{"id":5383,"date":"2011-06-01T01:10:25","date_gmt":"2011-06-01T06:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=5492"},"modified":"2011-05-24T18:04:28","modified_gmt":"2011-05-24T23:04:28","slug":"pagan-theology-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2011\/06\/01\/pagan-theology-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Pagan Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pagan Theology:\u00a0 The Mountain<\/strong><\/p>\n

While I think both of us would really like to avoid any reference to Miley Cyrus in this column, \u00a0I am going to talk about the mountain, and the climb [1].\u00a0\u00a0 We all have our own mountain, and our own path.\u00a0 For some its steeper, for some, higher.\u00a0 Sometimes its wooded and we, like Dante, can\u2019t quite see where we are headed.\u00a0 For others it is so rocky and barren they can barely stand it.\u00a0\u00a0 Many people decide on the Christian path, even if they don\u2019t stick to it and their mountain looks really different from the one Christ actually climbed.\u00a0 Others, the secularists, turn away from the mountain and go have a beer in town.\u00a0 Pagans take a different path, one that is both tough and magical.<\/p>\n

Thinking about paths and climbing, I thought it would be worthwhile to talk a little about the idea of journey in the context of a Pagan theology.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I know I risk getting my wheels stuck in the mud of advice columns [2], but I\u2019ll try to avoid the usual prescriptions.<\/p>\n

In his book \u201cFour Spiritualties\u201d Peter Richardson [3] discusses four different types of spiritual paths.\u00a0 His paths correspond to different Meyer\u2019s-Briggs personality Indicators<\/em> [4].\u00a0 These personality types go back to Jung\u2019s psychological types, which in turn work into the idea of the magical.\u00a0 But that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n

In his book Richardson describes the journey\u2019s that appeal to each grouping of personality type:\u00a0 the path of unity, the journey of devotion, the journey of works, and the journey of harmony.\u00a0 While you might want to read his book to see which type of journey you fit into, and what each one entails, I was inspired by his idea of journey to think about what constitutes a Pagan journey.\u00a0 What propels us along the path?\u00a0 What actions lead us to fulfillment, and how do we get there through the Gods and Goddesses?\u00a0 These are big questions, ones I\u2019ll only begin to talk about here, but I think they are extremely interesting questions.<\/p>\n

Unlike Richardson who sees each journey as an integrated set of actions that encompass all the different aspects of spiritual questing, I want to examine the individual components that make up a journey.\u00a0 In other words I\u2019m using Richardson\u2019s idea of the four paths as a way to organize my thinking about the tasks that lead us along the Pagan path. \u00a0\u00a0These are:\u00a0 take others with you, find love, find peace, and practice.\u00a0 Each loosely corresponds to Richardson\u2019s paths:\u00a0 unity: others; devotion: love; harmony: peace; works: practice.<\/p>\n

The first task is to take others with you on the journey.\u00a0 Without others, the journey will not only be lonely, but you will miss the key lessons that compassion and humanity can teach you.\u00a0 If you look at many Pagan books, they focus a lot on the inner and out works, but not on works that engage us with other people and the world.\u00a0 The book religions are all about engaging with the world, in particular Christianity focuses a lot on not only how you treat others, but in how you treat the least fortunate, the outcasts, and the marginalized.<\/p>\n

Taking others with you on the journey means travelling together, and picking up those who are laying beside the road.\u00a0 In travelling together we are asked to test our faith against the beliefs and actions of other Pagans.\u00a0 While it is totally possible to be a solitary practitioner, and to be spiritual alone, it is not possible to be religious alone [5].\u00a0 Beliefs, practices, magic, spirit, faith, and other beliefs are private, but religion is both private and public.\u00a0 It is an organized faith, whether it is organized around a circle, a Pagan festival, or a meetup.\u00a0 It asks that you not only believe, but that you take the risk of speaking and affirming your belief amongst others.\u00a0 Faith that is witnessed, that is tested, grows stronger and propels you along the path.<\/p>\n

Teachers also give us the experience of the other in our journey.\u00a0 Learning by reading or having a spiritual experience often requires considerable work and in many cases you still get it wrong.\u00a0 A teacher, at least a good one, can explain in few words many things that you have overlooked or misread.\u00a0 And only a teacher can teach you how to be in a faith.\u00a0 Attitude, confidence, the idea of a magical will, are all things that are shown and taught between people.<\/p>\n

