Pagan voices is a spotlight on recent quotations from figures within the Pagan community. These voices may appear in the burgeoning Pagan media, or from a mainstream outlet, but all showcase our wisdom, thought processes, and evolution in the public eye. Is there a Pagan voice you’d like to see highlighted? Drop me a line with a link to the story, post, or audio.
Starhawk
“When faced with the need for change, we humans tend to resist. We cling to what is familiar, what is immediately profitable or distracting. We dispute the facts and deny the reports. And so we seem by default to be tumbling onto the path of destruction. Let this Solstice be a time to instead embrace change. As the sun sets at last on the longest day, take some time to consider how everything must eventually reach its peak, and transform. The sun’s decline triggers the grain to set seed, the apples to swell, the squash and tomatoes and corn to ripen. We must be willing to let go of the blossom and in order to harvest the fruit. When we stop clutching our fears and our limiting assumptions, we can open our hands and receive inspiration and hope. May this Solstice be a time of opening to the possibility that we can find a new way to live, in harmony with nature and with one another, in justice, in balance, in love.” – Starhawk, reflecting on the crisis of climate change, and the Summer Solstice as a time to embrace change, at the Washington Post’s On Faith section.
Sam Webster (with Herm), photo by Tony Mierzwicki.
“Like in ancient times, contemporary Pagan religious activity is structured around worship (as interpreted in the broad sense). The Gods Themselves constitute the structure, the very scaffold around which our religion and culture are formed. The Gods are the bones of the body Pagan. This is true for us whether we are hard polytheists, humanists, naturists, or operating from a non-dual frame. In each case there are the Divinities, and irrespective of Their being interpreted as completely separate, aspects of our psyches, human generated stories, manifestations of, simply Nature herself, or in any other theological frame, They abide. They, however framed, are what we gather around to remember, to honor, to affirm their value, or in other words, to worship. Regardless of our understanding of what it means, when we gather in worship we all come together as a community. This is the place where we all meet. In essence, Priesthood is about setting the table, both for the Gods and the worshipers.” – Sam Webster, at the Patheos Pagan Channel, on the importance of a Pagan priesthood, and why the worship of divinities (no matter your underlying theology) is central to modern Pagan religion.
Teo Bishop & Cher
“Forgiving myself allowed me to forgive her. Once forgiveness starts, it spreads. Now I’m no longer angry at bazooms22. I don’t feel affected anymore. I remember where my center is. Then, unexpectedly, a feeling of gratitude starts bubbling up. I’m kind of glad this person was an asshole. I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to respond like a child, because it reminded me of the ways in which I am still very much a child. The fear, insecurity, and shame that exists in me is the same that exists in her, too. She held up a mirror and said, this is what fear looks like. I felt the fear, then I let it move me to action, initiating a series of events which led me back around to around center. It was a gift, really. Sometimes we get lifted up and celebrated, and I don’t think those are the times when we are offered the greatest lessons. It’s when we’re humbled by the world that we are reminded of the things that really matter: Our own capacity to forgive. The meaning of fortitude of spirit. The continued relevance of compassion.” – Teo Bishop, at his Bishop In The Grove blog, on Internet trolls, fear, insecurity, and the importance of compassion.
Morpheus Ravenna
“All people can only act from the experiences that they have. We polytheists cannot expect anyone who has not experienced the reality of the Gods to act from true knowledge of their presence. We can, of course, expect our practices and our theology to be treated with respect. There’s something more I want to say about the Gods, and about polytheism. That is, while it is important for us to trust the evidence of our senses, it is also important to recognize the limits of our sensory frame of reference. This is a matter of fine discernment: the key is to recognize that our sensory experiences of the Gods are not the Gods themselves, because they are inherently greater than our capacity to experience them. Thus, the Gods as we know them are in fact processes of encounter, more than fixed shapes. To quote my friend Jonathan again, “The gods are what happen when the forces of the cosmos interact with human consciousness.” That is to say, what we experience is always a mask or form of the God shaped in such a way as to translate into our consciousness and frame of reference.” – Morpheus Ravenna, on the nature of polytheism, at her Banshee Arts blog.
Zan Fraser (Second row, far left) at NYC’s Pride Parade.
