Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times

 

On Initiation and The Old Ways

 

As we are in-between Sabbats, I thought I would submit an article on a different topic. Initiation.

It is certainly a sacred event in and of itself, and it is also a hot debate topic in Paganism today.

Introduction

I had a couple of conversations recently that made me think deeper on the topic of initiation and the way Pre-Christians did things.

One source I am too lazy to dig up states that the earliest discovered human burial was from about 100,000…ish years ago, and it is believed by some to be the first evidence of religion. It is said this shows belief in an afterlife.

Considering the fact there are about 4,200 different religions in existence today, Christianity being only one of them, I believe there is no one right way to be religious, regardless of what some may say.

Also, if we have been religious for as long as my un-cited source says, there is no way in hell modern humans who are neo-Pagans can completely recreate all the things that used to be done before Christianization. Especially since Christianity is just a couple thousand years young. It is also not possible for Christianity to exclusively have all the answers and for all other religions to have it all wrong.

No matter what faith tradition we belong to, if we are trying to reconstruct pre-Christian faiths, we are recreating religion to suit us, and we are aware that people always have. Unlike many groups of people faithfully recreating religion the way it was before, however, Neo-Pagans in North America are increasingly turning away from groups, initiation into traditions, and recognition of established clergy in favor of custom tailoring solitary practice.

What is the result? Many of us joke we have as many different Pagan religions as we have Pagans in the room at any given time. Joking aside, solitary practice seems to be working for a lot of individuals. That can’t be a bad thing in my opinion. Isn’t religious practice, after all, about bringing the worshipper closer to whatever god or gods they worship?

So what use is adhering to tradition in modern times at all, especially for a religion that solitary practice works so well for? Is it necessary? Is it useful? Is it for everybody? Are initiates better than non initiates?

This debate started before many of us were born, and the debate will continue long after all of us have crossed the veil.

I am one who believes in the power of initiation and in keeping traditions even if it isn’t for everybody.

Why, and why not in this day and age?

First, why not?

I have heard lots of reasons from individuals why they opt for Solitary neo paganism. These are a few.

*We don’t need elders and leaders to give us every scrap of inspired writing anymore. We are no longer illiterate and can read and interpret for ourselves if we do our homework. The Internet and publishers houses have provided plenty of information cheap or for free.

*It saves time. You don’t have to deal with other people when doing your own research and many are sick to death of other people telling them what to believe or how to worship. You can pick and choose what is useful to you and not waste time with something that seems to have no value to you. Who says one person’s way will work for the next person, anyhow?

* Many claim their current practices stem from memories of past lives that only they remember or understand and nothing else makes any sense to them. These past lives may be from thousands of years ago, their languages are extinct, and no physical artifacts remain to draw from. Established traditions in today’s world may be meaningless to such individuals.

*Some people say they have yet to find a tradition that makes sense to them, and they feel it is a waste of precious time continuing to search when they could be spending time focusing on their own personal research and growth instead.

*Many are also quick to point out that drama in the metaphysical and Pagan communities distract from their own practices and relationships with deity. Some folks have worked for years with groups only to have burned out, and they need peace and solitude, or to heal. What is worse, some cannot imagine a return to any group out of fear of more drama or hurt.

Oh yeah? Well…

These valid arguments aside, I believe that there are plenty of people who shun traditions and initiation into such who are simply lazy and disrespectful individuals. While not everybody falls into this category, we can tell if somebody is genuinely applying themselves to self-learning and improvement or not. One way is by whether they say disparaging things about people who are initiated or belong to groups in general.

I have been spit at so many times by people who are very vocal that they are proud to be self-taught. They claim to be Wiccan, Odinist, Druid, you name it, but never completed any coursework within an established group or organization. They oftentimes say it is because they think initiates are stuck up, holier-than-thou’s who brag about knowledge. If I ask what group they belong to, and upon them answering they read some books and found things on the internet, I make sure to point out that titles are earned within organizations. Such individuals shoot back I oughtn’t label them, although they just one heartbeat before falsely labeled themselves. When I further point THIS out, they get even angrier with me.

Here is the thing…

It is okay if you are not initiated. It is also okay if you are. Initiation is not for everybody. Initiates are no more superior as human beings than non-initiates and vice versa.

