{"id":354,"date":"2010-09-28T19:36:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-28T19:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/09\/pagan-identity\/"},"modified":"2010-09-28T19:36:00","modified_gmt":"2010-09-28T19:36:00","slug":"pagan-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2010\/09\/pagan-identity.html","title":{"rendered":"Pagan Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Star Foster at Patheos<\/a> has a blog entry titled \u201cIn Praise of Normal<\/a>\u201d where she says we need not be \u201coutrageous\u201d in order to be authentically Pagan. It\u2019s generated some interesting comments on just what constitutes \u201cnormal\u201d and what it means for the Pagan community.<\/div>\n
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One of those comments refers to Fire Lyte\u2019s \u201cProject Pagan Enough<\/a>,\u201d which seems to be a well-intended riff on \u201ccan\u2019t we all just get along?\u201d<\/div>\n
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And while I don\u2019t know if it was inspired by Star\u2019s blog or by synchronicity, Thorn Coyle<\/a> addressed this with a poem titled \u201cPagan\u201d<\/a> which doesn\u2019t attempt to define her religion so much as describe it in mystical (and beautiful) terms.<\/div>\n
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When asked, I give a three-fold definition of Paganism: a view of the Divine as both female and male, a connection to Nature and its rhythms and cycles, and a resonance with our ancestors and their beliefs and practices. That\u2019s a very high-level definition that could also fit a lot of people who clearly aren\u2019t Pagans, but it points questioners in the right direction.<\/div>\n
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But the issue that Star and Fire address and that Thorn attempts to redirect to isn\u2019t really about definitions. It\u2019s about identity. Who are we, whose are we, and where do we belong? Our ancestors knew who they were: they belonged to this tribe or that village, they lived on this land, they worshipped these gods. Identity in America is diverse and fluid, particularly for those of us with the educational and other resources to change our religion, occupation, location, wardrobe, pastimes and other aspects of our lives. Our freedom is a good thing, but it makes life more complicated. Freedom always does.<\/div>\n
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The problem is that when identity is based on observable characteristics, it\u2019s never long before some folks start including some and excluding others based on superficial qualities \u2013 as anyone who\u2019s ever been to high school can attest. <\/div>\n
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It\u2019s taken me a long time, but my identity is pretty settled. It wasn\u2019t so much a case of finding the right identity as it was accepting who and what I\u2019ve been all along. Unless you see me at a Pagan event (and maybe not even then), I\u2019ll be one of the people Star Foster calls \u201cnormal.\u201d I don\u2019t like to call attention to myself unless I have something to say and I\u2019m ready to say it. I like my Cernunnos pendant and my new Awen pendant, but I don\u2019t like the feel of jewelry on me \u2013 I can\u2019t imagine wearing either one every day. I wear a lot of black, but I\u2019ve done that since kindergarten. It was a different era \u2013 the Baptists thought I was a Johnny Cash fan. And I was, but that wasn\u2019t why I wore black. <\/div>\n
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I live in a suburb, and while I\u2019d prefer to live in a real neighborhood where people actually know each other, it fits my needs. I like sports more than I wish I did. My politics are more utilitarian than ideological. <\/div>\n
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And I love the Earth and the Sun and the Moon. I love the god and goddess who have called me to their service and I love the ancestors whose lives formed a foundation for my own. I love communing with all of them. I love learning, and I love helping others to learn and grow.<\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t see a disconnect between those two sides of my identity. They\u2019re both part of who, what, and whose I am. <\/div>\n
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I proudly wear the labels of Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist, but those labels are not my identity. And I see no reason to fight over who is or isn\u2019t qualified to wear them too.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Star Foster at Patheos has a blog entry titled \u201cIn Praise of Normal\u201d where she says we need not be \u201coutrageous\u201d in order to be authentically Pagan. It\u2019s generated some interesting comments on just what constitutes \u201cnormal\u201d and what it means for the Pagan community. One of those comments refers to Fire Lyte\u2019s \u201cProject Pagan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPagan Identity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Star Foster at Patheos has a blog entry titled \u201cIn Praise of Normal\u201d where she says we need not be \u201coutrageous\u201d in order to be authentically Pagan. 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