Finding Pagans in your local Town

[Witchwolf]

ok, i got a problem, i live in a mainly church like town. But i also know there other pagans about that seem not to wanting to come out. Also at my local collage i was hopeing to find something, but it came out as a dead end.
Even theo i am part of a Druid Group, i don;t really get a fullment that i get when i cast my own circle or in a group setting.
Can anyone give me a heads up on how to find other pagans in a local setting?  

[Vertigo_Kiwi]

Witchvox.com is the only website I know of that can help. Living in a farm area, I've become used to not seeing any other pagans. So, learning my religion independently is the only way I know.  

[Starlock]

Go to bookstores. Pick up a Pagan-related book. Sit and read for several hours. Wait for random passerbyers who look interested in what you're reading and strike up conversations. You can meet people this way and expand your knowledge-base for your practice. Or perhaps you'll see someone else who is reading a Pagan-related book already. Talk to them!  

[Darin Rosewood]

Starlock

Go to bookstores. Pick up a Pagan-related book. Sit and read for several hours. Wait for random passerbyers who look interested in what you're reading and strike up conversations. You can meet people this way and expand your knowledge-base for your practice. Or perhaps you'll see someone else who is reading a Pagan-related book already. Talk to them!

That's what I do. Except usually all I find is a random lady who keeps coming into Borders looking for divination books. XD  

[maenad nuri]

Witchvox is awesome, but so are meetup and yahoogroups.

yahoogroups are great...even if it is just for the laughing at fluffs  

[Henry Dorsett Case]

Nuri

Witchvox is awesome, but so are meetup and yahoogroups.

Sadly, I know quite a few of the pagan groups in my area that are listed on Witchvox. A lot of them are fluff-havens; the one at my University (I don't know if it's still active or not - their banner wasn't out during club rush) pretty much forbade telling any member they were wrong about anything. A couple of the "covens" near me are made-up "Traditions" that probably wouldn't even get vouches from Ravenwolf.  

[TeaDidikai]

Henry Dorsett Case

Nuri

Witchvox is awesome, but so are meetup and yahoogroups.

Sadly, I know quite a few of the pagan groups in my area that are listed on Witchvox. A lot of them are fluff-havens; the one at my University (I don't know if it's still active or not - their banner wasn't out during club rush) pretty much forbade telling any member they were wrong about anything. A couple of the "covens" near me are made-up "Traditions" that probably wouldn't even get vouches from Ravenwolf.

I'm with Case on this one.

If someone is serious about meeting other pagans and quality individuals, I am not sure either of the suggestions thus far are good ways to go about it.  

[Henry Dorsett Case]

TeaDidikai

If someone is serious about meeting other pagans and quality individuals, I am not sure either of the suggestions thus far are good ways to go about it.

Actually, I'd slightly disagree with you. At the very least, Witchvox is good for finding groups. Verifying the quality of any group is an exercise best left to the person seeking to join said group. At the very least, the sites are decent for finding the names of groups which you can then research. Yes, the chaff:wheat ratio may be high, but the expediency of information exchange via the big truck series of tubes we call the Internet can offset that.

Had it not been for that very thing, I wouldn't have realized that one of the groups listed on Witchvox was something like the third new name for a fluff-"Wiccan" group near my home that was started by a 40-something newager who honestly believes that smoking pot is a legally-protected sacrament.

However, this is coming from the standpoint of not knowing any quality pagans already with whom you can start your own group, or through whom you might get the names of quality groups to join.  

[TeaDidikai]

It is my position that one shouldn't go looking for a group. That a smart individual will be able to find quality individuals who will be good friends- and that common interests and social circles will follow.

I don't care if the interest in question is theology, magic and mysticism or stamp collecting.  

[maenad nuri]

TeaDidikai

It is my position that one shouldn't go looking for a group. That a smart individual will be able to find quality individuals who will be good friends- and that common interests and social circles will follow.

I don't care if the interest in question is theology, magic and mysticism or stamp collecting.

Unfortunatly Tea, some of us have to find the group first and find the quality individuals there. Diamonds in the rough, so to speak.

In other words, we have to go out where there are people first.  

[TeaDidikai]

Nuri

Unfortunatly Tea, some of us have to find the group first and find the quality individuals there. Diamonds in the rough, so to speak.

In other words, we have to go out where there are people first.

But why limit it to pagans?

Further- if you go head long into a group setting that is there with a single common interest- are you not setting yourself up for experiencing an individual in a specific context?  

[maenad nuri]

TeaDidikai

Nuri

Unfortunatly Tea, some of us have to find the group first and find the quality individuals there. Diamonds in the rough, so to speak.

In other words, we have to go out where there are people first.

But why limit it to pagans?

Further- if you go head long into a group setting that is there with a single common interest- are you not setting yourself up for experiencing an individual in a specific context?

Well, a pagan group seems the obvious place to go if you wish to experience other pagans. I very rarely talk about my beliefs outside of certain contexts. Nor does starting out in a particular group mean you are only going to experience that person in that one context.

For instance, I joined fighting because the subject matter was interesting to me, and thought the people would share similar interests. I made friends from there.

I have very little "pagan-dar"  

[TeaDidikai]

I guess what I am trying to get at is that it is better to relate to people as individuals and seek out social context later when it comes to paganism.

I admit that I am gunshy of the pagan scene. 90% of all the pagans I have ever had to deal with in person made my skin crawl and about 5% of them give me cause to think that were time travel within my ability I think I might help pad those Witch Burning numbers.

Hmmm... maybe that's how there were 9 Million!

This is something that my favorite Wiccan has down pat. Vouches are important.

Nuri

I have very little "pagan-dar"

I have honed pagan-dar. I consider it a curse.  

[maenad nuri]

TeaDidikai

I guess what I am trying to get at is that it is better to relate to people as individuals and seek out social context later when it comes to paganism.

I admit that I am gunshy of the pagan scene. 90% of all the pagans I have ever had to deal with in person made my skin crawl and about 5% of them give me cause to think that were time travel within my ability I think I might help pad those Witch Burning numbers.

Hmmm... maybe that's how there were 9 Million!

This is something that my favorite Wiccan has down pat. Vouches are important.

Nuri

I have very little "pagan-dar"

I have honed pagan-dar. I consider it a curse.

Those percentages seem a very apt number for the people from fighting I actually hang with. I didn't like everyone at PROTECT (the ISU pagan group) but I met a few people that made it worthwhile to go.

I dunno, I tend to meet people in specific contexts, and relate to them later. But that may be a function of my personality--I don't relate to the world at large very well, and like to start with a pool already narrowed down.

It sorta like I went to ED and MR first when joining Gaia, instead of the chatterbox. I wanted to meet people that had a greater chance of relating to me.

But then, I'm not always looking for pagans to worship with. In fact, I rarely do.

It seemed to me that Witchwolf really just wanted local pagans to talk to, in that case, she's looking for the interest first.  

[TeaDidikai]

I guess I assumed that they were looking for quality over quantity.

Myself, I would rather meet three quality people than a larger number of scuz.

Witchvox has never impressed me. The Yahoo Group I met with once made my skin crawl.

However, individual friends who I have other interests with have taken me to different social situations where I have made lifelong friends.