Introducing the NC Pagan Elders Council

At the recent Central North Carolina Pagan Pride Day, I hosted a roundtable discussion on Nourishing Healthy Elder Culture. See my previous post for details about the weekend. It was a delight! We had about a dozen attendees, a great turnout for a first time initiative. The biggest need expressed by the group was for connection. This resonated strongly with me, both on a personal level and on the level of my vision for the community.

Connection among the Pagan community at large is vital for our survival and well-being. We are an incredibly diverse group, and many of us are still in the shadows. We don't even know the extent of our faith in many areas. Most groups are small, with limited resources. It is my opinion that every chance we get, we need to participate in alliances and group events. In my local area, the Triangle Area Pagan Alliance is one such organization. Pagan Pride Day is another good example.

Connection between the generations is also an important thing for us to promote as the Pagan community matures. Contemporary Paganism started picking up steam in the mid-20th century, and many of the leaders are now Elders in fact as well as function. Many others are raising families and are moving toward Eldership as well. Meanwhile, young people continue to be drawn toward our path. All of the age groups have needs, and all can help each other. Connecting the generations is the way to coordinate that assistance, as well as support the growth and continuity of our traditions and wider community.

I am pleased to announce the formation of the North Carolina Pagan Elders Council. We will begin small and see where this initiative takes us. I created a secret Facebook group to use as a forum. Next week, I will be attending the Pagan Pride Day planning meeting for the 2015 event. At that meeting, I will be proposing an Elder-led ritual at next year's Pagan Pride Day festival and an official Elders Council.

The Elders Council will be a discussion circle for all the generations to come together and discuss how we can foster healthy multi-generational support in our communities. Everyone will have a chance to speak. We will learn from each other. We will make new connections.

Our roundtable attendees also expressed a desire for celebration, which led to the idea for the Elder-led ritual. I think this is a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate and honor our Elders, as well as to give them visibility in our community. The details of the ritual will be determined by the participants as next year's Pagan Pride Day draws closer.

All are welcome, Elder, Younger and all those in between. If you would like to join us, email me to be added to the Facebook group. If you are outside North Carolina, consider forming your own Elders Council. I'd be happy to discuss and support your efforts. If you are doing this in your community already, please comment on this post or drop me a line. Let's work together to heal the generations and improve the health of our communities!

Unity at Pagan Pride

This weekend, central North Carolina celebrated Pagan Pride Day (PPD) with a weekend-long festival. We are blessed to have a lovely little corner of the state fairgrounds in Raleigh, with trees, a lake view and some privacy for those still in the broom closet. Being so close to Mabon was an extra magical blessing for the festival as well.

This year I was able to spend the entire weekend at the festival, and I'm so glad that I did. I've been in the Raleigh area for five years now, and I'm beginning to reap the harvest of community building for myself. It was hard to get anything done at the festival, because I constantly kept running into friends, colleagues and acquaintances. This is a joy and a blessing to me, and truly a new thing.

I won a gift bag from Tree of Life Designs!

Though I have been an actively practicing Pagan for over 20 years, I haven't always been this lucky. To me, it is still a beautiful and wondrous thing to know so many wonderful Pagans. I know a couple of vendors. I'm familiar with the local shops. I know drummers and dancers, hoopers and fire spinners. I know people from several of the local groups. I now run a local group myself. We're coming up on our one year anniversary, in fact - this December will mark a year of South Wake Spiritual Community!

All this only strengthens my passion for community building. I truly believe that we are stronger together, no matter what our individual path may be. Of course, as an interfaith priestess, I believe this about all people, but right at the moment I'm referring to the Pagan community. We have become so incredibly diverse, and this year's PPD showcased that fact as well. I had a lovely discussion with a gentleman at a local Heathen group's booth. I met a gentleman who is a veteran of years of Pagan community building in the northeast.

I was honored to assist the Triangle Area Pagan Alliance (TAPA) with the group ritual on Saturday. The ritual focused on the spirits of place and it was lovely. I acted as a den mother for the people in the southern quarter of the circle. We called out to the land spirits, to the nature spirits, to the bounty of the fruit harvest in this fertile area. TAPA, for those that don't know, is a group committed to bringing Pagans together in this area and to connecting people with local groups.

