Cloistered Legacy
Feb. 7th, 2002 04:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nyykiOne of the most common complaints about the pagan community is that there are to many secrets and "eyes only" information going around.
I can understand where this comes from. Until the explosion of "Wicca for Dummies" books (And their ilk, which is another problem all together) the seeker had to exert some real effort to learn the path. Either a tradition was sought that would teach them, or they had to use the materials that existed in public access to find their own path. These materials were not dumbed down for easy comprehension like so much of the modern books are, so it took real effort to learn. People were less willing to tell everything they knew to anyone who was following a whim. Of course, there was a time not too long ago where possessing this knowledge and openly displaying it or discussing it would adversely affect your life. (Thank the gods one and all that this is fading) So some secrecy was justified.
It seems this patina'd the structure of the earth based spirituality movement. Since the secretive coven structure is the model most readily available and most familiar, it is no wonder that this model is the one that influenced the larger and more public organizations. And from the cheap seats, it looks like it has caused discord and hurt feelings in at least two organizations that I am aware of.
Don't get me wrong -- I was trained McFarland Dianic as my first tradition. I still honor and respect their tenets, and I have kept my oaths intact on everything I was exposed to through that training. My subsequent Tradition groups varied in the level of their secrecy. The two groups I am a member of right now have different levels -- EarthHeart does not allow discussion of anything that happens in a ritual circle, while the Kindred of the Northern Star places no strictures on what can be conveyed. I understand the reasons for not revealing everything any time anyone asks.
However, I find this to be dangerous, harmful, and possibly self destructive in a larger public organization. A coven is usually no more than 13 people. This model should not be applied to 130. To do so changes the dynamics of the interactions.
Sociologists tell us that tribes consist of no more than 40 people -- past that point a tribe tends to break up into sub-tribes. (This is interestingly mirrored in the old Wiccan model where a High Priestess who spawned 2 covens other than her own was called a Witch Queen -- 3x13=40) This is how faction starts. And in many cases it is a good thing. People splinter off from the main group. They do so to remain personally attached to people instead of being just a number. And it seems that the only way to keep people from splintering off is to either structure the organization so that it is designed to deal with sub groups, or to do something to make everyone in the organization feel like a valued person instead of a faceless identityless statistic.
I can understand where this comes from. Until the explosion of "Wicca for Dummies" books (And their ilk, which is another problem all together) the seeker had to exert some real effort to learn the path. Either a tradition was sought that would teach them, or they had to use the materials that existed in public access to find their own path. These materials were not dumbed down for easy comprehension like so much of the modern books are, so it took real effort to learn. People were less willing to tell everything they knew to anyone who was following a whim. Of course, there was a time not too long ago where possessing this knowledge and openly displaying it or discussing it would adversely affect your life. (Thank the gods one and all that this is fading) So some secrecy was justified.
It seems this patina'd the structure of the earth based spirituality movement. Since the secretive coven structure is the model most readily available and most familiar, it is no wonder that this model is the one that influenced the larger and more public organizations. And from the cheap seats, it looks like it has caused discord and hurt feelings in at least two organizations that I am aware of.
Don't get me wrong -- I was trained McFarland Dianic as my first tradition. I still honor and respect their tenets, and I have kept my oaths intact on everything I was exposed to through that training. My subsequent Tradition groups varied in the level of their secrecy. The two groups I am a member of right now have different levels -- EarthHeart does not allow discussion of anything that happens in a ritual circle, while the Kindred of the Northern Star places no strictures on what can be conveyed. I understand the reasons for not revealing everything any time anyone asks.
However, I find this to be dangerous, harmful, and possibly self destructive in a larger public organization. A coven is usually no more than 13 people. This model should not be applied to 130. To do so changes the dynamics of the interactions.
Sociologists tell us that tribes consist of no more than 40 people -- past that point a tribe tends to break up into sub-tribes. (This is interestingly mirrored in the old Wiccan model where a High Priestess who spawned 2 covens other than her own was called a Witch Queen -- 3x13=40) This is how faction starts. And in many cases it is a good thing. People splinter off from the main group. They do so to remain personally attached to people instead of being just a number. And it seems that the only way to keep people from splintering off is to either structure the organization so that it is designed to deal with sub groups, or to do something to make everyone in the organization feel like a valued person instead of a faceless identityless statistic.
