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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:29 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 2:18 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 2:26 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 3:39 pm
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I don't like the idea of a coven either. I have trust issues, so that is my own problem, but the trust issues come from years of running a lot of non-Pagan groups that were about covensized, and those developed enough painful problems and catty politics. I'd rather not tie my religion in with people I'll probably part ways with in under a few years.
I do miss out on the knowledge-sharing and mentorship aspects of things, though, and that does make me sad. I have a lot of unanswered questions, and I make a lot of mistakes and have more than enough doubts at times. The few times I've had mentors, they've flaked out on me. I do very often wish I had someone I could go to and say "Hey, has this happened to you before? What did you do that fixed it?" who's at least close to my way of doing things. It's that feeling of continuity, and of the knowledge being there, whereas sometimes working alone feels like trying to reinvent the wheel. You know someone somewhere must've already done it, but you don't know who to ask for the instruction manual.
I prefer to work alone. I've tried group work all of twice, and I was extremely uncomfortable and would rather not do it again. But I do sometimes wish there were a group I could casually get together with and share and try stuff out. My closest practicing Pagan friend is a Hellenic recon, and while I love hearing about the stuff she does, it's not as helpful to me, it's just intellectual interest in other peoples' experiences.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 3:45 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:05 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:19 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 7:43 pm
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I have NO experience with pagan group work.
I don't like the idea of religious groups at all, really. Based on my experiences with Christian groups, the purpose of doing anything as a religion-focused group was "OH MAN LOOK AT OUR RELIGION WOOHOO." A sort of...wanking about how great and good their faith was. Services were more worship and less wanking, to be sure, but a lot of it is still there for me. Even so, for paganism-not-Wicca, why is there a need for group worship? Is there necessarily one? I can understand why you'd want some extra "oomph" during a spell, sure, but surely that doesn't happen all that often.
Of course, I've bumbled through life wearing a "does not play well with others" tag on my shirt, so...
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Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:14 am
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Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:30 am
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Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:32 am
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Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:55 pm
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Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:32 pm
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Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 9:56 pm
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*reappears after a bit of absence* Gods I hope I spelled that right... sweatdrop
Moving on: Group work can be extremely satifying for me, but at the same time, there's only one or two people that I trust enough and feel comfortable enough to talk to about my actual faith and ideas. In my hometown, we've recently (about a year ago) started up a local pagan networking group, and yes, we invite others to public rituals (ritual of the month club *snerk*), but we also do workshops, breakfasts and other fun things. We're not a coven, or a working circle, but a group of like-minded individuals who like to get together and talk about our interests. Nobody's required to show up to the rituals or workshops, they're just available. We understand that people's 'real lives' are hectic and very full, and that unfortunately, the spiritual often gets shunted to the side. We never hold that against them, and try to schedule workshops, etc, for when the most people are available. Ok, now I'm just rambling. Sorry!
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:20 am
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