My roundtable discussion, Nourishing Healthy Elder Culture, was a success. My goal was twofold: I wanted to introduce the concept of elder culture into our local community and to gauge the needs of our local elders. It turns out that our elders need to connect with each other and to receive training in how to assume the role of eldership. These are some pretty achievable goals, and I will be happy to help. I plan to facilitate an Elder Council at next year’s PPD. I’d also like to organize an elder-led ritual at PPD. I’ll also create a forum, whether it be on Meetup, Yahoo Groups or Facebook, for elders to connect with each other.

Somewhere in all the chaos, I also got to attend a workshop on bellydance and one on the magical uses of seven day novena candles. Both were delightful and very useful to me personally. I did some shopping. I danced. I also chatted with a few people about the South Wake Spiritual Community.

But most importantly, I basked in the positive energy of our local Pagan community coming together in unity at PPD. It was a joy and delight just to be there, people watching and listening to music. So many kinds of people, all harmoniously co-existing. Each marching to the beat of their own drummer. All sparkling threads in the tapestry of our community. To me, this shows that peace is possible. It can be done and we're doing it!

Blessed be!

Intent & Impact: Cultural Appropriation

The last big topic that came out of my amazing week at the Art of Mentoring is cultural appropriation, but it's something the Pagan community ought to be discussing and thinking about as well.

Quick summary of the Art of Mentoring: a system of nature connection mentoring and cultural regeneration based largely upon the wisdom of several native cultures. The system notably uses the message of the Great Peacemaker, the Great Law that founded the Iroquois Confederacy. Training in the Art of Mentoring was an experiential learning process. We formed an ancestral village type community and were ourselves mentored as we learned the system and immediately applied that knowledge to mentor each other. This system was founded by Jon Young, who wrote the Coyote's Guide, which is a well-known and influential work in the environmental education industry. I attended this training to further my environmental education career.

As an ancestral village, we had a council of honored elders. Recently I have been discussing cultural appropriation with my spiritual community, and I was now presented with another case of cultural creation with native wisdom at the Art of Mentoring. So at one of the elder councils, I raised the question. Is it appropriate to use this native wisdom? How should we approach this? How do we show respect? When is it appropriate, and when is it not? What do these elders think about cultural appropriation in general?

This touched off a firestorm. Many people had opinions. Several program organizers sought me out. I felt that they were threatened. This amused me greatly as I intended no attack in my question. But it reminded me: back when I first started listening to the CDs from this same system, I thought "I don't need this, I already function in nature like a native. This is just for middle class white people who don't get it".

For the record, the organization has considered this issue extensively and has taken steps to see that they are sensitive and respectful about their usage of native wisdom and song. I still don't agree 100% that what they are doing IS appropriate, but I do jive with the message.

I'm still working through this part of the experience. For one thing, I have integrated many cultures into my spiritual practice, and have learned all sorts of wisdom along the way that has formed my worldview. To some degree, that means I think taking practices and wisdom from other cultures is valid when done respectfully. I feel that the culture in which I grew up failed me in many ways, spiritually first among them. But on the other hand, I myself have experienced racial, sexual, gender and religious bigotry and marginalization. For most of my life, I have felt like a minority, though I am an American and my ethnicity is considered white. So I have mixed feelings about this whole deal.

One of the elders advised me to seek out an elder of a tradition I was drawn to and to ask permission. Another remarked that some native cultures may not want to share any of their traditions out of anger for what was done to them. They have a right to their feelings, and others need to respect that and respect their wishes. Several people echoed this view: if someone says NO, you must respect it. Others said that with our world the way it is, we need to share what is helpful in order to keep evolving and growing as human beings.

The response that surprised me the most came from that magnificent African priestess I mentioned in previous posts. She basically said that what has happened has been tragic in many cases and yes, some people can be very disrespectful and some can be very bitter. But we have a lot more important things to do and worry about than this. She suggested that we help elevate each other and move on.

I don't purport to have the answers about this issue. What I DO know is that we need to talk about it as a community. Contemporary Paganism, as a faith in the process of creation, reconstruction and what have you, draws from many ancestral cultures. Some of us are scholarly about it. Many are reverent and respectful. 

But some are not. How many of us know a baby Witch who has studied the Craft for a short period of time, but who is already a Celtic High Priestess of Faery and Eldritch Magick? Or a WASP-y looking woman with long blonde hair who wears cheap-o touristy Native American jewelry and incessantly talks about her power animals? Or maybe the guy from Ohio with not one drop of northern European blood who reads one book about Heathenism and is now an alleged expert on Asatru and the runes?

