Friday Pagan Five
1) What songs do you find particularly spiritually meaningful?
The Goddess and the Weaver by Spiral Dance has always been one of my favorites, but there's also Fires at Midnight by Blackmore's Night, Witch's Rune by Inkubus Sukkubus, The Mystic's Dream by Loreena McKinnet, and Christians and the Pagans, by Dar Williams.
2) Where do you draw the line between "honoring other cultures" and "cultural appropriation?"
I don't. Quite frankly, "cultural appropriation" is the same thing as "inspiration," is the same thing as "things change, deal with it." So you go to another culture and see that they have this tradition which is cool, and kind of a Good Idea, so you learn about it and then try to do something similar. Congratulations, you just did the same thing our ancestors have been doing for millenia. (And when I say "our," I mean "everyone's.") There isn't any such thing as an untouched, holy culture that got all its ideas/traditions from... I don't know - the air? They spoke with one another, changed their minds, chucked some traditions and altered others, and changed. Constantly. That's how humanity works.
3) What's your opinion on the witchcraft-and-magic coverage in the media?
At this point, I'm just tired of being pissed off about it. It still makes me sigh every time I hear someone speak of witchcraft with amusement or fear, but I acknowledge that 99% of those people have no idea what they're talking about. Even if they did, they may not agree. I'd actually venture that most of them would still be amused - and I'm OK with that. To each their own.
And quite honestly, I think a lot of Pagans shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to public relations.
Going on TV and talking about how your "real name" is Unicorn Swirly Sparkle Pants and you're a level 13 high priestess of Gozer who talks to fairies and cruises the moon waves every solstice... even I, a fellow pagan, can understand why no one takes you seriously. Sorry, but that's the truth. Talk about your belief in the Gods and Goddesses, by all means, but put an emphasis on charity work and community values - keep your crazy in a closet, please.
Better yet, take a step back and consider, for a moment, how most people (who aren't members of this group) react to the nutter Evangelicals who think that babbling incoherently and having violent spasms is "speaking in tongues." How exactly is that any different from a pagan who claims that a 15$, gaudy mirror they bought in a pawn shop was a "gift from a dragon?" (Seriously, I've had that conversation with someone before, and I still think he was off his bloody rocker.) The truth is, it isn't different at all.
So yes. While media representations of pagans mostly just annoy the piss out of me... it is, sadly, just a mirror reflection of the very worst (and unfortunately, loudest) of our kind.
4) Do you wear Pagan jewelry in public?
I don't have any. XD
5) Do you believe a person or coven is responsible for the actions of the people they initiate?
Yes and no.
I believe that any organization holds some responsibility for the sort of people that it associates with. Though the organization cannot control the actions the individuals within it takes, it can hold them responsible for their actions.
If a member of your church/coven/religious-whatever has been making a public ass of themselves in a way that invokes their religious beliefs, and your organization takes no action to either reprimand this member or else disassociate yourselves from their company, then their actions are applicable to the entire organization. No ifs, ands or butts. Your harboring this person automatically includes you in whatever it is that they were saying or doing.
For example: Let's say that "Andy" has been seen on the local news repeatedly spouting off anti-gay propaganda, and backing it with religious zealotry. It is a well known fact that Andy is a deacon of Generic Church of Christ - which he also names on the local channel. Though Generic Church of Christ claims that they do not teach anti-gay propaganda and do not back his claims, they allow him to continue his work as a deacon in the church. No matter what they have said to defend themselves, these are just words and not properly backed by action. Unless Generic Church of Christ revokes his deacon-ship, and removes him from their organization's leadership (at the very least), then they are backing his anti-gay vitriol.
The same applies to any religious organization, so far as I'm concerned. Coven, temple, church, whatever. You have a responsibility to lead by your actions, as well as your word.
/takes a step off the soapbox/
Originally posted at The Mouse Hole.
The Goddess and the Weaver by Spiral Dance has always been one of my favorites, but there's also Fires at Midnight by Blackmore's Night, Witch's Rune by Inkubus Sukkubus, The Mystic's Dream by Loreena McKinnet, and Christians and the Pagans, by Dar Williams.
2) Where do you draw the line between "honoring other cultures" and "cultural appropriation?"
I don't. Quite frankly, "cultural appropriation" is the same thing as "inspiration," is the same thing as "things change, deal with it." So you go to another culture and see that they have this tradition which is cool, and kind of a Good Idea, so you learn about it and then try to do something similar. Congratulations, you just did the same thing our ancestors have been doing for millenia. (And when I say "our," I mean "everyone's.") There isn't any such thing as an untouched, holy culture that got all its ideas/traditions from... I don't know - the air? They spoke with one another, changed their minds, chucked some traditions and altered others, and changed. Constantly. That's how humanity works.
3) What's your opinion on the witchcraft-and-magic coverage in the media?
At this point, I'm just tired of being pissed off about it. It still makes me sigh every time I hear someone speak of witchcraft with amusement or fear, but I acknowledge that 99% of those people have no idea what they're talking about. Even if they did, they may not agree. I'd actually venture that most of them would still be amused - and I'm OK with that. To each their own.
And quite honestly, I think a lot of Pagans shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to public relations.
Going on TV and talking about how your "real name" is Unicorn Swirly Sparkle Pants and you're a level 13 high priestess of Gozer who talks to fairies and cruises the moon waves every solstice... even I, a fellow pagan, can understand why no one takes you seriously. Sorry, but that's the truth. Talk about your belief in the Gods and Goddesses, by all means, but put an emphasis on charity work and community values - keep your crazy in a closet, please.
Better yet, take a step back and consider, for a moment, how most people (who aren't members of this group) react to the nutter Evangelicals who think that babbling incoherently and having violent spasms is "speaking in tongues." How exactly is that any different from a pagan who claims that a 15$, gaudy mirror they bought in a pawn shop was a "gift from a dragon?" (Seriously, I've had that conversation with someone before, and I still think he was off his bloody rocker.) The truth is, it isn't different at all.
So yes. While media representations of pagans mostly just annoy the piss out of me... it is, sadly, just a mirror reflection of the very worst (and unfortunately, loudest) of our kind.
4) Do you wear Pagan jewelry in public?
I don't have any. XD
5) Do you believe a person or coven is responsible for the actions of the people they initiate?
Yes and no.
I believe that any organization holds some responsibility for the sort of people that it associates with. Though the organization cannot control the actions the individuals within it takes, it can hold them responsible for their actions.
If a member of your church/coven/religious-whatever has been making a public ass of themselves in a way that invokes their religious beliefs, and your organization takes no action to either reprimand this member or else disassociate yourselves from their company, then their actions are applicable to the entire organization. No ifs, ands or butts. Your harboring this person automatically includes you in whatever it is that they were saying or doing.
For example: Let's say that "Andy" has been seen on the local news repeatedly spouting off anti-gay propaganda, and backing it with religious zealotry. It is a well known fact that Andy is a deacon of Generic Church of Christ - which he also names on the local channel. Though Generic Church of Christ claims that they do not teach anti-gay propaganda and do not back his claims, they allow him to continue his work as a deacon in the church. No matter what they have said to defend themselves, these are just words and not properly backed by action. Unless Generic Church of Christ revokes his deacon-ship, and removes him from their organization's leadership (at the very least), then they are backing his anti-gay vitriol.
The same applies to any religious organization, so far as I'm concerned. Coven, temple, church, whatever. You have a responsibility to lead by your actions, as well as your word.
/takes a step off the soapbox/
Originally posted at The Mouse Hole.