If you don’t want to bother with going to all the trouble of being initiated and fulfilling all the duties attached to belonging to a certain tradition, that is just fine. Really, it is! But, why would you want to label yourself as being such when in fact you are not? And why get mad when initiates tell you to get your paws off their tradition if you are not going to join up? You either joined, or you did not, period…which brings us to an ugly topic…

Misappropriation and Cultures we don’t belong to

If you are one of the mostly white neo-Pagans in North America who claim belonging to a VERY old tradition because you had a dream or past life memory about it, then you show zero understanding of how ancient tribal traditions worked and how the people continuing them today function.

You’d also forget our neo-traditions are not the ancient tribal ones. These new traditions pull aspects of old ones into modern practice , however they are not the actual traditions that ceased to exist upon Christianization or upon extinction of a peoples.

Go on and talk to a person who belongs to an existing tribal tradition, be they Vodun, Native American, South American Pagan, you name it, and your discussion will likely drift towards “cultural misappropriation”.

There are lots of white, instant ancient Pagans who hold all the secrets the pyramids told- even though they never went to the pyramids. There are just as many who build a sweat lodge in the back yard, or charge hundreds and thousands of dollars for seminars at fancy retreat centers, but are not affiliated with any Native American tribe. They have also completed no courses of study with Native Americans to reach ordination in that tradition. But they learned how in a book, and they might have authored a few of their own they will gladly sell you! They know all about how aliens built Stonehenge, or where they believe Atlantis is. They probably even have names they claim come from those ancient civilizations that they gave themselves and they want you to call them by.

I understand, white people, I really do, because I am a white American , too. I was swept away by the energy at powwows and struck by the power of the African tribal dancing I witnessed. I wept uncontrollably and felt it was religious ecstasy. I also felt it in Mexican Cathedrals that are a few hundred years old ( yes! GASP! Xtians!!!!!!) and on the grounds of places where Aztecs did human sacrifices. I see the beauty in those unbroken traditions and those deserted places. But I also realize they are not my traditions.

Because we are more sensitive to the power of energy and magic, we see and crave the power in those indigenous traditions. Christianization stripped our indigenous practice and dulled down what they did preserve. We have to dig and dig and dig to learn our lore and study the history of our people’s old practices.

On the other hand, all this indigenous stuff is right THERE…right in front of us! Merchants will sell a lot of “ authentic” stuff. Even better, sometimes, you can just show up uninvited and dance or whatever they are doing once you pay your admission fee! It is exhilarating to feel the power of being in those circles. It is absolutely intoxicating. Enough people will let you do it- as long as you are paying to do so, but guess what, white people? You are not Native American, or Peruvian, or African, or whatever. You are still white, and while you are allowed to pretend, it does not hold the same power it does for the actual initiates, and it never will.

Unless they are selling you something or you have been adopted, or accepted as a student into their tradition, (it can happen) these people do not like you snooping around. It is considered disrespectful profaning of the sacred. If you don’t believe me, or you think I am a judgmental, self-righteous bitch or that I am assuming I can control everybody’s personal practice, go try it. I don’t suggest anybody take my word for it. Find out for yourself.

Then and Now

One thing that separates modern solitary neos trying to recreate old practice from the old practitioners- besides time, of course, and actually belonging to that culture- is that the old religions were not focused on the individual. They were focused on the community. Many European high days that we have reworked as Sabbats were based on the seasons and the harvest. It was a community thing. Planting, nurturing, harvesting and storing crops were a group endeavor. Ancient European Pagans did not cast their circle and light a candle on high days by themselves. They helped with the work, and they feasted and prayed and gave sacrifice together afterwards. Just like everybody else and with everybody else.

Also, the way we get ordained differs. A lot of folks self-initiate into a newly created tradition, and oftentimes start new groups that they themselves have supreme power over. They recognize no elders, yet claim instant eldership for themselves, and bristle when the inevitable happens and somebody tells them they are full of shit.

I sometimes call myself the most hated Pagan in Columbus, because I have many times told such individuals what I think of them.

Their response entails them accusing me of insinuating I am better than everybody else because I was initiated by somebody who was initiated. I am often reminded of the fact that Wicca is not old anyways. I point out I don’t think I am any better. I just think you can’t claim to be Wiccan if you are not initiated into Wicca. The same goes for any other religion or tradition that requires initiation or passing classes to attain membership. I do not understand why people find this so difficult to understand. So you did not get baptized, have a first communion, and get confirmed a Catholic? Then you are not a Catholic. It is that simple, and it is the same with any tradition that calls for initiation.

