{"id":682,"date":"2010-09-25T20:49:16","date_gmt":"2010-09-25T20:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2010\/09\/modern-paganism-tradition-secrecy-and-the-net.html"},"modified":"2010-09-25T20:49:16","modified_gmt":"2010-09-25T20:49:16","slug":"modern-paganism-tradition-secrecy-and-the-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/09\/modern-paganism-tradition-secrecy-and-the-net.html","title":{"rendered":"Modern Paganism, Tradition, Secrecy and the Net"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don Frew has just sent me another contribution to this blog.  I am happy about this for two reasons.  First is that Don is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about the Craft and its history.  I have asked him to write stuff for years. Second, Beliefnet wants 5 posts a week, and  making them thoughtful is a LOT of work.  Making them thoughtless is a waste of time.  So I appreciate any good submissions I get.  <\/p>\n

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Anyone with interesting ideas can reach me via Facebook. <\/p>\n
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Don’s contribution is below the fold.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n<\/p>\n

t seems to me that there was a first phase of the modern Craft movement in which most of us were “in the broom closet” for our own safety and survival.  In that phase “Traditional Craft” did well because it was set up to survive persecution.  It had a cell structure, a system of vouches, passwords, oaths of secrecy, etc.  (Also, it was almost the only game in town.)<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Then the Craft entered a second phase, in which survival meant networking.  Those of us who COULD be “out of the broom closet” had an obligation to do so on behalf of the rest.  Public organizations, like CoG & Circle, thrived.  As we became more public and Craft information became more accessible, eclectics and solitaries grew in numbers and existed alongside traditional covens.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Now, starting with the Internet and taking off with the advent of the “new media” and “social networking”, it seems that we are entering a third phase — one in which that old broom closet is looking pretty good to traditional Craft covens.  This is because increasingly, in my opinion, the linkage between “new media” and the maxim “Information wants to be free!” is threatening traditional secrecy.  Conversations between traditional Craft Elders are increasingly dominated by questions of secure data storage and secure data transfer.  We long ago discussed why some things need to be secret in a Mystery tradition and agreed that they do.  Now, the threat of the ?new media” is, I think, driving the older Traditions back underground.  <\/div>\n
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One result is that almost all Pagan censuses and polls are drastically skewed.  None of them are of random samples of Pagans.  They are all of self-selected people who are already inclined to be online — the very recruiting ground that most selects for eclectics and solitaries.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
I recently took the Pagan census<\/a> and found the questions difficult to answer as a traditional Gardnerian.  They just didn’t include many of the things that I take for granted about my theology, life, and practice.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
My own experience, and that of many of the folks with whom I speak, is that the older Traditions are actually experiencing an increase in membership (perhaps as the community ages) at the same time as the older Traditions are going underground.  This reinforces my perception that the polls are 1) vastly over-reporting and vastly under-reporting the relative numbers of eclectics &solitaries on the one hand and Traditionalists on the other, and 2) the resulting idea that “solitary Craft is the wave of the future” is both based on an illusion and reflects more of a current fad or cyclical swing than a long-term trend. <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Any thoughts?<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
(BTW, I encourage Traditionalist Witches to take the census, just be prepared for a LONG questionnaire.  Also, you might want to START with the essay questions towards the end while you are fresh, rather than waiting until you are tired from filling out the first part.)<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don Frew has just sent me another contribution to this blog.  I am happy about this for two reasons.  First is that Don is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about the Craft and its history.  I have asked him to write stuff for years. 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