{"id":501,"date":"2010-10-14T21:42:25","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T02:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/"},"modified":"2020-07-19T13:39:31","modified_gmt":"2020-07-19T18:39:31","slug":"not-in-common","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/not-in-common\/","title":{"rendered":"Things Pagans don’t always have in common"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just as there are some things Pagans often have in common<\/a>, there are some things we don’t reliably share. Some of these may surprise you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Beginning:<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ritual cycle<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

While the religious witchcraft paths and Druids often celebrate 8 Sabbats <\/strong>(the solstices, equinoxes, and four agricultural festivals around October 31st, February 2nd, May 1st, and August 2nd, also known as the Wheel of the Year) these dates have no particular meaning to other Pagan religions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reconstructionists might celebrate the flooding of the Nile (for Kemetic recons) or a festival for Apollo (for Greek recons.) Some people build personal calendars based on dates and events that they find meaningful. Others might use particular astronomical events and alignments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I follow the Wheel of the Year <\/strong>(with some additional personal dates of interest), and also do some form of ritual at the new moons and full moons most of the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ritual structure<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Religious witchcraft traditions often magically create their ritual space as part of ritual. <\/strong>In other religions, this is not part of the process. Likewise, what a ritual involves, the parts of a ritual, or the order they come in, may vary hugely between different Pagan religions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My witchcraft tradition casts circle<\/a>.<\/strong> I use a circle for some rituals in my personal practice, but mostly do my work in my home, which has ongoing magical workings around it that take on the functions of a circle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Size<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

While witchcraft covens are traditionally small<\/strong> (under 13 people), there are larger communities springing up all over the place. Many reconstructionist groups are associated with larger organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My coven is still in the building phase<\/strong> (as I write this in mid-2020), and probably will be for another year or two. I’m aiming at a steady stable group of 5-8 people. I also do some things in the larger community, but not regularly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structure and organisation<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Many religious witchcraft groups are autonomous<\/strong>: they\u2019re lead by people trained as designated within that group or tradition, who then make their own decisions. Other members of the tradition may disagree with an action (and respond personally to it), but there is no \u2018boss\u2019 (like a Pope or Council of Churches) to turn to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, some reconstructionist groups are developing a larger heirarchy and structure for their members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a third degree priestess in my tradition. <\/strong>We have some agreements about how things work in the tradition. In other areas, I can (with other people in the group, as relevant) decide how to do things. My personal practice is also more varied. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Different groups focus on or care about different things.<\/strong> Some groups focus on self-empowerment or transformation, others on a greater community goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some focus on magic, on religious practice, or a combination of both. Some groups might honour or work with different deities at each ritual, others on honouring and working with specific deities all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My witchcraft tradition focuses on transformation. <\/strong>My coven is about learning, centring magic and the numinous in our lives. We honour and work with different deities, depending on the ritual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Earth centered’<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Not all Pagan groups focus on the earth. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some paths, like religious witchcraft, pay particular attention to the turning of the seasons. Some, because of the belief that all things are connected, have a particular focus on ecology. While these are common conceptions of Pagan religions, many have a very different take on it. It\u2019s not that they think the earth is bad – but their ritual year is based on other things, or their ritual has a different focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last edited December 23, 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just as there are some things Pagans often have in common, there are some things we don’t reliably share. Some of these may surprise you! Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3965,"parent":2273,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-501","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P11EQH-85","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":491,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/before-you-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":0},"title":"Before you start","author":"jenett","date":"October 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Pagans are all sorts of people. The Pagans I know are librarians and engineers, counselors and researchers, tech geeks and artists, writers and teachers, staying at home with their kids or working in retail, working in state jobs and for large corporations, and pretty much everything else you can imagine.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"concepts\"","block_context":{"text":"concepts","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/tag\/concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Beginning : leaf growing out of a cauldron on dark red circle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/beginning.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":499,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/things-in-common\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":1},"title":"Things Pagans (Often) Have In Common","author":"jenett","date":"October 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As I've said, Pagan paths don't always have a lot in common. Here are a few things that we do commonly share (though not every path or Pagan will agree with everything here.) No single Book Unlike Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Pagan religions are not religions of the Book, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"concepts\"","block_context":{"text":"concepts","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/tag\/concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-Pagan-things-in-common-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-Pagan-things-in-common-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-Pagan-things-in-common-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-Pagan-things-in-common-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2273,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/beginning\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":2},"title":"Beginning","author":"jenett","date":"December 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you curious about Paganism? Not sure what different terms or concepts mean? Trying to figure out how to make sense of sites and descriptions that say different things about what Paganism is or isn't, or what witchcraft is or isn't? This page links to a number of articles on\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Beginning: leaf on a red background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-header.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-header.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-header.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/beginning-header.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":284,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/concepts\/deities\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":3},"title":"Deities","author":"jenett","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing you'll find as you learn more about Paganism is that there are many different views on the nature of deity. That's true even for people working in the same group or path: two people standing beside each other in ritual might have quite different ideas! This page talks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"concepts\"","block_context":{"text":"concepts","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/tag\/concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/concepts-deities.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/concepts-deities.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/concepts-deities.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/concepts-deities.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5,"url":"http:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":4},"title":"Welcome","author":"jenett","date":"August 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeking: First Steps on a Pagan Path is my space to share resources about religious witchcraft. The information here is based on my own practice, and many conversations with others over the years. The site is divided up into a series of sections by topic. Beginning covers some basics about\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Beginning : leaf growing out of a cauldron on dark red circle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/beginning.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2238,"url":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/concepts\/","url_meta":{"origin":501,"position":5},"title":"Concepts","author":"jenett","date":"December 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This page talks about important concepts that come up a lot when talking about Paganism, religious witchcraft, and related topics. Common terms\u00a0: commonly used words when talking about Pagan religionsWhat is witchcraft? My personal take on it. Deities\u00a0: different ways Pagans look at and talk about deity.Ethics\u00a0: a brief look\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"concepts\"","block_context":{"text":"concepts","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/tag\/concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"concepts: key on a brown background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/concepts-header.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/concepts-header.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/concepts-header.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/concepts-header.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4277,"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/501\/revisions\/4277"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}