Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Step Functions and Loads of Bricks

Step Functions and Loads of Bricks

Last updated on: August 18, 2016 at 4:30 pm by John Beckett

Step Functions and Loads of Bricks 2016-08-17T19:39:37-06:00 John Beckett

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.

One of the many ways our education system gives us unreasonable expectations is the idea that learning is linear. We move from kindergarten to first grade to second grade. We move from elementary school to middle school to high school. We go to college and move from freshman to sophomore to junior to senior. Each step builds on the steps before it, and if you do the work, your knowledge and skills expand and grow.

We see some of this in our religious and spiritual work. OBOD has the three sequential grades of Bard, Ovate, and Druid. Some Wiccan traditions have three degrees. Thelema has eleven, though I’ve had some Thelemites tell me the higher degrees cannot be achieved on this plane of existence (if you disagree feel free to explain in the comments, but I’m not a Thelemite and it’s not relevant to this post one way or the other).

There’s a place for sequential, ordered learning and advancement. But life rarely works that way outside of structured institutions. If I can be a math geek for a moment, life is usually a step function, not a linear function.

This means we do the work day in and day out, year in and year out, and nothing happens – not visibly, anyway. Then one day it hits us like the proverbial ton of bricks. Call it initiation, call it enlightenment, call it moving up and moving on – something big changes and nothing is ever the same again.

It would not be accurate to say I’ve been hit with a ton of bricks – more like a wheelbarrow full of bricks. The step in this particular step function is manageable, but more bricks are coming and they’re coming soon. That’s what happens when you hang out in a brickyard (“I’ll take vaguebooking for $500, Alex”). But a lot of these bricks came at Many Gods West and in the on-going conversations that came out of it. So I think it’s worthwhile to talk about what I’ve learned lately and what I’m going to try to do with it.

I don’t have a whole religious tradition (yet). Back in February I wrote that Druidry is not my religion. I listed the things that are my religion: honoring the Gods, building relationships, caring for Nature, and other activities. For personal practice, that’s enough. But when I leave my altar and move out into the wider polytheist community, how do I identify myself? Who do I gather with? Who helps me deepen my practice, and who can I help deepen theirs?

In the conversations about devotion vs. folklore in contemporary polytheism, it became clear to me that we’re having this problem in large part because we’re trying to decide what polytheism is. And as some of my most vocal critics like to remind me, polytheism isn’t a religion – it’s a religious approach. I have an approach and a practice, but not a whole religion. A good religious tradition has devotional rites and it has shared stories and it has communal activities.

Should I call myself a Celtic Reconstructionist and try to build a restored and reimagined pan-Celtic religion? That would fit in nicely with my Druidry, but there are a few Egyptian deities who might have something to say about it. No, there are no simple answers – I’m going to have to work through this and I expect it will take quite some time. I suspect I’m not the only one in this situation.

A important part of my religious life has concluded. Just before MGW, I turned in the final draft of my first book The Path of Paganism: An Experience-Based Guide to Modern Pagan Practice. It’s tentatively scheduled for publication next May. When the editor accepted my final draft, one load of bricks was lifted off my shoulders and another load of bricks hit me right in the face.

This is a Paganism 201 book. It does many of the things I do on this blog, namely, it makes a reasoned case for Paganism and polytheism for readers coming out of a mainstream culture where Christian assumptions still dominate and where atheist and humanist assumptions carry far more weight than most of us realize. My writing – and the reading and thinking that support it – has been geared toward this religious outreach and education for the three and a half years I’ve been on Patheos.

That book is done. More importantly, that part of my own spiritual journey is done. I’m out of Christianity, and I was never in atheism. While I will continue to point out errors and misconceptions as they occur (such as Tuesday’s post on Re-Paganing), neither I nor the community at large need more large scale rebuttals. What we need – what I need – are foundations for the Pagan and polytheist religions we’re trying to build.

If you already have a good foundation, great. That’s one of the advantages of working in a tradition that’s at least partially established, or a tradition where there are good historical records. I don’t – and I need one.

My work is here. I love going to conferences, conventions, and retreats – I’ve been going to them since the first OBOD House of Danu Gorsedd in 2009. I love trying to help shape the future of Paganism and polytheism – I’m going to keep showing up.

But my first and primary calling is here, in Denton Texas. My job is to be here for the people who come looking for a good, healthy Pagan group to practice with – just as Summer, Monique, and Cheryl were here for me in 2003. My job is to help lead devotion, to present the Gods and Their stories to the public, and to support those who hear Their call. My first responsibility is to do Paganism and polytheism. Writing about it comes later.

Rhyd Wildermuth once called me “the Pagan equivalent of a parish priest.” He said that based on my writing and social media conversations, but he was more right than he could have known. I’m going to keep traveling as time and money permit, and I’ll quit writing when I move into the Otherworld. But my primary responsibility is my local responsibility, and I need to remember that.

I have more foundational work to do. When you finish high school, it’s assumed you’re ready for college. Not everyone is ready – for a variety of reasons that are important but not relevant here – but that’s the expectation of the linear model.

In life, and especially in religious work, sometimes you finish one task, one quest, one calling, and you find that in order to move on to the next, you’ve got to go back to school. Yes, you can dive right in and figure it out as you go – a process I prefer to the never-ending never-ready preparation advocated by some – but when you know you’re missing some critical skills and knowledge, it’s best to try to learn them sooner rather than later.

Some of this is deeply personal, but much of it is the foundational work necessary to support a whole religious tradition: the context of beliefs and practices, their historical roots, and their contemporary implications. It’s picking up some of the Big Questions of Life and wrestling with them once again. It’s going back to some of the literature I read in my early Pagan years and reading it again, only this time with 15 years more experience.

Though I talk a lot about my personal practices and experiences, I don’t talk much about my plans. I see too many people – Pagan and otherwise – who talk about big plans and then never carry through with them. But I get the feeling I’m not the only one who’s been hit with this particular load of bricks. If some of this sounds familiar, there’s probably a reason. We’re going to need each other’s help.

If this doesn’t seem to fit you, consider yourself fortunate. But don’t get too comfortable – your next big step will come sooner or later.

Previous Post

August 16, 2016

Proudly Re-Paganing America

Next Post

August 21, 2016 A Service of Reconsecration

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Community CUUPS Druidry Foundations and Context Gods and Goddesses Magic Myth Nature Ritual Spiritual Practice Theology Travel Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 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 April 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 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Jonathan was David's best friend and King Saul's son.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE