Paganism = Feminism?

[SpiritTalker]

Magical principles have mimicked creation & not social gender roles. From what I’ve read of the 60’s Craft it appeared that Coven roles and ritual construction seemed to have followed the social gender identity of the time and are more flexible now a days than in the ‘60’s, with another wave of adjustment in the ‘90’s (which is when I started the path.) So as you’ve noted, rewrites keep time with gender definitions. I think I’d’ve thrown the script at Gardner or Sanders.

[Lord_of_Nightmares]

I am a feminist and pan-Dianic Wiccan. I am pretty matrifocal but I am also pretty masculine and do not exclude the masculine from my practices.

But being a feminist is not a prerequisite for paganism. Feminism is about gender equality. That includes other genders on the spectrum. However, historically and still to this day women are typically the ones that recieve the most discrimination.

[Violet]

Magical principles have mimicked creation & not social gender roles.

SpiritTalker, I believe I partially agree with you. As a post by Xiao Rong points out, other creatures on Earth don't necessarily reproduce the way we do, nor do they align with our social construction of gender.

However, I believe our human perspectives shape what we observe in nature and that it may not be possible to describe a nature outside of that perspective.

I feel it is important to consider the social forces that have shaped anything we believe we know.

So as you’ve noted, rewrites keep time with gender definitions. I think I’d’ve thrown the script at Gardner or Sanders.

To clarify my earlier post, I don't necessarily accept that rewrites keep time with gender definitions, even though it's obvious that many members on this forum, and many covens they mention, don't adhere to these patriarchal concepts of sex and gender.

[SpiritTalker]

Right. Creation isn’t necessarily synonymous with species procreation. And yea, observation and prior experiences do color perceptions which in turn shape interpretation of observations. We can think outside the box with imagination and intuition. I didn’t add in earlier comments that I’m a feminist and christo-pagan. it seems to me that reconstructed, shamanistic pagan paths are male dominant in structure and practice; and might be in response to the popularity of the sacred feminine after the 60’-80’s explosion. It’s like a continuing tug-of-war, or a swing of the social norm pendulum.

[SapphireRoad]

Hecate warns me about not taking any bullshit,not to depend on another for my happiness and know what I want out of it all...different approaches but both very important. I'm beginning to think that the more I interact with Hecate it could revolutionize my view of relationships on the whole. I don't think she advocates celibacy; I'm sure there are many happily married individuals who are devoteed to her and it has been a beneficial influence to their relationships...she *is* the minister to Persephone, wife of Hades and Queen of the Underworld, right?

Indeed! And Hecate herself is sometimes seen as a consort of Hermes. In one of Her myths, She lay her naked body on him. What else would they do? *Just* hug? Haha. Reference: http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Hekate.html#Hermes

P.S. If I were in your place, I would relate to Hecate in the same manner

Very nice reference.

It feels more clarified to the lore to put Hekate and Hermes together.

[Corbin]

I'm not terribly fond of polarisation, politics or any - ism... least of all literal-ism with regard to esoteric matters.

Esoterically: Men have got female energies, so do women (and vice versa) in respect to exactly what is trying to be expressed by those terms = expressive and receptive.

Call it yin/yang. Hell, call it gin and tonic. I doubt it will cause as much confusion as masculine and feminine has with the progression of change in the usage of those terms as the years proceed and western 'society' becomes more narcissistic and hypercritical of the minutae of every word, every pause and every act.

The 'mysteries' lie within becoming more receptive and connected OR becoming more expressive and independant/willed... The male mysteries, the female mysteries: masculine or feminine in the concept of them as coorespondances (like the thing but not the thing itself). In psychology you would say perhaps to become self-actualised.

The idea is to bring into balance those energies within you. Why? Because when you balance your energies in any way, something weird and rather wonderful happens - they become greater then the sum of their parts. You find 'flow'. When balanced you effect the 'environment': the world, the people around you, in balanced ways. It's the secret of balance that those drawn to extremes will never appreciate. To a hammer all problems look like nails. The wheel spins but on the hub of the wheel it barely moves at all.

I remain a middle-aged thoughtful pagan and an ever hopeful unionist with an interest in equality over division and try to keep my spiritual egalitarianism clean of the taint of worldly politics - sexual or otherwise.

[Corbin]

FYI

In its originative usage (as opposed to modern usage), 'virgin' does not mean the same thing as 'chaste'.

Being a virgin or a maiden meant not married and free to choose sexual partners. Ishtar, Diana, Astarte, and Isis were all considered virgin goddesses, which did not refer in any way to sexual chastity, but their sexual independence.