Travelling together and with our teachers we often encounter the less fortunate.\u00a0 There are those who are down on their luck.\u00a0 In fact today there are many more down on their luck than in the past.\u00a0 There are also those who are down on their spiritual luck, those whose attitudes, personalities, and abilities have left the alone on the journey.\u00a0 Many of those people show up at our circles and meetups.\u00a0 We need to show compassion, in order to learn how to be compassionate.\u00a0 But at the same time we are on a climb.\u00a0 The Pagan path is both demanding and weird.\u00a0 Those who drop behind on the path, those who are not disposed to its hardships and requirements, we must let them know we will be waiting, but they need to know that we will not stop.\u00a0 There is a balance between helping, and stopping.<\/p>\n

The second task is to find love.\u00a0 Love is another spiritual goal that is not readily discussed in the Pagan literature.\u00a0 Perhaps that\u2019s because of all the \u201cgod is love\u201d Christian nonsense.\u00a0 God is not just love, the Lord and Lady come in many forms, love, cruelty, vengeance, satisfaction, plenty, warmth, amongst only a few.\u00a0 But we also need to remember that we do have Goddesses of love:\u00a0 Aphrodite, Aine, Ishtar, Inanna, and others.\u00a0 \u00a0Love is as much a part of Paganism as anything else, honor, sex, nature, or magic.<\/p>\n

Finding love requires more of us than simply falling in love with one of our fellow travellers.\u00a0 It means seeking and finding the love of the Lord and Lady.\u00a0 Their love is within us, all around us, it is in everything that we see, touch, walk on, and breathe.\u00a0 It comes from the breath of the world, from our experience in nature and in ritual.\u00a0 Love is that which propels us up the path with out fellow travellers.\u00a0 In it we find that which is more than ourselves.\u00a0 From love of the Goddess comes peace.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to our third task:\u00a0 find peace.\u00a0 Peace here refers to inner peace.\u00a0 It is the balance that comes from a loving community.\u00a0 It is the calm that comes from knowing yourself and having your beliefs, values, and worth firmly grounded.\u00a0 Peace lets us navigate the tricky, technical, parts of our climb.\u00a0 When things become dangerous, peace is the solid bedrock beneath our feet that keeps us from falling.<\/p>\n

Without peace there are many challenges that we will not overcome when we face them.\u00a0 The first test that the mountain usually gives us on the Pagan path is one of ego.\u00a0 For some reason Paganism, and magic, can easily lead to a narcissistic pursuit of personal power and egotism.\u00a0 You know everything, you are always right about the Gods and Goddesses, you must be the first, the boss, the most magical.\u00a0 Perhaps it is the association of magic with power that is so tempting, or the fact that Pagan beliefs are so malleable that we each are essentially charting our own without any higher authority.\u00a0 Personally I believe that Paganism encourages self-centeredness because it is different, it is not mainstream.\u00a0 By just starting down a Pagan path you become different, special, unique.\u00a0 If you long to be special, Paganism can provide that specialness.\u00a0 We attract those who want to be unique, different.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately that way does not lead to peace, to grounding.\u00a0 It\u2019s too easy to fall from the path, to lose others, to lose love, if it is all about you.\u00a0 While the rede and the threefold law are seen as the most important expressions of Pagan ethics, I see the magical law:\u00a0 magic spoken is magic spoiled, as the most important law.\u00a0 The discipline of not talking about your craft, of your religion, of your beliefs, robs Paganism of that ego feeding uniqueness.\u00a0 If you do not tell unless you need to no one will know that you are different.\u00a0 I know how tempting it is to let your Christian friends know about your beliefs.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not saying you shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 But you should also know that there is a power in holding back, and that power is the peace of seeking the Gods and Goddesses for what they are, not what you are.<\/p>\n