“New York City Witches have an extensive (and sometimes complicated) relationship with the “O Fortuna”movement from Carl Orff’s choral adaptation of a number of medieval poems, Carmina Burana. As revealed by Michael Lloyd in Bull of Heaven: the Mythic Life of Eddie Buczynski and the Rise of the New York Pagan, early New York Witch Scenester Eddie Buczynski was fond of playing the piece of music on a phonograph during rituals, and so many NYC Witches carry special memories of the work (I recall it from Halloween Witches’ Balls since the early ’90s, and it was described as “apocalyptic” by a New York Times journalist after Eddie Buczynski’s memorial rite last summer). Witches have pointed out that it is actually a very dire composition, detailing how Fortune (conceptualized in the Classical sense as the Goddess Fortuna, called Imperatrix Mundi, “Empress of the World”) will rise and fall with little warning or feeling for the impacted in Her vicissitudes. The fickle nature of Dame Fortune is symbolized by the emblematic Wheel of Fortune, or “Rota Fortunae” (also a popular TV game-show). It is amusing to contemplate that a very American version of “O Fortuna” is the gamblers’ anthem “Luck Be a Lady Tonight” from the witty Broadway musical Guys and Dolls.” – Zan Fraser, at The Juggler, contemplating Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” and how “Luck Be a Lady” can be interpreted as a Pagan prayer to Fortuna.
Steven Abell
“An expatriate friend from the former East Germany recently said, “Already been through this once. Not having it again.” Let us respect and follow the voice of experience here. If you want to know who the bad guys are, it is anyone, especially in the U.S. government, who tries to tell you that this is really all okay. No, it isn’t. Tell them so, and make sure they hear you. Back in the 9th century, some people in Norway who were accustomed to living their own lives suddenly had a king to contend with. Some of them submitted. Others stayed and fought and died. Others still lit out for the territories, as Huck Finn would say a thousand years later. At the time, “the territories” meant Iceland. They constructed a lawful republic, which had no king, and no subjects. There they lived freely, and for themselves. These people were Heathens. I think it is interesting that Iceland is once again a place where people talk about going to live, and for much the same reason. For most of us, however, there are no territories to light out for. We are going to have to deal with this, right here and now.” – Steven Thor Abell, a Steersman of the High Rede of The Troth, on Edward Snowden, government surveillance, and ‘who the bad guys are.’
Vivianne Crowley
“It is easy to think when we are busy immersed in everyday life that our individuality as it is now is something that is enduring and unchanging. It is true that there is deep within us an enduring core and seed that we can call ‘the self’ or ‘True Self’; but it is a seed that can flourish in many shapes and forms. What may feel like enduring characteristics – our gender, race, sexual orientation – are part of the vehicle; but they are not the self. The chariot is not the charioteer. Much of our spiritual growth is about letting go of the images that we have created and had thrust upon us by others. Spiritual growth is an unveiling, a stripping away of all the outer layers of conditioning that family and society have laid upon us to become the essence of ourselves; that which we are when we can be transparent and clear, without pretension or pretense, spiritually naked.” - Vivianne Crowley, author of “Wicca: A Comprehensive Guide to the Old Religion in the Modern World,” musing on individuality in a post on tarot and the Summer Solstice at Patheos.
Lupa
“And just as black mold has been shaped by our effects on the planet, so it reminds me that we are still affected by the other beings we share that planet with. We sometimes fool ourselves into thinking we’ve defeated all the problems nature has to throw at us–disease, inadequate shelter, starvation, and so forth. And yet, even in the most comfortable home, Black Mold and its children can creep in, shattering that illusion. (Never mind that in many less comfortable homes, disease, exposure and starvation are very real problems.) Black Mold helps to keep me humble, and reminds me of the privileges I enjoy, however temporarily. Finally, Black Mold is a somber reminder of that temporary condition. We cannot continue the current rate of resource consumption that has made our lives more comfortable. Either we have to reduce our consumption, or find more sustainable ways to maintain our current standard of living. So while black mold is mainly a threat to the drywall, I also find it to be an incentive to find more eco-friendly options for food, water, shelter, and other resources.” – Lupa, at her Therioshamanism blog, on working with black mold as a fungus totem.
Margot Adler
“Well, what are our vampires about? What do we need in this society that we are creating a particular kind of vampire? And so one day, I’m just, like, putting all the most popular vampires on a sheet of paper. So I’m going oh, the Collins and Spike and Angel and Buffy and Mick St. John, and you know, in “Moonlight,” and, you know, “The Vampire Diaries,” Stefan. I make this huge list. And I say, OK, these are all the vampires that have been popular over the last 15 years. And a light bulb went off because I realized they were all, unlike the vampires before, were all conflicted. They were all desperately struggling to be moral despite being predators, even though they were often failing. And that’s exactly who we were, except maybe – this is a weird thing to say – maybe oil is our blood. Maybe, you know, we’re sucking the lifeblood out of the planet, and we can’t stop.” – Margot Adler, on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” discussing her new Kindle Single “Out For Blood.”
That’s all I have for now, have a great day!
