As laity and as a seeker, I often wonder what we as Pagans are trying to accomplish as a community. What is the road ahead?

Can Pagans cooperate to ensure us all a future? Historically, we have not really been able to. Think of the various Pagan organisations and how little true cooperation there seems to be, and has been in the past. We need to be better organised. Becoming more organised would allow more collegial and collective interaction and feedback.

I think we need some form of “permanence”.

The history of the Pagan movement (worldwide) is strewn with the remains of organisations, gatherings, councils, publications, etc, which did not last more than a couple of years. In many cases, these activities were undertaken by well-intentioned people who had the best interests of the Pagan movement at heart, but who lacked experience or training or resource or some other kind of “organised organisational” support.

In most cases those Pagans who stepped in have found themselves having to reinvent the organisational wheel.

How can Paganism evolve into something substantial and enduring if we remain stuck in a pattern of impermanence? How can we, as a community, get beyond the “101 organisational mentality”?

This brings me back to the whole issue of a Pagan religious and spiritual leaders (see the article on the Pagan clergy: http://www.pagancouncil.co.za/node/162) .

RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL LEADERS

Depending on the religion, the clergy usually takes care of the ritual aspects of the religious life, teach or otherwise help in spreading the religion’s practices. They often deal with life-cycle events such as childbirth, baptism, coming of age ceremonies and death, and other rites and religious rituals

Two years ago I touched on the subject of a Pagan clergy. And it seems that two of the questions that we still need to answer (honestly) are who should qualify as Pagan clergy, and what should their roles be?

The question about clergy inevitably raises fears about hierarchy, elitism and unfair privilege. These are legitimate concerns - inasmuch as many with Paganism have come to Paganism from dysfunctional religious backgrounds where oppression is the institutionalised norm. Surely, we tell ourselves, we do not want to replicate such abuses in the Pagan movement.

So, where shall we find religious and spiritual leaders (“spiritual service providers”) who can meet contemporary Pagan needs?

First of all, we have the people - the leaders of large, long-standing Pagan, Wiccan, Heathen, etc organisations, and accomplished solitaries. These people are legitimate elders of the movement, most of them having been actively involved in Paganism for many years. Their on-the-job qualifications are self-evident in their proven commitment to serve the Pagan community.

Again, though, many of these people are not getting the kind of support that they deserve and that could enable them to be of even greater service to the Pagan community. So the first step, as I see it, is for Pagans to recognise the needs of our various organisations and their leaders and to give them greater support.

This is hardly enough, though.

EXPANSION NECESSARY

We need to expand the range of “service providers” to our community. And who would fill these positions? I think the most likely candidates are those who have already been providing part-time service to the Pagan movement for many years: the experienced group leaders, the coordinators, the teachers, the organisers, etc. These people are our spiritual leaders/guides.

Finally, how could, and can, the Pagan movement support professional religious and spiritual leaders?

The reality is that Pagans have yet not begun to deal realistically with the economic issues involving a growing community that, despite its widespread aversion to and mistrust of the mingling of spirituality and money, exists, nevertheless, in the milieu of a money-based society. Clearly, then, unless our society undergoes a fundamental change in its economic structure or we as a community grow strong and stable enough to develop and implement our own economic ideas, we must find ways to fulfil our economic needs in a responsible, fair and ethical manner.

As a community, we are struggling for identity, fiercely assertive of our independence, mistrustful of authority figures, proud of being different, resistant to change, unwilling to rock the boat of our peer group, hindered by petty jealousies and gossip, obsessed with the present to the exclusion of the future, extremely overconfident in our abilities, and mostly clueless about just how much we take for granted.

Defining, never mind developing, widespread and well-supported professional Pagan religious and spiritual leaderships are a necessary step in our attaining greater maturity as a religious and spiritual movement. It will enable our most experienced elders to dedicate themselves more fully to the work of building and developing our community thus improving our standards, promoting greater cohesiveness, solidifying our position in society and creating ways for others to perform similar work.

We handle plurality - that is our strength. But can we learn to ally ourselves to take advantage of it? That does not require homogeneity or authoritarian structures. We, in fact, have several, if not many, institutions - formal and informal, but institutions nonetheless, and somehow we have managed to keep some functioning.

A QUESTION OF MODELS

One of the difficulties in discussing, for example, the concept of a professional Pagan clergy, is a lack of specific models around which to frame a serious discussion.

Until now, discussions about a Pagan religious and spiritual leadership tend to be within the paradigm of the Western Christian minister. Is this the role model we want? We could, in theory, appropriate their method of ministry and make it more effective. But Christians are so different from us. They have a book religion based in observance of custom and ethos. Ours is ecstatic, changing, filled with ritual and symbols.

Perhaps we should look at the Hindus.

They worship in an entirely different manner from Christians, and much like us, they seek to dwell in sacred space, performing ritual/symbolic actions and expecting results.

How do they organise their temples? How do they clothe and feed their priests? Hindus do not demand that you believe anything in particular. Hindus worship many gods and can live and worship together at their many altars.

Is this not similar to our ideal? Could we not learn from them – and others?

But why we should have professional Pagan religious and spiritual leaders:

• to enable us to interact better and cooperate with other religions;
• to gain a certain credibility that would give us access to the discussions on religious issues that mostly engage mainstream religions;
• to enable us to endure and persevere as a religion;
• to enable us to transcend the 101 mentality;
• To develop a coherent and tangible way for us to pass on what we have learned to future generations; and
• To offer professional spiritual and religious guidance to community members.

