Executive Pagan

If Eddie Izzard can be an executive transvestite, I can be an executive pagan.

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    February 2010
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On not talking with the Gods

Posted by executivepagan on February 4, 2010

Note: this post grew out of a comment I made on Erl_queen’s LJ the other day.

I realized a long time ago that I am not going to fit into the mainstream of any religious community, even a Pagan one; as my wife puts it, we’re sort of the “fuzz on the end of the string on the fringe”, wherever we are. I’m used to being too conventional for many Pagans and too weird for most other groups, and to being both too conservative and too liberal (both in the wrong areas) to fully integrate even with the UUs.

I often feel out of place even in semi-Recon environments such as Neos Alexandria, because I don’t have regular ongoing interactions with the Gods or other spiritual beings, and don’t really feel the need to. I have experienced enough to know that They exist, but beyond that I’m just an average householder trying to get through life as best I can.

There are two prevailing attitudes I see in much of the Pagan community, both of which I find distinctly unhelpful. The first is the well-known “soft polytheism” (not that this term is entirely unproblematic) – that the Gods are in the end either metaphors or the concretizations of archetypes, or at most “expressions” of an underlying Unity; but however it’s described, most of the time it winds up basically meaning that They are inside our heads. While this attitude is easy to ignore – why would I bother to worship something I/we made up? – it is annoying and contributes to the general perception that Paganism is a lot of wooly-headed nonsense.

The other attitude that bothers me, which tends to come more from the “hard” polytheist end of the spectrum, is that in order to be a “real” Pagan I should be having tea with half a dozen Gods and spirit guides every Tuesday :). I find this both more problematic and harder to deal with; while I appreciate that these folks generally at least believe in the actual existence of the Gods as real Persons, it smacks too much of the attitude of many charismatic Christians that if you’re not speaking in tongues you must not really believe… and it’s also distinctly anti-historical, particularly for a Hellenist.

True, the literature is chock-full of stories of the Gods interacting with people – mostly kings and Heroes. With the occasional exception such as Baucis and Philemon (and even that is a Roman story) or periodic hotties being seduced by one or another of Them, the Gods did not (to our knowledge!) generally have [edited to add: *constant*] dealings with “normal” people. Certainly there were religious specialists then, as now – but most folks, then as now, just muddled through… and there was nothing wrong with that. It didn’t make them any less or more pious than priests, mediums or seers, just “normal”. Now, as someone else pointed out in the discussion, it’s entirely possible that the Gods talked to everyone, they just didn’t write about it… but I have to go with the evidence we actually have, and my own experience, and both of these lead me to conclude that there’s no particular reason the Gods should necessarily want to talk to me on a regular basis. I have no calling to be a priest, or a mantis, or anything much other than a lay worshiper and amateur theologian.

As I said to Erl_queen, I am saying nothing against those who desire such personal relationships and are blessed to have them – Godspeed and more power to them! But to those who insist that their experience should be the norm for everyone, let me observe that no religion will endure without a large base of laity, folks who just want to be able to worship the Gods, make their offerings and libations and get on with their lives.

Posted in Hellenism, paganism, philosophy, theology | 17 Comments »

Commonplace book #26

Posted by executivepagan on January 31, 2010

I have… studied deeply in the philosophies of the world’s religions, but cheerfulness kept breaking through. – Leonard Cohen

Posted in commonplace_book | 1 Comment »

A pastiche*

Posted by executivepagan on January 28, 2010

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of The Decemberists; I love the storytelling of Colin Meloy and his mad, morbid muse. A part of this song popped into my head the other week, and the rest has been slowly emerging ever since. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in music | 4 Comments »

Cross-postings

Posted by executivepagan on January 26, 2010

Cat has put up a great post about martial arts, Quakerism and pagan spirituality; a lot of what she writes resonates with my own martial experience – and, of course, it’s beautifully written. :)

Also, Philip Carr-Gomm has posted a long meditation on working with the spirit of place that I will be digesting for some time to come; again, much of what he says resonates with my own experience.

And, finally, Ali has up a very sweet ode to fathers… thank you, on behalf of all of us!

Posted in Blogroll | 1 Comment »

A Hellenic blog I missed

Posted by executivepagan on January 22, 2010

The online Hellenismos community continues to grow! I came across another blog today, that shows potential – The Mirror Palace, by “Laria”. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Blogroll, Hellenic blogs, Hellenism | Leave a Comment »

Archeology and the Iliad

Posted by executivepagan on January 21, 2010

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted anything meaningful… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Hellenism, history | Leave a Comment »

Ma’at

Posted by executivepagan on January 7, 2010

Long delay, nothing meaningful to say today either… sometimes life happens. I did come up with this to infl… share with you, though! Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in humor | 8 Comments »

Happy New Year!

Posted by executivepagan on December 31, 2009

Going out on a high note with one of my favorite webcomics, Sinfest (click image to go there). Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in holidays | 1 Comment »

Eleusis

Posted by executivepagan on December 30, 2009

A few weeks ago I posted about the Greek band Eleusis. Well, I got their CD as a Solstice gift (thanks, sweetie!) and have been listening to it quite a bit, and I can report that it definitely lives up to the samples! It’s not quite in the same category as Daemonia Nymphe as far as being useful for worship, but a number of tracks are quite suitable for that or for meditation, and the rest is still cool and interesting… and the last track, the hymn to Athena, is quite awe-inspiring.

Posted in music | 2 Comments »

Patron of the Internet?

Posted by executivepagan on December 29, 2009

I have long honored Hermes as my professional (IT) patron, and more generally as the patron of the Internet; some of His most common associations, as patron of commerce and of communication (and of thieves, let’s face it :) make this new one fairly obvious. However, I have recently had cause to rethink this a bit; not to minimize His importance, but to consider Another Who may have just claim to share these honors – Athena. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Hellenism, theology | 5 Comments »