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<\/a>Ordinary hospitality<\/h1>\n
Hospitality is the process of making guests feel welcome and taking care of their needs. It is one of the core virtues of Paganism and of humanity in general. The Proto-Indo-European word *ghosti<\/em> is the root of the English words for both guest and host, which points toward the shared obligations of both.<\/p>\n In the ancient world, hospitality frequently meant opening your home to strangers. Travel was slow and dangerous and in many places accommodations simply didn\u2019t exist. Sleeping outdoors left travelers vulnerable to the elements, to wild animals, and to human predators. Food and water could be difficult or impossible to find. Particularly in harsh environments, refusing hospitality was tantamount to saying \u201cI don\u2019t care if you live or die.\u201d Providing hospitality was and is a sign of respect for others and their inherent worth.<\/p>\n Pagan groups sometimes struggle with providing hospitality to our visitors. We forget about the strangers who went to the trouble of coming out to our event and spend all our free time talking with our friends. But with mindfulness and some good processes, we can show proper hospitality to all<\/a>.<\/p>\n The recent hurricanes and wildfires have re-emphasized the need for ordinary hospitality. Some needed temporary housing and short-term assistance until they could return to their homes. Others needed \u2013 and continue to need \u2013 long-term assistance rebuilding their lives.<\/p>\n Have you checked in with your friends and family in impacted areas? The need for assistance extends long after the storms are gone.<\/p>\n Although the need for ordinary hospitality is great, there is another form of hospitality. The need for it is great too.<\/p>\n Ordinary hospitality means providing food, drink, shelter, and other necessities to guests when they present themselves to you. But many times people show up at our doors (literally or metaphorically) looking for something less tangible. They\u2019re looking for help dealing with the Big Questions of life. They had an encounter with a God or a spirit and they need help figuring out what to do next. They\u2019re on a spiritual journey and fate or chance or the Gods Themselves brought them to you.<\/p>\n They need hospitality every bit as much as those in need of physical sustenance. How can we provide it? Is there a Cauldron of the Dagda for spiritual hospitality? What hospitality technologies do we have, and what technologies we need to build?<\/p>\n You can be the most competent and generous host in the world, but that won\u2019t do any good if people can\u2019t find you. Do you have a website, a Facebook page, or a Twitter account? A booth at Pagan Pride Day? A presence at regional and national gatherings?<\/p>\n There are some traditions who see finding them as an ordeal in and of itself: \u201cif you\u2019re supposed to find us, you\u2019ll find us.\u201d I respect that approach, if there\u2019s some thought and intention behind it. But if you\u2019re not an occult (i.e. \u2013 \u201chidden\u201d) group, that\u2019s not tradition, that\u2019s just laziness and inhospitality.<\/p>\n Lots of people say \u201ceveryone is welcome!\u201d No one really means it. At our rituals, Denton CUUPS says \u201cwe welcome all who come in love and friendship.\u201d But Nazis aren\u2019t welcome. White supremacists aren\u2019t welcome. Open minded Christians and Nature-centered non-theists are very welcome \u2013 fundamentalists of any persuasion aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n Nobody takes everybody. Some people say \u201ceveryone is welcome\u201d but what they really mean is \u201cwe want everyone to come in so we can change them to be just like us.\u201d That\u2019s not practicing hospitality, that\u2019s proselytizing.<\/p>\n Beyond these (hopefully) obvious examples, even as a generic Pagan group you can\u2019t be everything to everyone. If your emphasis is Nature spirituality and environmental activism, say so. If it\u2019s devotional polytheism, say so. If it\u2019s Gardnerian Wicca, say so. It is not inhospitable to say \u201cwe don\u2019t do what you\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, that means you have to know who you are.<\/p>\n Once you know who you are, you can start figuring out what you need to teach. And that process begins with understanding that you can\u2019t teach what you don\u2019t know. Maybe you can \u201cstay one lesson ahead\u201d on some subjects, but magic and religion aren\u2019t on that list.<\/p>\n What do you know well enough to teach? What\u2019s important enough to you or your group that you need to teach it? What are the foundational principles, the core practices, and the experiences someone needs to have along the way?