of our own drummers that we have to keep reinventing the wheel.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been actively involved in Pagan community for . . . twenty-two years?\u00a0 Listen guys: you\u2019re not the first ones to write inclusive Great Rites, you didn\u2019t discover sex magick and witches have been making flying ointment in England for a long time.\u00a0 It\u2019s like teenagers: they always think they\u2019ve invented sex.<\/p>\n I\u2019m pretty sure that between gnosis and orthodoxy, I fall somewhere in the middle.\u00a0 I see the need for both and I try to create and support structures that make room for both. Let\u2019s go back to our diagram.\u00a0 Here in our cube we have the Four Centers of Paganism<\/a>; here in our sphere we have shifting winds that churn back and forth between these magnetic poles.<\/p>\n So now we come to the hard questions.<\/p>\n What are we doing here?\u00a0 What is the purpose of this conference? What is Paganism?<\/em><\/p>\n You know what I think?\u00a0 I think that as long as you\u2019re flying around in this sphere<\/em> somewhere, you\u2019re a Pagan.\u00a0 That generally means you\u2019re growing and changing between the four poles.\u00a0 You rise and fall on the air currents between Syncretism and Fundamentalism, Gnosis and Orthodoxy.\u00a0 You might be really close to one pole and really far away from another.\u00a0 But if you\u2019re thrown out of the sphere by the force of the current you\u2019re on, or pulled out by one of the poles, then you might not be a Pagan anymore.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a movement happening in which some Polytheists are telling us that they aren\u2019t<\/em> Pagans.\u00a0 They are something different but related.\u00a0 Well, have they flown right out of the sphere?\u00a0 Maybe they\u2019re right.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s nothing wrong with that!\u00a0 It\u2019s a big tent, but it can\u2019t cover everybody.\u00a0 Hindus are related to us \u2013 my sister-in-law married into a Hindu family and the priestesses and my husband and I had a chance to chat about faith; as far as they were concerned we might as well be Hindus \u2013 but we\u2019re not Hindus and they\u2019re not Pagans. On the other hand, some of the Afro-Diasporic faiths are starting to tell us that they are Pagans when we didn\u2019t have a lot of contact before, and I think that they are indeed.\u00a0 Part of that is decided by whether or not a group self-identifies as Pagan.\u00a0 But part of it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Part of it is about having enough in common with the group that others<\/em> identify you<\/em>.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s at the center of the hub?\u00a0 What\u2019s the galactic core of this crazy structure that we keep whirling and swirling around?\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a theory.\u00a0 It\u2019s this:<\/p>\n DOUBT<\/strong><\/p>\n In a way, Paganism is the natural conclusion of the Reformation.\u00a0 Protestants rejected Catholic dogma and came up with a novel idea: not by the power of any overseeing authority, but by the power of one\u2019s own faith, one finds salvation. \u00a0Paganism goes one step further.\u00a0 We say that faith is necessary, but everyone\u2019s faith is individual.<\/p>\n The only way in which this crazy storm of weirdness can exist; the only way by which we oddballs can get along with one another, is to realize that each one of us might be wrong<\/em>.\u00a0 Or, more importantly, that each one of us might be right.<\/em>\u00a0 We need to accept that truth depends a great deal upon one\u2019s point of view.\u00a0 This is more than just license to pursue one\u2019s own relationship with the gods and nature as one sees fit.\u00a0 It is also an admonishment not to dismiss the opinions of others out of hand just because you don\u2019t agree. \u00a0\u00a0More than that, we have to accept that contradictory \u201ctruths\u201d may be true at the same time; and we also have to accept that what is right and perfect for me may be completely wrong for someone else.\u00a0 We have no right to enforce our opinions on others.\u00a0 We do<\/em> have the right to use our discernment.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had some pretty intense Gnostic experiences.\u00a0 I have seen beings that I believe to be gods<\/a> and I have had some intense visions<\/a>.\u00a0 I believe in them for myself<\/em>.\u00a0 But I also accept that they might just be \u201cbits of undigested beef.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m married to a schizophrenic; hallucinations are just as real to a schizophrenic as you and I are.\u00a0 I believe in reincarnation; but I don\u2019t think it works the way that others do and I accept a whole host of other possible explanations for the experiences that have inspired this belief.