And a PS about bitchcraft
All too often, dissent within paganism gets termed 'bitchcraft.' It's a great word, and sometimes highly apt (hell, I can bitch with the best of them). But sometimes it's assumed presence is used as an excuse for people being reluctant to speak out and confront actual abuses, for a variety of reasons:
- they don't want to cause trouble
- they don't want to wreck social relationships
- they don't like conflict
- they're caught up in a range of enabling behaviours
- they'd prefer to be led
- they don't like 'politics'
- they think it will give paganism a bad image
- they genuinely feel that there are other ways to handle things and that 'spiritual' people ought to rise above things
There are several things to consider here:
-is the issue peculiar to paganism - i.e. is it theological?
- is it a personality clash?
- is it a power trip (e.g. people being jealous of someone else's status)?
- how many people does it actually involve, as opposed to how many people get sucked into it?
- is it a result of someone observing genuinely abusive behaviour and calling them on it?
Most people in Glastonbury will know that I recently had a row with someone in the business community. This was over an issue that was connected with personal areas and business, and had relatively little to do with actual paganism (she's a lousy witch - and that is bitchcraft on my part - but that's somewhat irrelevant), and could have occurred in any commercial setting. I've had similar run-ins throughout my time in the corporate sector and so, I expect, have most people. In this case, we both happen to be pagans, but had we both happened to be accountants, the same sort of problem would have arisen given the personalities involved.
In the business sector, people more frequently stand back and let the participants get on with it, as there are procedures in place which can address that sort of conflict. A former business colleague, in the Texan oil industry, used to hold one of his managers out of a 10th storey window, which had a marvellously salutory effect on him for the next few months. Everyone around let them get on with it. This sort of thing isn't pretty, and the folk who believe that as witches, Druids, etc we should be above this sort of thing have a point, but sometimes, I fear, you just need to get over yourself and apply a boot to the deserving behind.
In religious areas, grudges seem to be nursed for much longer and involve more people than in business - this isn't due to 'politics.' Politics is what happens in Westminster, or in large areas of administration, although the grudge thing happens here, too. (My issue was not over the grandiose area of 'pagan politics': I just had a row with someone who needed a smacking, and have no problems with anyone beyond the person concerned. Most people have refused to take sides, which is absolutely reasonable - a sign that we are learning as a group, if slowly). A lot of the issues are not political, or theological: they're about people with far too much time on their hands, an inflated sense of their own importance coupled with profound insecurity, and an inclination to involve themselves in other people's business. This isn't peculiar to paganism: you find it in Marxist groups, for instance, and pretty much every other religion you care to name.
But no one refers to 'BitchMethodism', because it doesn't scan. So I think you need to look closely at the actual dynamics of disagreement before automatically labelling dissent that happens to take place in a pagan context.
- they don't want to cause trouble
- they don't want to wreck social relationships
- they don't like conflict
- they're caught up in a range of enabling behaviours
- they'd prefer to be led
- they don't like 'politics'
- they think it will give paganism a bad image
- they genuinely feel that there are other ways to handle things and that 'spiritual' people ought to rise above things
There are several things to consider here:
-is the issue peculiar to paganism - i.e. is it theological?
- is it a personality clash?
- is it a power trip (e.g. people being jealous of someone else's status)?
- how many people does it actually involve, as opposed to how many people get sucked into it?
- is it a result of someone observing genuinely abusive behaviour and calling them on it?
Most people in Glastonbury will know that I recently had a row with someone in the business community. This was over an issue that was connected with personal areas and business, and had relatively little to do with actual paganism (she's a lousy witch - and that is bitchcraft on my part - but that's somewhat irrelevant), and could have occurred in any commercial setting. I've had similar run-ins throughout my time in the corporate sector and so, I expect, have most people. In this case, we both happen to be pagans, but had we both happened to be accountants, the same sort of problem would have arisen given the personalities involved.
In the business sector, people more frequently stand back and let the participants get on with it, as there are procedures in place which can address that sort of conflict. A former business colleague, in the Texan oil industry, used to hold one of his managers out of a 10th storey window, which had a marvellously salutory effect on him for the next few months. Everyone around let them get on with it. This sort of thing isn't pretty, and the folk who believe that as witches, Druids, etc we should be above this sort of thing have a point, but sometimes, I fear, you just need to get over yourself and apply a boot to the deserving behind.
In religious areas, grudges seem to be nursed for much longer and involve more people than in business - this isn't due to 'politics.' Politics is what happens in Westminster, or in large areas of administration, although the grudge thing happens here, too. (My issue was not over the grandiose area of 'pagan politics': I just had a row with someone who needed a smacking, and have no problems with anyone beyond the person concerned. Most people have refused to take sides, which is absolutely reasonable - a sign that we are learning as a group, if slowly). A lot of the issues are not political, or theological: they're about people with far too much time on their hands, an inflated sense of their own importance coupled with profound insecurity, and an inclination to involve themselves in other people's business. This isn't peculiar to paganism: you find it in Marxist groups, for instance, and pretty much every other religion you care to name.
But no one refers to 'BitchMethodism', because it doesn't scan. So I think you need to look closely at the actual dynamics of disagreement before automatically labelling dissent that happens to take place in a pagan context.