An Open Letter to the Pagan Community
Dear Everyone,
You may or may not know me, Juniper from the Hedge.
I was born in 1980. I will be thirty in the Spring. I went to high school with a girl whose mother had been in a Coven for almost as long as she could remember, since about ’85 or ’86.
I grew up watching many of our now Pagan Elders, or at least Notorious Pagans, on Discovery Channel or the BBC at least every October talking about how Witchcraft is a religion not evil yada yada yada … I grew up on the X-files and Oprah interviewing ex-Satanists and all that jazz.
I don’t remember a time before OBOD, ADF or Circle Sanctuary. They’ve always been there from my perspective.
Watching Paganism grow on the web, and helping it do so, seemed to be the most natural thing in the world to me.
I was twelve when my Mom’s then boyfriend took us to a “hippy farm” for Summer Solstice, to join the small gathering there. I still remember the children’s play was about Pan and Gaia inspiring the owners of the land to build a hedge labyrinth. I grew bored and wandered off with another girl about my age to make-out in the bushes.
Granted, I live in a part of the world where you are up to your eyeballs in hippies and tree-huggers and eco-villages, but still.
Folks wonder why I can be so angst-y about the Pagan Community. They ask how dare I show so much rebellion at times? Well, because from where I’m standing the Pagan Community is big enough and strong enough to take it.
The Pagan Community is already BUILT and has been for as long as I’ve been a member. Which was a little over half my life ago, and all of my adult life thus far.
We are established, solid, and humongous. Large enough, tough enough, organized and established enough to have folks like me rail against it and have it stand firm.
The only reason we argue about whether or not we really have a community is because some areas are more solidly built, and more mature, than others. If we didn’t have a real community we wouldn’t be arguing if we did or not. Let’s stop the denial game shall we?
It is time to stop talking Community Building like it doesn’t already exist. We need to be opening up dialog about Community Management, how to RUN it. How to keep it growing the best way we can. “Best” in every sense of the word, for everyone.
The time of multiple generations of Pagan is already here folks. Wake up and smell the Community. The Pagan Community is alive and growing. I hope we can make it grow in a good way, but we won’t with all of us floundering around waiting for someone else to do something.
I thank the generations that came before who built this Community, with blood sweat and tears, from the very bottom of my heart and soul.
Now lets get down to the business of running it. Come on now everyone; roll up your sleeves.
It’ll be great; this is going to be FUN!
I’m excited, aren’t you?
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Yes, I am excited, and delighted to be a part of it too.
Good call, Juni!
You’re on a good path there Juniper, you’re a good read on Witchvox. I created something called the Pagan Reform Temple and my motto is ‘unity without hierarchy.” There are many solitaries who are considered ‘not pagan enough’ and on my website I want to reassure them that you don’t need alot of ceremony or dress up. I think alot of blue collar and dark greens are not sure what to think about the excess of costumes and candles. Halloween is my New Year, not what I do all year. Good luck with your efforts, I have this feeling that paganism is going to go viral in the near future and your idea of building a community is important. Visit my web site if you get a chance, the blogs are my main emphasis.
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