Question :How do you plan on building a group, without working with the elders, and the community?Answer : ............ By building a new community.
January 13, 2002
The usual argument for making the sort of "compromises" that end up destroying the coherence of the philosophy and general vision of a group, is that without appeasing the elders, one can't even get started. The example of the "House", an Egyptian Reconstructionist group that has approached its subject matter as an African Traditionalist rather than a Neo-Pagan group, shows this assumption to be false. Let us learn from their success. (*)
You may gather, correctly, from what you've seen here, that what I am setting up is mainly what some would call a "Socratic discussion circle", with maybe a little ritual added. What it is, is the simplest of things. We gather for a communal meal (the sacrifice), people read things they have written, perform small plays they have written, discuss books they have read ... that sort of thing. That's the basic activity, augmented with the sort of relatively loose and relaxed 'ritual' which one finds at the festivals, which are the focus of our worship.
A greater contrast to what is usually thought of as being "Pagan" could not be imagined. There are no dark incantations, no hidden secrets to be accepted without question - and no role for an "elder" to fill. They would just get in the way. There is also nothing here to interest the occultist.
With this in mind, go visit the "Pagan" bookstores, and see what you can find. Books about Atlantis, "Alternative Medicine" (read : quackery), etc. There is nothing there to interest the sort of people who would be interested in the evening that I just described. What I've described to you is a select taste. It really is more for the graduate school crowd, than for the general population, who would feel out of place at such an event. The current "Pagan elders" could do little to help us at this point, even were they so inclined (and they aren't).
Given who we are looking for, where we look, and how, becomes obvious. Look to the places where well educated people are likely to be found. There are literary and philosophical discussion groups and readings, certain used bookstores, college campuses (obviously), some coffeehouses, ... When we post ads or event announcements, these are the venues to post them in, not the Occult bookstores, and certainly not online.
This raises the question - is Hellenic Traditionalism exclusively for the elite? No, but there are things that must be accomplished first, before we are ready to address the needs and concerns of the average man. To invite him to come, before we are ready for him, is to waste his time, and to disrupt our own meeting, stalling the very process by which we approach the day when we may throw our doors open to all.
So, how do we get there? Here's a sketch, of an idea of how we might do so. This plan should be viewed as highly tentative, given that we are at the very beginning of step three, at this point, meaning that this has not really been well tested by experience, yet.
Plans for the Future One note that will come through, if you've really looked over this site, is that the "Pagan community" is in bad need of reform. In fact, it has been in need of reform so long, that the very word "Pagan" has come to stand for things that we'd like to disassociate ourselves from. At some point, a community has reached the point at which all that can be done, is for it to be scrapped altogether, and begun anew. So, here's the plan.
Step One. Stand back, and let the community self-destruct. It's going to anyway, later if not sooner, and not much later at that. Remember "Saying Goodbye: Our Publisher Meets The Acolytes"? That narrative has an important moral. As badly treated as the voices of reason in the Pagan community have historically been, if we didn't exist, the 'community' would have to have invented us. We collectively serve as a scapegoat for the psychiatric outpatients, who dominate so much of its life, to take their frustrations out on. When we depart, they lose a needed buffer seperating them from each other, and the resulting hostilities prove to be more than they can deal with. Thus, ironically, by going into the community to argue against its craziness, we perpetuate its existence. Let us have the wisdom to do as the disciples did, and know when to knock the dust off our sandals, and move on.
Step Two. Document past absurdities, so that in the new cycle of existence for the Western Traditionalist community, we may see what the errors were, and learn from them. Also, so that we know some of the people to exclude, and can explain to newcomers why we are doing so.
Here's about where we are
Step Three. Start assembling small groups, to begin the discussion of the philosophies of the traditions we are constructing, do the research, begin the writing, etc. These are to be the sort of informal, non-authoritarian groups that scholars thrive in. The Shrine, itself, is a step three group. Such groups do not pretend to be for everybody.
This should produce a few howls of outrage over my "snobbery" or "elitism", but I'm sorry, folks, the bag boy at the Jewel probably doesn't have much of value to contribute to a discussion of epistemology. It's silly to pretend that he does. The Wiccan community believes in the awarding of degrees, and so do we. The difference is that the degrees we believe in come from recognized universities, not from belligerent individuals who like to charge $500/course to teach one how to turn milk into pearls.
Such groups, so long as they are kept truly non-hierarchical, must be kept limited to those whose intellects are up to the challenges that taking part in them might pose. A good first step, in my view, is limiting membership to college graduates, in groups such as these.
It is for this reason, that we don't post our calendar HERE. Oh, we will post our notices where they can be found, but in the places where the educated are likely to be found, and the Wiccan elders are not. Where is that? If you are local and should be seeing those notices, you won't need us to tell you, here, because you will be seeing those notices elsewhere, sooner or later.
