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Summer 2002 Message from the President of EarthSpirit

Lucas Hergert
The Passing of Forms

As summer slowly sets into autumn, I tend to experience a profound sense of mystery with the natural progression of things. The heat will slowly become cooler, vibrant trees will appear to die as their leaves fall and decay, and eventually our region will lie dormant until next spring. But we are not there yet. Presently the outdoors feels too hot, the locusts are screaming and nature looks more alive than ever before.

Nonetheless, we know what is to come next, at least based on our previous experience of the seasons. Nature has a lot to teach us with this paradigm of expectation, knowing that the inevitable is on its way. For EarthSpirit, especially, the inevitability of change is on its way. In March, we will elect new members into office, completing the first two-year cycle of EarthSpirit's democratic structure. Further, EarthSpirit is presently looking at other changes. The executive committee is considering new ways of structuring the ritual outreach, also known as the "full moon rituals." Themes for the upcoming year are being considered, and original ways of bringing newer members into ritual leadership are also bring looked at. Finally, great feats of manifestation are being attempted, as our Religious Education Coordinator, Susan Hergert, works to bring Leema to Cincinnati. (Leema, for those who are unsure, is a spiritual leader in California who has written, spoken and taught on the subject of snake veneration-one of the oldest practices in Goddess religion. She is also a leader within the Fellowship of Isis, of which I am a part, and her appearance in Cincinnati engages much anticipation.)

As I enter this final quarter of presidency in EarthSpirit, this season of change, there seem to be three themes that continue to press their importance in the group. These I would like to analyze and work on with other members, during this time of transition. These themes are, in no particular order: considering questions of who we are, why we do what we do, and deeper explorations of our religion, spiritually and intellectually.

First, these questions of who we are may seem somewhat odd. In reality, however, I think that they ought to be central to our work as a CUUPS chapter. We, as Unitarian Universalist Pagans, straddle the divide between two religious traditions that are usually tolerant of each other, at best welcoming of the diversity each has to offer, at times suspicious of the other's ideas and practices, and at worst showing traces of animosity toward the other. We, as Unitarian Universalist Pagans, are on the fringes of each of our respective religious traditions; though we may lean more heavily to one end than toward the other. For the Unitarian Universalist congregation, we tend to present a greater respect for immanent mystery; a greater tolerance for the spires of possibility and the vast potential of feeling as opposed to the harder foundation of reason and intellect on which Unitarianism is founded.

But by no means does this make us comfortable in a wider Pagan setting. To the Pagan community we tend to present the exact opposite of what we give to the Unitarian congregation. We tend to be uncomfortable toward Pagan theologies either completely divorced from reason or based on a pseudo-enlightened, predeterminist foundation. Certain philosophies of karma-which so many Pagans seem now to embrace as though they were simply stating the obvious-the ones that imply those in suffering, poverty and oppression have earned their pain, are recognized by many of us for exactly what they are: a new version of cruel Jehovah punishing "the deserving"; a justification for our inaction in the face of suffering, poverty, and oppression; and an excuse for our own heredity wealth amidst an ocean of those who struggle for the most basic resources. As a UU, social activist and compassionate individual, I am called to reject this formulation as fundamentally destructive.

One of the ways many Pagans find solidarity is through the public renunciation and bashing of their Christian heritage. This is perhaps another area we must constantly struggle to define ourselves in. As UUs, we are called to reject unjust intolerance in all of its forms. So, when a fellow Universalist Unitarian finds inspiration and strength in the Easter story, even when we cannot, we know that the individual has a right to tell that story at its appropriate time. However, this ideal is simultaneous to our calling to honesty about our personal experiences, about history, and about the current attitudes of many Christians toward society's minorities. Are we to accept the values of the Rev. Fred Phelps, the preacher who runs the website godhatesfags.com? Are we to accept the values of religious traditions that kept silent on an individual's abuse when she was a child, or an institution's silence on issues of segregation and discrimination? Ought we pretend that we would accept neo-Nazis into our religious fold, and pretend their perspective is an acceptable way to view the world? The answer put simply: no! Unitarian Universalism must never become ethical relativism; a vision for a just society that embraces diversity must never degenerate into a blind acceptance or tolerance. These concepts are anathema to each other.

These questions of who we are, where we have come from, and what we are called to are central to our search for religious meaning as Unitarian Universalist Pagans. In EarthSpirit I see these questions being addressed through such outlets as the Deep Ecology class, the upcoming Jesus Mysteries discussion, and through future, open forums in our CUUPS chapter.

Second, then, is the question of why we do what we do. As essentially Pagan in our worship, we draw from a large body of recently constructed and re-constructed liturgy that, sometimes, we take for granted. Why, for instance, do we commonly "cast a circle," when that little bit of ceremony (at least the form we use) was drawn from an arcane practice within a Victorian-era magical order? Why do we call a Goddess and God? Do most of us believe in a deity, and, if so, do we buy this essentially heterosexist, anthropocentric dimorphism? Or, should the question be: Do we embrace these forms as essentially helpful to our understanding of the extremely abstract concept known as the divine?

Deeper exploration of these issues surrounding ritual and theology has presented a challenge. Because CUUPS chapters cannot have an inner circle, more experienced members cannot officially "train" and initiate newer members. And, unlike the greater circle of UUism, we have no place to professionally train our pagan ministers. EarthSpirit has often said that it would like to see more of the newer members design ritual. However, without this personal study and understanding, that is much like asking someone who just signed the St. John's membership book to be solely responsible for the service and sermon next Sunday entitled: Our UU Heritage! I believe that careful consideration must be given to this issue, with the possibility of EarthSpirit sponsoring a closed study course on basic earth-centered spirituality.

Also, without an inner circle, it is much more difficult to gain the level of trust and intimacy that is so often required of deeper ritual. At present, the executive committee is considering possible solutions to this situation. For now, I will say that frequent discussion of the forms and their meanings, along with discussion of the deeper theological foundations on which these forms rest seems important here.

Some of the solutions may rest in this third question of the deeper spiritual and intellectual exploration of our religion. For this, I hope to see a greater diversity of ritual and study in the group. Bringing Leema in to speak, along with our previous invitation to those working in Native American spirituality, Gardnerian Witchcraft, and neo-shamanism are all great examples of this effort. Hopefully, too, we can do more "off-site" ritual, possibly in more wild areas and in other folk's homes. This, in my experience, seems to free people up to portrayal of a more genuine form of their religious expression. In short, it seems to make people feel less inhibited. Perhaps, also, in an ironical sense, having fewer planned sessions of ritual may also be an answer. If we have, say, four to six sessions a year instead of thirteen, more people may feel freed up to engage in their own spontaneous, individual efforts within the group.

As this season reaches its height this August, as EarthSpirit moves into various forms that may seem hard and unchangeable, it seems important to remember that these are just forms; that these, too, shall pass. The question for me, when it comes to institutions and groups, is not "what type of orthodoxy can we preserve here," nor is it even "how can we best preserve this group's structures since they have worked so well in the past." Instead, the only constant I would wish to maintain is one of fluidity and one of change.

So, as this generation of leadership reaches its height and then comes to a close, as various themes come to the forefront and then fade away, and as different forms of EarthSpirit are born, climax and then decline-what is it that we can learn from these people, ideas, and incarnations before they leave, before they are gone, before they die?

Watching from the house, we're sanctified
by need. Communion shows its primal face
on nights like this, when nothing fears to die.

The dance of life and death makes us allies
as hunger raises us beyond disgrace.
The owl flew low tonight. The hare knew why.
There are nights when nothing fears to die.

-Patricia Monaghan, Seasons of the Witch