Llewellyn's 2012 Witches' Companion

by Llewellyn

  Learning how to express my faith to my new acquaintances has required some spellwork of my own. I have had to use incantation carefully. Living in a small rural community, I have had to find ways to communicate my faith to people that don’t alienate me or my family or frighten the parents of my daughter’s playmates.

  I found that all I need to do is tell the truth, but to do so in terms that other people might more readily understand and accept. Instead of saying “I’m a Pagan and worship the Goddess at her Sabbats and full moons,” I can easily state my beliefs in language more familiar and acceptable to mainstream people. I rely on the metaphors of gardening, agriculture, and nature to express my magical thoughts and beliefs, and often refer to the moon as a point of reference, one that is readily understood by the farmers and herds’ people in the community.

  I have also relied heavily on old adages that are common to our region and community, adages that clearly express some of the tenets of my Pagan faith. Using these adages, I have found a commonality of belief and faith: “What goes around comes around” I say, or “That is going to come back on him, three fold,” and “Cheaters never prosper.”

  I have learned over time that speaking in adages, metaphors, and parables is a powerful magical tool, enabling me to connect with many people of varied and different faiths. Because I have translated my purely Pagan patter into something more universal and symbolic in nature, I have found points of commonality and agreement. And by using adages, metaphors, and symbols, I can talk in detail about my Pagan faith and still be understood conceptually by Christians and others in my community.

  Finding Community

  Since my daughter started school, I have moved from a solitary practitioner to one who celebrates very loudly and publicly within a large community.

  I have taken part in rituals, feasts, and Sabbat celebrations, and I have worked “magic” both alone and in community. I have seen how everyday people can move natural energy to create needed change, and the result is magical indeed.

  While many of the people who are part of our school community don’t identify themselves as Pagans, with them I have found a safe place to celebrate, affirm, worship, and praise the Goddess as she manifests herself in her purest form: through our children.

  Resources for Pagan Parents

  Carson, Anne, ed. Caretaking a New Soul—Writings on Parenting from Thich Nhat Hanh to Z. Budapest. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, 1999

  McCleary, Patrick. “PaganDad.” http://www.Pagandad.com/.I love that McCleart’s subtext is “Leading the Next Generation Forward Through Faith.” I think that says it all.

  Starhawk, Diane Baker, and Anne Hill. Circle Round: Raising children in Goddess Traditions. New York: Bantam Books, 1998.

  Wigington, Patti. “Your Rights as a Pagan Parent.” About.com http://Paganwiccan.about.com/od/yourlegalrights/a/Rights_Parents.htm.

  WitchVox. “Pagan Parenting.” http://www.witchvox.com/_x.html?c=parent.

  This page is filled with tons of articles, resources, opinions, and links that will make you feel rich and connected.

  Life is what you make it, and Dallas Jennifer Cobb has made a magical life in a waterfront village on the shores of great Lake Ontario. Forever scheming novel ways to pay the bills, she practices manifestation magic and wildlands witchcraft. She currently teaches Pilates, works in a library, and writes to finance long hours spent following her hearts’ desire—time with family, in nature and on the water. Contact her at jennifer.cobb@live.com.

  Illustrator: Rik Olson

  *Starhawk. “A Working Definition of Reclaiming.” Reweaving. http://www.reweaving.org/tradition.html.

  Reconsidering the Spectre of Pagan Standard Time

  Susan Pesznecker, On-Time Pagan

  Imagine this: You spend hours, no, days planning the perfect ritual for your coven, including an agreed-upon start time of 8:00 pm that coincides with everyone’s home, kid, pet, gym, and work schedules. BlackBerries and iPhones are synched. As the lead organizer, you’ve poured heart and soul into the preparations, and at 7:45, you’re garbed and ready, haunting the front door and excited for the evening to begin. Problem is, no one else has arrived. Eight o’clock comes and goes … 8:10 … 8:25 … Finally, at 8:30, someone shows up and then others begin to trickle in. By the time all the key players have shown up, it’s 9:15. The ritual that should have been over by now—leaving plenty of time for fellowship and a table of cakes and ale—hasn’t even started. You want to go ahead and start, but others insist on waiting for the remaining stragglers. In the meantime, one couple looks anxiously at the time and announces they only have a babysitter for another forty-five minutes.

