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SOLITARY? |
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What does it mean to be a "Solitary"? There are Solitary's who were once part of a coven, coven trained and now work alone for the most part. There are those who have never been in a coven but are "self dedicated" and have always practiced their faith on their own. Does being a solitary mean being "alone"? Because we choose to walk our own path, does this mean we walk by ourselves, shunning contact with others who may be walking a similar path? Do we forever shun contact with others? Do we live as an island all our lives, becoming hermits? Is being a solitary an excuse for being anti-social? Do we use our path as an excuse to shirk our responsibilities to our community? Do we claim to be pagan so we don't have to mingle with the mundanes? Are we so lazy that we walk a solitary path so we don't have to have any kind of social responsibility? Do we use our religion as an excuse to cry discrimination so we can get away with not having personal responsibilities? There are many solitaries who think so. To be fair, there are also those in covens who do the same thing. But it is easier to become anti-social in a solitary position. It is becoming an excuse rather than a chosen life style. Cunningham, in his book "Wicca, A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" in his section on Wicca and Shamanism states "Don't shut out the physical world in favor of the spiritual or magical realms, for only through nature can we experience these realities. We are on the Earth for a reason. Do, however, use ritual to expand your awareness so that you are truly at one with all creation." The most basic example is what we share most in common. We are an "Earth based religion". There are many Pagans who claim to be working to protect and be in harmony with the earth. How can we be helping with Mother Earth if we are not working with the people who are protecting Her or working to end the abuses other people are committing against Her? How can we even know what is going on if we don't watch the news, or vote in our public elections for or against legislation that may either protect or further damage the earth. One of our basic fundamentals yet we seem to be outside even that commonality. "Doing your own thing" does not necessarily mean you are helping any. It has become very "American" to be a drop out of society. We do not exercise our basic right to vote, yet we squeal when our right to choose our religion is questioned. We demand that society recognize us, yet we do not recognize society. Our basic responsibilities on the whole seem to be neglected. We rather "home school" our children rather than fix our school systems. We drop out rather than try to work to improve the system we pay tax dollars to support. We don't like the choices we are given for legislators so we don't vote. Rather than work within the system to increase our choices or make our voices known, we rather practice the fine art of bitching about who represents us in government. This is not new really. I see this in a lot of our parents and grandparents. We continue the trend of not speaking up against the system. We allow others to trample on our civil rights. We permit the government to continue cutting our support systems while increasing our share to support the system. We turn a blind eye to those things we run off at the mouth about. Then why do we scream so loud when we have our Religious Rights trampled? Or are we? We did get out in front of the public years ago, going into the court systems and demanding our right to choose our religion, even when it meant being exposed to the general public. Now we are content to sit anonymously behind a computer monitor and bitch on email lists and maybe the occasional unsigned email to our congressman about how poorly we are being treated. This does not count. I am not suggesting we battle big bad corporate monsters who prey on small third world countries overseas. While it's nice we are trying to stick up for the little guy, we got some real serious problems right here at home, and we choose to ignore them in favor of the easy to identify wrong doings of some obvious abuses. I am suggesting that our home is broken, and that it's our fault and we continue to ignore it. We pride ourselves on "personal responsibility". We are ultimately responsible for our own actions or inactions. We all agree that if we cast a spell, we are responsible for its outcome. Yet we continue to blame government, or our parents, or someone else for the problems we have right in our own back yard. And we go about casting spells on someone who has wronged us or our family, or we ask for more money, or personal love or whatever. And we ignore everything else; because we are solitaries... we take care of ourselves. Well, I suggest we are getting exactly what we deserve. We continue to refuse to vote, refuse to get involved in community, either mundane or our spiritual community, we ignore abuses of the government and our neighbors (unless it directly effects us) and we continue to practice the fine art of bitchcraft. Until we figure out that we are ultimately responsible for the ENTIRE EARTH, and that includes the people on it, until we realize that we are not going to get anywhere unless we come out of our isolation shells and independent islands, until we stop thinking of ME FIRST and start working TOGETHER as a community, as state wide action groups and as national organizations, we are not going to improve anything except our typing skills and the fine art of bitching. We have a disease going around, and it's not confined to the pagan community. It's called "I DON'T CARE" and in the long run, you are responsible for your own actions. And somewhere along the line, you are going to really need something, be it medical help, legal advice or spiritual comfort. And you are going to have it come back to you. Someone is going to say "I don't care" to you, and upon reflection you are going to realize you are experiencing the law of return personally. The next steps are up to you. How are you going to deal with this? There are some who will think about this and maybe even get out from behind the computer monitor and do something. Others will reflect on this and see that there is some truth to what I am saying. But how many will say "oh, she's at it again" and move back a few steps more, isolating yourselves even further from your community and worldly responsibilities. Will come a time when spells will not fix things, because no amount of energy can reverse the damage that is being done. I am not suggesting a revolution on the scale of what we were looking at in the 60's. But I am suggesting a personal revolution, where we stand up, turn off the computer, and walk out into the real world and ask "What can I do to make this better?" And while Network suggested we get "mad as hell and not take it anymore", I am only suggesting we get motivated and try to fix the problems we have been creating for ourselves for a while now. |
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