NEOpagan Values Month

[aberwyn]

I see from mevennen 's journal that this is Pagan Values Month. I feel like I should post about my pagan values, but I'm not sure what they would be. I also have doubts about these declared months, which in the US are usually advertising -- California Cheese Month, Tamale Day in Oakland, and the like.



Christianity and Islam have been in ascendance in the Western world for so long that it's hard to define neopagan values except in opposition to the values of those two. One thing immediately comes to mind, of course. As a neopagan I value the Female equally with the Male, if not more in an attempt to re-balance the psyche after all those hundreds of years of out of control patriarchy. Too many adherents of Christianity and Islam believe that the only important thing about women is that they carry the men's babies. Many committed Christians and some committed followers of Islam are trying to change this currently, but I wonder if their 1,500 years of traditions are just too entrenched to be overcome.

Why do I emphasize -neo- pagan? Among the real pagans of classical Greek and Roman antiquity, women were equally valueless, and yes, that includes the "Celtic" cultures, too. Early Christianity's big rival, Mithraism, taught that women, like animals, have no souls. (It's no wonder that Christianity won.) Ancient China and India were worse. It wasn't until around 800 AD, some 1400 years after the Buddha lived, that Buddhists acknowledged that women could achieve enlightenment. Before that, a woman would have to gain enough merit to be reborn as a man before her soul could be enlightened.

Fortunately, I have an entire month to think about this question of values. Good thing, since we're basically making them up as we go along . . .

:-)

Comments

[edanam.livejournal.com]

Neopaganism has the awareness that we're not the only intelligent life form on this planet -- we share this space, not rule it.

Neopaganism seeks balance in all things. An it harm none, do as thou wilt truly means that every task, every activity is a question of balance. We have to judge everything we do, no matter how large or small, against that standard.

Neopaganism values the individual as much as the collective.

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree with the awareness that we share this planet with many other kinds of life.

Christianity definitely values the individual above the collective. I'm not saying we can't share values with other faiths, mind. :-)

[edanam.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I sort of disagree. :-) At least in my experience, raised in the Catholic church, although individual salvation was valued, it was more important that you subsume your needs within the community.

As for sharing values, I suspect we'll find some with any religion. :-)

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

The Protestant revolution was all about placing the individual higher than the community, though a number of the more um, conservate Protestant sects these days see to have drifted back to the Catholic view. One of the basic tenets of the early Protestants was that the individual was far more responsible for his/her faith than any priest or chuch could be.

The other Protestant foundation was that salvation can only come through the grace of God, not the action of priests and the community, or for that matter, regardless of the actions of the individual. This belief ultimately led to the absurdities of predestination, but that's another topic. :-)

[mithriltabby]

Since neopagans are about as likely to have synchronized dogmas as a herd of cats, one neopagan value I appreciate is the willingness to let other people have different beliefs.

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

Yes, people have the right to their beliefs. How they act upon those beliefs, however, is a whole nother thing sometimes. IE, killing people that disagree with them. If they believe they're right to do that, they're wrong.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

One thing that depresses me is that I've come across a flavour of neo-paganism that tries to continue misogyny. And it's a brand that uses Scandinavian myths. Viking culture wasn't a haven for women, but it was better than many of its contemporaries. Some days, I despair of our species.
Me, I'm religiously confused. I talk to trees and spirits of place and saints. And Sekhmet. And a god.

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

Yes, if the men go off a-viking for a year or two at a time, the women have to be strong and have legal rights to manage the estates and servants left at home.

Misogyny is such an odd thing. The men who practice it believe they're acting out of strength, but they act and look afraid of women.