![\"empty](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2018\/01\/empty-pedestal-the-Agora.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA personal note<\/h1>\n
I remember the first time someone I didn\u2019t know came up to me and said \u201cI really enjoy your blog \u2013 thank you!\u201d It felt\u2026 odd. And nice, but mainly odd. I\u2019ve gotten used to it, mostly.<\/p>\n
When The Path of Paganism<\/em> came out last year, I noticed an immediate shift. Now I was a published author \u2013 people treated me differently. That too felt odd, and a bit annoying. I didn\u2019t suddenly get wiser just because Llewellyn published my book. It is what it is \u2013 our society privileges the written word.<\/p>\nThere is a bit of irony in a Pagan author telling the Pagan community to not idolize Pagan authors. But I believe I speak for the vast majority of authors when I say \u201cplease don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
I write because there are things I need to say: experiences I need to process, ideas I need to contemplate, problems I need to work through. If something is helpful to me, it may be helpful to others. And occasionally, I write because a God tells me \u201cyou, Druid \u2013 write this!\u201d And so I write.<\/p>\n
I am honored \u2013 and pleased \u2013 when you tell me \u201cthat really helped me.\u201d I treasure the friendships that have arisen through this blog, whether they are casual or deep. I enjoy meeting readers and talking to you, even though I\u2019m an introvert who doesn\u2019t do well with small talk and who is known for excusing himself and walking away when the conversation lags.<\/p>\n
But I hope and pray you read everything I write with a critical eye. My spiritual practice and my writing are important to me and so I\u2019m trying to do them very well, but at the end of the day I\u2019m just like those VPs and Ph.Ds back in my summer internship. I\u2019m just an ordinary person doing ordinary work.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re all human. We all make mistakes. And some of us do very bad things.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t put me on a pedestal.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t put other Pagans on pedestals.<\/p>\n
If you have anyone on a pedestal, take them down.<\/p>\n
It may save you a ruined birthday.<\/p>\n
It may also open your eyes to things you need to see, even if you\u2019d really rather not.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If someone insists you treat them like a celebrity, that\u2019s their fault. If you do it, that\u2019s on you. The person you\u2019re putting on a pedestal is an ordinary human just like you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":7587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272],"tags":[1479,71,1480,4,5,193],"class_list":["post-7579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-2","tag-heather-greene","tag-isaac-bonewits","tag-moira-greyland","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-the-wild-hunt"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"broken](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2018\/01\/broken-columns.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Pagan](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2018\/01\/Pagan-Books.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2018\/01\/Caesars-place-the-Curia.jpg\")
<\/a>