<\/p>\n Some witchcraft traditions teach one-to-one, face-to-face. That\u2019s an excellent way to learn, but it\u2019s not the only way. Classes can be held in person or on line. OBOD has one of the best teaching systems in the world \u2013 and not just the Pagan world. They still operate as a postal-mail correspondence course. Many (probably most) contemporary Pagans have done most of their learning from books. I\u2019ve learned much of what I know by diving in head first and learning by doing.<\/p>\n There are many ways to teach. Choose the one(s) that match your material, your teaching skills, and your students\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t listen to your guests, how can you know what they need? Are they in spiritual trauma<\/a>? Do they need magical first aid? Or do they need more mundane assistance<\/a>?<\/p>\n Sometimes you have to turn people away \u2013 you don\u2019t offer what they need. Sometimes you need to refer them to another group \u2013 if you\u2019re a devotional polytheist group and they want non-theistic Nature spirituality, point them in the right direction. Sometimes they need what you have, but not exactly in the way you\u2019ve been doing it.<\/p>\n We are not fundamentalists \u2013 no one way is right for everyone. Don\u2019t be so eager to teach a newcomer that you fail to discern if they really need what you can offer.<\/p>\n Do you have secrets? Of course you do. Maybe you have sacred names, deep mysteries, or rituals involving great vulnerability. These must not be profaned (i.e. \u2013 \u201cmade ordinary\u201d) by letting them become widely known. They\u2019re usually guarded with careful protocols and with dread oaths.<\/p>\n Or perhaps your secrets are hidden in plain sight. Perhaps your secrets are something special about the culture of your group: a food you always eat, a color you always wear or a color you never wear, a song that has a special meaning no one can describe but everyone knows is important.<\/p>\n When the time comes to share these secrets, how will you transmit them? Revealing them by telling them is perhaps the least effective method. How can people uncover these secrets and experience them for themselves?<\/p>\n Transmitting secrets and mysteries is a mighty technology.<\/p>\n We can argue for days and days about whether or not groups or individuals have power they can transmit to new initiates. This isn\u2019t unique to Pagans \u2013 Christians have been arguing over apostolic succession at least since the Protestant Reformation. But it\u2019s part of many traditions.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a Wiccan example:<\/p>\n The initiator the kneels besides the candidate, places his or her right hand on the candidate\u2019s head, and the left hand just beneath the candidate\u2019s knee as the latter remains kneeling.<\/p>\n Initiator: Do you vow all between these hands to the Old Gods of witchcraft?<\/em><\/p>\n Candidate: I do<\/em>.<\/p>\n Initiator: I will the powers of witchcraft into you<\/em>.<\/p>\n Doreen Valiente \u2013 Witchcraft For Tomorrow<\/em> (1978)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Does that accomplish anything? I can\u2019t say \u2013 I\u2019ve never tried it. But I clearly remember the moment of investiture at my first Pagan initiation. Something powerful happened, and it felt right<\/em>.<\/p>\n I tend to think the initiators in these cases aren\u2019t the source so much as they\u2019re the facilitators and the conduits. The magic, the power, the current \u2013 call it what you will \u2013 flows through them and into the candidate.<\/p>\n If your tradition has such a feature, you need a way \u2013 a technology \u2013 to transmit it.<\/p>\n Hospitality is a form of reciprocity: \u201cI give so that you may give.\u201d Someone helped you get started. Maybe it was a teacher, an author, an artist, or Nature herself. Because someone showed hospitality to you, you learned and you grew and you became more<\/em> than what you were before.<\/p>\n If guests knock on your door, it means you\u2019ve done something to get the attention of someone\u2026 or Someone. You have been a guest. Now it\u2019s time to be a host.<\/p>\n What hospitality technologies will you learn and master?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Cauldron of the Dagda is hospitality technology from Iron Age Ireland. What technologies help us provide spiritual hospitality today?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":7035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1101],"tags":[393,1409,4,5,8,1408],"class_list":["post-7033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundations-and-context","tag-cauldron-of-the-dagda","tag-ghosti","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-polytheism","tag-the-dagda"],"yoast_head":"\nSpiritual hospitality<\/h1>\n
A way for people to find you<\/h2>\n
Make it clear who you are and who you aren\u2019t<\/h2>\n
What do you teach?<\/h2>\n
How will you teach it?<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Listening<\/h2>\n
Transmitting secrets<\/h2>\n
Transmitting power<\/h2>\n
The privilege and responsibility of being a host<\/h1>\n