  You’re madder than h…. Well, you know. And you’re a victim of Pagan Standard Time.

  What is Pagan Standard Time? Somehow, somewhere along the line, an unfortunate urban myth took root within the Pagan community. Referred to as Pagan Standard Time or PST, it goes something like this: If you’re an hour late for a ritual, circle, class, or other event, you’re on time. If you’re two hours late, you’re still on time. If you don’t show up at all, that’s okay too.

  Huh?

  No one seems sure how or when this mythos got started, but it appears to coincide with the development of the Neo-Pagan movement. But why? Why are Pagans (and presumably Wiccans, Druids, Chaos Mages, Faeries, etc.) willing to treat members of their communities so shabbily?

  It may date back to the modern beginnings of Neo-Paganism, at least here in the United States. The most visible parts of religious America consist of mainstream religions; many of these are fundamentalist and most look askance at those following Earth-based traditions, criticizing them for not following the mainstream status quo. Pagans, in response, may have rebelled with, “Oh, yeah? We’ll just show you exactly how non-mainstream we can be!” This could easily have led to the hippie-style, self-doctrinal approach of ignoring schedules, clocks, and agendas and refusing to comply with any sort of structured obligation.

  Speaking of structure: some Pagans feel that timepieces and any sort of framework or schedule have the potential to interfere with the natural flow of energy raising, ritual, etc. These folks eschew timepieces, preferring a loose, organic process and allowing each stage to happen as it will, following the universe’s flow and rhythm. Alas, as busy as people are today, there often isn’t time for this kind of natural unfolding, which is exactly why rituals and events are usually scheduled for a specific time and in a set place.

  A practical line of reasoning supporting PST might have to do with energy disruption of watches and electronics. Simply said, when magick is in the air, electronics and digital items often fail for inexplicable reasons. So, some ask, why court disaster by wearing them? The result is predictable: if no one knows what time it is, it’s pretty hard to stay on schedule.

  Alas, as busy as people are today, there often isn’t time for this kind of natural unfolding, which is exactly why rituals and events are usually scheduled for a specific time and in a set place.

  The online Urban Dictionary defines Pagan Standard Time as either “fashionably late, when preceded by a definite hour,” or “within half an hour or so of” a specified time. The Llewellyn Online Encyclopedia describes PST as “a joking reference to the common experience of Pagan rituals starting later than planned or announced due to not having preparations completed or awaiting participants who are arriving late.” The Arcane Crafts witches Annual takes the “joke” idea even further, suggesting a schematic for a clock that runs only on Pagan Standard Time. The prototype has no second hand because “no Pagan runs on THAT tight a schedule.” The clock features the traditional minute and hour hands but also has a third “Pagan hand” that runs at half the speed of the others. The clock face has thirteen hours instead of twelve—effectively adding two extra hours to each day—but the hours from five o’clock to eight o�
�clock are missing, assuming that Pagans simply aren’t awake or functional during those parts of the day.

  But here’s the thing: although this is all tongue-in-cheek and elbow-poke-in-the-ribsey, PST really isn’t that funny. Fritz Jung, co-founder of the well-known WitchVox website, says, “Many witches, Wiccans, and Pagans have a cute little phrase that they like to banter about called Pagan Standard Time. This means they show up to whatever, whenever they please and completely oblivious to the time that they have ‘committed’ to. Personally, I loathe this convenient little phrase.” When a circle mate plans a gorgeous ritual and you show up an hour late, it’s not cool or casual or rebellious—it’s just plain rude. When one of your grove members plays a key role in the local Pagan Pride celebration, only to find that most of the people who agreed to help disappeared in the last two weeks, leaving a scramble to fill in the holes they’ve left, their behavior is thoughtless. When a coven’s year-and-a-day planners work for months to create a schedule and members repeatedly show up half an hour late for every class or unprepared to teach the sessions they agreed to lead … Well, you know.