What I also find so difficult to understand is how we have so many instant “urban shamans” and other instant holy people who have never studied with a real holy person. How is it that we have so many instant High Priests and Priestesses because they read things on the internet but never studied under a clergy person? How many white voodoo practitioners do we have who have never attended a real voodoo ritual, and would not kill a chicken to save their own life? And so on and so forth.

Many of these individuals demand kow-towing every time they enter the room and are dying to acquire followers. They are easily spotted because they are often anxious to pick an argument with established facilitators and elders. If somebody asks them for proof of some claim or why they do things a certain way, a tantrum often ensues. These folks are dying to be in the spotlight and take on a lot of responsibilities, but have a difficult time sharing the credit for team efforts.

Welcome to modern neo-Paganism. Everybody is an instant Priest or Priestess and you better bow to them just because they read a lot on their own, and they will be mad at you if you do not!

The Ancients and Ordination

Like most every neo, I research. I have discovered that not many of these old traditions worked the way we do by allowing instant ordination of clergy. As a matter of fact, I believe that absolutely none of them did.

Typically, you had your priestly orders, which had a small amount of members, and then you had everybody else. Or as Xtians do, you have the clergy, and the congregation is separate. A majority of the people belonged to the congregation. The Clergy might have had a job they did, like their own field to plow…but to be clergy was their JOB and the congregation, or tribe supported this. An excellent example of this today is how the Christians employ their clergypersons full-time . They get days off, sick time, insurance benefits, and vacation time, just like any other profession.

Modern neos, on the other hand, often resent paying a fee for classes or supplies and expect their priests and priestesses to provide a free location, all supplies, and not even ask love offerings in exchange for the work of ministering. We have a sense of entitlement in Pagan circles. The attendees oftentimes think it is the responsibility of the priests and priestesses to be on call 24/7 and foot the bill for everything as well. Priests and Priestesses are publically criticized and demonized if they charge money for services sometimes. I have seen Covens dissolved because of this dynamic and this is one thing I believe that is keeping us from having our own sanctuaries for every community. This is one reason why so many Pagan and metaphysical stores go out of business.

This was not practiced in the old days. In days of yore, tribute may have been paid to the temple for maintaining things or a tax or tithe would be collected. The clergy made administrative decisions for the town or tribe. They decreed war, they decreed death, they beat the shit out of people, or humiliated them as punishment in the town square, and they decided political alliances with other towns, nations, or tribes.

An example comes from The Celts, by Gerhard Herd on page 149:

“ In all public and private quarrels, (Caeser asserts) the priests alone judge and decide. They fix punishments and rewards, where crimes or murder have been committed, or boundary and inheritance disputes arise. If a private person or persons fail to respect their decision, they can exclude the men involved (where need be, the whole tribe) from public worship. This is for them, the worst punishment imaginable. Those thus excommunicated count as godless criminals; all men must avoid them and eschew talk with them, lest the infection be passed on.”

Unlike modern Pagan groups, if somebody from the town came and said to the Priests “I don’t have to do what you say because I am studying on my own, and you can’t tell me what to do!!!!!!!” they were cut off. It was as simple as that. They did not break off and start their own druid circle or whatever and compete with the clergy that had been established for generations.

Excommunication from the Catholic Church and the Amish shunning are two examples of this ancient practice being carried into modern times. In the old days, the “old ways” dictated you did as you were told by who was entrusted to lead.

My Way, Your Way

Pre-Christian Pagans had a set way of doing things. They had certain days they did things. Events were decided by celestial activity and were announced by the people who had learned how to read seasonal signs as to when the events should occur. Everybody went along with this because it was the way things had been succeeding for generations. The stone circles in the British Isles are a good example of this. When the sun aligned with a certain stone, or a certain opening within a certain structure, events such as Samhain began. It let people know when certain planting or harvesting activities were to occur and when to do certain things with the livestock based on the weather. The priests were responsible for keeping track of this. I highly doubt there were people who argued with the timekeepers and did not “want to” harvest at the right time because they did not “want to be told what to do.”

Responsibility for these things was handed down to people who demonstrated they could maintain the post. It was a big job, and not just anybody could do it.

The Chosen Few

Clergy membership was sometimes established by blood lines or decided at birth. The holy person’s daughter or son, for example would succeed them, or some youth who was pointed out by some omen or by some ability that superseded anybody else’s. Sitting Bull, for example was chosen because he was very generous and intelligent. At the age of ten, he had his first successful bison hunt, and he gave away most of the meat to elders who could not hunt for themselves. Those were considered to be early signs of good leadership skills.

