one philosophical idea that i find intriguing is the concept of egregore – a ‘group mind’ that arises from the pooled conscious proclivities of a community that results in an independent, autonomous psychic entity.  i believe that every religion, given enough time and participation, develops such an egregore, and that tapping into this collective consciousness makes practice in that religion easier and more effective.

but the keys to developing an egregore are threefold; strength of numbers, length of development, and similarity in practice.  in order for a religion’s practices to create an imprint upon the psychic ‘memory’ of the natural world, there must be constant repetition.  one person’s contributions alone will quickly fade when those contributions cease to be made – but if they are taken up by a multitude of practitioners, then the patterns that they generate will be reinforced, increasing the likelihood of lasting impressions.  secondly, the process takes a considerable amount of time – with successive generations adding their own energy and effort into the pattern.  and third, the consciousness of the group must be similar enough that the pattern is recognizably the same, regardless of cultural differences.  if the patterns change considerably, then the imprinting process begins anew, with the old patterns disappearing.

So do modern pagans have an egregore to tap into in our daily work?  can there even be an egregore when so many of our practices are so dissimilar in nature?  perhaps it would be better to look at examples of specific religions within the pagan umbrella.  Reconstructionists can certainly lay claim to tapping into the egregore of the religions that they are reconstructing.  Hellenists and Asatru, for instance, have rich cultural heritages to draw from,  as do the african-diaspora of pagan faiths.  i don’t know if the same can be said for wicca, however.  i don’t think that 60 years, most of which was spent trying to find a spiritual identity, is long enough a period of time for such a collective consciousness to develop.   and the splintering of practices and beliefs popularized by eclecticism doesn’t lead to consistent reinforcement of recognizable patterns.  this might be one area where eclecticism is not a positive development of the faith.

i’ll be coming back to explore this topic  a bit more later on, but i just wanted to get any reactions to the notion of collective consciousness within the pagan (or specific pagan religion) community.  as always, leave a comment letting me know what you think.

-justin

one recurring theme that i hear in discussions on paganism is ‘the balance’ and the duality of light and dark. it seems many folks believe it is important to maintain ‘the balance’, but i’m having a hard time pinning down exactly what it is and why its so important. so i’m curious to know what it is you think ‘the balance’ is, how do you measure it, how does it relate to the light/dark polarity and what are some concrete examples of how ‘the balance’ plays out in our lives?

personally, i prefer balance as a verb, rather than a noun. its something you do, not something you are. and it must be engaged on multiple fronts simultaneously. if you focus on one balancing act at a time, you run the risk of kicking previous acts out of whack.  balance is not an endgame in and of itself, its a methodology; a framework to most efficiently get to the endgame.  as symbolized by the yin-yang, individual components of ‘the balance’ are meaningless by themselves, it is only when taken in totality and contrasted to one another can we find the relationships between lightness and darkness – and that each carries a seed of the other.

i’m also curious to know (which may or may not relate to the idea of balance), since it seems that many people feel its important to experience both the dark and light sides of their craft, what determines ‘lightness’ or ‘darkness’? what does one do to get in touch with either their light or dark sides?

-justin

i’ve been thinking lately about  expectations of spiritual protection from physical hardship in ritual and meditation.  specifically how people, in essence, turn their practice into a spiritual exchange – where prayer and worship are bartered for tangible benefit.

i can think of a parallel in my own practice.  i carry a lucky charm of chenrezig bodhisattva with me at all times.  its mostly for devotion and serves as a reminder that i can always get in a few rounds of mani mantra every time i put my hand in my pocket.

but, it has another purpose as well, and that is protection from eight different physical afflictions as well as eight corresponding spiritual afflictions, and i would be lying if i said that that side perk isn’t one of the reasons i keep it with me.  on the one hand i think to myself, ‘oh that’s terrible.  you should be motivated purely by devotion.’ but on the other hand, that is how such charms are ‘marketed’ by the spiritual communities within buddhist cultures.

so in a larger perspective, should people have a right to expect certain real world benefits in exchange for belief, or does that cheapen the spiritual experience?  and what if religious leaders themselves condone such practices?  and what happens when one side doesn’t uphold their end of the bargain and calamity strikes?  do people then have reasonable cause to feel disenchanted or betrayed?

i think most of us would agree that the outmoded catholic practice of selling indulgences was a negative abuse of spiritual authority, but aren’t things like lucky charms, or even prayer wheels, along a similar line?  or is there some threshold where utility and practicality outweigh spiritual purity?

-justin

a few things that i feel make me pagan: reverence of the natural world, imminence of divinity within said natural world, reverence of the spiritual world, transcendence of divinity within said spiritual world, importance of self-priesthood, importance of self-determination, rejection of the possibility for eternal damnation, rejection of the personification of evil, belief that i am empowered to and possess the ability to influence my environment, belief that all actions carry a moral weight and incur moral consequence.

a few things that support me in being pagan, but aren’t really pagan in and of themselves: belief that individuals are not objects, belief in sexual and reproductive freedom, belief that the default and desirable state of being is one of happiness and freedom from suffering, belief that life has inherent value, that one form of life does not trump another, and that individuals – while being possessed of different gifts and talents to different degrees – are spiritually equal.

and the clincher that usually gets me in trouble (that and my big, fat mouth)… i believe that i have the right and the ability to judge situations, other individuals, environmental factors, and events and to place either positive or negative value on them as i see fit in accordance with my world-view. i acknowledge that others also possess this right.

i do not, however, ‘litmus test’ other pagans with the qualifications that i foster in myself… though i do tend to hold those who self-identify as wiccan to higher standards of livelihood then the general populace, and concurrently will have less patience with members of my own faith when they raise my ire.

so what makes you pagan?  leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

-justin

I love ritual.  i love writing ritual, performing it, watching others’ rituals – i think part of what attracts me to wicca in general, but also eclecticism in particular is the atmosphere of freedom in ritual form and practice.  With no set playbook, i can jump from a sweat lodge to a lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram and not have to worry about conflict or spiritual dissonance.  (within reason, of course.  not all spiritual practices ‘gel’ well together, and one of the challenges of eclecticism is to skillfully integrate those that do, while steering clear of those that do not.)  So I’d like  to know what your favorite part of ritual is, or if you have a favorite ritual practice.

there are two things that float my ritual boat. first, i love quarter calling. don’t know why. i prefer to call west, but i’ll gladly take over another direction if needed. in my groups we don’t have set ritual calls, we let whomever is doing the calling decide how they want to do it. i’ve always enjoyed listening to the different calls that people from different traditions come up with.

and second (and this is relatively new in our circles) i love raising group kundalini. i and another circlemember **cough Dru Ann cough** will act as ‘cheerleaders’ as we lead everyone through raising energy and chanting to focus on opening up the chakras. one of the neat things about it is that it isn’t common in public circles, so most people haven’t been exposed to the practice.

so anything in particular that gets your ritual juices flowing, or even anything that just works really well?

-justin