Patience: An Increasingly Lost Pagan Virtue

Last updated on: April 1, 2016 at 12:19 am by Jason Mankey

Patience: An Increasingly Lost Pagan Virtue 2016-04-01T00:19:14-06:00 Jason Mankey

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.

I’ve always had trouble with patience. Immediate gratification can be intensely satisfying and we live in an era that practically revolves around the concept. When I heard my initiating High Priestess’s first Witch-book was The Waxing Moon: A Gentle Guide to Magick by Helen Chappell (published in 1974) both a friend and I ordered it immediately from our phones. Twenty-five years ago I would have had to do some actual digging to find such a book, now it arrives in less than a week through the mail.

One of the things about patience though, is that it’s a necessary quality in most Paganisms, and that’s especially true in Modern Witchcraft*. It was easy enough in 1994 to decide I was going to be a Witch, another thing entirely for me to actually understand what I was getting into. Finding a community, a coven, and a practice took even longer, and in many ways those are all ongoing things.

“The Dance to the Music of Time” by Nicolas Poussin. From WikiMedia

Many of the questions I initially had about Modern Witchcraft weren’t answered for years, some for decades, and there are still a few of them that have yet to be answered. The Modern Pagan revival kicked off in the 1950’s with Gerald Gardner, and it then took fifty years for something approaching a reasonable history of his Craft to be written (that would be Ronald Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon in 1999). It takes time to build institutions, lore, history, and a backstory.

In 2013 I wrote an article here called Reading Modern Pagan History which was essentially a book list containing the relatively few books that have been written about our recent history. It got reposted online a few weeks ago and I then read a couple of “this is only about Wicca!” comments shorty thereafter. Guilty as charged, the article does mostly list books about Wiccan history because that’s pretty much all that’s been written.

Do I want a scholarly history (or even a non-scholarly one!) of Asatru in the United States? Hell yes I do, but that won’t make it suddenly appear. I want something on the history of Modern Pagan Druidry too, but that doesn’t change the fact that it hasn’t been written. I’m sure both of those histories will eventually be in a book, and when they are I will devour them (though not literally) and recommend them if they are good, but until then I can’t.

New religions are never patient. Christianity wasn’t, Islam wasn’t, and in more recent history both the Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) and Scientology have proven to very impatient. But I like to think that Paganism (or more accurately Paganisms) might follow a different course. Most Paganisms aren’t built around belief in an absolute truth or headed by messianic figures. Most Paganisms aren’t even all that concerned with money, which is another factor that drives the growth of some institutions. (And if you see a Pagan group built around these qualities I suggest running very quickly.)

Cylinder Seal with a Deity Accepting an Offering, Mesopotamian. From the Walters Art Museum and WikiMedia.

I think many of the growing pains in the extended Pagan community aren’t over issues of theology so much as they are about a lack of patience. It takes time to build a new tradition, it takes time to build a community. It takes time to build up a presence so that those who are searching can find the groups they need to. In the age of instant gratification it might feel as if putting up a blog and doing a workshop at a festival will accomplish all of that, but that’s not the case. Online Paganism is tiny percentage of a very small pond.

Right now we are witnessing a true renaissance in Pagan belief and yet that fact seems so unappreciated. Paganisms today, like the paganisms of the past, are varied and remarkably different. There are a lot of loud voices today that are so focused on getting to “why they are right and everyone else is wrong” that they are missing this extraordinary moment in history. And I think a lot of that’s due to impatience.

It’s much easier to cast one’s self as a martyr fighting for rights and beliefs that no one has taken away than to actually do the hard work of creating a new tradition. What a mean sounding thing to write, but I think it’s true in our current environment. I’ve seen a lot of brilliant people waste their talents engaging in pointless arguments that do nothing but alienate them from that which they hope to create. Sadly, it’s often easier to tear something down than build something up.

It’s possible to grow an idea through negativity, but at what cost? Turning Jesus into a champion of the strong instead of the weak perverted his message so much that Christianity eventually became something completely different from what it was founded on. Groups that are more concerned with what everyone else is doing will either never make a lasting mark, and if they do somehow survive, they’ll inevitably be forced to embrace the very same things their adherents once thought to escape from. There’s something there about catching more flies with honey than vinegar I do believe.

“Destruction” by Thomas Cole. From WikiMedia.

I think most people in greater Pagandom want beliefs and practices outside of their own to flourish, but it takes time to grow a garden. New and different ideas have to percolate, and they have to get outside just a core group of followers to impact a lot of people. Those ideas also have to be presented in ways that are attractive, writing how other bloggers are terrible has a pretty limited appeal. (Even if it results in a lot of page-views I think it’s more a side-show than an exercise in community building.)

I’ve had to wait for a lot of things in my Pagan life. I wanted to be initiated into a Craft tradition back in 2003, it happened in 2010. I started dreaming about what a truly great coven might be like in 1994, I finally got that for myself in 2012! The fact that I had to wait for these things made them all the better, I’m glad I stuck around for them. I hope the things we are currently creating stick around too, and that they are given time to grow.

*Originally this was going to be a piece about all the things I’ve had to wait for in my twenty-plus years as a Witch. It eventually turned into something else.

Uncategorized

Pagan

Paganism

Previous Post

March 28, 2016

The Sky is Not Falling: Living a More Pagan Life

Next Post

April 7, 2016 The Magicians Is the Show We Should Be Watching

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Editorializing Gateways to Paganism Guest Posts Holiday Histories Led Zeppelin News and Views Occult Pagan Pagan TV Club Paganism polytheism Ramble On Reviews Ritual Strange Days Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2026 March 2026 February 2026 November 2025 September 2025 August 2025 April 2025 August 2024 April 2024 February 2024 December 2023 October 2023 August 2023 June 2023 May 2023 January 2023 October 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 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 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 April 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Revelation, how many lampstands does John see?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Twelve lampstands Seven golden lampstands Four lampstands Ten lampstands