Another challenge that we face as Pagans, particularly Pagan leaders, is burnout.\u00a0 Without peace I have seen too many leaders eventually fall off the path, or at least retreat into solitary practice.\u00a0 If ego claims half of those who fall away, burnout claims the other.\u00a0\u00a0 Peace gives you the grounding to know what is important to do right now.\u00a0 Attend to your Gods and Goddesses first, for they are the mountain and the path.\u00a0 Everything else, your reward, fellowship, and practice, are second to that focus.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the fourth task:\u00a0 practice.\u00a0 \u00a0Now practice can mean a lot of things.\u00a0 It can mean a regular devotional practice such as ritual or prayer, it can mean the practice of magic or other practical spiritual arts, or it can mean \u201cdoing something in the world.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019d contend all of these are a component of a religious practice.\u00a0 They both ground you in the world, and they require a certain regulated discipline out of you.\u00a0 In each of them you are giving something, usually time and attention, to the world of the spirit.<\/p>\n

Pagan devotional practices are not as regulated as those of other religions with their rosaries and regularly scheduled prayers.\u00a0 However, just because we don\u2019t have those rules, doesn\u2019t mean that there are not useful, or that we can\u2019t implement them ourselves.\u00a0 Pagan devotions can range from daily prayer or communion with the Gods and Goddesses to a simple walk through the woods.\u00a0 With the Gods and the Goddesses all around us, and within us, many daily actions or rituals can become devotional.\u00a0 Gardening, making a meal, or playing with your dog can all be ways of connecting with the Goddess [6].<\/p>\n

But practice is a serious occupation as well. \u00a0It is focused attention on the work of the Gods and the Goddess.\u00a0 Prayer, meditation, and magic represent related but different ways that attention can be focused.\u00a0\u00a0 Prayer is a conversation, mediation or shamanic journey is a seeking of union, and magic is bringing the spirit into manifestation in the world.\u00a0 None of these practices is done well the first time you do it.\u00a0 It takes practice to do practice right.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s typically called a spiritual discipline.\u00a0 Because the discipline you accept in focusing your mind gives you the mental and psychic strength you need to accomplish the task.<\/p>\n

Practice can also mean acting in the world.\u00a0 After all you \u201cpractice\u201d a faith or a spiritual discipline.\u00a0 The practical aspect of faith is perhaps not as glamorous as the spiritual, but its something that we all benefit from.\u00a0 Leading ritual, helping to prepare meals for the homeless, or working for progress in our religion are all examples of practice.<\/p>\n

Think about the time and effort that many of our leaders put into our groups every day.\u00a0 Scheduling Pagan Pride day, doing rituals, leading classes, and simply organizing covens and groups takes a lot of effort.\u00a0 These are all spiritual practices that build character and faith through service.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 These practices do not make the leaders greater, they make them more humble, more thoughtful, and more prone to realize the ways in which they fall short.\u00a0 To practice leadership within a Pagan group is to work long hours for only the reward of better self awareness.\u00a0 In thinking about practice it is important to realize that the practice is not itself what propels you along the path, but the changes it makes in how you see the world.<\/p>\n

So what constitutes a Pagan journey?\u00a0 I\u2019d contend these four tasks:\u00a0 be with others, find love, find peace, and practice, are great starting points for developing an answer to that question.<\/p>\n

The book religions have lots of theological and liturgical answers to the questions of fellowship, love, peace, and works.\u00a0 But we have little to guide us, as many of the teachings of the old religions have been lost.\u00a0 Given the proliferation of love Goddesses, for example, it is almost certain that ancient Celtic and Mediterranean religions had deep and thoughtful things to say about the role of love in our relationships.\u00a0 And some of those relationships are between us and the Gods and Goddesses.<\/p>\n

So what path do we take?\u00a0 What do our ancestors tell us about the climb?\u00a0 It sure would be great to follow the path that has been trod for millennia.<\/p>\n

That is not possible today.\u00a0\u00a0 As Pagans we are pretty much on our own.\u00a0 To climb as high as we can on the mountain we need to understand the path using our own experiences and reasoning.\u00a0 We need to know how to climb, and where our footing is sure and where it is weak.\u00a0 This is an enormous challenge, one I do not think we realize the depth and complexity of.\u00a0 Defining a new way, a way that incorporates reified deity into the quest for transcendent love, inner peace, and selfless practice is very hard work.<\/p>\n

Because we do not have the path, we must cut one for ourselves.\u00a0 That is pretty scary, because the mountain is tall and rugged.\u00a0 But at the same time it is exhilarating.\u00a0 As we cut our way up the mountain we are finding remnants of those who have come before us.\u00a0 As we work, lead, and practice the Pagan path will become clear, maybe not easier, but clear.<\/p>\n

