Pagan pride & Mabon.

mysteria

Hi everyone. This thought from an international group I'm part of and I think it's a great idea. All practitioners of Earth religions, Wicca, Shamanism, Druidry etc, are being encouraged to wear a purple ribbon as a way of promoting religious tolerance and to potentially raise awareness of Paganism, Wicca,Shamanism,Druids,Ovates,Bards etc.: On Sept. 21st
to 22nd all Witches/Witches/Pagans are going to wear little purple ribbons so
everyone will know Who Else is a witch/wiccan/ pagan/... . But no one
can do this if they don't know about it, so pass the word along! This message goes to all Witches, Wiccans, Pagans from all sorts of
traditions. We can make a day for ourselves!! Actually, two days!!! You can buy a purple ribbon anywhere. Make it public!!! If you like, label it "Fight Religious Discrimination".
Merry Mabon to you all.
Blessed Be.

Nevyn

What international group ?
And what would be the point of it ?
Hidden children of the Goddess marking themsleves with a pruple ribbon ?

mysteria

We are fighting for pagan rights Thaedydal,in the States we are fighting Bush's attempts to make Wicca illegal and recently had a major victory in the U.S. The family of a pagan army corporal whose body was returned after he was killed in the Middle East after about a year of campaigning got permission to have the Penatcle engraved on his gravestone. As a Child of the Goddess I'd like to proclaim it loud and proud and not remain hidden, so do most of my compatriots. ( You don't have to if you don't want to ). Bright Blessings to you.

6th

I think it sounds ok, would it just be for "Witches, Wiccans, Pagans from all sorts of traditions" or could anyone wear it in their support?

mysteria

6th wrote:

I think it sounds ok, would it just be for "Witches, Wiccans, Pagans from all sorts of traditions" or could anyone wear it in their support?

Thanks 6th, anyone who respects religious tolerance , in fact anyone who is interested in Spiritual things is welcome to wear it as a sign of support. You're certainly welcome, you're doing some great work organizing the DC etc I hear. And people can keep their own religion while being pagan, witch etc. Blessings to you and best of luck with your new projects.

joseph dawton

There seems to be no end of causes... pink ribbon for breast awareness, blue ribbon for valuing childhood, pink triangles for gay rights, green ribbons for eco causes. All this is grand in itself but I think this plethora of causes means that they drown each other out and the public suffers from good cause fatigue!

Esoteric paths have always been some what hidden (hence the name) as they are not mainstream and have not sought to be. I think there are plenty of ways for pagans to make themselves known beyond the rather obvious and often misunderstood pentacle. For those that are scared or judgemental about paganism and it's well-known symbols perhaps it's as well for them not to know who we are?

I certainly agree that if there are serious attempts to make paganism illegal then something must be done, until that day I'll share my spirituality with those of like mind and those who are tolerant of other paths.

www.electricpublications.com

mysteria

Many of us who are Pagans, Witches and Wiccans no longer want to hide under the "Occult or Esoteric" label and feel the need to have our beliefs & traditions recognised. We are actively working on a Global scale so we no longer have to worry about "witch hunts". Others feel differently and have every right to do so, I'm surprised at your trivialisation of what is a vitally important issue to so many. Why bother replying?

seren

I think what you are doing is a good idea and I have a lot of respect for Pagans who are proud to shout it from the rooftops. It has only been since I moved to the ROI that I felt able to tell people confidently about my beliefs. Although I have had to deal with the usual amount of prejudice from those that know nothing about it or are misinformed, I feel a push for awareness would be a good thing. Caution is also a good thing though- I find the more you push, the more people push back (ie reinforce their views that Paganism is Satanic/evil/wrong/whatever.)

Good luck. If there was anywhere in my area I could buy a ribbon, I would.

UU

Good idea. Wow Bush tried to ban Wicca? Crazy!

Well, you should fight for your rights. I blame the Christian churches for giving Pagans, etc. a bad name. I'll wear a ribbon even though I'm atheist just to support religious tolerance. And I'm not one of those fanatical "I hate all religions" people. I believe in equality and tolerance for all.

Maybe I should set up a disbelievers awareness day where we wear some symbol for atheists, agnostics, humanists, secularists. Thanks for giving me a good idea! Good luck with your campaign!

scorplett

mysteria wrote:

Many of us who are Pagans, Witches and Wiccans no longer want to hide under the "Occult or Esoteric" label and feel the need to have our beliefs & traditions recognised. We are actively working on a Global scale so we no longer have to worry about "witch hunts". Others feel differently and have every right to do so, I'm surprised at your trivialisation of what is a vitally important issue to so many. Why bother replying?

Mysteria,
I think you have gone beyond being out of touch with ordinary pagans and Wiccans in this country. This may be understandable since you have been distanced from your line.
The fact will always remain that the majority of people will always remain behind closed doors and in fact many are going behind those doors from having been in the open and wearing their craft on their sleeves (and I will speak from a Wiccan perspective here as that is where both our knowledge bases lies, so if the moderators feel it to be appropriate, feel free to COPY and move to another forum) Your post here has sparked a wider context than you originally may have intended but it is something that has bothered me for a very long time and you seem to have provided an opportune moment.

