Yesterday a man died. That man advocated for ritual initation of post-pubescent minors into his brand of Wicca via sexual intercourse. He never backed down from this position. While never charged with a crime, the very advocacy of this particular crime makes him a disgusting individual that should not be honored.
We should not be celebrating this mans life. He died.
Time to forget him.
Good riddence Gavin Frost.
So, John Becket wrote an article called “The Lore vs. UPG – A False Dichotomy” filled with an opinion that makes it clear he is talking to the wrong (and at this time, minority) crowd. It is a re-hash of a stereotype that has been diminishing over the past 10 years to the point of being an annoyance to many of us who have used to the term “Celtic Reconstructionist” at some point in our careers. In working on my response I realized that arguing his points is not worth the energy spent and it would be better to provide a positive resource on the same topic.
Old and deep.
That is the first thing that comes to mind when I consider the nature of the god known as Manannan Mac Lir. I first met him in August of 1994 when my 1st marriage ended. I wrote about it shortly after it occurred and while not a well written piece, it was near 20 years ago, it conveys the experience well enough:
All:
All:
Let the flame be the hearth fire,
Lets the water be the Well of Knowledge
Let the tree be the bile,
(bill-uh)
I stand in the grove at the center of the realms,
All: Biodh Se! (bee-shay)
|
Local
River Goddesses |
Corn
meal |
|
Manannan
Mac Lir |
Alcohol,
water grasses, yellow flower |
|
Mighty
Dead |
Food/bread
|
|
Spirits
of Place |
honey/sage
smoke |
|
Tuatha
de Danaan |
Alcohol
|
|
Land
Goddesses |
Harvest
Items |
|
The
folk |
Apples
|
Let me first list the common traits among the groups that
identify as using a congregation model.
During these discussions and interviews I found instances of tribes trying to rebuild ancient social structures such as roles in society (druid, brehon, fili, etc), and fostering, adoption or marriage into the tribe. But I also found tribes that did not have any desire to reconstruct ancient societal structures though they may use terms such as chief for the leader. On the flip side none of the folks using congregation as a model were interested in making such a reconstruction.
So the title got you here but for full disclosure let me say right off the bat there is no trouble with Wicca. In fact, the trouble seems to be with folks who are not Wiccan but make a point of denigrating Wiccans at every turn. The following is a bit of a rant on the reality of people denigrating Wiccans or wiccanate (Generic Neopagans who tend to follow a Wiccan model of ritual and belief) folks.
If you have followed this blog for even a day, you know I am not Wiccan or even wiccanate. I am and have been a dyed-in-the-wool Celtic Reconstructionist for 20+ years. Like most people my age, I got my start in Wicca, Seax Wicca to be exact, but within a few short years I became a polytheist and left Wicca behind. Like my leaving the Catholic Church the break was undramatic, so I didn’t develop any anti-Wiccan sentiment until I became entrenched in the CR community.
Even being in the online company of folks who did not like Wicca did not really make me think ill of that religion. I just never voiced my concern of the sentiment and allowed myself to be dragged into the discussions about how Wicca did everything wrong from a CR perspective. Some foolishly even went the route that somehow CR was better because our faith was based on what we knew of the pre-Christian people, meanwhile Wicca was made up by a ‘dirty-old-man’. Seemed just as odd then as it does now – that a group faiths that are totally fabricated using archeology, history, mythology, ect. could think it was any better than one created using folklore and ceremonial magical systems.
Since then, I have moved way beyond the idea that a reconstrucitonist faith is better or that there is something wrong with Wicca. In fact, Wiccans and those of a wiccanate faith are the hero’s of Neopaganism and should be treated as such. They have broken ground in every aspect of Neopagan civil rights and lead the rest of the community in all organizational actions to support and enforce religious freedom for all Neopagans (and yes, reconstructionists are also Neopagans.) Three groups that stand out are Sacred Well Congregation (Neopagan circles on military bases), Circle Sanctuary (lawsuit to get the Pentacle on VA headstones) and Covenant of the Goddess ….all of them Wiccan and all of them in the for front of fighting for religious rights or bringing Neopaganism out of the closet. Of course there are others but these three come to mind as the oldest or most successful.
So why then do I still see non-wiccanate people making disparaging comments about Wiccans? I am not just talking a random reconstructionist on Facebook but community leaders who should be doing outreach with other Neopagans, Neopagan churches and even interfaith organizations. When suggested they get in touch with a certain well know “Big Named Pagan” the response is, “Oh, I just don’t want to deal with those Wiccans.” Seriously??