You see, our objective in step three is not to win some sort of fight with the old, dying community. It is to be left in peace as we pursue our own vision. Experience has taught us that if we make it easy for the elders to find us, they will never tire of sending people over to bother us, or of making another attempt to take over or cause a disruption. It's what they do. But it's not what we do, so we're walking away, and that has to include being careful about who it is that finds his way to our front door.
Step Four. Small discussion and ritual groups have now formed. The Apollonian branch of the new community is well formed, and may now be of service in giving form to the Dionysian. (This will eventually be discussed in the Lupercalia section, in more detail). What we need, now that the philosophical discussions are under way, is a little more passion. Here is where we start making more contacts within the artistic community.
Each member of one of our stage three groups, maybe with a partner or two, begins his own group, while retaining membership in his old group. What we're forming here is hierarchy, but only to the extent that we can't make do without it. The stage three groups remain the circles of equals they've always been. The structure of a stage four group is more likely to be like that of a theatre company, I should think, than like the gathering at a faculty tea. The representative from the stage three group would be like its director. He respects the artist enough to give him enough freedom to express himself, but does make it clear that it is his vision that holds the company on course.
He brings the ideas to the group, that inspire its creations. The step four groups flesh out what we might regard as being our body of "ritual". They begin the work on new mysteries for our era. (This work will take centuries to reach fruition). They create art and music in which our faith finds expression. This, they do, and much more. These groups should, in no sense, be thought of as being of lesser dignity than the step three groups. Without their help, the visions of the step three groups would never take on life. Religion that doesn't reach the worshipper on the visceral level, fails to serve its purpose. For this reason, the artist or the poet is to be esteemed as highly as the philosopher, as we build our traditions.
Step Five. It is said that each actor dreams of being a director, and in this step, some of them get that chance. The directors of some of the stage four groups invite some of their more intelligent people to drop by some of the closed (ie. well-established) step three groups, as associate members, for occasional discussions.
They then become the directors of groups the general public is invited to join. The creative ideas generated in their step four groups, give them material to work with, in their step five groups.
These groups, however, are not independent. They represent the step four groups their directors belong to. Their own directors will be responsible for appointing the treasures for those groups. Unlike the decentralized step three groups, the step five groups may be expected to have a decidedly hierarchical structure. Let us face it, some people really do need guidance, and these are the people we are now getting to. Also, the ritual structure may be expected to be far more elaborate, and that calls for a little more control, than limited anarchism can provide.
Dues? Yes. A step five group, unlike a step three group, is a formal group. However, certain principles remain in place. Religion must never be about making profit, the way it was in the bad old days of the New Age. It must always be something that makes the worshipper proud to be a part of it. Funds collected are NEVER to be used to provide the group managements with incomes. Let us learn the lessons of the 1990s well. That way corrupts all who come into contact with it.
Here's an example of a legitimate use of funds. To pay for the director's tuition, while she seeks training as a counselor is a legitimate use of funds raised, SO LONG AS CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS FOLLOW. In particular, she must be obliged to either volunteer her time as a counselor, working for the group, for some minimum length of time. The point in this case being, that the funds are disbursed for something that serves those from whom they are collected, never for personal gain.
In step five, we reach out to everybody. Do we advertise in a scattershot fashion? No, because we're still being selective, just in a different way. In step three, we were looking for well-applied intelligence. In step four, for creative people with the right motivation. In step five, we're looking for that bag boy at the Jewel I mentioned, who, while he may not be smart enough to follow an argument about the merits and drawbacks of Rule Utilitarianism, has a good heart, and honors the gods with his love.
What we're looking for in step five is basic decency, and you don't find that online. Online, you find people who like to get attention by arguing about how the victims of shark attacks deserve to be eaten, and how sex with eight year old boys should be legalized, to take two "causes" out of the many I have seen. This is not what we are looking for.
Advertising a volunteer group in a neighborhood newspaper might be a place to start. What we are looking for here, are what in a Catholic setting would be called "pillars of the church". People who will active in their community, and serve as good role models for the young. The sort of worshipper who you know, when a blizzard has kept everybody at home, will be there in a half-empty church, because there was no way that he would miss mass. These are the people we are waiting to serve. Let us work to make sure that we will be worthy to do so.
We should end up with the nucleus of something akin to a church community. The analogy is not perfect, because we are well aware of the fact that none of us has anything like the stature of one of the early Church fathers. Nor, at this early stage in the development of modern Hellenic Traditionalism, should we regard it as being a religion. It is more, an idea of what a religion might be.
A religion is something that comes into being, after the groundwork has been layed for centuries, and a lay tradition has arisen, in a previous faith community. There is a folk tradition creating a context, in which it is natural for something akin to a prophet to arise. Where we are right now, is at the beginning of the creation of that folk tradition.
