{"id":6979,"date":"2015-01-31T07:16:35","date_gmt":"2015-01-31T14:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6979"},"modified":"2015-02-08T22:26:56","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T05:26:56","slug":"looking-at-your-polis-as-a-pagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6979","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Your Polis as a Pagan"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Wiccan email list that I am on recently went through a discussion of teaching “theology” to children. It is one of the perennial questions among contemporary Pagans: teach the kids or let them make up their own minds as adults. Surprisingly, some discussants reported that said adult children-of-Pagans regretted their parents’ hands-off approach.<\/p>\n

Perhaps because I am allergic to the word “theology,” I want to look at a different approach. (I cannot speak as a parent, because although that was not the plan, I ended up childless. So it goes.)<\/p>\n

Talk of theology reminds me of some of the writings of the 17th-century Puritans, like the ones who founded Massachusetts Bay Colony, who worried that their children would never have the life-changing born-again experience that their parents did in that religiously tumultuous century. And even today among evangelical Protestants, you find teens worried that they have not been authentically “born again,” and so what is wrong with them?<\/p>\n

Paganism should spread through experience and art, not theology.<\/em> The theology comes later, if it comes.<\/p>\n

Suppose it were the autumnal equinox \u2014 not a powerfully magical time in my experience, but worth noting. Here in my part of southern Colorado, I have a choice between a winery’s harvest festival in Ca\u00f1on City <\/a>and Pueblo’s Chile & Frijoles festival<\/a>, now twenty years old.<\/p>\n

Yes, both are commercial creations: the Chile & Frijoles [chile peppers and beans] festival is sponsored by Loaf ‘n Jug, i.e. the Kroger grocery chain<\/a>, and it was created as part of a economic development-driven rebranding of the old multi-ethnic steel mill city on the Arkansas River. And the winery wants to sell wine.<\/p>\n

Paganism is the religion of the tribe or of the polis<\/em>, and selling stuff is part of what the polis<\/em> is about. (In reflection, Pueblo counts as a polis<\/em>, but Ca\u00f1on City is probably too small \u2014 perhaps it is part of the city-state of Pueblo. They are <\/em>in the same SMA<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Even though Wicca was designed as a small-scale mystery religion for adults only, one can also bring its outlook to the life of the city. And as Raven Kaldera and Tannin Schwartzstein write in Urban Primitive<\/em><\/a>, “City spirits are, not surprisingly, quite social creatures, and they love to be acknowledged, so it’s worth your while to learn to speak to them.” You do that, they continue, at the city’s “heart” or strongest location \u2014 and, coincidentally, that might well be the place where urban festivities are held!<\/p>\n

Get creative. What’s the Pagan take on Mike the Headless Chicken Days<\/a>, held in May in the little agricultural town of Fruita, Colo.? Or Nederland, Colo.’s Frozen Dead Guy Days<\/a>, coming up in the March? That one should be easy.<\/p>\n

Imagine the kid whose mental construct of Pagan identity includes not just structured ritual but the vendors’ food stalls on Pueblo’s Riverwalk and whatever mix of norte\u00f1o <\/em><\/a>and classic rock is coming from the bandstand, flavored by the scent of roasting chile peppers by the truckload? Living headless chickens? Well, you have to leave some space for the uncanny.<\/p>\n

So it’s not officially Pagan? You can still live it as Pagan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Wiccan email list that I am on recently went through a discussion of teaching “theology” to children. It is one of the perennial questions among contemporary Pagans: teach the kids or let them make up their own minds as adults. Surprisingly, some discussants reported that said adult children-of-Pagans regretted their parents’ hands-off approach. Perhaps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[150,127,5],"class_list":["post-6979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-childhood","tag-festivals","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1Oz","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3898,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3898","url_meta":{"origin":6979,"position":0},"title":"Survey for UU Pagans","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Another online survey, this one collecting\u00a0 \"personal experiences from Unitarian Universalists (UUs) who also practice Paganism or have an earth-centered theology.\" Take the survey here.\u00a0 The deadline is March 12, 2012.","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2867,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2867","url_meta":{"origin":6979,"position":1},"title":"Theology Spam\u2014Who Knew?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"You hear the word \"spam\" and you probably think about Viagra, \"genuine\" Rolex watches, and corrupt West African government officials with bags of money to share. But do you think about theology? I did not until yesterday, when I received a message from \"Terry Denson\" with the subject line \"A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":538,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=538","url_meta":{"origin":6979,"position":2},"title":"Writing on Paganism helps journalist\u2026","author":"Chas S. 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Clifton","date":"October 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Things Fall Apart, by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, published in 1958, is often labeled as the \"archetypal modern African novel.\" Set in the 1890s, at the beginning of British colonial rule, its protagonist is a hard-driving Igbo yam farmer, warrior, and village leader named Okonkwo, who holds himself, his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Africa\"","block_context":{"text":"Africa","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=africa"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/6\/65\/ThingsFallApart.jpg\/201px-ThingsFallApart.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11319,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11319","url_meta":{"origin":6979,"position":5},"title":"“Folkloric” Pagan Statues Spark a Confrontation in Poland","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The news article, \"Locals demand removal of \u201cdemonic, pagan\u201d sculptures on tourist folklore trail in Poland,\" starts this way: A small community in northern Poland is embroiled in a dispute over 13 wooden sculptures of spirits based on local folklore, pitting Catholics warning of \u201cdemonic idolatry\u201d conservatives against officials seeking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Catholicism\"","block_context":{"text":"Catholicism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=catholicism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/folkloric-statue.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6979"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7018,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979\/revisions\/7018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}