\u00a0 I believe I\u2019ve done magick that has had potent and measurable results in the real world.\u00a0 But I also realize it could all be the placebo effect and confirmation bias.\u00a0 Furthermore, I believe different things on alternate Tuesdays and I believe whatever I have to for long enough to make the ritual work.\u00a0 And I have seen these rifts in the community do their best to tear it apart arguing about it.<\/p>\n Do you want to hear about the most valuable Gnosis I think I\u2019ve ever received?<\/p>\n It was December 21, 2010. The Full Long Night\u2019s Moon fell on Midwinter Night, and I had a dream.\u00a0 In this dream, I looked up at a stack of books that wound in a haphazard pile up to the ceiling of my house and through a trapdoor to an attic.\u00a0 I had a sense that I had to get to the top of the pile, so I started to climb the stack.\u00a0 I realized that there were all types of books in the pile; old hardcovers with no title save the gilding on the side, magazines, paperbacks, trade paperbacks, new hardcovers with fancy book jackets.\u00a0 When I reached the top and went through the attic, I was in a different house; all white walls and minimalist art in an upper middle class style.<\/p>\n The stack meandered through a skylight into a library of the old-fashioned sitting-room type, up to another skylight.\u00a0 I climbed up through that one, and found myself in a teepee, climbing up through the firepit and into the smoke hole.\u00a0 On the other side of that was a Mongol yurt; on the other side of that was a little apartment with peeling green paint.\u00a0 Then there was a Buddhist<\/a> temple and a Gregorian monastery, an old lady\u2019s apartment filled with doilies, and a college dorm.<\/p>\n Up through probably twenty or thirty different dwellings I climbed and climbed.\u00a0 The last one was a crowded camper of the sort that fits on the back of a pick-up, and the books finally ended at one of those upper level shelves that hold a camper\u2019s bed.\u00a0 On the sleeping bags was an old TV, of the sort that still had rabbit-ears and a bubble screen and a UHF dial.\u00a0 It came to life as I approached and passed quickly from snow to an image.\u00a0 It was Pan, in His full glory with His hairy goatee and His curly goat horns and His intense black eyes.\u00a0 \u201cYou wanna know the truth?\u201d He said.\u00a0 \u201cWell, here it is: there is no truth.\u00a0 You make your own truth.\u00a0 Do with that what you will.\u201d[xxi]<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t accept that \u2013 if you really believe that you have THE TRUTH \u2013 maybe you aren\u2019t<\/em> Pagan anymore.\u00a0 That\u2019s where I<\/em> draw the line; if you\u2019re anywhere<\/em> in this sphere, centered on this<\/em> nexus point, then you\u2019re a Pagan to me.\u00a0 Just as I believe that as long as you\u2019re willing to embrace a democratic process, uphold the Charter<\/a>, be polite, swear to the Queen and respect your neighbours, I don\u2019t care what language you speak, what country you came from, or what your race, sexual preference or religion is; you\u2019re a Canadian.<\/p>\n When I sat down to write this and I was trying to come up with what in the world I was going to talk about, I was really nervous. \u00a0I\u2019m not an academic. \u00a0I don\u2019t have a background in public speaking. \u00a0I\u2019ve never done anything quite like this before. \u00a0So my partner said to me, \u201cIf you had the most influential Pagans in the country all in one room, what would you say to them?\u201d<\/p>\n I would say that I believe that the core of Paganism \u2013 the key to reawakening our shared theology \u2013 is this: Your Mileage May Vary<\/a>.[xxii]<\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n [i] Source: Dictionary.com http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/theology?s=t<\/a>, accessed May 10, 2015.<\/p>\n [ii] Ibid.<\/p>\n [iii] Halstead, John.\u00a0 \u201cThe Three (or more?) \u2018Centers\u2019 of Paganism.\u201d\u00a0 The Allergic Pagan http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/allergicpagan\/2012\/05\/23\/the-three-or-more-centers-of-paganism\/<\/a>, May 23, 2012.<\/p>\n [iv] Beckett, John.\u00a0 \u201cThe Four Centers of Paganism.\u201d\u00a0 Under the Ancient Oaks: Musings of a Pagan, Druid and Unitarian Universalist http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/05\/the-four-centers-of-paganism.html<\/a>, May 28, 2014.<\/p>\n [v] Beckett, John.\u00a0 \u201cThe Big Tent of Paganism.\u201d\u00a0 Under the Ancient Oaks http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2015\/01\/the-big-tent-of-paganism.html<\/a>, January 11, 2015.<\/p>\n [vi] Dictionary.com http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/humanism?s=t<\/a>, accessed May 10, 2015.<\/p>\n [vii] Ibid.<\/p>\n [viii] Myers, Brendan, Ph.D.