{"id":22814,"date":"2021-07-13T03:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T09:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=22814"},"modified":"2021-07-11T14:19:01","modified_gmt":"2021-07-11T20:19:01","slug":"rock-stars-pop-stars-and-one-hit-wonders-in-the-pagan-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2021\/07\/rock-stars-pop-stars-and-one-hit-wonders-in-the-pagan-world.html","title":{"rendered":"Rock Stars, Pop Stars, and One Hit Wonders in the Pagan World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Who are you listening to when it comes to Paganism, polytheism, witchcraft, and magic?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not talking about music. I\u2019m talking about authors, teachers, bloggers, and such. Who\u2019s influencing your worldview? Who\u2019s impacting your beliefs? Who\u2019s helping to shape your practices?<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to follow someone like a guru for them to have a significant impact on your practice. Even if you don\u2019t do everything the way they do it, just reading or listening to them allows them to frame the issues. You start to see things on their terms, even if you don\u2019t agree with them.<\/p>\n

Before you read any further, let me be clear: this post doesn\u2019t assign people to categories. I\u2019m not telling you who I think is a rock star and who I think is a dinosaur. I couldn\u2019t make that list, and if I did it would cause needless controversy.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this post is to ask two simple questions. Who are you listening to? And do they have more influence on your practice than they should?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No, you shouldn\u2019t try to do it all yourself<\/h2>\n

Any time the question of influential Pagans comes up, someone \u2013 usually several someones \u2013 says \u201cyou shouldn\u2019t let anyone influence you \u2013 think for yourself!\u201d<\/p>\n

While I strongly recommend thinking for yourself, it\u2019s impossible to not let anyone influence you. If you did, you\u2019d cut yourself off from the rest of humanity.<\/p>\n

More importantly, advancing knowledge any field is a group effort. One person comes up with an idea. Another critiques it and finds a weakness. A third proposes a solution for the weakness. A fourth tries the solution and finds it helpful, but finds a flaw in another part of the idea. Gradually, the idea \u2013 theory, belief, practice, philosophy, etc. \u2013 gets stronger and stronger, and thus becomes more useful to more people.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid of criticism. If it turns out you\u2019re wrong, it\u2019s better to change your mind and be right than to keep pretending you were never wrong. That\u2019s how you end up insisting you won an election you lost by 7 million votes.<\/p>\n

And with that said, let\u2019s look at some of the types of people who are influencing beliefs and practices in today\u2019s Pagan world.<\/p>\n

Garage bands who never left the garage (for a very good reason)<\/h2>\n

The music business is brutal and lots of good musicians never get the break they need to make it to the top. But not every commercial failure is the result of bad luck. Some of them are just bad musicians.<\/p>\n

Likewise, some people in the Pagan world promote ideas that are painful to listen to. Some are based on bad history or bad science, some are baggage from another religion, and some are unethical and harmful<\/a> on their own.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the message is more important than the messenger. If the message is bad, don\u2019t try to fool yourself into thinking the messenger is the Pagan equivalent of the Sex Pistols.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pop stars<\/h2>\n

Pop stars give us music that\u2019s fun and light and that appeals to lots and lots of people. And that\u2019s OK \u2013 let people enjoy things.<\/p>\n

Some people really like witchy clothes and jewelry. Or they like dressing like a Viking. They may be able to work some actual magic, and they may know a thing or two about \u201cthe old ways.\u201d They\u2019re not hurting anybody \u2013 let them live their lives.<\/p>\n

But so much more is possible.<\/p>\n

One hit wonders<\/h2>\n

Some one hit wonders are pop stars who release the perfect song at the perfect time. Others are really good musicians who run into complications and can never do it again. And some defy explanation. Regardless of why, they have one big hit and then that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

Some Pagan authors write one good book, they teach one good class, or they have deep and original thoughts on one subject. But for whatever reason they\u2019re unable to repeat that success with other subjects, and now what they\u2019re teaching is leading people in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n

If someone is very helpful in one area, don\u2019t assume they\u2019ll be helpful in every area.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rock stars<\/h2>\n

Rock stars create music that doesn\u2019t just get stuck in your head, it touches your soul. It\u2019s music that you keep listening to year after year, because it\u2019s just that good.<\/p>\n

