Terminology
The use of a standard Terminology within the Pagan Community when referring to itself (including the component parts and context of such Community), is not the most pressing issue facing us. However, it is likely that the ease of transition for many future situations could be enhanced by a little working together now. In addition it seems probable that if the Pagan Community is able to begin working together on some simple, emotionally non-loaded (or at least less loaded) issues, it will bode well for the more complicated issues of rapidly evolving New Aeon.
For instance, as our Organizations become larger and more open, how will we be listed in phone books and directories of various type? The odds are that if we unite on the manner of terminology we prefer, that the existing compilers of those indexes will use those category terms that we select.
Are all of us Earth Centered Religious Folk, Pagan?
Do Witches (if by that we mean Hereditary and Traditional Practitioners of the Old Religion), want to be considered a separate category from Wiccans (if by that we mean Alexandrian, Gardnerian, Dianic and other Traditions reestablished in this century, regardless of their links to the Ancients), and vice versa?
What exactly is the difference between Pagans and NeoPagans, if any?
We find Pagan, pleasing as an overall category because at the root level such term basically means People of the Woods (as Heathen means People of the Heath), which, while not all inclusive, is not too far off. However, some of us are quite happy in the City, some or all of the time.
When we organize, we are told by various representatives of the government that we are legally organizing as churches, and told not to worry about it, because it is a legal term. However the root meaning of the word, Church, is a congregation of Christian worshippers, although there is usually a secondary meaning of: a body of Spiritual like-believers. We believe that as we become more public, and are listed in community directories, our Organizations should be listed in such a manner as to make clear to any person (Pagan, Christian, Atheist, Deist, Agnostic, Humanist and/or of any other persuasion) the essential nature of our practice, whether Temple, Circle or Grove. However the effectuation of such situation, will require a Pagan Community consensus of opinion as to which terms to use for what.
Part of the Glory of the Pagan Path is that it is an Individual, Experiential Movement of Conscious Spiritual Evolution, and incredibly diverse. In some senses, one could divide the number of Pagan Practitioners on this Planet by some figure probably between seven and twenty-three and get the ideal number of Pagan Religions. We can work together, without spoiling the exquisiteness of this variance, but it has to start somewhere, and there has to be an initial agreement to avoid Doctrinal Purity Controversy.
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