\u00a0 The Other Side of Virtue: Where Our Virtues Come from, What They Really Mean, and Where They Might Be Taking Us<\/span> (2008).\u00a0 John Hunt Publishing Ltd., Alresford, Hants, UK.<\/p>\n [ix] Cuhulain, Kerr.\u00a0 Full Contact Magick: A Book of Shadows for the Wiccan Warrior<\/span> (2002, 2004).\u00a0 Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.<\/p>\n [x] Free, Esra, HPs.\u00a0 Wicca 404: Advanced Goddess Thealogy<\/span> (2007).\u00a0 New Paradigm Press, U.S.A.<\/p>\n [xi] Myers, Brendan, Ph.D.\u00a0 A Pagan Testament: The Literary Heritage of the World\u2019s Oldest New Religion<\/span> (2008).\u00a0 John Hunt Publishing Ltd., Alresford, Hants, UK.<\/p>\n [xii] Hutton, Ronald.\u00a0 The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft<\/span> (1999).\u00a0 Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.<\/p>\n [xiii] Dictionary.com http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/syncretism?s=t<\/a>, accessed May 10, 2015.<\/p>\n [xiv] Gardner, Gerald. \u00a0Witchcraft Today<\/span> (1954). \u00a0Rider and Company, UK.<\/p>\n [xv] Aradia, Sable.\u00a0 \u201cWicca: A Syncretic Faith.\u201d\u00a0 Between the Shadows: the Craft of a Liminal Witch http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/betweentheshadows\/2014\/11\/wicca-a-syncretic-faith\/<\/a>, November 15, 2014.<\/p>\n [xvi] Hutton, Ronald.\u00a0 The Triumph of the Moon<\/span>.<\/p>\n [xvii] Dictionary.com http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/fundamentalism?s=t<\/a>, accessed May 10, 2015.<\/p>\n [xviii] Dictionary.com http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/orthodox?s=t<\/a>, accessed May 10, 2015.<\/p>\n [xix] West, Asa. \u00a0\u201cJewish Witch: I Have Conversed with the Morrigan About Gaza.\u201d \u00a0Agora\u00a0http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2014\/08\/jewish-witch-i-have-conversed-with-the-morrigan-about-gaza\/<\/a>, August 12, 2014.<\/p>\n [xx] Reference to the fictional Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons universe, which includes the work of several writers. \u00a0(1990-2015) Wizards of the Coast LLC.<\/p>\n [xxi] Aradia, Sable.\u00a0 \u201cYour Mileage May Vary \u2013 Embracing Contradictory Truths in the Craft.\u201d\u00a0 Agora http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/agora\/2013\/11\/seekers-and-guides-your-mileage-may-vary-embracing-contradictory-truths-in-the-craft\/<\/a>, November 25, 2013.<\/p>\n [xxii] Ibid.<\/p>\n Like us on Facebook at the\u00a0Patheos Pagan Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0the Between the Shadows Facebook page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is there such a thing as a \u201cPagan theology?\u201d If so, what are the common threads that bind us together? What are the differences that divide us? There is a strong argument that praxis, not theology, defines what it is to be Pagan, but our theology is becoming increasingly important in our Pagan identity and community relationships. Is it time to reawaken the issue of theology, and what might that mean?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1343,"featured_media":1515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,138,136,320,6,158,7,4],"tags":[650,500,497,495,32,81,496,35,499,494,9,79,80,498,420],"class_list":["post-1499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-between-the-shadows","category-current-events-2","category-opinion","category-pagan-community","category-praxis","category-the-craft","category-theology","category-wicca","tag-between-the-shadows","tag-dynamic-tensions-in-paganism","tag-fundamentalism","tag-gnosis","tag-liminal-spaces","tag-neopaganism","tag-orthodoxy","tag-pagan","tag-pagan-sphere","tag-pagan-theology","tag-sable-aradia","tag-syncretic-faiths","tag-syncretism","tag-the-pagan-sphere","tag-theology-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nReawakening a Pagan Theology<\/h1>\n
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Part One: The Importance of Theology<\/h2>\n
Part Two: The Big Questions<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/p>\nPart Three: The Big Tent & the Four Poles of Paganism<\/h2>\n
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Nature<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Self<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Community<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Deity<\/h3>\n
\n<\/p>\nPart Four: Shared Myth, Shared Philosophy<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/p>\nPart Five: Dynamic Tensions<\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nSyncretism vs. Fundamentalism<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Gnosis vs. Orthodoxy<\/h3>\n
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\n<\/p>\nPart Six: The Big Tent Revisited<\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nPart Seven: The Nexus<\/h2>\n
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