Yes…seriously. Seriously get over yourself…and get over whatever it is that has caused you to think you are somehow better than Wiccans. Whether you are a reconstructionist voicing an opinion on social media or the leader of a Neopagan church – without Wiccans paving the way for the rest of us, we would not be able to be so vocal.
Anti ANY other religious group has no place in Fénidecht or Gentlidecht. In fact, it is these wiccante groups and pan-Neopagan festivals where one would most likely function as a féinnid during ritual.
Guarding the boundaries between the worlds for ALL is what being a Féinnid is about. So let go of your biases, accept that you will not agree with every faith, and get over yourself just enough to work with others who may be a little ‘lighter’ than yourself.
/rant off
*story slightly modified to maintain anonymity of the individuals being referenced.
Not everything about gentlidecht
comes from doing research and applying it to the practice. Some of it has
to come from being thoughtful. One such situation is the Otherworld, its
existence, and what happens after death.
There is no need to really go into the literary existence of the
Otherworld. You can read the stories for yourself or get a copy of “The
Otherworld in Early Irish Literature” by David Spaan which goes into great
detail on the subject. In fact, according
to Spaan there are 116 names for the Otherworld in the literature, most of
which are island or even other countries such as Spain or Egypt (Spaan 428-29). The question one
has to ask is: does the Otherworld exist outside of literature? Anecdotally the answer is yes. There is some sort of ‘other world’ that is inhabited
by other beings, simply by virtue of the existence of the gods and ungods. If
one believes that these other worldly being exist, then it stands that they
would have to live someplace. Since we
do not see them in the physical realm then there must be another place in which
they live. If we look to the literature and
folklore, this place is beneath the waves and under the hills.
Experientially the answer is also yes.
There is an entire practice of ‘journeying’ to the Otherworld to meet
with the beings that live there for guidance.
The experiences of those who have done this work increases the anecdotal
evidence of another realm outside of our own in which other beings exist.
So assuming the Otherworld exists, and that there are beings that live there
and that is where the gods reside. Is
that also where we go when we die?
Looking to the stories and strictly speaking from the stories the answer
is no and yes. In Spaans research there
is no indication that the dead go to any of the 116 named locations that are
the Otherworld. However, there is a place not named in Spaans
research that is given as a dwelling place of the dead, Tech nDuinn, the House of Donn. Arguably this is also an Otherworld but what
is important to note is that it is not the same Otherworld location where the
gods and other spirits reside. There is
some argument as to whether or not the dead move from the House of Donn to
another location but that is not the focus of this article. From my perspective, according to the
literature when we die, we pass to Tech
nDuinn.
Is that it though? Is
that the answer? This is where reconstruction
based Neopagan religions start to fail, including gentlidecht, but not because they do not provide the answers because
they do. The failure is that most of us
don’t really believe the literature 100%.
We don’t take it to heart. Despite our use of the literature to inform our practices and beliefs, we are more pragmatic about death and what happens
after.
For me the answers are a mix of ideas. When we die, we pass over to some other place;
I will call it Tech nDuinn. Where we
enjoy the company of others and maybe meet the gods and other spirits. Then, at some point we are born again as
mortals…someplace…sometime. In the end
(heh, see what I did there) it is a personal thing. What we believe happens after death is what
WE believe based on our own experiences, ideas and values.
The truth is waiting.
Warrior, hunter, poet, seer, outsider, I am what
is feared by the ‘things that go bump in the night.’ With truth in my heart,
strength of my arms, and constancy of my tongue, I walk the boundary between
worlds and stand at the borders guarding against the unknown. Armed against
those who wish to harm; I am the wolf, I am the prey, I am the wild hunt.
I am a guardian between the realms, a wild beast in the wood, a féinnid
in the service of my people.
Finn, Chieftain of the Fiana hear our call.
For we stand at the boundary between Order and Chaos, the civilized and the wild.
As the tribe gathers we come to observe and protect.
We shall fear no man, nor beast, and nor spirit.
We shall challenge any who come to do the people ill.
Gods and ungods of the people, know that we are here and we are allies.
With spear and shield we will protect the people, aid the people and sacrifice ourselves for the people.
We stand at the boundary between Order and Chaos, the civilized and the wild.