Larissa Lee’s Notebook

Morality and Ethics

21 Jun 2011 1 Comment

by Larissa Lee in Creativity

When the news people come around, who always finds the cameraman’s attention? The person least suited to be an accurate representation of the group he or she is speaking for. You see it in a disaster area; it’s always some uneducated ninny. It’s getting better, but often when some news group decides to look into New Age paganism, they find the MOST obnoxiously stereotypical pagan to interview (whitelighters and all).

That said, I think it’s far too easy to fall into the same trap with your own judgments.

Christians are judgmental. They base their entire moral structure on ancient (and often interpreted-as-needed) scriptures, then proceed to force it down everyone else’s throats as The Way to Be. They take no personal responsibility for any of their actions; either the Devil made them do it, or they confess and ask for forgiveness to make all well again. They are often hypocrites, saying one thing and doing another.

Generalizations S-U-C-K. Quit nodding. You’re about to feel bad for agreeing with any of that.

Christians are as varied in belief and practice as pagans are, if you take even a moment to look and even ask. This is where it helps to not just consider that conversation you had with the man who said you were going to hell because he saw your pentacle necklace; I’d like you to think of the non-confrontational examples of Christians you’ve met. If you don’t have any, find some! Many of them try to follow some pretty awesome teachings: do unto others as you would have done unto yourself, let he who is without sin cast the first stone, turn the other cheek, thou shalt not kill, love thy brother (actually, I happen to love the quote “love is gently, love is kind” from the Bible). Christianity is actually a beautiful religion, in many MANY ways. Most Christians aren’t religious enough to feel a need to even discuss their religion with others, unless the topic is brought up; they don’t often preach at anyone. Society teaches us (unfortunately) that someone else is always to blame; this isn’t a failing of Christian teachings, but a failing of the society as a whole. And hypocrisy is EVERYWHERE, even in pagan circles. *gasp*

I’ve watched pagans be judgmental. Not just of Christians, but of each other! They have their path, tradition, or branch of paganism, and anyone who dares approach it without invitation is scoffed at. For example, some traditional Wiccans (i.e. those in branches of the path that trace themselves back to its start with Gerald Gardner) will slap a pagan silly for even thinking of themselves and the word “Wiccan” in the same sentence. Or a Druid might snear at a circle that’s calling deities from their base culture.

It’s sad. Many pagans are willing to accept personal responsibility for their magickal actions, but their mundane lives stand as a separate entity. Harming none only applies to hexes, not to treating your neighbors with kindness while their dogs keep shitting in your yard. We are sometimes hypocrites, too.

This whole thought-train came from watching my circle discuss ethics. Our tradition embraces “Equal Truths, Equal Magicks”, that there is validity in EVERY path, not just the ones we like. And yet I watched us, new and old alike, talk about how Christian morality is inferior compared to pagan ethics. I listened to a discussion of morality and ethics (neither of which necessarily belonging to ANY spirituality) fall apart into a chorus of comments on the failures of Christianity and the intelligence of pagans for taking responsibility for their actions.

I’d like to say that maybe we should all take responsbility for failing our own tradition’s guidelines. I take personal responsibility for not speaking up, even as I sat there and listened and disagreed.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: there is beauty and simplicity in following a structure of moral behavior, just as there is a striking freedom and joy in following a path of personal ethics. No one path is good for everyone, and that applies to understanding right/wrong decisions as well. We aren’t all built to handle the pressure of being held accountable for every thought, word, and deed; some would break under the strain. Some of us are wired to a natural tendency to refuse to follow a rule without an explanation as to why it is so. Others are born with a need for security and structure, for rules and regulations to help guide the way. Neither is better. Remember that.

the Bark-footed Tribe, in context

06 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment

by Larissa Lee in Creativity

I had a humorous thought today, on the meaning of actions in and out of context. You see, today was one of my circle’s longer classes. We got together under a shade pavilion, drinking iced mint tea to cool ourselves from the Texas heat. There are fire ant mounds in the yard of our covenstead; as a natural deterrent for the ants, we sprinkled cinnamon over their mounds and our feet. The strong smell sends them hiding underground, saving us a lot of pain and itching.

Now the fun part. Imagine that someone, years from now, were to find our covenstead and records of what we did today, but no descriptions as to why…

This tribe of Texans had a complex social structure. They would gather beneath a large tepee, finding repose in cloth seats of multiple hues. The tribal people would pour themselves a mint-based infusion; we are unsure of the tea’s purpose, as no hallucinogenic properties have been found. What has been most fascinating about the study of this tribe is their use of ground bark from a cinnamon tree. While not native to the Texas region, the cinnamon was a common spice in the American food culture. We postulate that it was associated with the constant heat of Texas. The peoples of this area often applied the powdered bark to their feet and meeting places, leading to the common nickname of the “Bark-footed Tribe”. It is said that the purpose may have been to appease the “fire spirits” that caused the hot temperatures. Other scholars believe the Bark-footed were attempting to show, though symbolism, their tribal connectivity and willingness to “walk through fire” for one another (this fire symbolized, again, just the spiciness of the bark and its essential oils). The site in what was once called Killeen contains the most complete picture of the Bark-footed culture.

Now doesn’t that make you think of the anthropological inferences found in our history books? We often assume a lot into the meanings of what we find in locations where tribes or other cultures once lived and traveled. We see what we want to see. Pagans do this often, as do other groups. We look at a cave painting of a curvy woman or a craving of a pregnant female… and we assume goddess worship. What’s to say that some fool didn’t have a pregnant mate? Maybe he got creatively inspired and wanted an image of her. Or maybe it was a rite of passage image, made by the women of a tribe to commiserate a female’s first pregnancy. Maybe somebody had a fat-girl fetish, in a time when life was far too tough for anyone to really get fat from overeating; perhaps seeing a pregnant girl tickled someone’s fancy, and the carvings and pictures were simply prehistoric porn. Who are we to say what the original people really meant to do? We weren’t there.

It’s fun to speculate, though, isn’t it?