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