99 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
99 lines
5.7 KiB
Plaintext
Koren #1 @7314
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Fri Mar 23 12:47:40 1990
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REFLECTIONS ON 'OLD GUARD' PAGANISM
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by Mike Nichols
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c/o The Magick Lantern
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1715 Westport Road
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Kansas City, MO 64111
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[This article may be reproduced and distributed exactly as is, without
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further permission of the author, provided it is offered free of charge.
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Changes in the text, however, must be approved in advance by the author.]
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Origin: The MAGICK LANTERN BBS
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Kansas City, MO
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816/531-7265
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'Old Guard Paganism'. The phrase started out as a joke, but then caught on.
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This tells us something. It tells us there is a NEED for such a term. It
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also implies its own antithesis, 'New Guard Paganism'. And it indicates
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that there is some difference between the two -- a 'difference that makes a
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difference' -- and thus requires differentiating labels. (It should perhaps
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be noted that the word 'Paganism' is used in the present context -- however
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inaccurately -- to refer to modern Neo-Pagan Witchcraft , or Wicca. With
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grave misgivings, I have adopted this usage here.)
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The first time I heard the phrase 'Old Guard Pagan' (used as a pejorative,
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as I remember) was during the organizing of the first Heartland Pagan
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Festival. It seems that the festival was being organized mainly by 'New
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Guard Pagans' who felt they were not getting the anticipated support from
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the 'Old Guard'. Yet, even after such misunderstandings were cleared up,
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the phrase remained. Why? And what is the line of demarcation?
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I remember a discussion I had at the time with a long-time High Priestess
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and friend, in which we laughingly concluded that an Old Guard Pagan was any
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'pre-Starhawk' Pagan. ( Starhawk's important book, 'The Spiral Dance' was
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first published in 1979.) Th us, an Old Guard Pagan is any pre- 1979 Pagan.
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And yet, seniority alone couldn't BE the difference -- although it might
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ACCOUNT for many differences. (It is interesting to note that Starhawk's
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book is responsible for a massive influx of people into femin ist traditions
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of Wicca, and this shift in focus may likewise account for key differences.)
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I suppose it's time for a bit of a disclaimer on my part. By the preceding
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definition, I myself am an Old Guard Pagan, having become a Witch in 1970.
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Thus, my views may be consequently biased toward the Old Guard. Still, I
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don't intend for this essay t o degenerate into shaking my cane at novices
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and using words like 'whipper-snapper' and 'scalliwag'. On the contrary, I
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enjoy working with novices and have taught a beginner's Witchcraft course
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for the past 18 years. No, my real goal here is to examine what I believe
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to be real and profound differences in attitudes concerning certain key
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issues between the two groups. Hopefully, this will lead to greater
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understanding and tollerance on the part of both.
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In the following passages, I've tried to distill the differences between Old
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and New Guard Paganism, presenting them as strict dichotomies. However, bear
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in mind the vagaries that must accompany all such generalizations and the
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exceptions that will inevit ably be cited.
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FEW VS. MANY: Even today, with a substantial Pagan community for support, a
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newcomer often feels insecure, frightened, and alone when rejecting the
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religious training of childhood in favor of Paganism. Imagine then, how
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much more insecure, frightened and alone an Old Guard Pagan would have felt,
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with literally no one to support such a decission. In fact, no one to talk
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to at all. When I first became a Witch, I knew of no other Witches
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anywhere. For all I knew, I was the first human being in centuries to make
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such a conscious choice. And this, I found, was typical of most Old Guard
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Pagans.
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RESISTANCE VS. ACCEPTANCE: Naturally, only those of extraordinary courage
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and perception would make such a choice back then. Not only because they
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assumed they were choosing a solitary path, but also because they were sure
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to encounter active resistance -- if not outright hostility. Today, of
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course, Witches have appeared on Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo
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Rivera, and other national TV and radio shows, and the general populace is
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becoming more educated and, if not totally accepting, at least more
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tolerant.
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SECRECY VS. OPENNESS: But before such positive media PR, most Old Guard
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Pagans learned quickly to 'keep themselves to themselves'. Usually, there
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was no one to talk with anyway, and when there was, it was someone trying to
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dissuade you from your choice. Thus, most Old Guard Pagans are more
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inclined to secrecy concerning their involvement than New Guard Pagans.
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INACCESSABLE VS. ACCESSABLE INFORMATION: For Old Guard Pagans, information
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was hard won indeed. There were no Starhawks or Margot Adler's back then --
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no one to neatly organize and systemitize the beliefs of Pagans. There were
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instead books by Sybil Lee k, Paul Huson, Leo Martello, and Lady Sheba (at
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best), and books by Hans Holzer and Louise Huebner (at worst). And there
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were the historical tomes of Murray, Thorndike, Robbins, and others, as well
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as the disorganized 'linking' work of Gardner, Leland, a nd a few more. And
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there was no one to tell you which book was worthwhile and which wasn't --
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so you read them ALL! Typically, an Old Guard Pagan has read (and owns!) a
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small library of books on Paganism. And, back then, if you HADN'T read the
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classics (like Murray and Gardner) then you weren't taken very seriously by
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other Pagans. By contrast, many New Guard Pagans feel that reading one or
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two books (usually Adler and Starhawk) is quite sufficient. One unfortunate
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result is that Adler's or Starhawk' s version of Paganism is taken as the
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'standard' by the New Guard, which is far from the case.T |