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<\/a>Over on the Nature\u2019s Path blog, CUUPS Continental President Rev. Amy Beltaine has a piece titled Right Relationship and Drawing the Circle Wide<\/a>.\u00a0 She gets right to the point in the second paragraph:\u00a0 \u201cSometimes Pagans are the marginalized group. And sometimes Pagans are the agents of oppression, colonization, and marginalization.\u201d\u00a0 I encourage you to read her post and to carefully consider the examples she provides \u2013 they aren\u2019t isolated incidents.<\/p>\nI\u2019m a Big Tent Pagan<\/a> \u2013 I want Wiccans and Druids, Hellenists and Heathens, kitchen witches and tree huggers and everyone else working together to support each other and build a better world.\u00a0 At the same time, I strongly support self-identification.\u00a0 If you say \u201cI\u2019m not a Pagan\u201d then I\u2019m not going to call you a Pagan, even if I think you belong in the tent.\u00a0 There is no clear unambiguous definition of Paganism.\u00a0 The Four Centers model<\/a> is my best effort to describe<\/em> Paganism, but defining<\/em> it still eludes me (and everyone else as well).<\/p>\n These vague boundaries make it easy for us to assume a person, practice, or tradition is Pagan (and therefore ours) when it isn\u2019t.\u00a0 Amy says what needs to be said and I\u2019ve written on this before<\/a>:<\/p>\n Presenting culture implies that you understand that culture. If you\u2019ve appropriated it, if you\u2019ve taken the bits that look interesting to you, if you\u2019ve taken the glory and ignored the suffering, then you don\u2019t understand what you\u2019re doing. It\u2019s inaccurate and inauthentic.\u00a0 [And it] ignores the insults such appropriations are to the people the culture is stolen from.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Amy has some ideas that are worth discussing and she asks for further suggestions.\u00a0 As for me, I think part of the solution to this problem is a recommitment to the virtue of hospitality.<\/p>\n Hospitality was a virtue to our ancestors because they lived in a harsh environment where refusing to take in a stranger was tantamount to saying \u201cI don\u2019t care if you live or die.\u201d\u00a0 When we practice good hospitality, our actions tell our guests \u201cyou are valued\u201d \u2013 not because you may someday join our group or because you may throw $20 in the basket, but because you are a living, breathing, sentient being who possesses inherent dignity and worth.<\/p>\n Some hospitality is pretty basic stuff<\/a>.\u00a0 Greet your guests as they arrive.\u00a0 Talk to them and listen while they talk to you.\u00a0 Make sure they know what they need to know to participate in the ritual.\u00a0 Accommodate their needs.\u00a0 These are simple matters but they aren\u2019t always easy, and if we don\u2019t make them a priority we may overlook them.<\/p>\n But hospitality goes much deeper than this.\u00a0 In a society where Black people can be massacred in church and are consistently treated more harshly by the police<\/a>, where unemployment among Native Americans is 50% higher than among whites<\/a>, and where immigrants are vilified<\/a>, we have an obligation to be especially hospitable.\u00a0 Not just to embody our own virtues and not just to honor our guests, but to set a good example for our wider society.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t make assumptions<\/strong>.\u00a0 Don\u2019t assume the Black person who comes to your circle is interested in Voodoo.\u00a0 Don\u2019t assume the visiting Santero doesn\u2019t share your love of animals<\/a>.\u00a0 Don\u2019t assume the blind person isn\u2019t going to be able to fully participate in your ritual.\u00a0 Approach everyone with an open mind and a closed mouth \u2013 let them tell you who and what they are in their own way and on their own terms.<\/p>\n Respect traditions that aren\u2019t yours<\/strong>.\u00a0 Don\u2019t assume you know enough to lead a ritual in a tradition you have only a passing familiarity with, particularly if that tradition is alive and active.\u00a0 If you\u2019re interested in Native American spirituality, support Native artists and writers<\/a>.\u00a0 Syncretism is a valid, time-honored religious approach, but remember Sam Webster\u2019s warning:\u00a0 \u201ctech is transferrable \u2013 culture is not.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t run down other traditions<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not every Pagan had a bad experience in Christianity and some of us who did still have Christian friends and relatives<\/a>.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to hear their religions insulted for a straw man argument or a cheap joke.\u00a0 Even where we have valid disagreements with other religions, a public ritual isn\u2019t the place to expound on them.<\/p>\n Make your rituals inclusive<\/strong>.\u00a0 Avoid gender essentialism<\/a> and heteronormativity<\/a>. \u00a0Accommodate your members and guests with mobility issues.\u00a0 Make sure your rituals are representative of all your community.<\/p>\n This does not mean every ritual should be least common denominator, vague generic Paganism!\u00a0 Denton CUUPS is far more polytheist than most CUUPS groups, and most of our rituals include offerings to Gods, ancestors, and nature spirits.\u00a0 If I\u2019m leading the ritual (or Cynthia, or Conor<\/a>, or several other members) you won\u2019t hear an invocation of The Goddess \u2013 you\u2019ll hear invocations of Danu, Morrigan, Brighid, or Athena.\u00a0 But this year\u2019s Ostara ritual was led by our New Thought-trained matriarch and it did include invocations of Goddess and God.\u00a0 Yule will led by our Wiccan-trained Education Officer and I imagine it will too.<\/p>\n Do what you do deeply and authentically.\u00a0 Then when you do something different, do it deeply and authentically too.<\/p>\n Make the path to membership clear<\/strong>.\u00a0 What does full inclusion require?\u00a0 At what point can a new member take an active role in ritual?\u00a0 In leadership?\u00a0 When \u2013 and under what guidance \u2013 can they lead a ritual in their tradition?<\/p>\n