99 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
99 lines
5.4 KiB
Plaintext
THE MEN'S CIRCLE
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(c)1986, by Robin
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The April meeting of the Men's Group at the home of Wayland
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Smith discussed the theme of "Gods and Archetypes in Every Man".
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This was partially inspired by the book, "Goddesses in Every
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Woman". As always, we got off on a number of side roads in our
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conversational journey, some of them as interesting as the main
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topic. One of those side roads was the relationship between
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modern Christianity and modern Paganism, a topic which has been
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expounded upon in recent issues of this journal. From the point
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of view of individual Pagans, there seem to be two attitudes.
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Some people came to feel, perhaps quite early in life, that the
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version of Christianity in which they had been raised was
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detrimental to their psychological and spiritual health and have
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now rejected it totally. Others, like myself, gradually came to
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feel that while Christianity had a lot to offer them and was fine
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for many people, it lacked some essential spiritual vitamins
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that they themselves needed. Some of this difference in attitude
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comes from differences in the individual, but a lot seems to
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come from the difference in the particular version of
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Christianity involved. I was raised as a Catholic, and came to
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the Craft with an appreciation for colorful ritual and ceremony,
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and an awareness of its potentialities and power. The Catholic
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reverence for the Blessed Virgin helped also. There is quite a
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contrast in these areas with mainstream Protestantism.
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In retrospect, perhaps my first step toward Paganism came
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when I helped write a new Catholic ritual for small groups, to be
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performed without a priest. We submitted it for formal approval
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and never got a word back. Even excommunication would have been
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preferable to being ignored.
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A few months after my First Degree initiation I went
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traveling around Italy with my old friend Ron. We visited some
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catacombs near Rome and it was surprising how strong the psychic
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impression left by the early Christians still was after eighteen
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centuries and thousands of tourists. Still more surprising was
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the type of psychic impression. It felt very close to what one
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feels in Circle with one's fellow coven members. That, and some
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historical hints, suggest that in its first few centuries
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Christianity was more similar to contemporary Paganism in what it
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offered people than most of us are inclined to think. What we
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now call psychic and/or magical abilities seem to have been
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commonly accepted, priests were much more a part of everyday
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community life than religious leaders are now, many women had
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substantial power and influence, and a lot of individual
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interpretation went on.
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What happened to change all that? I'm inclined to agree, at
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least in part, with Buck Jump, our resident Heretic.
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Institutionalization was and is the culprit. Institutions have
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bureaucracies, and bureaucracies by their nature stifle
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individual interpretation. They also develop rigid power
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structures, and these can't tolerate people outside the
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structure developing power through special abilities, psychic or
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otherwise. A contemporary example of this is what happens to a
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rigidly organized corporation that suddenly computerizes its
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operations. People who formerly were inconsequential in the
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power structure now have considerable power through their
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special technical knowledge and access to information. The
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whole pecking order is thrown into disarray, and the resulting
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turmoil is fascinating to watch from a safe distance of course.
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A friend described this happening at the Rocky Mountain News a
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few years ago. We Pagans are still a ways from large scale
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institutionalization, but sooner or later we will start feeling
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the pressure. It probably won't be sudden, it took Christianity
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three or four centuries to get there, but we should start
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thinking about alternatives now.
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The pressure can be subtle there are a lot of nice things
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you can do with institutions that are hard to do without them.
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Building a college for example. A couple of years ago I went to
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a class reunion at my old school, L'Universite de Notre Dame du
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Lac The University of Our Lady of the Lake famed for football
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and the administration building's golden dome, surmounted by a
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gold statue of Mary, Virgin and Mother of an Aspect of the
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Christian God. From the ground the campus seems open and meadow
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like, but from the top of the library it looks like a college in
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a forest; white buildings surrounded by the tops of trees, and
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over it all a golden statue of the Queen of Heaven. At the time
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I thought, "What an appropriate school for a Witch to have atten
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ded." Now I'm tempted by the thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if we
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Pagans had one of our own." Be careful what you ask for, you
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might get it!
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_____Robin
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.........from R.M.P.J. 8/86
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This article is excerpted from the Rocky Mountain Pagan Journal.
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Each issue of the Rocky Mountain Pagan Journal is published by
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High Plains Arts and Sciences; P.O. Box 620604, Littleton Co.,
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80123, a Colorado Non-Profit Corporation, under a Public Domain
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Copyright, which entitles any person or group of persons to
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reproduce, in any form whatsoever, any material contained therein
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without restriction, so long as articles are not condensed or
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abbreviated in any fashion, and credit is given the original
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author.!
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