  Let’s take this a few steps further and consider several reasons why competent, practical, and ethical magick users should give up the practice or acceptance of PST.

  First, for those who follow the Wiccan Rede as a core ethic, reflect on “And it harm none, do what ye will.” Showing up late or blowing off commitments arguably causes harm by leaving fellow group members feeling frustrated or disrespected. I think everyone would agree that good magick is not borne from a cauldron of annoyance.

  Then there’s the magickal Law of Cause and Effect, which concerns the nature of action and reaction. Strings of poorly planned or chaotic magickal workings tend to produce fragmented, choppy results. This isn’t what most of us aspire to in our magickal workings. It also leaves one subject to the idea of magickal rebound: send something ill-conceived or uneven out into the Universe, and you’re going to get the same thing (or worse) back. A group that does not begin, work, and end together also tweaks the Law of Sympathetic Magick, which addresses affinities and interactions between people, materials, and intentions.

  Speaking of intention, the Law of Positive Attraction says that like attracts like. In a group setting, creating a desired reality requires a conscious, coordinated effort between like-intentioned folks. How can a ritual or magickal effort raise energy or muster focused intent when it must continually stop and start to admit late arrivals or when it lacks the strength of a full coterie of members? Ill-planned magick may also backfire through the Law of Association, which suggests that the more commonality acts of magick share, the greater their influence. If one has a full coven working to work magick or raise energy, the commonality of pattern and intention has a much stronger influence and result than does a working that is fractured or splintered by late arrivals or missing members.

  If one has a full coven working to work magic or raise energy, the commonality of pattern and intention has a much stronger influence and result.

  Let’s talk ethics as well, specifically, having respect for others and an awareness of basic ethical tenets—and of time. If you’re invited to an event that others have planned, simple courtesy requires you to respect their efforts and comply. To be carelessly or intentionally late is akin to telling the planners that you don’t care. As for practicing PST, it may threaten one’s accountability, leaving people to believe the planner-without-a-schedule cannot keep a promise, fulfill an obligation, or be trusted. It’s hard to create relationships this way, and repeat offenders may end up paying the ultimate price: those who are habitually late and don’t seem to care may find they’re no longer invited to events, festivals, rituals, or other celebrations.

  In his WitchVox article, “Unchecked Pagan Standard Time (PST) Erodes Pagan Community Viability,” Aldous Tyler points out a potential image problem associated with PST, namely the negative view that it may present to the public. Tyler remarks, “What begin as habits turn into norms, which in turn become standards, and these can affect how the community is perceived both from within and without.” The human is a highly adaptive creature, and when patterns of lateness recur, many communities adapt to the repetitive time shift—the PST—rather than resisting it. It’s the Law of Negative Attraction in action. Over time, this can snowball to a state where there is little or no order, leading many to give up rather than participate. In today’s setting, where Pagans work for recognition and credibility from the non-Pagan community and where public ritual is a great way to attract potential members, the disorganization spawned by PST isn’t doing us any favors. Simply said, Pagans don’t need the bad press.

  Is PST always a bad thing? No, not always. We’ve all attended über-casual events where there was no schedule and everything happened when it happened. Sometimes there’s joy in setting aside the clock and simply going with the flow. Good organizers are always “flegid”: flexible + rigid. They know that it’s sometimes important to color outside the lines, but they still keep an eye on the schedule to ensure that the event proceeds as it should.

