Whiney Pagans

All the Gods know I hate whiners of any sort, but Pagan whiners absolutely drive me up the wall.I had to get my minister's certification from a Christian church before I could call myself a "reverend".

Gag. First off, well, no, let me start from the beginning of this sentence.
The term minister presupposes the person has other co-religionists who look to them for guidance and counseling. The key words here are other and co-religionist. Without both of these, there is no reason for a person to even seek ministerial certification of any sort. To whom will they minister?
"from a Christian church" - for the love of all the Gods and Numena in Dea Nutrix - why? It is a perversion of Christianity, and I can quite clearly see why this would upset them. Unless a group is wanting incorporation for charity, education, or land purchase purposes, or to issue legal marriage licenses (all of which are tax-driven), there is no need for any religion to be formally recognized by any legal entity. Only if a group wants to collect donations from people outside the group, offer classes, or buy land for a temple or whatever should they consider pursuing formal, legal recognition. Even without such recognition, the group is still legally allowed to function as a religion, it's set up that way in the US Constitution, the Constitution of every state in the Union, and often reiterated inthe statutes of each state. And if the group doesn't care if the marriages performed between their co-religionists are legally valid, then there's no need for registration and licensing with the county (it's usually done on a county level). Many states allow for non-religious people to perform marriages - friends, bosses, captains of ships, strangers you meet at Wal-Mart...
So, I fail to see the driving need these Pagans have to be legally recognized.
And calling themselves "reverend"! What a crock! If one is truly Pagan, suborning a respected title from another religion is far from the proper way to do things. There are certain religious titles which are no longer associated with any specific religion: minister, priest, clergy. These may be freely used by anyone who fulfills the functions those titles describe, regardless of religion. Why the whiney pushy need to be called "reverend"?
In speaking to and listening to Pagans online for 5 years, and to assorted other Pagans in person for far longer than that, it boils down to this: They want the instant recognition and respect the title bestows without ever actually working for it, and they don't care who they hurt in the process. They don't care that by appropriating some other religion's sacred titles, they hurt the other religion, and they hurt themselves. These whiney little Paganettes forget that they are hurting themselves far more than they will ever realize. Worse still, they make the legitimate efforts of other Pagans working to build the respect for and of Pagan religious titles more difficult.

But they don't care. They want that respect now, and screw everyone else.
Then they have the gall to whine that no one takes them seriously.
Well, that's true. I, for one, will never take a Pagan seriously who steals religious titles from other religions.
Stealing the title shows me they haven't made the effort to know their own religion very well. It shows me they don't take their own religion seriously. It shows me they haven't made any commitments to their religion.
It just plain pisses me off that they will disrespect other people's religions and their own.
Worse still are the people who want to counsel people of all religions, using their respective religions. I know this is a job requirement for the military chaplains, but they receive special training and support for doing this, they aren't hairing off doing it all by themselves under false titles they've stolen from assorted religions.
There are very few true meta-religionists - people well enough versed in a plethora of religions so they can effectively minister to a wide variety of people from other beliefs. These people, because they have had the training and experience, can call themselves the equivalent of the level they achieve in any religion they minister.

Reverend is not a catch-all title for just anyone who's ever opened a book and read the directions on conducting a ritual. It is a specific title for a specific religion. And that religion isn't any of the variety of Pagan religions out there.
Now, having griped about what the whiney Pagans are doing, is there a solution?
Of course there is.
We can look to other religions, Islam, for example, has no ordained clergy, but draws from a pool of scholars to guide and lead the adherents. This sounds as if it would work well for Pagans.

Pagans need to select or create titles among each Pagan religion and determine what they mean, then enforce it. There are many words we can use to make new titles. Perhaps we ought to explore them if creating and drawing from a pool of Pagan scholars is not wanted.