[1] Instead of anything by Cyrus (either one), I\u2019d recommend Mother, I Climbed<\/em> written by the great Dave Carter and performed by Tracy Grammer.\u00a0 It challenges the whole idea of this column, saying that at the top of the mountain he found nothing, and it was only returning to the earth, the womb of the Goddess (Marianna, who can be taken as an obscure love Goddess or the symbol reason (and France)), that he found peace.\u00a0 It is a very interesting song, like all of Carter\u2019s songs.\u00a0 And Tracy Grammer is one of the best folk vocalists recording today.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.tracygrammer.com\/php\/lyrics.php?uid=506<\/a><\/p>\n

[2] Another Dave Carter reference.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.tracygrammer.com\/php\/lyrics.php?uid=98http:\/\/www.tracygrammer.com\/php\/lyrics.php?uid=98<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0 Peter Tufts Richardson.\u00a0 Four Spiritualties:\u00a0 Expressions of Self, Expressions of Spirit:\u00a0 A Psychology of Contemporary Spiritual Choice<\/em>, Davies-Black Publishing, 1996.<\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0 Meyers-Briggs Type Indicators and MBTI are registered trademarks of Consulting Psychologists Press Inc.<\/p>\n

[5]\u00a0 I get a lot of grief when I say this, but I am talking in a very technical sense about the term \u201creligion.\u201d\u00a0 It is not the same as \u201cmystic,\u201d \u201cshaman,\u201d \u201cmagician,\u201d or even \u201cwitch.\u201d\u00a0 Religion implies a set of agreed on beliefs, and organization, and a public witness.\u00a0 Paganism in all its forms totally qualifies on all these (well, except we are not terribly well organized at the strategic level).\u00a0 However solitary spirituality is not a \u201creligion.\u201d It is a practice, a faith, or a spirituality, but not a religion.\u00a0 Its not bad, its just we need a term to indicate an organized group who believes the same thing about deity.<\/p>\n

