Over on The Wild Hunt, they’ve been discussing an alleged murder, where the supposed perpetrator has said she is Wiccan, and that she killed with her athame in self defense.
A commentor on one of the posts has mentioned that the alleged murderer is “unknown to the larger Pagan community.” In these days of Wicca 101 books on shelves at most every book store, telling you how to initiate yourself, how does one’s standing in the community prove whether or not you’re Pagan?
Let’s think about that for a minute. Does this matter? Does it mean that asking for an excused absense from school for your child for a Sabbat in New Jersey means you’ll have to prove you’re Pagan, and that the way to do so is to be known by others who say they are Pagan too?
What about court cases and child custody? Will be be expected to trot our our community membership cards in order for the court to accept our beliefs?
Don’t get me wrong – I think being at least passingly familiar with your local Pagan community is a good thing, no matter how the community functions…I just don’t think community involvement should be the standard of being Pagan.
Interestingly, along the same line of thinking, I ran across Project Pagan Enough this week:
As Fire Lyte says, “Project Pagan Enough seeks to say that – no matter your beliefs, practices, looks, or loves – you are Pagan enough.”
In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, there’s a whole list of reasons why I’m a Bad Pagan(TM), and most of them fall under the heading of “not Pagan enough.” Not participating much in the larger community due to taking care of my own shit probably ought to be on that list.
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