There's the Vedic hotar, which refers to a person who conducts or leads the rituals. There's Greek iereus for priest. There's Hebraic kahane, also for priest. In Zoroastrianism, there were the Avesta: athravan/man of fire, zoatar/officiant, rathwi/minister, mobed/father or elder magician, magus/magician, . From Rome we draw such sacred positions as sacerdos, pontifex, augur, flamine, fetiales, luperci, bacchante. From German, we get ewarte, guardian of justice. From the Chaldeans, we get nisakku/sacrificers, baku/seers, and asipu/ritualist.

Of course, this all brings up the question of why would we want a professional trained priesthood. Wasn't one of the purposes of becoming Pagan to escape a trained, professional priesthood?

Take a look at what a trained professional body does: they provide training to an agreed standard, but they also control and define the content of the training, ensure income and status for licenced professionals by limiting the supply of them so there is a permanent market scarcity, and seek to drive unlicensed practitioners out of practice. It has proven so historically. The proffesion exists for the professional, not the people they serve. The concept of Paganism was the reverse.

Our "professional" Pagans were so through a proven track record, usually within their own group, not through paper qualifications or licensing by some institutional body that can be bought. These priests and priestesses were sought for their knowledge, and they would assist. Rarely did you hear of such a priest/ess "doing a ritual" for others who passively accepted it. Instead, they placed their skills, knowledge and experience at the disposal of the ones asking them, making the others an active part of the ritual. Individual spiritual power and responsibility are the focal point of Paganism.

The problem with the modern trend towards "professionalizing" the priesthood of Paganism is that too many of the proponents of this have not left their Christian roots behind, embraced and learned their version of Paganism, and grown through it. It's true that we Numenists have a paid clergy. But you will note, especially if you've read this blog for any length of time, that our paid clergy are paid to render specific services, services that we, as a group, need accomplished on a reliable time scale; securing permits, locating meeting sites, keeping records, purchasing supplies, maintaining sacred items and calendars, to make hospital visits at times when the rest of us are at work, that sort of thing. When it comes to ritual, we each perform within the framework in a diverse and personally fulfilling way. Our priesthood is not paid to lead ritual, or to study our religion, or to practice magic, or to intercede for us or to speak in our names to the Gods and Numena. We are each responsible, even on the most minor Celebrant level, for that.

Some religions may want or need a trained priesthood, and when they do, they need to create their own version of it. The Asatuar are doing a grand job with their Gothar.

We feel we're doing a good job with our Caretakers and Clergy.
Would that other Pagan religions were as confident of their own beliefs as we are.
Perhaps that would allow them to see the needs of their own specific religion, to define who they are, define who they expect their leaders to be, and decide if they even need a professional priesthood.
Then, they can concern themselves with meta-Pagan issues, and intrafaithing or interfaithing efforts, or even going on to meta-religion issues.

Pagans vs Meta-Pagans

People continue to discuss leadership, either declaring we need no leaders or complaining we have no real leaders.To me, that's like saying explorers don't need to know what other explorers have done. That means it's perfectly possible to approach Central Park as new and explored territory, because of course, you didn't know it's been so explored it's in the middle of a major city, and practically everyone there knows all its nooks and crannies. After all, you've never been there.

Leaders have been there. They know directions, tricks, tips, pitfalls, scenic palces to pause, the best eats, and the worst. They know the customs and expectations, the landscape and the atmosphere.
So, what's the purpose in eschewing what a leader is? Why badmouth people who have been there and are willing to share what they learned?

