Integration

[Maggie]

Integration is perhaps the most important yet most difficult to define of the topics discussed so far.

In many western societies religion is no longer one of those characteristics that encourages societal cohesiveness. How it is handled varies from country to country; some still have official state religions, France deals with it by banning all symbols of every religion(with exceptions for its cathedrals), America simply insists that its government not support one. This means that festivals, feast days, holy days--pick one--are generally no longer celebrated by the community as an entire whole where religious diversity is tolerated. Yes, Christmas and Easter are widely recognized here but that is because over 90% of this country considers itself some kind of Christian. The same would hold true in any country where a majority of the citizens are members of any one religion.

Individually, this question is the same one faced by any member of any religion but it can be considered more important when these practices are not reinforced by the community celebrations and practices. Even in the larger sense it is still the same question faced by members of a religion that does not belong to the same one as the majority of those around the individual.

How does one start?

Maggie

[Maggie]

Very obviously, the desire to form groups, find an organization, even an informal circle of friends is driven by the need to have a common community to celebrate the holidays with, to share observances with, to share a way of looking at the world. IMO, in America anyway, this is a replacement for what is often a loss of the family culture since many pagans do not come from pagan families--as yet. We have a dichotomy here between national observances and religious observances; the American national days and gatherings are pretty much unaffected by chosen religion, it's the family culture that is missing.

When an individual looks for a group, what does everyone look for? What are the expectations? What are the critieria?


Maggie

[Maggie]

Very obviously, the desire to form groups, find an organization, even an informal circle of friends is driven by the need to have a common community to celebrate the holidays with, to share observances with, to share a way of looking at the world. IMO, in America anyway, this is a replacement for what is often a loss of the family culture since many pagans do not come from pagan families--as yet. We have a dichotomy here between national observances and religious observances; the American national days and gatherings are pretty much unaffected by chosen religion, it's the family culture that is missing.

When an individual looks for a group, what does everyone look for? What are the expectations? What are the critieria?


Maggie

I've often wanted to find a compatible group simply to share the festivals with, precisely for that sense of community. The difficulty, of course, comes in finding one.

1)How far do you go to fit into an existing group? As is clearly evident from MW itself, pagans vary widely in their beliefs. How does one balance any differences between your individual beliefs and those of the group?

2)In finding a group, what are your expectations? Do you look at it as attending church, in that attendance and participation is only for festivals? Or do you have further expectations?

3)In forming a group do you turn to like-minded friends, try to find like minded people through the internet or pagan stores, word of mouth?

4)Once having found/formed a group, do you have further expectations? Is this group expected to become friends, to share other activities with?


Maggie