The survey about the importance of Elders kind of got me thinking...
I'm a solitary Pagan for the most part. Right now, the only spiritual or religious 'community' I have is right here, or on my blog. For a couple of years during the late '90s, here in Vegas, we actually had a Pagan community with a public presence. There were a couple of different Wiccan groups that got together for Sabbats, held public rituals and get-togethers, that kind of thing. But, people moved, people fought, time moved on. Now I'll see a few people at the occasional Renaissance Faire, but it's fewer and fewer every year. I was even scouted for a coven that never took off, lol.
I've tried, at various times during my life, to start communities. Covens, study groups, spiritual circles, you name it. I got a pretty good dose of why it is so hard to begin and maintain any kind of working group like that. Scheduling is a nightmare, especially when you live and work in a 24/7 town. Here in Vegas, and in more and more towns across the US, we don't have a traditional work-week. Because I work 4 10-hr shifts, my weekend is Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, but someone else in an 8-hr shift may have Weds/Thu off. I work graveyard, they work swing, someone else works early days... you get my drift. Then the transportation and child-care problems pop up. Other holidays and family obligations. On the rare occasions when I was able to get the same people to meet more than twice, well... that's when the personality conflicts would start.
I've always had this desire to be part of an IRL community, but more and more it's becoming apparent that it will never happen. How important are elders to a bunch of people who never see each other? Who only talk online? How important is the passing along of knowledge and experience when you can visit any number of libraries or websites and read about other people who've done it all and then some? In other words, how important is it to the modern Pagan, and modern Paganism, to have a real-world community, a group of people of all ages and walks of life, in which to have spiritual or religious experiences?
Or, conversely, if you're part of a community like that, how did it come together, and what do you feel that people like myself are missing out on?
I'm a solitary Pagan for the most part. Right now, the only spiritual or religious 'community' I have is right here, or on my blog. For a couple of years during the late '90s, here in Vegas, we actually had a Pagan community with a public presence. There were a couple of different Wiccan groups that got together for Sabbats, held public rituals and get-togethers, that kind of thing. But, people moved, people fought, time moved on. Now I'll see a few people at the occasional Renaissance Faire, but it's fewer and fewer every year. I was even scouted for a coven that never took off, lol.
I've tried, at various times during my life, to start communities. Covens, study groups, spiritual circles, you name it. I got a pretty good dose of why it is so hard to begin and maintain any kind of working group like that. Scheduling is a nightmare, especially when you live and work in a 24/7 town. Here in Vegas, and in more and more towns across the US, we don't have a traditional work-week. Because I work 4 10-hr shifts, my weekend is Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, but someone else in an 8-hr shift may have Weds/Thu off. I work graveyard, they work swing, someone else works early days... you get my drift. Then the transportation and child-care problems pop up. Other holidays and family obligations. On the rare occasions when I was able to get the same people to meet more than twice, well... that's when the personality conflicts would start.
I've always had this desire to be part of an IRL community, but more and more it's becoming apparent that it will never happen. How important are elders to a bunch of people who never see each other? Who only talk online? How important is the passing along of knowledge and experience when you can visit any number of libraries or websites and read about other people who've done it all and then some? In other words, how important is it to the modern Pagan, and modern Paganism, to have a real-world community, a group of people of all ages and walks of life, in which to have spiritual or religious experiences?
Or, conversely, if you're part of a community like that, how did it come together, and what do you feel that people like myself are missing out on?
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