In Numenism, respect is taught for our leaders. Perhaps that's because we show what it is our leaders are expected to know, and be able to do before they are acknowledged as leaders. Here is a brief outline:

1. Knowledge of our religion
a. History
b. Philosophy
c. Theology
d. Liturgy

2. Intimate knowledge of our Divinity structure
a. Primary Pantheon
b. Auxiliary Deities
c. Other Spiritual Beings

3. Knowledge of the people in the House
a. Personalities
b. Strengths and weakness
c. Skills
d. Needs

4. In-House communication and group dynamic skills
a. Balancing personalities within the group
b. Making sure NO ONE is left out of the loop
c. Handling personality conflicts

5. Creativity
a. Essential for designing ritual
b. Essential for planning social events
c. Essential for implementing charity events

6. Knowledge of our Ritual structure
a. Primarily our ritual structure
b. Ritual structure of guests' traditions and religions
c. Ritual structure of other Pagan religions

7. In-House motivational skills
a. Ability to detect and assist flagging spirits
b. Ability to inspire others to participate

8. In-House organizational skills
a. Ability to plan in-House events
b. Inventory skills to keep supplies current
c. Willing and able to secure needed permits and licenses
d. Keeping track of in-House sponsored charities
e. Managing the paperwork
f. Bookkeeping

9. In-House counseling and pastoral care skills
a. General spiritual counseling
b. Marriage and divorce counseling
c. Rites of Passage counseling
d. Special Interest education and activities
e. Disaster preparedness

10. Intrafaithing skills within our specific religion
a. Keeping in contact with other groups
b. Sharing information with other groups
c. Assisting in virtual events between groups
d. Maintaining web pages
e. Moderating email group
f. Assisting in physical events between groups

11. Knowledge of our magical system

12. Intrafaithing skills within our broader umbrella religion(s)
a. Communicating with other Pagan groups
b. Sharing information with other Pagan groups
c. Assisting in multi-Pagan social events
d. Assisting in multi-Pagan charity events

13. Interfaithing skills
a. Communicating with the clergy of other religions
b. Sharing information with clergy of other religions
c. Assisting in multi-religious social events
d. Assisting in multi-religious charity events
e. Assisting in disasters with other religions

14. Community Skills (what we consider "Meta-Paganing"
a. Communicating with local authorities
b. Non-religious community participation (parades, community
charities...)
c. Attending City Council meetings
d. Tracking city, county, state, and federal legislation affecting us
e. Educating local authorities on our specific religion
f. Educating authorities in conjunction with other Pagan
religions about us
g. General chaplaincy to non-co-religionists.

The most important attribute our Pagan leaders should have is identity with their own specific Pagan religion, whether it's Wicca, Numenism, Asatruar, Reconstructionist, Celtic, Shamanic, Eclectic, Dianic, Egyptian, or whatever. The first, most important thing a leader has to have is IDENTITY.

Yes, this involves the often taboo topic of defining who they are,and who their group is, and what their religion entails. Everyone has this bugaboo about not forcing their spirituality on others, so much so, they don't even explore it themselves. They don't know who hey are in relation to teh Gods, themselves, a those about them. How can they expect to lead?

In March, 2001, there was a Pagan Leadership Conference in Indiana. Sadly, it seems the opinion of what constitutes a leader and what the leadership goals of the Pagan community are is focused on finances and legalities. How to meet the Pagan community's financial needs. How to organize a Pagan lobby group. How to hold fund raisers. How to build groups. Sounded a lot like some pyramid scheme and not a religious concern at all. Where were the issues on identity, ethics, religious creeds and definitions? Where was the spirituality and the theological concerns? How do we educate and care for those who enter Paganism, and flounder? Should we let them flounder, or extend a hand? These are what religious leaders should be concerning themselves with.

I see a bit of that same thing throughout the Pagan community. The focus isn't on leading your individual group, building an identity for yourselves, educating your own people about who and what your religion is, defining ethics and morals, encouraging spiritual growth. The focus of leadership seems to be how an individual can present themselves as the leader of their people to the broader community, to be a Meta-Pagan.

We should be providing for our people before we start preaching to the general public, supporting our projects and beliefs before organizing charity campaigns for those outside of our groups, and educating our own before we worry about educating others.

Far too many people seek out Paganism and leave in despair because they have no one to show them the way. Or they decide they prefer being solo, because the local groups are so involved in being Meta-Pagans, they're neglecting one another.

We should first be Pagans, then leaders, then Meta-Pagans.