That is an important place to be. Such a time comes when the old tradition has been pushed to its conceptual limits and has started to break. Let us be honest and face it. The older faiths of our time have served humanity well, but the cracks are starting to show. The Wiccans have tried to discard them outright, imagining in their pride that they could create a new one from scratch. We know better.
The membership of groups such as the Shrine, and those groups that may form under their guidance, in steps four and five, are not only allowed to continue their membership in established churches and synagogues, but are encouraged to do so. Yes, this means that they will be exposed to some anti-"Pagan" rhetoric. So be it. It suffices, to merely prove that rhetoric wrong by our examples. By staying in the established communities, though, we stay rooted in the larger community, and in the past, and that matters. It gives a stability to our infant community, and protects it from the harm an insular existence may inflict, on a group's sense of proportion and reasonability.
For these reason, we do not feel angry at the suggestion that we have made Hellenic Traditionalism an appendage to Christianity. On the contrary, we joyfully acknowledge it, without apology. What we offer is not so much an alternative to the church, as a place where some of its dissenters may gather, as a new direction of progress begins to take form.
At the end of step five, we should be seeing the establishment of a small physical shrine, or two, and heavy attendance at special events. This brings us to the next stage.
Step Six. The membership is here, but the community is not. A community forms when people meet each other and bonds form.
How is this to be done? Think of the community as an extended family, with the moderators or directors of a group as parents, and the membership of a group as their children. In the case of the step three groups, think of the spirit that guides the group, as being its director. Having done so, think about how it is, that you got to know the members of your extended family.
First, you knew your parents by instinct, and they helped you get to know your brothers and sisters. (Much as the member learns to work peaceably with the other members, in his own group). With your immediate family as company, your parents introduced you to the families of their brothers and sisters - ie. your cousins. (In this analogy, the director of one step four group, would introduce his people, from the group he presided over, to those of one of his "brothers", in the group he belonged to). Gradually, one works one's way outward, and special obligations and understandings exist, in relation to one's position in that kinship network. The principle here would be similar. The model here, is not the almost militaristic Wiccan system of alliances, in a field of warring groups, but of a family that knows that it may be at peace, because of the traditions that it honors.
As people from one group get to know another, it is only natural that they should be drawn togather, as individuals, by common interests. Pagan leaders have often put a halt to the formation of such side associations. (What we will refer to as being step six groups, here). This is foolish. Such groups are what give a community its cohesion. When it comes under attack from without, these are the groups that build the bonds of trust, that allow people to come together, and know who to side with in such times. Without these, the community lacks resilience.
In a Christian context, think of everything from the wide variety of monastic orders, to lay associations such as the Knights of Columbus. Does the Roman Catholic Church fear that the Knights of Columbus will become a separate church and siphon off members? Or that the Benedictines are plotting a takeover? No, of course not. Let us learn from their example.
Step Seven. We now have a community. Having our own house in order, means that we are now in a position to reach out to others, that we might have once turned away, because we weren't ready to deal with them. At the very least, years, if not decades will have passed. It is not a given, that any of us will even live to see this. With money in hand, the community can start seriously talking about doing the sort of things that churches do, like opening homes for substance abusers, and the like.
Previous arguments still rule out anything akin to proselytizing. However, this is the stage at which the community can start trying to win over those who need to be persuaded to deal honestly with us. A step seven group, is a ministry, of sorts.
Only of sorts. The arguments against the claiming of clerical titles remain in force. The orders here, are lay orders, albeit with a sacred purpose, even if the people within them have no pretensions of being sacred themselves. Nor should they. At this point, the beginning is over. What lies beyond, I wouldn't care to guess. I'll be amazed if the plan makes it this far without major revision.
Let the reader note, that at each step in those future plans, as they stand, there would have been no use for a mail link. There is always promotion, but the question should always be, where we do so, and why.
(*) Let us also remain mindful of their failures. Right now (March 4, 2002), I'm writing up an account of what I saw, when I ventured onto their webboards, in order to get some sense of what the House had evolved into. Let me give you the short form. If you set up a flower bed in the middle of a garbage dump, no matter how diligently you clean up, eventually the place is going to smell, and eventually you are going to stop noticing.
The usual netkooks drifted into the boards, over time. The process of constantly making peace with people who don't want to be reasonable has apparently taken its toll on the staff, whose very sense of rationality seems to have suffered.
The moral of the story here is clear. Netforums are a bad idea. They take too much of a toll on the minds and spirits of one's membership. One's group loses its way, in the process of working through all of the politics, because there are too many crazies with too much determination out there, online, for any group to deal with. The best call, is to just walk away, before they succeed in making you as crazy as they are, and do one's networking offline.
Hence, the disappearance of the mail links, and the events schedule. This site is purely a reference.