[6]\u00a0 Remember there are Gods and Goddesses for everything, Epona, while typically associated with horses, is also seen in her statuary accompanied by dogs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pagan Theology:\u00a0 The Mountain While I think both of us would really like to avoid any reference to Miley Cyrus in this column, \u00a0I am going to talk about the mountain, and the climb [1].\u00a0\u00a0 We all have our own mountain, and our own path.\u00a0 For some its steeper, for some, higher.\u00a0 Sometimes its wooded and we, like Dante, can\u2019t quite see where we are headed.\u00a0 For others it is so rocky and barren they can barely stand it.\u00a0\u00a0 Many people decide on the Christian path, even if they don\u2019t stick to it and their mountain looks really different from the one Christ actually climbed.\u00a0 Others, the secularists, turn away from the mountain and go have a beer in town.\u00a0 Pagans take a different path, one that is both tough and magical. Thinking about paths and climbing, I thought it would be worthwhile to talk a little about the idea of journey in the context of a Pagan theology.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I know I risk getting my wheels stuck in the mud of advice columns [2], but I\u2019ll try to avoid the usual prescriptions. In his book \u201cFour Spiritualties\u201d Peter Richardson [3] discusses four different types of spiritual paths.\u00a0 His paths correspond to different Meyer\u2019s-Briggs personality Indicators [4].\u00a0 These personality types go back to Jung\u2019s psychological types, which in turn work into the idea of the magical.\u00a0 But that\u2019s another story. In his book Richardson describes the journey\u2019s that appeal to each grouping of personality type:\u00a0 the path of unity, the journey of devotion, the journey of works, and the journey of harmony.\u00a0 While you might want to read his book to see which type of journey you fit into, and what each one entails, I was inspired by his idea of journey to think about what constitutes a Pagan journey.\u00a0 What propels us along the path?\u00a0 What actions lead us to fulfillment, and how do we get there through the Gods and Goddesses?\u00a0 These are big questions, ones I\u2019ll only begin to talk about here, but I think they are extremely interesting questions. Unlike Richardson who sees each journey as an integrated set of actions that encompass all the different aspects of spiritual questing, I want to examine the individual components that make up a journey.\u00a0 In other words I\u2019m using Richardson\u2019s idea of the four paths as a way to organize my thinking about the tasks that lead us along the Pagan path. \u00a0\u00a0These are:\u00a0 take others with you, find love, find peace, and practice.\u00a0 Each loosely corresponds to Richardson\u2019s paths:\u00a0 unity: others; devotion: love; harmony: peace; works: practice. The first task is to take others with you on the journey.\u00a0 Without others, the journey will not only be lonely, but you will miss the key lessons that compassion and humanity can teach you.\u00a0 If you look at many Pagan books, they focus a lot on the inner and out works, but not on works that engage us with other people and the world.\u00a0 The book religions are all about engaging with the world, in particular Christianity focuses a lot on not only how you treat others, but in how you treat the least fortunate, the outcasts, and the marginalized. Taking others with you on the journey means travelling together, and picking up those who are laying beside the road.\u00a0 In travelling together we are asked to test our faith against the beliefs and actions of other Pagans.\u00a0 While it is totally possible to be a solitary practitioner, and to be spiritual alone, it is not possible to be religious alone [5].\u00a0 Beliefs, practices, magic, spirit, faith, and other beliefs are private, but religion is both private and public.\u00a0 It is an organized faith, whether it is organized around a circle, a Pagan festival, or a meetup.\u00a0 It asks that you not only believe, but that you take the risk of speaking and affirming your belief amongst others.\u00a0 Faith that is witnessed, that is tested, grows stronger and propels you along the path. Teachers also give us the experience of the other in our journey.\u00a0 Learning by reading or having a spiritual experience often requires considerable work and in many cases you still get it wrong.\u00a0 A teacher, at least a good one, can explain in few words many things that you have overlooked or misread.\u00a0 And only a teacher can teach you how to be in a faith.\u00a0 Attitude, confidence, the idea of a magical will, are all things that are shown and taught between people. Travelling together and with our teachers we often encounter the less fortunate.\u00a0 There are those who are down on their luck.\u00a0 In fact today there are many more down on their luck than in the past.\u00a0 There are also those who are down on their spiritual luck, those whose attitudes, personalities, and abilities have left the alone on the journey.\u00a0 Many of those people show up at our circles and meetups.\u00a0 We need to show compassion, in order to learn how to be compassionate.\u00a0 But at the same time we are on a climb.\u00a0 The Pagan path is both demanding and weird.\u00a0 Those who drop behind on the path, those who are not disposed to its hardships and requirements, we must let them know we will be waiting, but they need to know that we will not stop.\u00a0 There is a balance between helping, and stopping. The second task is to find love.\u00a0 Love is another spiritual goal that is not readily discussed in the Pagan literature.\u00a0 Perhaps that\u2019s because of all the \u201cgod is love\u201d Christian nonsense.\u00a0 God is not just love, the Lord and Lady come in many forms, love, cruelty, vengeance, satisfaction, plenty, warmth, amongst only a few.\u00a0 But we also need to remember that we do have Goddesses of love:\u00a0 Aphrodite, Aine, Ishtar, Inanna, and others.\u00a0 \u00a0Love is as much a part of Paganism as anything else, honor, sex, nature, or magic. Finding love requires more of us than simply falling in love with one of our fellow travellers.