Why is it necessary?

One reason is that the mainstream religions have a virtual monopoly on the discussion of religious issues. It is important that Pagans gain admission to those conversations because:

• The credibility gained could go a long way to eliminate some of the misconceptions and prejudices that have beleaguered us for so long.
• Our Pagan elders should have clout, to be able to hold their own in political and spiritual congress with the clergy of mainstream religions. We must stop acting as if we are underdogs - we are not.
• We as Pagans need to begin to address social and environmental issues from our particular spiritual perspective - and this may be the most important.

But, the core issues in this entire discussion has little to do with recognition, is has to do with how we can provide our diverse community with the kind of religious and spiritual support and experiences they want and need. Our community needs a great deal more than just competent clergy. We also need competent scholars, teachers, healers, counsellors, etc - these are the people I identify as “spiritual service providers”.

GIVING PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT

The reality is that our community, like many others, is filled with phonies and half-baked experts, and the reason for this is that for too long the very idea of verifying someone’s boasts has been considered intolerant. Stroking each others’ egos has helped to prevent us from gaining the knowledge and skills we need to accomplish the goals we proudly proclaim.

We must examine (not ignore) the growing numbers of people becoming Pagans. The reality is that the “uninformed masses” are no longer merely pounding at our gates - they have already entered our communities, and many need support.

This is precisely why we need professional Pagan clergy and other spiritual service providers. We need to provide ways for the most experienced and skilled members of our community to become available to the new Pagans coming in every year, and to keep serving and help develop the existing Pagan community.

One of the strengths of Paganism is its incredible diversity. Such diversity encourages creativity and freedom, and makes it possible for virtually anyone to find their own niche in our community. It also discourages rigid dogmatism and centralised authority. Our diversity, however, also creates problems in communication among ourselves and hinders our ability to work collectively. When we have such diverse visions of what Paganism should be, and when so many of those visions actually conflict with each other, it is difficult to find even formulate a blueprint, never mind find resolution.

Most of the objections that I have heard to the concept of professional Pagan clergy are:

• Paganism is a religion of clergy. Pagans tend to believe that divinity is immanent, and that, therefore, every person has a direct and intimate relationship with the sacred, making everyone, in effect, a priestess or a priest.

• Professional Pagan clergy could become a powerful elite who would consider themselves to be more clergy than everyone else. These people would also expect to get paid for what they do, and money would corrupt them even further, while placing a hefty financial burden on our community

My answers are simple:

Paganism is not a religion of clergy, and has never been. If we look at pagan cultures throughout history, what we find for the most part, in fact, are organised priest/esshoods. Some contemporary paths within the Pagan community - Wicca, for example - refer to themselves as s religion of clergy in that every initiate is considered a priestess or a priest. This, however, is misleading as far as I am concerned, because there is, for the most, no indication as to whom these people are, or what they do, or why they should be considered priestesses/priests, or what qualifies them as such.

It seems to me that much of the argument against a professional clergy is rooted in the fact that the Judeo-Christian models of clergy that we have grown up with are no longer acceptable to us, and that we are very concerned about the danger of a professional Pagan clergy slipping into the same mould.

The Pagan movement must adapt to change if it is to survive and develop. Many of the patterns that have been in place within our community are no longer adequate to address the changes that are taking place. We can not go back into the closet - our community as a whole is already too public to do such a thing.

THE TASK AHEAD

I have no illusions that this will be easy - or that this is a new subject. I am also aware that the development of a formally-trained, professional Pagan religious and spiritual leaders raises a number of related issues. The question of accessibility to such training. What would be the criteria for receiving training? Who would administer it? The question of money is another. Etc. Sadly, the questions remain endless and problems the same.

I am very much in favour of apprenticeships. One-on-one apprenticeships, however, are hardly a realistic solution when the problem already is that we have far too many people lacking training and far too few experienced teachers available.

Pagan priests and priestesses often receive training in such things as ritual, raising and grounding energy, experiencing the ecstatic, etc - subjects not ordinarily found in the curricula of mainstream seminaries - they are our religious leadership. But the breadth and depth of instruction varies from one tradition to another.

I think that a good start would be to offer a training course which does not infringe on any existing apprenticeships offered by any of the traditions within Paganism - and, once again, the prerogative to “ordain” religious leaders remains with each individual Pagan tradition.

What I am speaking of would be courses which concentrate on the immediate needs of our community - practical spiritual skills - services that do not have to be offered necessarily by priests and priestesses.

Let us, for example, start with such things as counselling, basic interfaith education, the planning of meetings, caring of people in distress, etc. We need to make sure that all Pagans calling themselves clergy/elders have the training to actually work with real people in the real world, dealing with real problems. They need to give answers to people who are seeking answers to the hard questions - like why do I have cancer or why did my wife cheat on me? Why did my husband die? Etc.

A collective may do the job, and this could be done through the SA Pagan Council, working with both interested individual elders and with member organisations. What if the council and members who are experienced priests and priestesses, set up a training course in these basic but vital (non-religious) skills?

SOURCES:

- http://www.earthspirit.com/;
- http://tidesturner.blogspot.com/2010/07/real-clergy-how-paganism-is-fail...
- http://www.proteuscoven.org/proteus/passages/Practical.html;
- http://www.twpt.org/qualifications.htm;

- http://www.twpt.org/aversion.htm;