Another pagan has written something that’s pissed me off. Again. Are we surprised? No.
Yet another screed against pop-culture pagans! Yet another pagan saying “Stop being so WEIRD, otherpagans, you’re making us look bad.” Yet another pagan saying that ALL pagans follow some form of Witchcraft; that we all follow the works of Starhawk, Selena Fox, and Z. Budapest.
If you’ve read this blog at all you know I hate Z. Budapest, love Starhawk, and haven’t read a damn thing by Fox. I may be a witch, but I am sure as hell not representative of pagandom. No one is.
However, my favourite part of the post is where he says this (bolding mine):
However, if a person purports to be a Pagan teacher or leader, if they keep a blog on Paganism, if they offer insights into their practices on social media sites, if they lead workshops at an event, then that person represents Paganism and its practice. This is where reality needs to be considered.This is when a person needs to present the commonly held beliefs of Paganism, at least, perhaps doing so before diverging into their less accepted beliefs[…] .
I don’t have the spoons to be polite. Fuck you, buddy.
“Paganism” is not any one thing with a set of commonly-held beliefs. If you kept your head out of your ass and actually fucking paid attention, you’d see that. There are no commonly-held beliefs in paganism. None. Zilch. Nada. The sooner people stop spouting this bullshit as if it’s true, the happier we’ll all be.
More importantly, my blog does not represent paganism. My blog represents me, my personal spiritual path, and the religion I’m forming. I do use the word pagan to describe myself. I am not all pagans.
I will say whatever the fuck I want here. I will say whatever the fuck I want on my Twitter or Facebook feeds. And that may include talking about Battlestar Galactica as being a religious experience for me. Or talking about the Kushielverse gods as being real beings one can deal with.
I do not apologize for what I post here, and I do not claim to speak for paganism as a whole. If someone finds my blog and thinks that I’m speaking for paganism as a whole, that’s their problem. Not mine.
If you lack fundamental reading comprehension to the point where you demand that people post to their blogs to your exacting standards so you won’t get confused, then you are an asshole.
I’m not your dancing monkey. I’m not a dancing monkey for pagandom. I don’t give a shit if you think I’m making you look bad. I will say whatever I want. I will talk about pop-culture paganism. I will defy your definition of what “being pagan” is, because it’s NOT all Wicca-based. I am not all pagans. I am Morag Spinner, fucking awesome witch, and I will talk about my fucking awesome life where I say So say we all in ritual and call upon Leeloo as the Fifth Element. It is my blog. I will say what I want.
And screw you if you think you can tell me otherwise.
Morag, you are truly an awesome fucking witch. Fantastic post!
Thank you Aisling! 🙂
You said everything I ranted incoherently about re: this post, but you did it sensibly and with eloquence. I bow before you.
Thank you! Apparently rage makes me eloquent? I’m like the opposite of the Hulk. ;D
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I read “otherpagans” as “otherponies” at first glance, which shows where I’ve been spending my time…but.
Enjoyed the piece. Still irritated as all hell by the idea that people who are Pagans can’t blog about their religion without being told they need to act certain specific ways that…are just bull shit. Promoting that idea is a great way to keep laity from ever speaking up :/
Haha, well I was sort of drawing upon the “otherponies/everypony” vernacular there, so…no need to be embarrassed. PONY BROFIST.
And yeah, it is a really good way to try and silence the laity, by telling them that because they’re not toeing “the party line,” (whatever the hell that line is, because seriously, ask 10 pagans their opinion and you’ll get 20 different answers so what exactly are people saying are the “commonly-held beliefs” I mean are they even paying attention) their words don’t have any validity. And that if they dare speak about their work, they can’t be laity anymore. Laity should be unseen and unheard! apparently.
The idea that clergy automatically have a better handle on divinity and religion than the laity do is…well, it’s religious classism, really. Which is pretty gross.
As relevant today, as it was in 2014. Well said!