It was often within small towns or tribes where few people left and few moved into that ancestor veneration was a huge part of the tradition. Priests’ blood relatives succeed them oftentimes. One practitioner by the name of Isaiah Oke was a Nigerian juju priest who began training at age ten under his grandfather. It was his birthright to continue the priestly tradition and it was entrusted to him to write down the rituals and teachings. He wound up converting to Christianity instead and completely destroyed the ancestor altar where relics and items had been venerated and maintained for generations! His fascinating story can be read in Blood Secrets, as told to Sam Wright.

All the same DNA was swirling around within some clergy circles, like Oke’s. If you suggest this is valid, many white neo Pagans will immediately scream from the rooftops that you are a racist. But in days of yore, you had tiny villages that nobody left and nobody came into very often if at all. Like royalty tries to keep kingly titles within the family, some clergy keep priestly titles within family. This practice can be found in some tribes where families belong to clans and each clan has jobs they do for the good of the tribe. They teach skills to succeed at these tasks so the whole of the people benefit. It is a form of specialization, and for many, this system works. It is done for practical reasons, not racist ones.

Us and Them and their blood and taboos!!!!!!!!!

We say we are resurrecting how they did things, but we look down on nearly everything they did. Not just by how they studied, (from childhood, and for decades), how they observed taboo (strictly), how they became clergy (by birth or by omens or capabilities, and after being chosen by existing clergy) but also how they worshipped and what they gave to the gods.

Blood. It is a sensitive topic for today’s Pagans. We’re sick of being accused of sacrificing kittens,and babies, and virgins, and puppies to the devil. The fact remains, that blood sacrifice, sometimes including human sacrifice, was a huge part of many ancient pre-Christian religions.

I will refer to The Golden Bough by James Frazer to reference this.

Various examples of pre-Christians using humans as sacrifice are listed in the section “ Human sacrifices for the crops”. The colorful language used by Frazier, who was writing prior to 1922 illustrates the attitude many have about these practices. He refers to the practices as “savage”. Many of the people’s practices, from various South American tribes, to places in India, and the Philippines are listed in great detail. From how the sacrificial victim is killed, how the body was chopped up before it is given to the earth, and whether cannibalism occurred are included.

So, ritual murder, butchering a human body, and then eating part of the body was a pre-Christian Pagan practice in many cultures. Of course, animal sacrifice was sometimes used instead, as in many Germanic tribes. Let’s not even mention stories of the groves of trees dripping with body parts the Druids reputably were in charge of, or the divination they did with the entrails of somebody they killed. Oops! I mentioned it! Let’s completely forget they used to watch how a ritual murder victim thrashed as they died for a form of divination as well.

I cannot think of one neo-Pagan I have met who would roll up their sleeves to help with this type ritual, let alone condone it, but ritual sacrifice was a major part of old ways. Various tribes in Ecuador and the Amazon are said to still practice killing people for head shrinking, and that is done sometimes for the purpose of making sure there are few enough people alive not to upset a balance. That my friends, is very Pagan.

We also forget taboos were a greater part of those ancient societies than even most modern Christians embrace. For example- while Gardner incorporated ritual nudity into religious practice, nudity was seen as unacceptable by many European Pre-Christian Pagans. It was used as torture and indignity during Roman crucifixion. They also forced the condemned naked into arenas for execution. While Romans at the time were Pagan and did beautiful nude statues of the gods, to be naked and tortured and killed was seen as great indignity, not as sacred.

People point out that some Gaulish tribal peoples ran naked into battle and it was stated their nudity made them feel closer to their gods- according to Romans, that is. However, the Gauls still wore clothing, and their priests, the Druids, were attested to have worn white robes, not to have officiated naked. I am not criticizing skyclad ritual. I am simply pointing out that to be naked in ritual is not characteristic of many pre-Christian Pagans. It is utilized by some in Wicca because some of the founders of Wicca were practicing nudists and preferred nudity. Period.

Sex!

