What I want to address here is the idea that because there\u2019s controversy, or bad behavior, or because some institution is failing, the movement itself is dying. Paganism is dying because we don\u2019t respect our elders, or because our elders did bad things and haven\u2019t repented. Paganism is dying because we put environmentalism before the Gods, or because we put the Gods before environmentalism. Paganism is dying because big name events, websites, and publishers include people we think they shouldn\u2019t, or because they exclude people we think they should include, and in either case they never handle difficult situations the right way.<\/p>\n
Mind you, I\u2019m not saying \u201cit\u2019s all the same\u201d or \u201cboth sides are wrong\u201d or \u201cwe should tolerate anything and everything.\u201d I have an opinion on all these controversies and I\u2019ve expressed a few of them, most quietly but some more vocally. While it\u2019s good to take a stand and especially to support your vulnerable friends and co-religionists, if you need to make a public statement on every controversy I have to wonder how well you\u2019re living your values. If you\u2019re a regular reader of this blog, you probably know where I stand on most issues. If you aren\u2019t sure \u2013 and if you care what I think \u2013 just ask.<\/p>\n What\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong on a given issue is important, but that\u2019s not the point of this post. The point of this post is that controversy and the fall of various \u201cBig Name Pagans\u201d is not evidence of the death of modern Paganism.<\/p>\n We often talk about Paganism like it\u2019s one thing. I do it too: Pagan is one of the titles I claim in the header of this blog, which is on the Patheos Pagan website. I write about Paganism all the time. My first book is titled The Path of Paganism<\/em>.<\/p>\n But Paganism isn\u2019t one thing \u2013 it\u2019s a collection of many things. It\u2019s a religious movement with four centers<\/a>. It\u2019s a big tent<\/a> that includes many different religions, traditions, and spiritualities. It\u2019s a hundred varieties of Wicca, fifty varieties of Druidry, countless ethnic reconstructionisms, different ways of non-theistic Nature worship, and much much more.<\/p>\n It was the same with ancient paganism (lowercase intentional). The religion of the Celts was different from the religion of the Romans, and both were different from the religion of the Egyptians. And although Egypt was remarkably stable over 3000 years, its religion also varied from place to place and from dynasty to dynasty.<\/p>\n There is value in the term Pagan and I think we should continue to use it<\/a>. But it\u2019s much more than one thing.<\/p>\n Ancestor veneration is a big part of my regular spiritual practice. That includes not just my ancestors of blood but also my ancestors of spirit \u2013 some of whom are still living and aren\u2019t ancestors yet. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who came before us and who laid the foundations on which we build. Most of us understand this intuitively, and we rightly hold the ancestors and elders of our traditions in high regard.<\/p>\n When we find that those we respect did bad things, or are accused of doing bad things, or make excuses for others who do bad things, it can be devastating.<\/p>\n But as influential as various personalities have been in the development of modern Paganism (and in most other religions too), they do not define it. A religion centered around a living human isn\u2019t a religion, it\u2019s a cult \u2013 in the common usage of the term, not the academic usage.<\/p>\n Our Paganism (or Paganisms, if you prefer) is grounded in Nature, in our Gods, in our communities, and in our own better selves. Cults of personality aren\u2019t helpful and they must die<\/a>.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure how centralized Paganism ever was. But we certainly talk about it like it was centralized, or that it should be centralized, or that it\u2019s inevitable that it will be centralized one day. That\u2019s not going to happen.<\/p>\n The future isn\u2019t solitary either. Now, solitary practitioners will remain a large portion of the Pagan movement. But solitary practitioner are, well, solitary \u2013 they work on their own and so their influence on the movement as a whole is minimal.<\/p>\n The future of Paganism is decentralized. It\u2019s small groups that meet in someone\u2019s living room and create a family that can support each other in the mundane world. It\u2019s large organizations with autonomous chapters in different locations around the world. It\u2019s scholars and mystics and priests working together to restore and reimagine the cults of the Gods \u2013 and here cult is used in its academic sense. And it\u2019s hundreds of independent paths and traditions, most of which will only last a few years, but some of which will turn out to be powerful and strong and relevant and will be around for generations.<\/p>\n Are some Pagan traditions and institutions dying? Yes. But there are many more that are doing just fine, and still more are developing all the time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.\u201d<\/p>\n Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying these words at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Turns out that may have been literary license by his biographer 50 years after his death. But whether he said them or not, they were true.<\/p>\n Our situation as modern Pagans isn\u2019t quite so dire. But we are horribly outnumbered, and the only reason Christian conservatives aren\u2019t ranting against us (more than they already are) is that they\u2019re more afraid of Muslims and atheists. We need to work together where we have common cause, especially on respecting religious diversity and preventing religious discrimination. And we need to pool our resources to support pan-Pagan events and institutions \u2013 to do together what none of us are big enough to do separately.<\/p>\n When I moved Under the Ancient Oaks to Patheos in 2013, Christine Kraemer and I came up with \u201cmusings of a Pagan, Druid, and Unitarian Universalist\u201d as the subtitle. I still wear all those hats. But if I was starting over today I\u2019d work \u201cpolytheist\u201d in there somewhere. My first religious commitments are to my Gods and to my co-religionists. And those commitments aren\u2019t dying.<\/p>\n No fallen elders can break the ties between me and the Gods I serve. No racists, homophobes, or transphobes can come between those of us who gather in our common grove, whether that grove is in this world or the next. No manipulative mages can rob me of the magic that is my birthright \u2013 and yours.<\/p>\n Even if the entire Pagan movement crumbled, my ancestral, devotional, ecstatic, oracular, magical, public, Pagan<\/em> polytheism would remain. I have made oaths with Gods. I have made oaths with my co-religionists. These oaths do not have an out-clause<\/a> \u2013 and I don\u2019t want one.<\/p>\n Most of the world follows religions that are hundreds and thousands of years removed from their founders. Their mythology is that their founder created a perfect tradition (even if their founder never claimed to do so) and that they have the best version of that tradition in existence.<\/p>\n Modern Paganism has no such illusion. We are inspired by our ancestors, but we\u2019re figuring how to do it here and now. And because we\u2019re human, we\u2019re making mistakes.<\/p>\n Some modern Pagan traditions were built on weak foundations \u2013 they\u2019re crumbling. Some were built around personalities \u2013 they\u2019re failing. Let\u2019s learn from the mistakes of others and do better going forward.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s be patient with those who mean well, firm with those who aren\u2019t trying, and ruthless with those who harm others out of hatred or for their own amusement.<\/p>\n But the Pagan movement as a whole isn\u2019t dying \u2013 far from it. It\u2019s bigger than any one or two individuals, or any one or two traditions. It\u2019s good when we can gather under the Big Tent, but it\u2019s best at the local level, where people who know and trust each other explore their common beliefs and practices in depth.<\/p>\n Even if some of us fail \u2013 even if most of us fail\u00a0\u2013 so long as people keep working and practicing and worshipping together and on their own, Paganism will never die.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve written on this theme before, under different circumstances.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2018\/12\/Chickamauga-cannons-03.04.17.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPaganism was never one thing<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2018\/12\/Stonehenge-2007-02.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPaganism is more than any individual<\/h1>\n
Paganism is decentralizing<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2018\/12\/very-much-alive-12.01.18.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI still support the Big Tent of Paganism\u2026<\/h1>\n
\u2026But I\u2019m a polytheist first<\/h1>\n
Real religion is messy<\/h1>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2018\/12\/Celtic-Tarot-spread-12.04.18.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nFor further reading<\/h1>\n