When I write or submit articles for magazines, I very often deal with people I have never met face to face, thanks to the wonders of modern technology. On many occasions, the editors have assumed that I am older than my years based upon the content and style of my work. Of course, I tell myself that is not a terrible thing, but I have always suggested one lives their truth – so here is my truth. The first few times it happened, I freaked. I was horrified that people would consider me much older than I am, and darn it I am certainly no Crone! Sure ages catches up with all of us, I am no longer as young as I was, and since having children I certainly feel like I leaped over a few years and rapidly increased in age – but really. I. Am. Not. Old. But even if I were, why should that matter? (more…)
Creating sustainable Pagan communities that provide services, support and education will require a healthy and manageable system of financial exchange – a topic that many Pagans avoid exploring. Shauna muses on the issues of value, worth, money, classes, courses, training, continual professional development, clergy and commitment. I am very interested in the concept of sliding scale tithing and how this can work with developing Pagan communities. A very thought provoking read.
How do we pay for the functions of a community organization and services to members? How do we pay for regular classes, clergy, a community center?
I wrote this after reading a conversation among some of the organizers for NIPA, the Northern Illinois Pagan Alliance. They’ve been working for years to bring their local community together and offer services, and doing a great job. And they’re having the conversation many Pagan communities are having.
How do we pay for all this, and how do we make it sustainable?
I’m so excited to see the work that NIPA is doing. There are Pagans all over the country who have no place to go for various reasons, and helping Pagans in one area to have a place to connect and find “home” is such important work.
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Pagans, as a general rule, can be a pretty creative bunch. To us the Divine is immanent, present, within all of nature around us. This can lead us to being pretty romantic about the way we view our Divine, in the beauty of a sunset, in the glistening dew shimmering upon a spiders web, in the blossoming flower, in the flight of fragile birds above us. Not many find beauty in the bloated corpse of those same birds at the end of their life, in the teeming maggots that feed upon it, in the stench of death and decay. We do, theoretically, understand the balance and duality of the Divine and respect what many view as the dark side of the God/dess. Almost as if these aspects of Divinity are two sides of one coin, we understand the whole coin but we most often view just one face. We expect the coin to land heads up every time, and when we see tails many turn and run. (more…)
In my life, at different times, I have been on both the giving and receiving end of charity. I have even worked for a very large charity, and been witness to the ‘behind the scenes’ aspects of large charitable organisations. Charity can certainly be a wonderful thing, it is the extension of ourselves into the community, small individual actions creating ripple effects that impact the whole world for the better. Small actions, when multiplied by millions, manifesting enormous change. That change effects all of us, because we are all a part of the same world. The world of extremes, of haves and have nots, of wealth and poverty, of excess and lack; a world of division that creates the need for the generosity of others. (more…)
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