While open relationships may be a huge part of what a lot of the folks who circle in Neo-Pagan groups embrace, having sex outside of marriage was immediate grounds for public shaming, genital mutilation, or even death in some Pre-Christian villages. Tacitus wrote about the punishment of having her head shaved and being paraded and whipped naked through the village that a woman would endure if her Germanic Pagan husband caught her being unfaithful in certain tribes. You find attestations of polygamy in the pre-Christian Jewish communities- but only for men. Women were not to have multiple mates, and like the mother of Jesus, if she was suspected unchaste before marriage, a woman could be condemned to death by public stoning…unless of course, she had been raped, and her rapist agreed to marry her.

In ancient Rome, some of the rich were well known for their lavish orgies. What many do not know, however, is that some of the attendees at some of those orgies were slaves, and the sex those servants engaged in would be considered rape in many cases today- because they couldn’t say no. Back then it was a matter of rich people using their slaves, or property as they saw fit. This does not resemble being in an open relationship by today’s standards.

It is also forgotten that the cultures take on sex is one reason Christianity became popular in ancient Rome, especially amongst women. Christianity encouraged chastity in a world where if somebody outranked you, they could screw you as they saw fit. Soldiers could be expected to have to bend over and take it up the ass from superior officers regardless of whether they wanted to or not, and it was derisively joked that Caeser took it up the ass from Mark Antony. The Christian mindset, on the other hand, was that your body was yours and gods, as opposed to everybody’s who outranked you, and this was very well received. Despite what a lot of modern neo-Pagans want to believe, ancient Rome was not a paradise of sexual freedom where everybody did as they pleased.

The Trojan War happened because a woman openly took another lover and fled with him against her husband’s wishes. This occurred in a Pagan Nation, by the way. It was instigated by the gods themselves, but human beings reacted to such an insult with war, and an entire city fell. This was hardly a culture being supportive of people doing as they saw fit sexually.

It was common practice in some Apache tribes to cut a woman’s nose off if she was judged unfaithful. This was an old practice of theirs predating the colonization of the Americas by Europeans, and therefore Pre-Christian.

Hinduism, also values chastity outside of marriage, and they have many ascetics who take lifelong devotions of celibacy. Hinduism is believed to be the world’s oldest religion and certainly not monotheistic.

So, we see that not all non-Abrahamic disciplines advocate zero sexual taboos.

What about women?

Sex aside, women are assumed to have been revered above all in all parts of the world before the Abrahamic religions became supreme. Not so. Any ancient religion where the lead of the pantheon is male- is a male dominated pantheon, and often also a male dominated people as evidenced by cultural practice. Zeus and Odin are just two examples of this. Male dominated tribal societies did not venerate the great mother above all or put women on a pedestal of human divinity. Many times, women were seen as inferior to men, although Pagan pantheons have female goddesses as well as male gods. It cannot be denied that in some cultures like Ancient Egypt, women had better rights and status than women in ancient monotheistic Israel. But like the Germanic Pagan woman accused of adultery mentioned , not all women who belonged to polytheistic non-Abrahamic religions had equal or superior social status to men.

One culture long hailed for their worship of goddesses is the Mesopotamians. Specifically, a story is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh, where the beautiful goddess of love, Ishtar, is insulted, and her advances refused by a human male, Gilgamesh. He later defeats the monster she sends to punish him for this. While Gilgamesh’s friend dies for this, Gilgamesh survives, and his insults of her do not keep him from becoming famous for all his heroic deeds.

In ancient Sumeria, one of the Mesopotamian cultures, women went from being a daughter to a wife, and if her husband died, a widow, and they were allowed to remarry. Not only were women identified by their relations with the men in the family, but a mortal human could insult a goddess and still prosper. This is not equal status for women just because there were goddesses.

Moving along to Africa, because of white Neo-Pagan fascination with Voodoo , (which originated in Africa before people took it to Haiti) I will bring up the topic of breast ironing and female circumcision. These are Pagan peoples living in some villages in an estimated 27 African nations that still practice female circumcision also called female genital mutilation. For those who don’t know, it is a belief by some Pagan Africans that the female body is impure and pieces of it must be cut off to make a woman fit for marriage. Parts of her vagina, that is. Girls as young as toddlers are held down and parts of their bodies are sliced off without painkillers or anesthesia, and sometimes, it is enough to induce death. This is hardly veneration of the female divine in the form of human women.

Breast ironing is a more gradual process of beating on a girl’s breasts over time to deform them and flatten them, thus making the breast less attractive. It is painful, and sometimes heat is applied, and the victims are sometimes unable to breast feed in later years. It is done by many mothers who say they are trying to protect their girls from rape or early marriage. This is also not worship and veneration of women over men in non-Abrahamic cultures.