These are the authors and teachers who you don\u2019t just hear their words, you absorb their thoughts. You incorporate their methods into your practice, not because they\u2019re a \u201cBig Name Pagan\u201d but because what they have to say works. Maybe they\u2019re well-known and maybe they aren\u2019t \u2013 that\u2019s not what\u2019s important. What\u2019s important is their work is useful, helpful, and meaningful.<\/p>\n

Legends<\/h2>\n

Rock stars come and go, but the best keep on rocking. The Rolling Stones are in their 70s (drummer Charlie Watts turned 80 last month) and they\u2019re still making music. Joan Jett is 63 and now that Covid is subsiding is back to touring<\/a> as much as ever.<\/p>\n

Pagan legends are the writers, teachers, and others who\u2019ve been practicing their craft for years. Some of them focus on one specific area and keep going deeper and deeper into it. Others branch out and bring their rigorous approach to new traditions and practices.<\/p>\n

As the financial disclaimer says \u201cpast performance is no guarantee of future results.\u201d We still have to evaluate every new work to make sure it holds up. But when a legend publishes a new book or teaches a new class, the odds are good it\u2019s going to be worth your time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dinosaurs<\/h2>\n

Some musicians keep playing those same old songs from 40 years ago. Or they write new songs\u2026 that sound just like those songs from 40 years ago. And as long as people keep buying them, they\u2019ll keep turning them out. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and the older I get the more I understand this.<\/p>\n

In the Pagan world, I\u2019m not talking about those who maintain traditions. For example, the Gardnerian Wiccans who want to do Wicca just like Gardner and Valiente taught. I\u2019m talking about those who were doing pop culture witchcraft in 1975 and they\u2019re still doing the same thing today. That\u2019s not wrong and if people find comfort in it, so be it. But it can be stagnating.<\/p>\n

Of more concern are those who cling rigidly to concepts like \u201cgender polarity\u201d despite its impact on trans and non-binary people.<\/p>\n

If you like nostalgia in your Paganism and it\u2019s not hurting anybody, more power to you. But don\u2019t use \u201cthings have always been this way\u201d as an excuse for excluding others from your circles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So what do we do with all this?<\/h2>\n

I could go on and on, but the purpose of this post isn\u2019t to precisely map every Pagan to a type of musician. The purpose is to get you to think about who\u2019s influencing your beliefs and practices.<\/p>\n

Are you listening to really bad garage bands with really bad ideas? Or to the one hit wonders who wrote a good book or two but are now promoting conspiracy theories?<\/p>\n

Are you listening to the pop stars who make you feel good but leave you with nothing that lasts?<\/p>\n

Or are you listening to the rock stars and legends who are creating deep and meaningful works and spreading helpful ideas and practices?<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, it\u2019s the ideas that matter, not who talks about them. It\u2019s the practices that connect you to your Gods and ancestors that matter, not whether the person you learned them from has published ten books, or one book, or no books.<\/p>\n

Talking about Pagan leaders as rock stars is dangerous \u2013 we need to avoid cults of personality<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the same time, when you get wound up about what somebody said on a Patheos blog, or on Twitter, or \u2013 Gods forbid \u2013 on TikTok, ask yourself \u201cwho is this person?\u201d \u201cwhy should I care what they think?\u201d and \u201cis this a rock star or just a bad garage band?\u201d<\/p>\n

If their ideas are good, stick with them. If not, just hit the skip button and keep moving.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you get wound up about what somebody said on Twitter or \u2013 Gods forbid \u2013 on TikTok, ask yourself \u201cwho is this person?\u201d and \u201cwhy should I care what they think?\u201d If their ideas are good, stick with them. If not, just hit the skip button and keep moving. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":22819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272],"tags":[4,5,8,3758,3761,3438],"class_list":["post-22814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-2","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-polytheism","tag-rock-stars","tag-tiktok","tag-twitter"],"yoast_head":"\nRock Stars, Pop Stars, and One Hit Wonders in the Pagan World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you get wound up about what somebody said on Twitter or \u2013 Gods forbid \u2013 on TikTok, ask yourself \u201cwho is this person?\u201d and \u201cwhy should I care what they think?\u201d If their ideas are good, stick with them. 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