Be Thou the One and Renew The Light

I wrote on this issue as part of a prior blog entry but perhaps it is time to tie this together with other threads from this blog. To be a witch you must first live a witch's life meaning if you are all words and no deeds, you are not a witch, a Pagan or practicing a religion, you are just a blowhard poser.



The last Pagan Emperor of Rome and devotee of Cybele, Julian, charged Pagans to "Be thou the one" referring to doing public works and charity and thus providing a living example to the rest of the world. We live by this at the Maetreum. As far as I can tell, other than a few other groups like the New Alexandria Library, the so called Pagan blog-o-sphere is dominated by those who do nothing in the real world except write. When they write they mostly ignore those who are doing. They often oppose Pagan infrastructure because they have no damn idea on how to make that happen. They gather a bit of food at Pagan Pride events and pat themselves on the back for doing something to help those in need but how many actual lives do they save? Who do they take in that are homeless? Where are the gardens and solar panels and wind generators of these so called defenders of the planet?



When you read those so called Pagan blogs, be aware of a few things. These people appointed themselves spokespeople, no one elected them. They gather at large so called Pagan events like the Pantheacon that are far out of the reach of the average Pagan in terms of expenses where they debate whether or not Paganism is a religion, who is more oppressed than who, and anoint each other “leaders” without actually doing a damn thing in the real world. They act as gatekeepers on what Pagans and Pagan groups are worthy to be discussed. If you look a bit more closely, they are largely 20 and 30 something males and the women who cowtow to them. These are today's Pagan “thinkers”.



They have almost zero respect for Crones who have little of value in their eyes until they are safely dead and thus can no longer stand up to bullshit they spread about who they are. “By their deeds you shall know them”... and they have almost none.



Real Pagans are out there but you would never know it by cruising the net and they are harder and harder to find as a result of these posers. Online witch groups often contain no actual witches as in those living a witch's life. So called Pagan online leadership groups are overrun with those who never actually led anything and taught by those who only credentials of leadership are teaching about it. Zero real world experience, almost no actual practice of anything resembling rituals and religion.



I call foul on this
.
If you want to claim a leadership role, be thou the light and actually do something in the real world or shut the fuck up and stop poisoning the well for seekers. If you claim to be a Pagan leader and you cannot point to at least ten lives you made better by your direct actions, you are not a leader, you are just some random asshat with opinions and everyone has those.



I have spent most of a long and weird life in service to others with zero regrets. What will you be able to say when you are my age?

Cultural Appropriation Gone Wild

Cultural appropriation is one of the buzzing new concepts flying around the neo-think crowd. Basically it is the disrespect of a culture by taking over key elements that define that culture almost always to the disrespect of the culture being appropriated. An excellent example is young white people running around acting like black people and in Paganism, acting like Native Americans to the point of sometimes even being so bold to instruct those of Native background or injecting themselves into Native ceremonies univited.

It is considered a bad thing.

Interestingly enough it is totally at odds with another neo-think axiom, that you are whatever you say you are and can totally ignore actual reality in the process and everyone else damn well better just accept that without question. Or you are a bigot, or transphobe or a cranky old lady........ (please note the agism and sexism in this last one.) “If someone tells me they are a woman, I accept that without question” sounds all wonderful and accepting and oh so liberal but the reality is some of those who claim to be women in male bodies are actually oversexed male asshats. I know, I took a bunch of them in over the years. Transsexuality is rare as hell. Those claiming to be transgendered are not.

This 'you are anything you claim to be' concept has now spread to Paganism. Every six months or so someone does a quick google search on the word and attempts to define it in non religious terms. Yes, in the original Latin it meant country folks but they always seem to miss that Julian, the last Pagan emperor of Rome, redefined in terms of non Abrahamic religions because up to that time we didn't actually need to coin a word for that until the christians tried to outlaw all religions but their own. Julian was a convert to the Cybeline religion from christianity. Paganism, from the mid fourth century CE on, has been defined in terms of religion. Despite the widespread modern confusion, it is not Wicca, a mid 20'th century invention of Gardner. The word has an actual meaning, a well defined one and a cultural one in terms of religious practice. I, myself, have been an actual practicing Pagan for more than fifty years. Along with others, I personally reclaimed the Cybeline religion and re introduced it to the world. That would be the religion of the Roman emperor who defined the word as understood by the rest of the world for 1600 freakin' years. I apparently got a bunch of atheist panties in a wad when I blogged about atheism is the opposite of Paganism. The most recent one of these asshats is the one that called me “cranky” and linked to that blog entry.

“I get to call myself a Pagan even if I do not believe in any Divine principles” is not an argument. It is not logic. It is an oxymoron, plain and simple and further, it is a direct cultural appropriation of Paganism from those of us who actually are Pagans. Athiests are no more entitled to this appropriation than some guy who ties a pink bow on his penis is an actual woman absent all the experiences that goes along with being a woman in today's world. Reality check time please. You do not have the right to redefine whole categories with clearly understood common meanings because you feel like it. That is the ultimate in disrespect on so damn many levels I lose count. That is the act of an ego out of control. It is sociopathy ultimately.

You neo-think children writing on Pathetic Pagan channel take note. You don't get to redefine the world or words based on your freakin' egos. Doing so makes actual communication impossible. Same for you Mark Green, you sexist asshole. Learn to respect your elders......that's one of the things actual Pagans are supposed to do you know.  I manifest into the real world actual things.  Reclaimed an ancient lost religion, reclaimed Pagan history regarding especially the transsexual priestesses of the ancient world, built the first Temple to Cybele in 1400 years, won a major legal battle for all Pagan religions, started the first Pagan owned and operated FM radio station in the US, reintroduced Pagan monasticism to the world and taken in more than forty people in need to get them back on their feet, mostly women.   

You write a blog.