I have actually spoken with people who converted to Christianity from African and Haitian tribal faiths because of these ancient practices and Christian condemnation of them.

Those gorgeous Noble Savages!!!!!!!!!

One of the many ways we romanticize pre-Christian Pagans is to assume they were all gorgeous and always dressed BDSM style or in ball gowns or other expensive, uncomfortable clothes. We portray them in heroic looking capes and assume that they all rode pedigreed horses and gloriously won battles. In reality, they were agriculturists oftentimes and they butchered their own meat they either hunted or raised at home. Many of them were poor and worked for a landowner or were enslaved. The rich, the royals, and the Priests were separate from the peasantry oftentimes, and there were far more peasants than rulers. It was not a fun, glorious, magical life. They were sometimes knee and elbow deep in dirt and shit and worms and animal guts all day. The ruling class might be in battles, but it was not glorious. It was hell. There were no antibiotics, and a major cut meant gangrene set in and you could die soon or lose a limb.

When they were building the mounds and stone circles, I know for sure they bitched about their bad backs, and they did not have deodorant, so they oftentimes stunk by modern standards. Depending on where they lived, the average life expectancy was 40 or in places like Egypt or Rome, as young as 22. Many of them had lost some if not all of their teeth to rot by that time. The flu or upper resp killed them. Wintertime killed them. Having natural, unfiltered water and no pharmaceuticals to combat bacteria killed them. Having no vaccinations killed them. Worse yet, despite our obsession with valorous, glamorous natural tribal beauty, they were butt ugly and unspeakably smelly by today’s standards. They did not use cosmetics and skin care like we do. Precious few could afford the hygienic paraphernalia let alone had time to be gloriously gorgeous and richly dressed all day. That was oftentimes for special occasions only and the peasantry may never be able to have the time let alone the resources to dress up like we portray them.

Of course, I am not insinuating that every non-Abrahamic ancient person suffered and died early. I am just saying it was not all glorious fun constantly until the “evil” Abrahamics came and took it all away from us!!!!!!!!! I wish more Neo Pagans realized this.

Undoing our own illusions from the old ways can only help us as Neo-Pagans to learn more about what the past was actually like and what was actually practiced.

What they are like today

I had a wonderful opportunity to experience unbroken traditions. It was a trip to a pueblo in New Mexico a couple of winters ago.

Under the false impression my family ancestry included Native American heritage, which it actually doesn’t, I had begun studying Native American history and doing Native American beading. I was very proud of all the things I learned from my suburban table off the Internet. I friended Native American people on Facebook, and went to as many powwows as I could. I watched movies, and read books. I volunteered at our local Native American Center. I nominated people for awards for community service.

The Pueblo was different. It was a settlement people had been living in for a thousand years. It was adobe, so unlike our wood and drywall houses in the Midwest, they just smooth new layers of adobe over old layers to upgrade the structure as needs be. Photos from nearly one hundred years ago of this settlement look identical to how it looks today. There is no electricity and no running water. People wearing jeans and who drive cars live there the same way people did generations ago. Properties have been passed on from generation to generation. National publications have undertaken major photography shoots at the pueblo, and pictures from decades ago that became famous can be seen in some of the silversmiths shops, displayed with pride. People learned their crafts from parents and grandparents who learned from their parents and grandparents.

These people did not LOOK like the Midwestern Indians I had met. For one thing, they all looked related and they all were very dark. Many of the indigenous Midwestern folk I met were almost as light as me. As a matter of fact, the Pueblo people resembled the ground they used to make their adobe homes from. Their facial features were also more distinctive, and you could tell immediately who was related to whom. Trithfully, they all seemed related. All of them had this sense of identity that identified them as a unified PEOPLE, not a person, individual and separate from everybody else around them.

Sure, everybody did their own thing, but togetherness seemed MORE together. And individuals walking alone really did not seem to actually be alone. It was as if all the people who had lived in that Pueblo for a thousand years still went about their business. They were present, their hands helping bake the bread. Their voices spoke in unison with the drum maker as he spoke of his creative process. The people who taught the potters to create their masterpieces seemed to be there, having had a hand in creating pieces the artists offered for sale.

These practices, while not religious necessarily, have been passed down from generation to generation. The techniques have been improved over time and everything one person learns from another has been learned by dozens or more before.

What is Tradition?

