{"id":1210,"date":"2017-05-26T06:50:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T20:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?p=1210"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:30:53","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:30:53","slug":"importance-ritual-paganism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2017\/05\/importance-ritual-paganism.html","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Ritual in My Paganism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Last week I published a post that outed myself as an armchair Pagan \u2013 at least a temporary one, an unwilling one.\u00a0 I posted with the assumption that it would be one of my quiet boring posts, people would glance at the link and just \u201cpffft\u201d away from it.\u00a0 Instead it boomed all over Facebook and became my most read post ever.<\/p>\n

I read all the comments on the post itself, as well as those on the link on the Patheos Pagan Facebook page and noticed a few interesting common themes going through many of the comments.\u00a0 The main thing though was people trying to comfort me and reassure me that ritual doesn\u2019t matter and I shouldn\u2019t be so hard on myself for not being able to do ritual.\u00a0 The sentiment is appreciated, very much so, but I also see that in some ways everyone has kind of missed the point.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, I am not criticising the comments and ideas made, simply they made me realise that I didn\u2019t properly explain myself in certain areas.<\/p>\n

\"Ritual
By YSEE, Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m Not a Pagan Pagan<\/h2>\n

I use the term Pagan almost purely for the community and ease of understanding aspects.\u00a0 I use the label Pagan because it\u2019s a label that people know and think they understand, thus it saves me from having to explain what my religion is to random strangers.\u00a0 I also use it because it connects me to the entirety of the Pagan and related communities.\u00a0 But the fact is, I am not really Pagan.<\/p>\n

Not in the usual sense.\u00a0 I have a religion that has a specific name, it\u2019s Hellenism, Hekatean Hellenism to be more precise.\u00a0 It falls under the Pagan umbrella or inside the tent, giving me leave to label myself Pagan as well.\u00a0 But in truth I have no need for the Pagan label<\/a>, because my religion already has a name.\u00a0 So there are many things that Pagans, who use the label of Pagan because that is the name of their religion, do and believe that don\u2019t necessarily fit into my religion.<\/p>\n

This is fine, no problem, don\u2019t really care \u2013 we are all different and that is as it should be.\u00a0 But this also means that when I speak of an issue in my personal practice of my specific religion, I am not necessarily going to be able to adapt in the ways that many other Pagans are able to.<\/p>\n

Ritual is the Backbone<\/h2>\n

In most forms of Hellenism ritual is the most essential part of the religion \u2013 nothing else is as important.\u00a0 Even belief in the Gods isn\u2019t as important as the act of ritual and worship.\u00a0 An odd truth, but it is the truth nonetheless.\u00a0 Belief plays second fiddle to action.\u00a0 Basically, it doesn\u2019t matter if you doubt the existence of the Gods, so long as you are still giving Them stuff, praising Them and not being open or noisy with your hubris.<\/p>\n

Polytheists, of which I am technically one, often speak of orthopraxy over orthodoxy.\u00a0 This means, right action over right belief \u2013 and this holds true for the majority of us.\u00a0 So long as we are doing things the right way, nothing else really matters.\u00a0 Now of course, we might argue over what the right way IS, that is inevitable \u2013 but in my view this is something people need to figure out for themselves.\u00a0 Sure, the Gods have Their own rules, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s impossible for Them to have different rules for different people.\u00a0 Just like They seem to like some people more than others.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all irrelevant anyway \u2013 in my religion, in my Hekatean Hellenism, ritual has come to be the backbone.\u00a0 It matters, it is important. There is no substitute for ritual, there is no act that is just as good, or close enough.<\/p>\n

Suggestions from kind people that I could just pray quietly in my mind in the shower, or go for a walk in nature \u2013 these are lovely and totally viable for many people.\u00a0 But not for me \u2013 these are things I can do of course, things I do in fact already do.\u00a0 But they are still no substitute for what is missing.<\/p>\n

This is Not a Judgement<\/h2>\n

Some of the comments I read did mention that many Pagans do feel some kind of pressure, to measure up and be super active \u2013 whether at home or within the greater community.\u00a0 Some people feel like they are not doing enough in their religion, not because they really feel that way, but because reading about other peoples levels of activity makes them feel lesser.\u00a0 And there are a lot of posts online that denigrate those who are labelled Armchair Pagans.<\/p>\n

