“I’m Christian but I would say I have Pagan leanings.”

If I had £10 for every time I’ve heard a woman say that recently, I’d be… well perhaps not wealthy but at least off to have a meal in a very expensive restaurant.

What might this mean?

Are Christians and Pagans always at odds?

First, let’s dissect the third word in that declaration above: does it have to be “but”? Well of course in conventional Christian theological terms it has to be “but” at the very least, preferably followed by lengthy self-flagellation. The two – Christians and Pagans – are deemed mutually exclusive.

On the face of it, they are. If you’re Christian you believe in one God (although divided into three in some mysterious way). If you’re Pagan, you believe in many Gods and Goddesses. The Christian Bible has unpleasant things to say about Witches (well let’s face it, it has many unpleasant things to say).

So why is it Pagan ‘leanings’ seem to speak to so many Christian women?

Declaration: I’m one of them. And I can only answer for myself. I think it can be “I’m Christian and I have Pagan leanings”.

Why the interest in Paganism?

There are two issues I believe are key to the rise of interest in Pagans and Pagan practices, especially among Christian women:

1. The intensely patriarchal history and nature of Christianity, right to this day, which makes most thinking women wriggle on the hook of our faith. The European Witch burnings were only one among many extreme examples of Christian patriarchal power-broking.
2. The way in which the verses of Genesis have been taken literally to give mankind (sic) the right to subdue the earth, to have dominion over it, which encourages an incredibly utilitarian and destructive approach to our mother earth and her creatures.

A huge amount of damage, to people and to the earth, has been done in the name of Christianity.

Women: it’s not all good!

Now I don’t want to romanticise us women. Yes, some of us give birth, some of us are naturally nurturing, some of us make deep connections with the land and with each other. But I think there’s something a little dangerous in the school of thought that women have a special, privileged relationship with creation, that we have some kind of free pass. I don’t like the way that both diminishes men and, subtly, lets them off the hook. Nor do I like the way it ignores the many women who are at best complicit and at worst active in our patriarchal structures.

If you’ll allow me just one generalisation, perhaps women generally find it easier to be inclusive rather than narrow about what we believe, and more able to express it.

heron evening meditation

Earth beauty

So what is it about Pagans and Pagan beliefs I and many other women find so attractive, and can they possibly fit with Christianity? These are the echoes and meanings the word Pagan has for me:

The direct connection with the Earth: finding the sacred in observing the rhythms of nature, in laughter, growing vegetables, stirring soup, making rituals and offerings with no need for a priest (male or female) to intercede.

Language: the specific naming of the divine as female (as well as male). Goddess has a real positive meaning for me. We can say all we want about the word God encompassing both male and female, but for centuries in all common Christian expression it meant male. (Which is why I find Claire’s habit of referring to Godde so helpful. It gives a little frisson of recognition.)

Lack of language: I love words, but sometimes they get in the way. The land can be our sacred scripture, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water our Gospels.

None of this seems to me in any way at odds with the true lessons of Christianity.

I’m currently reading a book called The Earth Path, by American eco-feminist and Witch Starhawk. Of the natural world she says:

Everything around us is always speaking. We can heal only by first learning to hear, to understand, and, in time, to respond. As we do, the world becomes richer, a more complex and vibrant place. Open your eyes; see the patterns of light and shadow, the play of the wind. You have already begun your education in the language of nature. You have already set foot upon the Isle of the Birds, which is always right here, wherever we are.

What do you think about all this? Are Pagans and Christians forever at odds?

Both images by Alice Popkorn

Elsewhere:

I can’t remember down what internet rabbit hole I found Margaret Finnegan, but I love her Goddess of the Week series. Jenny Peacock’s haunting story about her tree love brought tears to my eyes. And Hecate writes thoughtfully about living as a Witch in our modern world. Finally, of course one of the definitive books on the spiritual journey of women from Christian backgrounds is Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd.

For International Women’s Day 2010

I don’t know about you, but when I was younger I used to get incredibly irritated by older people who ranted on about what things were like in their day.

Well you’ll have to indulge me for a moment…

Revisiting the ’70s

In the 1970s, the excitement and energy of second-wave feminism had many women on a high. Our priestesses were Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer. We relished the extreme possibilities opened to us by Mary Daly and Andrea Dworkin.

We bought and contributed to vibrant feminist magazines, the polar opposite of those tedious home-making journals. There was a glorious explosion of feminist and lesbian fiction. Women met in consciousness-raising groups to discuss our lives.

The Personal is Political

We instinctively and intellectually knew the truth of it when Carol Hanisch wrote The Personal is Political. It all matters: what we wear, who we sleep with (or don’t), what we buy, how we raise our children, what we eat, the availability of contraception and abortion, our work, our financial independence, our religious beliefs and practices.

These ideas and ideals are still with us, translated by social justice groups to concepts like purchaser power, political boycott and workers’ rights.

Faith and spirituality

Most of us in the West at the beginning of the ’70s were familiar only with Christianity in all its patriarchal glory. Some had begun to flirt with Buddhism, and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had given us transcendental meditation via the Beatles in the late ’60s. Britain at least was far less multi-cultural than today, and few of us were familiar with Islam or Hinduism.

Around this time, groups of women were exploring the origins of goddess worship and the history of witchcraft. Starhawk first published The Spiral Dance in 1979, exploring and affirming ancient/new female spirituality.

Christian women were pushing back against the patriarchs, exploring new language in worship, and fighting for the ordination of women. We still have a very long way to go, of course, especially in the Catholic church.

What the hell are we women doing now?

The women I knew then wanted more than equality. We wanted to reinvent the paradigms, to change society. Hell, we wanted revolution! Kate Millett said It’s more about changing the recipe of the cake than getting an equal slice.

So with this richness behind us, what in the name of the Goddess are women doing?

A search on Amazon this morning gave me 48,000 books under the search term feminism and 105,000 under diet. Our society is addicted to the underbelly of celebrity as explored by the tabloid press (which would not exist if we didn’t buy the papers and celebrity magazines). Young girls are clamouring for pink plastic tat bought at shops catering specifically for them, encouraged by their mothers. Female corporate lawyers are aping their male colleagues, aiming to earn the big bucks by billing 2,500 hours a year (that’s 9.6 hours a day folks, not including holidays, lunches or essential work not billable to clients).  Cosmetic surgery, for men as well as women, is rising inexorably and makeover shows are big business on television.

Why? In the West at least, we are mostly educated women. We have the history and tools to change ourselves and to change the world. We have the huge individual and collective power the internet gives us. Why don’t we change? Why do we allow ourselves to become indoctrinated? Why do I still hear women uttering that famous phrase Well I’m not a feminist but… as they protest injustice? Why on earth would any of us fear to be identified by the finest of the F-words?

Image of Egyptian Goddess statuette by ego technique

Elsewhere:

It’s not all hopeless. Natasha Walter’s book Living Dolls is making waves. Women for Women are helping women survivors of war. The BBC has a new series, Libbers, starting tonight. And I found out about the BBC series via this excellent exploration of feminism today at a blog that’s new to me, Everydaystranger. She also discusses an aspect I haven’t touched on above: the internecine  fighting that is the less glorious side of feminist politics.