59 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
59 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
|
How I "Heal"
|
|||
|
|
by Matrika of PAN - the Psychic Awareness Network
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
You asked what forms of healing people do and included things that might
|
|||
|
|
not be considered healing in the usual sense. Well, one of my special
|
|||
|
|
interests is Pagans in Recovery. This is a group of Pagans who are in
|
|||
|
|
12-step recovery programs - Alcoholics Anonymous and other self-help groups
|
|||
|
|
that are based on A.A. such as Gamblers Anonymous, Al-Anon, Narcotics
|
|||
|
|
Anonymous, Overeater's Anonymous, Adult Children of Alcoholics, Emotions
|
|||
|
|
Anonymous etc. etc. etc. If you can think of an obstacle in your life or
|
|||
|
|
somebody else's, chances are that someone somewhere has started a 12-step
|
|||
|
|
program to deal with it.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The problem is that many Pagans, Feminist Priestesses, Shamans, Druids, and
|
|||
|
|
any other type of Magickal folk you can think of, often don't feel
|
|||
|
|
comfortable in AA and these related groups. WHY? THe meetings CLOSE with
|
|||
|
|
the Lord's prayer or the "our father" and have many Christian overtones
|
|||
|
|
taken from the general culture, although they are technically supposed to
|
|||
|
|
be non-sectarian in their spiritual approach. Many Pagans in these groups
|
|||
|
|
find that they have trouble applying the steps of recovery in the context
|
|||
|
|
of what they believe to find recovery for their specific problems. This is
|
|||
|
|
particularly difficult in cases of Alcoholism and Drug addiction - and
|
|||
|
|
these problems DO exist to a great degree in the Pagan/Magickal communities
|
|||
|
|
- in which A.A. and Narcotics Anonymous are often the most successful
|
|||
|
|
treatment approaches available to the average person and that feeling
|
|||
|
|
exclueded from them can mean death, insanity or jail to the person who does
|
|||
|
|
not find the help they need.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
While living in New England I wrote a series of articles on how to apply
|
|||
|
|
the steps of recovery in a Pagan/Magickal context in HARVEST - a popular
|
|||
|
|
newsletter for the Craft in that region, that is now becoming nationwide.
|
|||
|
|
THe last of these was printed in Yule of 1989, just before I left to move
|
|||
|
|
here. At the same time I discovered PAGANS IN RECOVERY had been formed on
|
|||
|
|
a national basis in Ohio and had a list of a large number of people, as
|
|||
|
|
well as nationwide contacts for networking. (Pagans in Recovery is
|
|||
|
|
published for $8.00 a year - address Pagans in Recovery Newsletter c/o
|
|||
|
|
Bekki 6500 S.R. 356 , New Marshfield OHIO 45766)
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
An interesting note is that we both started doing this work seperately and
|
|||
|
|
originally I also had a network called PANTHEISTS IN RECOVERY. Neither of
|
|||
|
|
us had known of the others existence at the time of starting the work and
|
|||
|
|
taking these names. Pantheists in Recovery has since merged with the
|
|||
|
|
national network, as I saw no need to duplicate their excellent efforts.
|
|||
|
|
Another interesting note is that, in my case, doing this was inspired by
|
|||
|
|
J.A.C.S. - an organization for Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically dependent
|
|||
|
|
people and their Significant others. It had been founded for the same
|
|||
|
|
purpose by some Jewish folks in A.A. in New York City and has now spread
|
|||
|
|
across the country, to Canada, and to Israel with several thousand names on
|
|||
|
|
their mailing lists. These people also felt the need for support to
|
|||
|
|
integrate their recovery program with their religion because they were
|
|||
|
|
non-Christians.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
A very special part of this extended "healing" work for me is that I have
|
|||
|
|
the support of my partner Koren, the sysop of PAN, who is my partner both
|
|||
|
|
in the Craft and in our lives together. Although he is not himself in any
|
|||
|
|
of these recovery programs, he has been very helpful and supportive of my
|
|||
|
|
work in reaching out to other Pagans who are also in these groups.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|