John, George, and I were talking last night, and an interesting question came up. If someone knows nothing about paganism, other than that it exists, and they ask about it, how do you introduce them to it? Paganism is such a mixed bag of traditions, practices, mythologies, groups, and philosophies; What does an absolute n00b need to survive?

We thought of some book recommendations depending on the bent of the person. For an academic bent: Drawing down the moon. A dogmatic/practical/structured bent: Wicca: A guide for the Solitary Practitioner. A philisophical bent: Evolutionary Witchcraft. A curious bent: Paganism.

But in the end we agreed on one thing. The best way to get to know paganism is to hang out with pagans. Having become pagan and practiced for years without much community contact, I know how much having regular access to other actual pagans living the life helped me understand my spirituality.

No matter how well we explain paganism, it’s various groups and habits, I’m not sure we can really prepare a person for actually meeting pagans. John and George feel a bit differently, but this is my blog. With the exception of a few things, I kind of think it’s better not to give people too many expectations and let them come to their own conclusions.

I’m often surprised by the way people feel about one group or another and how different it is from my perceptions. I’ve learned a lot from letting people have their own experience before sharing my thoughts. It’s made me a much more open and accepting person, and someone who see’s the value and strength in traditions and practices that I might not agree with. It’s also made me a bit intolerant of the idea of telling people what they should be experiencing.

That’s become a big part of my practice and teaching. I spend a lot of time, perhaps too much, exploring the perceptions of other people, their opinions about those things, and helping them come to their own preferences and discernments. I’m a question asker, and sometimes I ask leading questions, or “what if you looked at it this way” questions.

But even when I am leading someone by the nose, I stay open to the possibility that they might not come to the conclusion or experience that I am trying to lead them towards. I try to trust the Divine in this, that if someone is meant to see what I’m trying to show them they will.

So yeah. The point is, paganism, like all religions, is less about how it is defined and more about the experience of it. Which is one more reason why I’m fed up with the need of our community to fight about what we call things and how we define things. How many definitions of magic do we have? Hell, how many spellings of it do we have? But anyone who has experienced it knows what it is.

Just a thought on that note. Sometimes the strongest conceptual understanding can not be defined. We know what magic is, but it evades succinct effective definition. I suspect that this is because it is such a core piece of our experience as pagans that we can not define it outside of that context. Perhaps the solution is to stop trying to define it, or explain it. If we let it be the word we use to refer to the undefinable experience of the manifestation of divine Will.

Almost to work now.

Namaste,