In their nature

[icymist]

Facing discrimination, Wicca pagan followers learn to turn the other cheek.

By ANNIE NELSON of the Tribune’s staff
Published Saturday, November 3, 2007

That members of local Wicca and pagan groups made a point to introduce themselves as regular people during a discussion panel Sunday - "Which Witch is This?" - was noted and quickly brought up by the audience.

"I moved here from Eugene, Ore., where paganism is very accepted. When you introduced yourselves, you all said, ‘I’m a normal person,’ " a woman said, asking whether pagans experienced discrimination in the Midwest.

The five members from Ozark Avalon Church of Nature, Hearthfires and Mid-Missouri Pagan Pride took a collective breath before beginning to relate some prices pagans have paid for their beliefs in Missouri. They spoke before a crowd of about 20 people in the Friends Room of the Columbia Public Library.

The question is the main reason the witches were motivated to have the discussion at all: to increase understanding of their religion. Misconceptions about their beliefs - which are founded on the pre-Christian beliefs of Celts, Greco-Romans and Norse - abound in Columbia’s predominantly Christian community, said Rose Wise, high priestess of Ozark Avalon Church of Nature near Boonville.

Read the full article

[Dervill Crow]

1. I really don't give a rat's patootie whether people understand my religion or not. . .

Why do we have to tell people we're "normal"? It's demeaning. I embrace our differences.

I'm unique, just like everyone else.

::::feeling a bit of the rebel today::::

[Chovexani]

2. That annoys me too

Why do we need to prove how much we're like everyone else in order to be accepted? :shrug:

I'm tired of this Log Cabin Pagan crap.

[Dervill Crow]

3. Log Cabin Pagan? n/t

[Chovexani]

4. Hehe, it's a nickname I came up with

It's for the Pagans who always carry on about other Pagans dressing "weird" (meaning stuff like Ren garb and faerie wings). They're assimilationist types who feel it's their job to police us all, and are the first to scream "we're just like you!" at muggles. They're more concerned with how we look to the public than with spirituality. LCPs share some similarities with the Famewhore Pagan (except in their eyes, they're the only ones suited to give a good impression of Paganism to the media, which is why they chase cameras and newspapers).

They also do things like wear priest collars and call their covens/groves churches. Sometimes they are literally LCPs, and are registered Republicans.

I picked the name Log Cabin Pagans for them because they very much remind me of the assimilationist, stuffy gays (usually Log Cabin types) who complain about drag queens, leather men, etc at the Pride parade.

[icymist]

5. Muggles? Other than Harry Potter, just what is a muggle?

I don't see what you're getting at. Are you against some of us dressing 'wierd'?

[Chovexani]

6. LOL, please read my post again

Muggles = non-Pagans. People used to call them cowans, but not so much anymore.

Log Cabin Pagans = Pagans who complain about other Pagans looking weird, because they're afraid of what muggles will think of them. It is not a complimentary term.

[icymist]

7. When I lived in Springfield, Illinois, (Back in the eighties) I found that...

when you wore a mohawk, people would cross the street to avoid passing directly near you. I kept all my herbs in jars stacked up in the kitchen and would label, say rosehip cuts, as 'scabs'! And they looked like scabs! That scared the so-called 'normal' people away since I didn't want them too close, anyhow. This was before Harry Potter so the word Muggle wasn't yet invented. Since I was a punk musician at the time, everybody already thought I was weird. Nobody who didn't already know needed information about my religion, even though it was 'hidden' in plain view, right in front of them. I think that 'Muggles' will only see what they want to see, not what's really there.

Log Cabin pagans.... that's a proper term. I met some at a Druid group in Seattle back in the early nineties. So worried about looking 'normal' that running the church properly became second and it fell apart. Sad. Just sad.

I'm glad, Chovexani, that you have a sense of humor and can laugh off some of my rantings when I've been up too late and have had a little too much wine.

[knight_of_the_star]

8. I love the rush to normalcy

Reminds me why I go to school in SF so I don't have to worry about the ridiculousness of having to "be normal." Please, if I were to do that I would be dishonest to myself.