So, in or out?
I actually had almost talked myself out of writing anything on this subject. "It's been done to death," I told myself. "It's been hashed out endlessly, over and over again," I told myself. "What would be the point of one more article on the subject?" I asked myself.
And then I reminded myself that I'm a guy with a few things to say, and enough chutzpah to think other people actually care.
In a slightly more serious vein, I also read "Yes, Wiccan" on Witchvox, which reminded me that this is hardly a topic that has a final consensus or an easy answer.
In or out? It's not as easy as we'd like it to be, and it's not as simple as we'd like it to be. We've all heard of the Witch's Pyramid ("to know, to will, to dare, to keep silent", a statement I've seen in sources as far back as the works of Eliaphus Levi), and the Gardnerian Book of Shadows enjoins secrecy in the "Ardains". Secrecry is engrained into the world of the pagan and the occult[1] practitioner.
Hell, we sometimes even make a virtue of secrecy. Peter Paddon - host of the late and lamented podcast The Crooked Path - pointed out that witches are creatures of the shadows, something that I believe is true of any occultist. We're boundary creatures, living on the (literal or metaphorical) edge of the community. Some of the work we do just doesn't work very well with a light shining directly on it.
(Yeah, really. Don't believe me? Do the Symbolic Great Rite at your next Pagan Pride Day then, or work the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram in your cubicle. I'll be interested to hear the results.)
On the other hand, we're all human. Humans are community creatures - we're primates, and most primates live in bands. Being on the edge of the community is uncomfortably like being ostracised, except for when it actually is being ostracised. We're cut off, and we don't like it. And so - and this is especially true for those of us who are more interested in the mystical and religious aspect of paganism than in the occult aspect of paganism - we fight back. We demand to be recognized, resent being marginalized, and resent ourselves when we allow ourselves to be marginalized.
We want rights. We want dignity. We want to be able to practice our religion with the same freedom that anyone else in our country has. We want to be able to wear hubcap-sized pagan bling without being laughed at[2]. But we don't want to be trivialized. We don't want to have to have daily discussions about the health and future destination of our souls, and we don't want to risk our jobs and our families.
So, where does that leave us?
The same place it always does. In the awkward position of having to make our own decisions, for our own reasons, and then having to live with the consequences. And in the position of needing to respect the decisions of others, and of allowing them to live with the consequences. You plays your cards and you takes your chances, as the saying goes.
And me? Well, I'm sitting comfortably in the closet with the door wide open.
[1]Occult. from the latin occultus (ptp. of occulere to hide from view, cover up). See dictionary.com for details.
[2]This really ain't gonna happen. Any flavor of hubcap-sized bling is a laughing matter, and I for one feel no guilt about joining in the mockery.
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