CUUPS Bulletin - April/May 2010

Since the '60's when Gardnerian/Alexandrian Wicca emerged in the U.S., there's been a tremendous proliferation of what Pagans call "Traditions." (Scholars argue that a proper tradition must be old enough that no living person can personally recall its beginning.)

When Ray Buckland got divorced from his High Priestess, he created the new Tradition, "Seax Wicca" which added some Germanic features and broke from Gardnerian governance. Since then, the Pagan revival has splintered into uncounted "Traditions," paralleling the sectarian division of Protestantism. In recent decades, even American Protestants have learned that sectarianism is not only financially prohibitive, but intellectually smothering and spiritually narrowing. We didn't learn from the mistakes of the 19th century Protestants; as a result, we have Pagan "Witch wars," little different from sectarian splitting and shunning.

Eclecticism pervades the Pagan community. Reconstructionist groups research European survivals with the goal of resuming ancient Pagan religions, and I applaud research, as long as we accurately identify our sources. However, no Tradition is "pure," now or in the ancient world.
Most Pagan Traditions diverge in sources and practices and theology only in small ways, about as much as each UU congregation differs from other UU congregations. Unfortunately, many are too small to fill the seats in a typical UU fellowship. Not only does the Pagan movement have more "chiefs" than "Indians," but have more "popes" than the Roman Catholics have had in two thousand years!

There are many forces which encourage our isolation into very small groups, not the least is the fear of some group "owning the brand," stifling further innovation, and perhaps imposing a creed. If Paganism is to be a living religion, we must always be people of the Rainbow, blending in various ways whatever we can glean from ancient survivals with our own insights as we bring contemporary problems and ideas to our Traditions.

And we must stand in solidarity with Pagans beyond our own Tradition. Even American Protestants have learned to collaborate for shared purposes (such as leadership training, creating cultural centers and organizing to protect our religious liberty.

Solidarity doesn't mean creating the Greatest Common Denominator Pagan Trad. Solidarity begins with discovering what we share in common, and then respecting our differences without allowing them to divide us or distract us from our shared purposes.

That's important; in the fourth century c.e. Julian discovered that Pagan survival depends on that solidarity. (See the Loeb Classical Library JULIAN I, II, III or read Vidal's very well researched JULIAN.) We can't survive as isolated atoms.

Please note: we can't be religious in the abstract, either. Even Unitarian Universalists have learned that.

Human beings are religious in a particular time and place and with particular people. We form specific communities through shared purposes and experiences. Our shared imagery emerges at least as much from that history and the stories we tell about "people like us" as from any Transpersonal Collective Unconsious or "psychic switchboard" connecting us with all peoples.

We are challenged to creatively maintain the tension between two goods: to explore a particular Tradition in depth and to also understand our Tradition to be part of a greater community extended in time and space.

We need to create primary F2F communities within our Trads, AND we also need to create institutions -- like the CUUPS-Cafe -- by which folks from many Trads can engage in a polylog which challenges and enriches us.

Warp and weft together makes a fabric which can hold and warm us all.

The vitality and authenticity of our movement requires that we honor both of these goods. And the genius of Paganism is that we can.

Blessed Be!
Christa