Once again, I'm calling out the elephant in the room. Many of us are Caucasian. Many of us are working with cultures in which we did not grow up or with which we are not genetically linked. We need to think about this and understand that what we do has ramifications beyond our experience. We need to be respectful and responsible.

One of the Art of Mentoring organizers left me with a good piece of advice: consider the impact of your actions, not just the intent. Your intent in using a particular practice may be good, but consider how it may affect others. Did you get permission? Were you told not to use this practice? Do you know the history of the practice and the real meaning? How will this be received by your audience?

So let's talk. Let's facilitate some roundtable discussions. Let us renew our studies with respect first in our hearts. What do you say?

Healing the Generations

This past week I spent time with an amazing community. One of the biggest things I worked with was healing the generations, everyone from our ancestors to our future generations. As we work together to create a new and positive spiritual community*, we need to include people of all ages, from wee ones to young ones, to young adults, parents, non-parents and most importantly, our elders. Today, I'm going to focus on ancestors and elders.

One of the biggest tragedies of our disconnected, constantly busy and rootless society is that we've lost connection to our anchors. Many of us no longer have an intact thread of heritage, spiritual tradition or eldership in our lives.

I believe this is having many negative impacts on all of us, especially the elders. We have a whole industry devoted to caring for senior citizens, which on the face of it, seems like a good thing. The reality is far different - disconnected from the broader community, deprived of purpose, with no responsibilities and nothing to do, our elders deteriorate much more quickly than they would otherwise. The rest of us are deprived of their calm presence, loving support and wisdom.

Meanwhile, with our generations disconnected, traditional roles are forgotten. There is a big difference between a person who is aware of the sacred role of an elder and someone who is merely old. Some of our elders are desperately clinging to youth as a way to hold on to value in this youth-obsessed culture. Others have no conception of how to give unconditional love and support. Younger people do not know how to honor and support elders. Traditional knowledge, customs and culture are shrinking every year. What I learned this week is that there are people who are working to regenerate a healthy elder culture.

Several elders spoke about honored elderhood as a role that is earned, and one that is reciprocal. One must be committed to serving the community, have some wisdom to share, and someone to share it with. Meanwhile, younger people need to include and honor these elders. We spoke much of coming to elders, addressing them by an honorific, offering gifts of service or goods and only THEN asking for something in return.

What would it look like if Pagan Pride Festivals, Pagan-themed retreats and conferences included circles of elders from all traditions? I think it would be fantastic. Imagine the storytelling, exchange of ideas/best practices, and support that would happen!

In the area of ancestors, my eyes were opened this week. I personally never thought about the effect that one's ancestral traumas has upon us in the living world. Perhaps our ancestors experienced racial injustice, or perhaps they perpetuated it. Perhaps they lived through a war, or the Great Depression. Perhaps there is a legacy of abuse in the family. It never occurred to me that we could do healing work around that. Turns out we can.

I was lucky enough to spend time with a priestess from an African tradition who is dedicated to the ancestral realm. She was very generous and shared a lot of information about how we can heal past trauma and build relationships with ancestors. We can begin with a table of light, to heal trauma. After we have worked through that process, we can construct an ancestor altar. Every day that we change the water, light candles, place fresh flowers or offerings of food upon the altar, we strengthen the cord of our connection to our ancestors. Once we have shown our commitment, we can open a conversation. Later, when a good relationship is built up, we can ask them questions through divinatory methods.

Working with ancestors can be a powerful part of our spiritual support system. This priestess I met said at one point, "who do you think responds to your request when you ask for angelic support? It's not always some random entity - IT'S YOUR ANCESTORS!" This thought had never occurred to me. The idea of working with angels has never appealed to me, surely in part because of the Christian concept of angels itself. But reaching out to my ancestors and asking them to join my spiritual team? That I can do!

As always, the Gods give me what I need when I need it. I have already begun the process of healing ancestral trauma this year. I have constructed a family tree and begun to reach out to extended family. I'm attempting to rebuild my family ties. I've gotten a quote for engraving my father's name on to our family headstone. I'm planning a trip to my birthplace. All this was already in process. Now I have the next piece of information, the next steps to take.

Connection. Continuity. A sense of rootedness. Healthy roles and community participation for all members of our community. Passing on sacred wisdom, customs and values. Mentorship and support. These are the things that healing our generations can give us. Who's with me?


*Here I'm referring to the broad umbrella of Contemporary Paganism.