  Let’s consider the organizer: the person who steps up and says “I’ll be in charge,” volunteering his or her time to make an event happen. This wonderful person has earned the right to make the decisions. If you volunteer to plan a major Sabbat event, for example, and you’re a person who absolutely adores the loosey-gooseyness associated with PST, you have every right to avoid a rigid timetable—or any agenda at all, if that’s your choice. But you’re ethically obliged to let your participants know that the schedule is non-existent and/or likely to change. Likewise, if you’re a by-the-minute planner, you should do everything in your power to communicate that your event is scheduled and will begin on time whether everyone is present or not. Once you’ve made this known, be sure to start and stop on time! Develop a consistent reputation and people will take you seriously: they’ll either show up on time or, if they find the schedule too constricting, they’ll avoid your events. Either way, you’re in the clear.

  How can you protect yourself from PST fallout? If you’re attending someone else’s event, ask specific questions about when the action will really start and plan accordingly. Throw a camp chair, a thermos of coffee or tea, and a good book into your car and you’ll be all set to wait out a late start. If you’re attending a seminar, class, or other public event, do your best to follow the schedule. Remember that the teachers and presenters are usually donating their time and often their own money as well. They may have traveled a long way to get to the event and may be paying for hotel, food, babysitter, boarding the dog, etc. Honor their efforts by respecting their itineraries.

  Practically speaking, with the technology available today, there’s no reason to ever be late. By planning ahead, knowing the schedule, and using the capabilities of one’s favorite smart phone, laptop calendar, wristwatch, or sundial, we’ll arrive on time—or even early. By arriving on time, we show respect for the magick and our fellow magick users. Let’s set aside the shabby practice of Pagan Standard Time—our magickal community will reap the benefits!

  Resources, Accessed August 2010

  Jung, Fritz. “What is a Witch War?” Witchvox.com. http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=wars&id=2093.

  Llewellyn Worldwide. “Pagan Standard Time.” The Llewellyn Encyclopedia. http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/Pagan+Standard+Time.

  “Pagan Standard Time Clock.” http://www.turoks.net/Cabana/PaganStandardTime.htm.

  Tyler, Aldous. “Unchecked Pagan Standard Time (PST) Erodes Pagan.Community Viability.” http://mabon-fest.grouply.com/message/309.

  Susan “Moonwriter” Pesznecker is a writer, college English teacher, nurse, and hearth Pagan living in northwestern Oregon. She holds a masters degree in nonfiction writing and loves to read, watch the stars, camp with her wonder-poodle, and work in her own biodynamic garden. Sue is Dean of Students and tea
ches nature studies and herbology in the online Grey School of Wizardry (greyschool.com). She’s the author of Gargoyles (New Page, 2007) and Crafting Magick with Pen and Ink (Llewellyn, 2009) and is a regular contributor to many of the Llewellyn annuals. Visit Sue on her Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/

  susan.pesznecker.

  Illustrator: Bri Hermanson

  Should You Do Magic for a Cause or Donate Money?

  Lupa

  When popular Pagan author Isaac Bonewits was dying from cancer in 2010, members of the community around the world participated in two separate rituals to help him. The first, the Rolling Thunder ritual, was created by Isaac’s wife Phaedra as a way to build up a cascade of healing energy for him. People were asked to perform their healing rituals at 9 pm in their respective time zones in order to create a continuous flow of magic for the stated intent.

  The second ritual was the Rolling Coin ritual. On the full moon in July, Pagans were asked to donate what they could to help the Bonewits family cover expenses for medical and other bills. Isaac’s family had quite a bit of debt, not surprising given that even those cancer patients with insurance can still be expected to pay staggering copays, nevermind the costs not covered by any insurance.

  I don’t have, nor do I believe anyone has, accurate numbers as to how many people participated in each ritual. However, anecdotally speaking, most of the comments on the Rolling Thunder ritual were of the “I did it!” variety, while many of the comments regarding the Rolling Coin ritual said “I wish I could, but…”

  While this was a pretty high-profile example, I’ve seen this pattern occur countless times over the years I’ve been a part of the Pagan community. People are very quick to light a candle or say a prayer, but ask them to open their wallets, even for a few dollars, and suddenly there’s a murmuring of “Can’t, sorry.” And anyone who’s ever put together a Pagan event knows how hard it is to get people to dedicate even an hour of their time in volunteer work.