a magickal spot on the internet
Sunday, September 1st, 2002
There is a trend among some Reconstructionist Neopagans to dismiss Neopagans who are admitted Eclectics in their religious practice and philosophy. Recently, Sannion wrote an editorial titled “Defending Reconstructionism” to address the conflict and to present some of the arguments from a Reconstructionist’s viewpoint. Sannion’s editorial can be found on the web in the September 2002 issue (#27) of the Cauldron and Candle email newsletter, available at http://www.ecauldron.com.
Sunday, April 28th, 2002
One unfortunate trend which has become prominent within the online Pagan community is known as “bashing fluffy bunnies.” No, it doesn’t involve harming animals — but it does involve verbally attacking those who are perceived to have less scholarly opinions on modern Paganism than the attacker. Personally I think this trend is shameful and disrespectful, unworthy of anyone who claims to be a polytheist or Pagan. To try and draw attention to the issue I present my Thoughts On Bashing Fluffy Bunnies.
Saturday, April 13th, 2002
Photo copyright Eylon
It has been said by some Wiccan authors that mixing mythological pantheons is bad and should be avoided at all costs. The usual argument given for this admonishment is that each pantheon, indeed each deity, has very specific features and should be treated individually. To equate one goddess with a similar goddess from another pantheon is seen as disrespectful. Each deity, it is argued, deserves to be treated as an individual. Bringing together deities and elements of worship from different pantheons is confusing and results in muddled worship and ritual. 1
This argument appears, at least on the surface, difficult to refute if we want to honor the deities as vibrant, powerful, and alive.
However, it seems the deities themselves are not so hard and fast about the distinctions between individual deities, not as unforgiving when worshippers use different names for them, as we simplistic modern humans would make them out to be. There is a long history of mixing pantheons that goes back to the dawn of human reverence of the divine. There are gods and goddesses that we take for granted today as being individual which are actually composite deities amalgamated in the distant past from more than one source deity. Why should modern reverence of ancient deities force them to fossilize when they were clearly organic and changeable in the past?