But the fact is, we need to remember, at all times, that Paganism is not one religion \u2013 and for many of us it\u2019s nothing more than a convenient name to connect us to other people.\u00a0 There are no rules or commandments, because the rules for one Pagan religion are not going to follow over into another Pagan religion.\u00a0 Paganism is diverse, the people are diverse, the requirements within Paganism will also be diverse.<\/p>\n

The fact that ritual is an integral part of my religious practice is not a judgement call on anyone else. Because your religion is not mine, mine is not yours, and you are not me.\u00a0 The priorities I hold within my religion are for me and no one else.\u00a0 There are Pagan religions, traditions or paths that do not require rituals, do not require notable actions.\u00a0 That\u2019s fine with me, it has nothing to do with me and I don\u2019t really care.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t make your religion less, it doesn\u2019t make your devotion to your religion or your gods (if you have any) less than my own.\u00a0 It\u2019s just different, judgement cannot be made on a religion using the values of another religion.<\/p>\n

That, would be ridiculous.\u00a0 No religion could ever be deemed good enough if we did things that way.<\/p>\n

I am Not a Bad Pagan<\/h2>\n

People telling me to not be so hard on myself, to not feel bad about not being able to do ritual and even some pointing out that it doesn\u2019t make one a bad Pagan.\u00a0 Again, a nice sentiment but misses the point.<\/p>\n

The idea that I am being hard on myself presumes that I am forced to do rituals, or something like that.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t do rituals because that is what Hellenes should do.\u00a0 I don\u2019t do rituals because that\u2019s the rules.\u00a0 I don\u2019t do rituals because the Gods command it or even request it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t do rituals just because everyone else says I should.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t feel bad about not doing rituals lately because I feel like I am a bad Hellene\/Pagan.\u00a0 I don\u2019t feel bad because I am not doing what I am supposed to do, not following the rules.\u00a0 I don\u2019t feel bad about it because I am somehow not measuring up.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about outside influences, pressures or comparisons.\u00a0 Not at all.<\/p>\n

I do rituals because I love to do them. \u00a0I feel bad about not doing rituals because I miss them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This could be likened to my children being away for a few weeks. \u00a0I would miss them, because I love them. \u00a0I could play with and cuddle a puppy, and it might make me feel a little warm and it would be sweet. \u00a0But it wouldn\u2019t make anything better, it wouldn\u2019t fix anything. \u00a0Because there is no substitution for my children. \u00a0So quiet contemplation, meditation, lighting a candle and looking at it, thoughtful prayer and the like \u2013 these are nice things, they will make me feel good. \u00a0But they won\u2019t take away the bad feeling, because they can\u2019t replace the rituals I miss and love.<\/p>\n

Thank You<\/h2>\n

The comments I read on Facebook and on my blog were mostly super nice and lovely.\u00a0 I really was impressed by the way people reacted to my predicament.\u00a0 Yes, I have just done a post about why some of the well-wishing and suggestions made weren\u2019t really helpful to me in the practical sense \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean I didn\u2019t appreciate the well-wishing and suggestions.\u00a0 I did, I found it to be really heart-warming actually.<\/p>\n

And I am not in any way saying that people shouldn\u2019t have made those suggestions, because actually the comments people made will be very helpful to other Pagans of other traditions. Besides, it created a prompt for a blog post for me, so it was all quite helpful in that regard too.\u00a0 So thank you, for caring, for sharing helpful suggestions that will work for other people \u2013 and for giving me something to write about.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my religion, in my Hekatean Hellenism, ritual has come to be the backbone. It matters, it is important. There is no substitute for ritual, there is no act that is just as good, or close enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":1211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,46,62],"tags":[17,9,20,32,19,29,25,23],"class_list":["post-1210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hellenism","category-personal","category-ritual","tag-blogosphere","tag-hellenismos","tag-opinion","tag-paganism","tag-personal","tag-polytheism","tag-religion","tag-rituals"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Importance of Ritual in My Paganism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In my religion, in my Hekatean Hellenism, ritual has come to be the backbone. It matters, it is important. 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