Open Hearts and Open Rites

This weekend I held a blót, a rite of sacrifice and offering, to Freyja.  It was held at Flinn Springs County Park in El Cajon, California, a location only about fifteen minutes from my place by car but well worth the drive.  The park exists in multiple tiers (as the San Diego area is hilly) that are all connected by paths and areas of sloping ground, which can make finding other folks there a challenge, but it is worth it for the sheer beauty of the surrounding land.

While I’m not a huge fan of the Hammer Rite I asked someone from the local Kindred to perform it for the opening to set space.  I spoke about Freyja, describing some of Her names and deeds, and then we sang Her names to draw Her attention close.  We toasted and sang and spoke and prayed to Her, passing a horn and drinking and/or pouring for Her as we did.  We gave her treats we’d made, good fruit, flowers, gems, and incense.  We asked for Her blessings and I went around with the offering bowl, using a sprig of grape vine that someone had plucked to sprinkle them with the mead we had just shared with the Lady.

(Our shrine from the blót, photo by the author.)

After the rite we started digging in to the good food folks had brought to share, and broke in to several conversations.  As I was responsible for hospitality I tried to make sure that everyone was engaged and no one felt left out of the group or conversation.  As I did so I realized that our crowd had come from multiple groups.

We had sent invitations to the local Heathen Kindred (who I know members of but am not a member of myself).  We sent invitations to the folks who attend the ADF grove.  We put a general invitation up on meetup.com in the San Diego Pagans group.  I shared events on Facebook groups for California Pagans.

Most folks thought that the ritual was being put on by the group that they had been invited by.  We had a priestess of Brigid, a Goddess Shaman, an Aztec seeress, a follower of Macha, a naturalist Pagan who just wanted to join the ritual, the Heathens and a smattering of folks from other practices and traditions or none at all.  It might not have been an eclectic ritual, but it was a very eclectic crowd, and all of them came away with a positive experience with Heathenry and the Lady.

The vast majority of public Pagan rites that I’ve attended have been eclectic ones.  Most of the polytheist and reconstructionist groups that I know of besides ADF keep their rites private.  There are a lot of reasons for this that range from religious beliefs that rituals should be kept within the clan to the frustration of educating folks that yes, there are Pagan paths that don’t circle-and-quarter and yes, there are Pagan paths that don’t feel the need to call deities based off of a binary and yes, there are groups that practice sacrifice and offering.

(Flinn Springs County Park, photo by the author.)

While there are many good reasons to keep private rites, there is one thing that they won’t do: educate folks about our paths.  A friend of mine who is interested in Heathenry expressed frustration that we make people hunt for us and aren’t terribly forthcoming with information (unless you go to online forums where being new is the worst sin ever).  At least with Christian Evangelists, she said, the message is out there and you can find out about it easily.  Providing knowledge about our ways is one part of that; holding public space for engagement in them is another.

Some people feel that we should not actively seek new members for our traditions.   I don’t believe that that is especially helpful.  Most polytheists believe that the Gods appreciate veneration and offerings, and being hostile and obstructionist puts a damper on devotion that could be offered and sacrifice that could be made.  There are also many people whose hearts call out for experiences with our Gods, and who want to have those with community; being closed and sharp harms them as well.  I know more than a few Heathens and those close to that identity who refuse to pursue community because of their many negative experiences with it.

There are rites that should be private, I believe.  I engage in rites and practices that I won’t speak about with people outside of my closest kin and clan.  Not because they’re shocking or would be upsetting but because they involve experience and knowledge that require time and work to build.  For work like that it’s important for the participants to have context to both engage and appreciate what they may experience.

The elitism and snobbery makes sense on a certain level.  Most people on reconstruction-oriented paths are leery of bad information, no matter how closely they cleave to the fine details in their private and group practice.  It’s easy for folks to come in deciding they already know everything that there is to know because they’ve read a couple of mass-print books and it’s tiring trying to educate new people all the time.  I understand these things.

Many of us do want our traditions to grow however.  We want our communities to become healthier and more robust and diverse.  We want out Gods and ancestors and other spirits and powers to be pleased with us.  We want the old ways to be revived in as much as they can be and in as much as they work in the context of the world we live in now.  If every person seeking us out is met with hostility because of the books they have or haven’t read, if they can’t find our groups because they are too obscure or private, if they can’t experience the power of our rites and the presence of our Gods then our traditions will be anemic indeed.  There is value in the perseverance that has brought many to our paths in spite of these and other challenges, but it’s hard enough to be a member of a minority faith in a Christian/secular country.  There’s no need for this gatekeeping.

(Flinn Springs County Park, photo by the author.)

The Lady was in the air yesterday, as birds of prey soared above and breezes caressed us as we sang Her names and golden light filtered over us.  She draws people to Her, and in doing so draws them together, where Her brother the frith-maker can help to establish bonds of community between them.  We can draw folk to us as well, and let our shared experiences help to weave those bonds.  These are beautiful things, and things well worth sharing.

Let us be like flowers and be open so that our colors and the sweet scents of devotion and blessing are there for all to witness.  They can pass us by if they want to, but they know that we are there if they wish to join in.  Let us give good offerings in public, offerings both to the Gods and to the curious who want to know them better.  Let us use words that are both gentle and warm when dealing with people seeking knowledge and experiences.  If we want our faiths to grow naturally and us with them then we need to provide the opportunity for others to learn and experience.  If we want to be understood and respected then we need to let people in to learn what we are about.  Invite the Wiccans, invite the eclectics, invite the folks of other traditions, and most importantly, have rites that you can invite the public to.  A long time ago a public ritual changed the course of my life and sent me whirling in the direction that would lead to where I am today and I wouldn’t want anyone else to miss an opportunity like that.  We’ve all had help getting to where we are, let’s lend a hand and pay it forward.  Our traditions, our groups, and our lives can only become richer as a result.