So why am I reading this:
All of these trainings require a high degree of motivation and self-discipline as well as a certain ability to work under authority. As Jenny, a Wiccan high priestess, put it when talking about her coven: “You have to give up two Saturdays a month for four years. You have to really want something to give up half of your Saturdays forYep, this says a lot about modern Western culture, not just the Wiccan quoted. I was surprised that the author made no commentary.
four years. And you have to really like it.”(Balfer 2009, 38)
I suppose every other Saturday is a better commitment than 8 times a year (at the Sabbats). Maybe an addition 13 times if you celebrate the Esbats. That's still only 21 days a year you have to -
wait, these usually involve staying up late for a party, not getting up early to attend church. Where's the downside to a late-night (or early evening, followed by a potluck) celebration? Well, except for those equinoxes you might feel "crazy" and wake before sunrise to drive to the edge of the world and watch the sun come up over the ocean, then catch the bakery as it opens and dine on fresh bread.
In all seriousness, I don't understand on a personal level (on a social-psychological level of analysis I get it) why someone would declare that taking time from your life every other Saturday for a few years (and what's a few years compared with a lifetime?) is a sign of true dedication. OTOH, if we're talking about the fact that maybe you don't like the authority system of that Wiccan training (in the example above), but you decide to push through to get your initiated degrees so you can move on and hive off...
Meh, there's good reason I'm not a Wiccan. I still can't personally understand why one should take pride in giving up 2 days a month. I realize in reality that training actually requires much more than two days a month, but the above quote implies otherwise. Or at least it implies that two of the BEST days of the month must be sacrificed to religious activity. Why is religious activity even being treated as requiring "giving up" days. Isn't the whole point of a lived religion supposed to be that it is integrated in your life? Essentially you "give up" all your days.
This applies to far more than Pagans (and apparently not to all Pagans).
Okay, minor rant over now. Back to... oh, crap, not back to work. Time to get Abi.
Balfer, Maria. 2009. Three degrees of openness in London's Pagan scene. The Pomegranate 11(1): 29-43.
1 comment:
"Jenny" was referring exclusively to the physical training days. What she didn't refer too is that there are then daily and other frequency exercises which must be worked on and recorded in one's magical diary in between. Unlike Church membership you don't just get through by passively turning up, mumbling a few things and going home. This shouldn't come as a surprise given that with exoteric training whether at a Certificate, Diploma, Degree, Masters or PhD level, there will be a small number of set days for lessons and tutorials, and behind that a whole smorgasbord of reading, wider research and practice behind the scenes.
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