This is a testimony of how powerful it actually is to belong to a tradition. Every word that was spoken to me by these people seemed to be uttered by multiple individuals simultaneously. Every breath taken was taken by all the ancestors of the living people breathing them. When they created, their teachers and their teachers teachers created with them.

Of course, everybody who learns a tradition changes it a little bit. Maybe this drum maker decides to use some new materials that were not available to his mentor. Maybe when he sings and plays his drum, he writes new songs to share that nobody has sung or played before.

Tradition is a living, breathing, ever evolving thing. Much remains the same, but just as much changes to accommodate the people currently keeping that tradition alive.

Being a part of a tradition is not a fear of change or a compromise of individuality, but a participation in something that is more powerful than all the individuals combined and a sustainable way to express individuality.

And that in and of itself is magical.

So while today’s Neo Pagans may oftentimes look down on tradition and initiation and learning from a mentor, I see great value and great power in it. On one hand, a lot of people are starved for tradition, because they can see the beauty and power in it, but the taboos needed to be observed, and the ability to put aside personal views and just cooperate proves too much for many of today’s American Neo Pagans. We were raised in a culture of instant gratification and with little discipline, after all, and participating in a tradition is both time consuming and you have to do as you are bloody well told sometimes.

The Benefits

Belonging to a tradition is not for everybody, but there are perks to at least looking into it, and below is what I feel are just a few of them.

1. To learn from somebody with more experience than you. Believe it or not, there are experts even in these new traditions who have been at it for a long time, and have a lot of knowledge they will gladly share. My Priest is old enough to be my father and has been participating in groups and has been studying on his own since before I was born. While I may be smart and can experience things on my own, I listen when he speaks. Learning about forty plus years of somebody else’s experience combined with what I am currently experiencing enhances my knowledge.
2. To share progress and what you have learned with other people, maybe helping one another along, is another benefit. Two heads are definitely better than one. Three, four, or even ten, are better. We come together to share thoughts, learning, and experiences, and sometimes, just to reassure one another. What gift one lacks, another can make up for. What one person did not think of, another will. Together, we learn more than we could learn on our own.
3. To contribute to something that was in existence before your participation, and to leave a mark that will live beyond your membership. This point was effectively illustrated to me at the pueblo. A tradition may only be as good as it effectively serves its members, but it is greater than its members. Contributing to something that is greater than you is just one perk to contributing to a tradition.
4. To give yourself time to experience things. Self study may not give the motivation to stick with something that a mentor encouraging you to keep trying can. Maybe you self-motivate better than most people, but it never hurts to be motivated and encouraged a little more sometimes.
5. To measure progress. Degrees, grades, turning in assignments, and graduating to posts of responsibility gives you goals to reach for and review of work helps show what you can work towards for betterment.
6. To provide opportunity to later become the mentor, helping new people the way your mentors helped you. The circle is unbroken in this way.

Working within systems is not for everybody. But just because it may not be for you does not mean traditions are useless or that people who prefer to practice them think they are better than you. On the other hand, If being in a tradition is your thing, do not be so quick to look down on all self taught people. Some of the greatest thinkers like Crowley and Gardner did much of their own research, even though they worked with others and had mentors.

Changing Times

In many ways, today’s Neo-Pagans are not at all practicing the old ways. Times have changed and people have changed. They way we live our lives and the way we structure religion has changed. We are inspired by the old ways. The very fact so many Neo-Pagans are inspired to research, and talk about old traditions helps keep the knowledge of them alive. Despite that, we are not in fact, actually practicing the old ways, unless we are actually participating in traditions that do the things the old traditions did.

We look to tribal peoples who have been practicing pre-Christian ways in unbroken lines of ancestry for inspiration, yet we refuse to acknowledge those are THEIR traditions, and that we cannot partake of because we are NOT them. We have the option to be adopted into their traditions if we are accepted. We rather, stay as outsiders, learning from internet and print, often published by other outsiders who are making money off claiming to belong to traditions that are not their own. In this way, we misappropriate those practices, and are incensed when initiates who have studied and worked for degrees or titles for decades speak up and say “No, you are not one of us.”

What is better?

Initiation or self-study?

Both.

We need both.

We need people keeping old practices and we need people creating new practices, even solitary ones.

Believe it or not, we need the self-taught people that spit at other people’s practices , traditions, and community work too. Occasionally, they unearth something nobody found or realize something nobody else realized.

So, worship.

Practice.

Be.

Respect traditions. Respect individuals.

Blessed Be.