Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself

A couple weeks ago I returned from Minicon, a local science fiction/fantasy convention to find yet another online Pagan/polytheist tempest brewing. Concerns of fascist infiltration and accusations were flying about. Interestingly, there is a similar issue going on with WorldCon and the Hugo Awards, with a particular faction pushing a political and ego-based agenda. People were a bit concerned, they were annoyed by these particular factions. But they were also laughing about it. Several long-time fans commented that not long into the future, this would become part of the history of fandom, and be just as ridiculous as the arguments between L. Ron Hubbard and Isaac Asimov. There’s a bunch going on, but at the root of it, are some people who are afraid of change in the overlapping fandom communities. Surely, the quality of science fiction must be going down if it’s not all stories starring straight white men who rescue alien princesses. Or something. And there’s other folks working for inclusion, but we don’t always agree how that inclusion or equity should work. Some people want more protection and safer space from opinions and people who they find threatening, while others worry about freedom of speech and behavior.

We have a lot of the same debates in Pagan and polytheist communities. And frankly, a lot of this is going on between a small percentage of people who participate in online discussions/flamewars and attend public events- both in regard to fans and Pagans. What is actually happening in your local community? If you don’t have much of a local fannish or Pagan community, well you have some other sort of community, pay attention to that, and even if you do have smaller specialized communities, pay attention to the broader community as well. You’re a part of that, too.

If we give into fear, whatever we feel threatened by wins. We become more isolated, we give up hope. What we’ve worked for falls apart.

What are you passionate about? What drives you to practice your religion, or your fandom? What do you value? Who around you shares those values, locally, regionally or from afar? How can you collaborate with them to make your project a reality? Whether it’s an anthology, a series of public shrines, a panel or workshop at a convention, or maybe you’re not an idea person, but someone else inspires you, how can you help them? Who is also passionate, but isn’t included as much in your community? Older, younger, disabled, rural, no/limited internet access & transportation. Who are we missing and how can we bring them in? Seriously, with all that on our plate, we don’t have time to worry about fascists!

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Finding Common Ground

 

Seven Habits of Highly Depolarizing People

1 Criticize from within– criticize the other on the basis of something you have in common- the safety of your neighborhood, the education of your city or district’s children

2 Look for goods in conflict (Good Thing 1 vs. Good Thing 2 rather than Good vs. Evil)

3 Count higher than two

I remember a keynote at by John Michael Greer, the ArchDruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, in which he mentioned a great contribution of Druidic and Celtic thinking is seeing things in threes- triads. Both the medieval Welsh and Irish had many triads that poets and scholars used as mnemonic devices for proverbs, virtues and other associations. Greer suggested this as a sort of antidote to the destructive binary thinking in Western cultures.

4 Doubt– “the concern that my views may not be entirely correct—is the true friend of wisdom and (along with empathy, to which it’s related) the greatest enemy of polarization.”

5 Specify

6 Qualify

7 Keep the conversation going

 

Paganicon 2016 Recap- Friday

I had a fabulous time at Paganicon 2016. Northern Roots Grove and several other Druid groves & orgs hosted a party suite and decked it out to look like a forest. The others were Whispering Spirits Protogrove, ADF in Appleton, Wisconsin, Dancing Waters Protogrove, ADF in Onamia, Minnesota, and the Oakdale Grove of the Reformed Druids of North America, and Rev. Amy Castner, the ADF Upper Midwest Regional Druid was there too, along with Rev. Melissa Hill of Cedarsong Grove.

On Friday I went to a long workshop put on by Shauna Aura Knight about Designing Intensive Rituals. I’d gone to two of her workshops last year and was impressed- I highly recommend her workshops, rituals, books and artwork!  She was trained in Diana’s Grove Mystery School and also has worked with Reclaiming. Ecstatic rituals with multi-layered chanting that leads people into trance is very much her style.

Then I hung with various people, finding the folks I met the previous couple years that I know from the Cauldron Forum- Vieva, Veggiewolf, the Kemetic from Little Canada whose name I can’t remember sorry! and Jenett Silver.

Then I went to Vieva’s presentation- Ramifications of Pantheism. If everything is sacred or divine, what implications does this have? How do we live our lives as co-creators of the universe? Vieva has her own pantheistic philosophy, FlameKeeping, but this was more broad in focus to get people thinking about what it means to hold a pantheistic worldview. One idea I took away from it is that in pantheism, there is no Us vs. Them.