Druid Thoughts: Pagan Tea Time

Last updated on: March 6, 2014 at 3:09 pm by Nimue Brown

Druid Thoughts: Pagan Tea Time 2014-03-06T15:09:14+00:00 Nimue Brown

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is a great idea which I first ran into here at Patheos, but have also seen rolling out across the internet. The idea is that you have a face to face chat with someone you don’t normally talk to that way. Internet video chat is a fine way of doing this, so distance is no object.

Talking in person changes things. It’s not so abstract as internet exchanges tend to be, it’s slower, and there are often more cats involved. I am much less self conscious when I’m typing, I prefer not to have to pay attention to body language etc, so doing anything real time is a lot more involved for me.

Last week I had a really interesting chat with Naomi, who has written about this and other Pagan Tea Time exchanges here. I’ll do my best not to duplicate it too much!

We neither of us came to the conversation with any planned topics or things we wanted to ask, so it just wandered around. I like that, as a general approach. I do interviews now and then, where people have clearly thought about what they want to ask. Sometimes, when they’ve done their research and we’re on the same wavelength, that works really well. (Pausing to mention Christopher Blackwell.) Sometimes it can feel like swimming the wrong away against a tide (naming no names) when what seems important to them makes little or no sense to me. I like conversations that evolve, and range about randomly, and go unexpected places, and we did a lot of that. I like being surprised, as a general approach to life, so there not being a grand plan often suits me well.

If we’d been all organised, there would probably have been more intent, and more poking about to get specific information on which to base a blog. Naomi is a really interesting person, I’ve been following her blogs for some time now. She has a different outlook on Druidry to me, is exploring ADF teachings and re-con, and is a vocal advocate for disability rights. We could have picked out some places of difference or overlap and prodded them to extract raw material. It would have been a workish and deliberate sort of process. I’m glad we didn’t. We shared cat stories. Mine always likes to show his bottom to people who Skype. I have a lot more sense of Naomi as a person, rather than just as a blogger, and while that’s tricky to pin down in words, I have a very keen sense of it as a good thing.

Slowed down, face to face, real time with no agenda, communications between people are a good thing. We need more of that, and less of the shouting of opinions and getting grumpy which so often happens online. Have a Pagan Tea Time with someone. If you don’t have any Pagans, have a cup of tea with someone. Maybe in person. Talk about stuff. It’s revolutionary and also incredibly retro, and strangely like having a real life!

Nimue Brown was featured in the Patheos Public Square discussion on the ethics of drug use this month — check it out!

Druid Thoughts is published on occasional Wednesdays on Agora. Follow it via RSS or e-mail.

Previous Post

March 4, 2014

The Busy Witch: Reviewing DREAMWORK FOR THE INITIATE'S PATH by Shauna Aura Knight

Next Post

March 6, 2014 Wyrd Words: 3 “Religious Freedom” Laws That Are Literally The EXACT OPPOSITE of Religious Freedom

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Lakeside Hearth Adventures in Wortcunning Alone In Her Presence Arts, Crafts & Cooking Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft Book of Blackbirds Book Reviews Born-Again Witch Cauldron, Sword, Spear, & Stone Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Dear Jasmine Druid Thoughts Editor's Picks Everyday Pagan Family & Household Practice Family Traditions Full Frontal Magic Gateway Goddess Guest Articles Happily Heathen Health and Wellness Hearth of Hellenism Heathen Woman Hills of the Horizon History Holidays Horse Goddesses Interfaith Interviews Irish-American Witchcraft Jewish Witch Lamp & Labyrinth Letters from Midgard Literature, Media, Film, Music Loop of Brighid Love, Sex & Relationships Magic or Magick Making Light Naturalistic Traditions Nature News Outside The Circle Pantheisticon Politics Prayers, Poems, Blessings & Stories Queer Femme Mystic Queer of Swords Recipes Ritual and Practice Science and Research Seekers and Guides Seeking the Grail Socially Responsible Magic Spear of Athena Star Made Witch Syncretic Electric Technology The Blooming Staff The Busy Witch The Cartomancer The Crow's Nest The Dance of Pagan Recovery The Hearth of Hellenism The Lady's Quill The Other Side of the Hedge The Path of She The Rantin' Raven The Witches Next Door The Zen Pagan Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Tree City Witch Urban Earthwitch Wayfaring Woman Witch on Fire Wyrd Words

Select a Month January 2026 March 2025 December 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who anointed David as king as a boy?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Samuel Saul Moses Nathan