Nothing isn't Pagan anymore.

[TheDisreputableDog]

WebenBanu

lots of important thoughts that are too long to quote. 3nodding

So since we always seem to come back to Wicca, where does Wicca fit in? Recon religions clearly fit into the PPD definition even with WebenBanu's parings, but Wicca isn't really recon. The "divine feminine" part is probably thrown in there because they couldn't find a better foothold for Wicca? Not being all that well-versed in Wicca...  

[maenad nuri]

TheDisreputableDog

WebenBanu

lots of important thoughts that are too long to quote. 3nodding

So since we always seem to come back to Wicca, where does Wicca fit in? Recon religions clearly fit into the PPD definition even with WebenBanu's parings, but Wicca isn't really recon. The "divine feminine" part is probably thrown in there because they couldn't find a better foothold for Wicca? Not being all that well-versed in Wicca...

I'm thinking they mean it to go into the "magickal" practices part and the strictist definition of "creating new religions based on past pagan religions". Wicca certainly combined past pagan religions when it was created.  

[TheDisreputableDog]

Nuri

Weben: I think there's a difference between types of fiction, since our mythologies were also what were used to entertain, I'm open to new mythologies that arise out of fiction.

...

As Avalon said, some of the texts that I use as part of my religion are born out of drama and comedy, and different collections of stories of the divine.

I think I'm with Nuri and Avalon on this. Drawing a distinction between modern fiction and ancient mythology seems to be a matter of tenure. I wouldn't say that Lysistrata is any nobler than Equus. A lot of fiction has instructional value, and a lot of mythology was largely for entertainment.

As for the argument that mythology is a matter of explaining natural phenomenon in terms of deity, much of Greek mythology and thus Roman mythology doesn't have to do with that at all. What natural process does Artemis turning Actaeon into a stag so her hounds can rip him to pieces describe? Yet the lump sum of Greek mythology is always accepted as the lump sum of Greek mythology, because it's Greek mythology.

I think Bradley witches could certainly find better things to spend their time on but I don't think they should be excluded from the realm of Neopaganism just because of that. They might give Wiccans or Recons a slightly worse image by association, but rigidly conforming to the opinions of people who don't even care isn't going to improve our image. It sometimes seems like half the community hates the ebil Xians and the other half is constantly looking over their shoulders to see what the ebil Xians think of them. (Exaggeration.) I'm nowhere near an old hand at this but I have seen some things.

Nuri

In fact, I find it strange that there are not more new myths being created. Greek myths depended on place to place and in time. Where are the new myths? Where are the new gods?

I think science is our new mythology. I hate to fall back on "the old times were better" because largely they weren't, but the total emphasis on the rational mind has kind of hampered our ability for that kind of thing. It's hard to found new mythology because any attempt would be analyzed, dissected, slotted into one of the already-existing religions and passed off as cliche, or called fiction and denied validity as operational mythology.

I find Tolkien's vision of Middle Earth and its origins and spiritual entities very satisfying. The Silmarillion reads and is set up suprisingly like the Bible, to use an example. The only problem is that the Silmarillion is demonstrably fiction and the Bible even at a cynical evaluation is at least based in fact. But should that really be the defining basis for a religion--whether you can say that your holy book is deomonstrably fact? Isn't faith a big part of the equation? Although I'm sure Tolkien would spin in his grave if I actually worshipped Illuvatar.