To be quite honest about it, it is those who have publicized the craft over and above anything that was ever intended that we now have the situation that we face. That is that the world that had gradually come to the beginnings of understanding and acceptance of the craft is now beginning to push against it. The craft was never meant to be as openly available as it is now and should never be such as other world religions as it is a vocation rather than a congregation.

The public faces of Wicca are beginning to become much more of a danger to the craft than protectors of the ways of the goddess. Those who make wicca so readily available and put a price on spiritual development are creating a vacuum that sucks all seekers into it without the opportunity to see if it is the path best suited to them. It is Mac Wicca. It is fast faith supersized with a ‘have and nice day now’, a smile and not forgetting a free toy for your kid!

Those natural filters that existed when the only precursors to someone seeking the craft were their own dreams leading them to have a conversation with a stranger or to travel to far places to find one book that someone somewhere mentioned are now gone in exchange for on demand instant magic.

The mystery of the finding is gone when people put on a public face and say ‘I am Wicca come to me’. The first trial is no longer there and anyone and everyone has access to Wicca, to public craft and yet they never see true craft that lives in every corner of the country.
There was merit once in someone reaching the stage of finally meeting a High Priestess in person and it was understood to be a blessing almost as great as initiation to stand in circle and witness the worship of the Goddess and God. To my mind it was a kin to a young warrior running through the wood without breaking a stick or twig as part of his petition to join Na Fianna. When I walked the cobbled streets of Dublin in torrential downpours to find the one and only place that might have a book, or when I saved every penny so I might travel to London and to America knowing I could find something more obtainable and then getting there and finding what I didn’t know I was looking for and finding things in places I didn’t know, every moment knowing that something beyond was driving me in a very clear direction back home to have the courage to stand on a strangers doorstep at two in the morning. Every moment I thought of the quest of the Fianna and such experiences that are echoed by many others served a very real purpose.

Now all someone has to do is start a Google search, check out Witchvox, attend a moot or go to Tara at summer solstice and look for the ones with the pentacles, and why seek a coven when there are a list of them available on the internet and sure they must be the only ones because everything is available at the click of a mouse!

The most damaging aspect to wearing your faith on your sleeve is however the simplest. Because the majority of those practicing the craft in Ireland do remain hidden children of the Goddess means that to the consumerist seeker those who do shout it from the rooftops are the only ones they see, and part of me says well of course they will see only that because consumerism is a virus that infects us all and you cannot blame an individual for having a greater or lesser immunity or resistance to that viruses effects.

If you wish to wear your path on your sleeve then you must be prepared to represent that which is un-representable, to speak for those who do not wish nor need to be spoken for and to interpret the personal experiences and beliefs of those who do not wish to be interpreted. The fact is that whether you want to or not, if you are public about your craft, to the outside world you will always represent ALL that that is and as any humble priestess should know that is a folly. That is an impossible task and one that the Goddess herself chose to have said of her in those printed titles that began the emergence of wicca.

But the goddess will find ways to see her will done, and ways she has found…
Why do you think that the Christian right wing in the US (and elsewhere in the world also) have began to mobilize by buying chains of bookshops and publishing houses and de-classifying some of the great and wonderful titles that so many of us have cherished, putting them to back shelf or to special order and even to refusing to renew publishing contracts? And this is not only in the USA, it follows through to Ireland also. As an example, there have been four print runs of Robert Graves’ ‘The White Goddess’, in the last two and a half years. Eason and Sons, the largest bookseller in Ireland would have carried it as part of their sections on classical studies. Eight months ago they took any remaining copies from their store rooms and put them in their sale bin. After those last two copies were sold they no longer replace them as there is no longer a distributor for the title in this country. So one of the greatest titles has vanished from our shelves and will only be obtainable by special order. Yes, yes I know you can buy books over the internet but that is not the same as it was and point being that people will more often buy a book that they see and touch and leaf through before buying.

While I recognize and appreciate those who want to work towards tolerance of any description I do not see it as necessary to wear ones religious practices on your sleeve(unless you are Muslim). It is particularly not necessary when involving something such as Wicca. Wicca is a personal journey and interaction with deity that is an individual experience. No other person can convey what my experience is, nor vice versa. Those who do proclaim themselves to be Wiccan openly and to anyone in or out of context should be weary of the impression they may give to our increasingly and uncontrollably consumerist society. For every person who expresses their views openly in public there are at least 10 who will not. If there are 30 people at the moot on any given meeting there are 300 who are not. For every High Priestess opening a door to you there are 10 who will not and will wait for you to open the door yourself.

To those who are seekers on these boards a question. Even as little as 15 years ago there was no internet (at least not to average Joe on the street) and high-street bookshops did not stock titles on Wicca and paganism. There was one bookshop(ish) that did stock occult titles and that was the Alchemist’s head, long gone now but if you wish to go back before even that shop stood on the quiet bend of Essex street, how did people find it then? And then the craft was very active in Ireland. It was a time when there were between 5 and 8 active Alexandrian covens on the North-side of Dublin city and county alone!

I do not believe that society in general should know who we are, what we do, how we do it or why we do it but I know that there must be a meeting of the waters and for many that is to remain hidden children of the Goddess, to defend her only when she has been wronged and to do it in a way that is protective of all of her children.