What I Like About Pagans

Last Updated on September 4, 2023 by Cianaodh Óg

Another rescue from the archives of Our Pantheons Way, this is one I wrote July, 21st 2013.

I’ve been knocking around in this Dallas / Fort Worth Pagan Community since 1998. Longer than a lot but not nearly as long as some others I know. In that time I have had a great opportunity to learn and grow spiritually just by hanging around the very wise, knowledgeable and sometimes crazy folks who make up this diverse community of many faiths we have here. From the time I was 8 years old and my dad passed away from a heart attack brought on by complications of “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” til I was about 30 years old I declared myself basically agnostic. Agnostics are very often confused with atheists. For those who do not know, basically an atheist has made up their mind that there is no god at all while an agnostic still questions the existence of one.

So I believed pretty much in what could be scientifically proven and said, okay, if there is a divine presence out there somewhere, prove it. My mom wasn’t one to push religion one way or another. She too had become disillusioned with the church at an early age when (I am told) the pastor in the small community church she and her family went to got caught having an affair with one of the women of the church. Both were married. Mom read from the King James Bible and her parents, like my Dad’s parents were very committed members of their churches but she let me choose my own way spiritually. There was an occasion when I was about 7 that I went to the church of some neighborhood kids a few times to see what it was all about.

I remember a little bit about Sunday School and playing Red Rover in the yard with the kids. I also remember morning services and the collection plate being passed around but that’s about all I can recall. Then, as a teenager I became interested in a T.V. Preacher who was kind of a rebel. He drank whiskey, smoked big cigars, wore a leather jacket and tied a necktie around his head like a headband the first time I saw him. He talked about things like how the pyramids in Egypt were perfectly aligned with certain stars and constellations and other interesting things.

Mom, never encouraged or discouraged me in my explorations but over time I lost interest in following the teaching of this guy and went back to my world of science and what man has learned through research and critical thinking. There is a great deal of knowledge and wisdom to be acquired in this way too but science can’t answer all of man’s problems.

Now, in my younger years I have always been what they call a lucid dreamer. My dreams were always in color and had great amounts of detail to them so I was accustomed to that sort of thing but one night something very different happened to me and I had the first of only two encounters I have had in my life of direct communication with The Goddess. It wasn’t a mere lucid dream, I refer to it as a vision because it is all I can explain it to be. First appeared a roughly 4 foot tall half man, half peacock creature who spoke to me in a language I did not understand but I could still get the gist of it’s meaning as if he were speaking to me telepathically.

Then appeared, in all her glorious splendor, the Goddess Hera of the Greek pantheon. She told me in no uncertain terms that my path was to gather all of the knowledge and wisdom of the ancients that I could and then my task was to become a teacher and pass this on to future generations later in life. No more, no less. She did not tell me, I will become a priest of this particular tradition or that particular tradition. She did not give me any specifics on what to learn and later teach she only set me on this path to learn what I can, then teach it to others. So I have, as best I can until I took my sabbatical for a couple of years after my mom’s passing.

Then the second vision came and this time she appeared more as what I can only describe as “Mother Nature” as she has been depicted on things produced by hollywood and that old Parkay commercial from the 1980s. She reiterated in no uncertain terms what I am supposed to be doing and seemed rather annoyed with me that she was having to repeat herself. So, I am back on my path and seeing that the way is being cleared before me to do the things I am supposed to do. I have learned to accept it and go with it when I realize this is what is happening to some extent but still that Irish, rebel lineage of mine tends to want to buck the system from time to time.

So, if I speak of “the Goddess” a lot and not “the God” don’t take it that I do not believe in both aspects of the divine or even that I am necessarily purely duo-theistic as most Wiccans are. For me the jury is still out on the whole “hard polytheism versus soft polytheism debate) as Isadore refers to it. I only speak of “the Goddess” a lot because she is the one who has spoken directly to me. I also must clarify here, directly. I pull a rune for divination every day, I receive signs of other types all the time. I know the Kindred spirits are there guiding me if I only still my mind, pay attention and listen.

I feel the presence of Cernunnos, Lugh, Dagda and others in my life. But only twice have I received direct, one on one communication with the divine and both times it was a Goddess who appeared. So far and for whatever reason. I figure if more is to come later it will but I will continue on my mission because I do think the old Parkay commercials were right about one thing. It’s not a good idea to piss off Mother Nature! (Well, maybe they didn’t say it quite like that.)

So, that being said how about I talk a little about what I really wanted to say this morning at the moment I jotted that title down at the top before I wandered down the rabbit hole of this tangent I ended up on regarding my history. I do think some of that background will help people who are interested understand me a little better and see where some of my viewpoints come from. I still have some of those agnostic tendencies of, okay, prove it that show up from time to time for one. But I have learned, not all things can be proven. Some of them have to be experienced first hand. Which is why Contact is one of my favorite movies of all time.

I really enjoy the company of Pagans. I mean all Pagans, and when I use the term I am referring to people who do the digging and research into what their ancestors believed and why they believed it. For the most part, you don’t run into many spiritually lazy Pagans. Most of them know exactly why they believe what they do because they have taken the time to figure it out and not just say things like “Well my mom and dad did this, their mom and dad before them did so I do too and leave it at that.”

Most Pagans know their history and it’s not like any history that is taught in the public school system. They know the stuff that gets glossed over or missed completely in the teaching from other sources but often times they can point to references and citations to back up what they know. I love hanging out with these people and hearing their stories, their wisdom and learning from them. Pagans tend to enjoy life and have a good time with one another. I love the energy of most gatherings, circles and rituals I have been to. I love getting closer to nature, the ancestors and the overall inter-connectedness of all things.

I have had the occasion to go to American Tradition Of The Goddess gatherings and meet some very wonderful people there, I have, of course been to Alexandrian Wiccan circles, Council Of The Magickal Arts festivals, drum jams, Witchstock, Sumerians gatherings (Oh! I love my Sumerian peeps!), ADF Druid gatherings (I love my grovies from my ADF days too) and a bunch of types of gathering that probably are slipping my mind. Of course Pagan Pride Day get togethers. Pagans are, at the heart of it, very friendly, loving and accepting people for the most part.

Yes, they are people and as most people they have their differences and sometimes don’t get along but most of them believe if you’re not harming them then they will accept you for what you are and Co-Exist with you. These are a few of the many things I love about Pagans. How about you?

See Also: Are You A God Fearing Person?