\u00a0 It means seeking and finding the love of the Lord and Lady.\u00a0 Their love is within us, all around us, it is in everything that we see, touch, walk on, and breathe.\u00a0 It comes from the breath of the world, from our experience in nature and in ritual.\u00a0 Love is that which propels us up the path with out fellow travellers.\u00a0 In it we find that which is more than ourselves.\u00a0 From love of the Goddess comes peace. Which brings us to our third task:\u00a0 find peace.\u00a0 Peace here refers to inner peace.\u00a0 It is the balance that comes from a loving community.\u00a0 It is the calm that comes from knowing yourself and having your beliefs, values, and worth firmly grounded.\u00a0 Peace lets us navigate the tricky, technical, parts of our climb.\u00a0 When things become dangerous, peace is the solid bedrock beneath our feet that keeps us from falling. Without peace there are many challenges that we will not overcome when we face them.\u00a0 The first test that the mountain usually gives us on the Pagan path is one of ego.\u00a0 For some reason Paganism, and magic, can easily lead to a narcissistic pursuit of personal power and egotism.\u00a0 You know everything, you are always right about the Gods and Goddesses, you must be the first, the boss, the most magical.\u00a0 Perhaps it is the association of magic with power that is so tempting, or the fact that Pagan beliefs are so malleable that we each are essentially charting our own without any higher authority.\u00a0 Personally I believe that Paganism encourages self-centeredness because it is different, it is not mainstream.\u00a0 By just starting down a Pagan path you become different, special, unique.\u00a0 If you long to be special, Paganism can provide that specialness.\u00a0 We attract those who want to be unique, different. Unfortunately that way does not lead to peace, to grounding.\u00a0 It\u2019s too easy to fall from the path, to lose others, to lose love, if it is all about you.\u00a0 While the rede and the threefold law are seen as the most important expressions of Pagan ethics, I see the magical law:\u00a0 magic spoken is magic spoiled, as the most important law.\u00a0 The discipline of not talking about your craft, of your religion, of your beliefs, robs Paganism of that ego feeding uniqueness.\u00a0 If you do not tell unless you need to no one will know that you are different.\u00a0 I know how tempting it is to let your Christian friends know about your beliefs.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not saying you shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 But you should also know that there is a power in holding back, and that power is the peace of seeking the Gods and Goddesses for what they are, not what you are. Another challenge that we face as Pagans, particularly Pagan leaders, is burnout.\u00a0 Without peace I have seen too many leaders eventually fall off the path, or at least retreat into solitary practice.\u00a0 If ego claims half of those who fall away, burnout claims the other.\u00a0\u00a0 Peace gives you the grounding to know what is important to do right now.\u00a0 Attend to your Gods and Goddesses first, for they are the mountain and the path.\u00a0 Everything else, your reward, fellowship, and practice, are second to that focus. Which brings us to the fourth task:\u00a0 practice.\u00a0 \u00a0Now practice can mean a lot of things.\u00a0 It can mean a regular devotional practice such as ritual or prayer, it can mean the practice of magic or other practical spiritual arts, or it can mean \u201cdoing something in the world.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019d contend all of these are a component of a religious practice.\u00a0 They both ground you in the world, and they require a certain regulated discipline out of you.\u00a0 In each of them you are giving something, usually time and attention, to the world of the spirit. Pagan devotional practices are not as regulated as those of other religions with their rosaries and regularly scheduled prayers.\u00a0 However, just because we don\u2019t have those rules, doesn\u2019t mean that there are not useful, or that we can\u2019t implement them ourselves.\u00a0 Pagan devotions can range from daily prayer or communion with the Gods and Goddesses to a simple walk through the woods.\u00a0 With the Gods and the Goddesses all around us, and within us, many daily actions or rituals can become devotional.\u00a0 Gardening, making a meal, or playing with your dog can all be ways of connecting with the Goddess [6]. But practice is a serious occupation as well. \u00a0It is focused attention on the work of the Gods and the Goddess.\u00a0 Prayer, meditation, and magic represent related but different ways that attention can be focused.\u00a0\u00a0 Prayer is a conversation, mediation or shamanic journey is a seeking of union, and magic is bringing the spirit into manifestation in the world.\u00a0 None of these practices is done well the first time you do it.\u00a0 It takes practice to do practice right.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s typically called a spiritual discipline.\u00a0 Because the discipline you accept in focusing your mind gives you the mental and psychic strength you need to accomplish the task. Practice can also mean acting in the world.\u00a0 After all you \u201cpractice\u201d a faith or a spiritual discipline.\u00a0 The practical aspect of faith is perhaps not as glamorous as the spiritual, but its something that we all benefit from.\u00a0 Leading ritual, helping to prepare meals for the homeless, or working for progress in our religion are all examples of practice. Think about the time and effort that many of our leaders put into our groups every day.\u00a0 Scheduling Pagan Pride day, doing rituals, leading classes, and simply organizing covens and groups takes a lot of effort.\u00a0 These are all spiritual practices that build character and faith through service.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 These practices do not make the leaders greater, they make them more humble, more thoughtful, and more prone to realize the ways in which they fall short.\u00a0 To practice leadership within a Pagan group is to work long hours for only the reward of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}