Tempest in a teapot?

[crowdog66]

I recently got an account at Covenspace, which is basically MySpace for Pagans. In browsing their blog entry feed, I came across the following post:

http://afallanau.covenspace.com/blog/view_post.one?pid=71626

My comments are at the bottom, as "prairiecrow".

Honestly -- am I overreacting?

Comments

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

I'll join you in overreacting, but in a slightly different way. Does any faith benefit from the propagation of treacly overly sentimental nonsense like that? *cough* Pardon me. It hasn't been a good day. Enough so that my original word choice wasn't "nonsense". ;)

And could the Reverend Mother-whatever be more condescending? "Did you know that most of the Old Testament was ripped off from Pagan Egyptian, Babylonian and Sumerian writings? I strongly suggest that you read '101 Myths of the Bible: How Ancient Scribes Invented Biblical History' by Gary Greenberg to learn more on the matter of Religious/Spiritual
"borrowing" before you judge this story too harshly." No, really? I would have never guessed! There's only the congruence between the Biblical flood and the Epic of Gilgamesh and...*rolls eyes* But wait, I didn't learn about that from the rehashed info-book she cites, but from looking at the originals, so I'm certain I didn't come about my knowledge the right way, and I'm not viewing the thing from the right perspective. Every time I think I might like to regain some larger contact with the occult community as a whole something like this comes up to remind me why I really, really can't stand to do so. It's just uncomfortable for everyone involved.

[eastpath.livejournal.com]

You aren't over-reacting. They are being severely defensive. I wouldn't get into it further because it seems that they refuse to see the fact that the story shouldn't be modified from it's original true version and perhaps they are defensive because they are the ones who modified it.
*hugs* I'm glad you stood up for what's right though !!

[(Anonymous)]

Nope, you're not over-reacting. Glurge is glurge, no matter where it came from.

Snope's says: "What is glurge? Think of it as chicken soup with several cups of sugar mixed in: It's supposed to be a method of delivering a remedy for what ails you by adding sweetening to make the cure more appealing, but the result is more often a sickly-sweet concoction that induces hyperglycemic fits.

In ordinary language, glurge is the sending of inspirational (often supposedly "true") tales that conceal much darker meanings than the uplifting moral lessons they purport to offer, and that undermine their messages by fabricating and distorting historical fact in the guise of offering a "true story." "

A spoonful of sugar does NOT help the medicine go down, and glurge is not spiritually nutritious. Knee-jerk sentimentality does not foster greater awareness, it smothers the awareness that might have been there. Both Christian and pagan practitioners need to be on guard against glurge. One way to do it is ask questions.

For instance-- if this little child, with a one-in-a-thousand chance of living, was healed by being held in God's arms, then how about the other 999?

If Max Blinko the drug dealer is struck down by lightning, is that the judgement of God? and if it is, then how about Blinko's business associates who buy nice houses in good neighbourhoods and die in their sleep at 88?

A radio phone caller said one time, "So and so was a pagan in my hometown, and her mobile home burned down." Somehow she linked the disaster to the non-Christianity of the homeowner. So I asked, "Does that mean people who suffer loss and illness have something wrong with their religion?" "That's not what I meant," she said. "What DID you mean, then?" Well, she couldn't say.

Her willingness to link disaster to a "bad" religion wasn't bad logic -- there was no logic in it at all. The miracle baby who survives the earthquake is only a miracle if you never dig the others out of the rubble.

Glurge encourages this kind of thing, and should be stamped out wherever found.

7 League Boots
in the wilds of Alberta

I don't think you overreacted at all...my response to the "Reverend Mother"...

[metisbutterfly.livejournal.com]

My response on Coven Space, and I am DYING to hear if she answers my questions ;)

"I don't think you meant this post to be offensive, it looks like it was posted in good faith. But I have to point out why I found it offensive:

-If it's a "true" story and is about Christians, honor their wishes and don't change it to reflect paganism. I am an ecumenist by nature and respect all religions, but i know if someone took one of my experiences with the Goddess and turned it into an experience with Christ or Buddha or Mohammed without my permission, I wouldn't like it.

-What gave me the heebies is that this story seemed to remind me of the ones i've seen on numerous "pro-life" blogs. The blogs that almost always neglect to mention how the majority of those born at 25 weeks ARE compromised severely and it is NOT a pleasant, chicken-soup-for-the-soul type story. As a social worker,I see a lot of them. The chances are slim the child would be so-called "normal" when born that early. I just find this to remind me of pro-life rhetoric and as a pagan, think that we need to be freer thinkers. My personal position is pro-choice, so perhaps this was a personal gut reaction. The message to me though that rang loud and clear from this story was not love for God/dess in a child, but ye olde "life..what a beautiful choice" message that makes me shudder. Many Pagan parents would also respect the medical idea that this child would be severely compromised and/or not live beyond infancy and allow them to pass into the Summerland, and that choice is ours. And that is what i found offensive, as true "respect for life" can mean not sentancing a child to a lifetime of pain, severe debilitating brain damage, and insufferable illness to die at a young age, which is what most of these "miracle children" experience.

-Anyhow, not meaning to flog you here, again, i think you meant to post a nice story with a message, but please think twice about the message behind it and what it might be saying before you post to the public.

-Where is your source for this story? How do we know it's "true"??? The urban legends about a kidney stolen at the airport in a bathtub and the guy with the hook preying on couples in the woods were said to be "true" too. Please post your sources or research when making this claim.

Namaste,
Morgaine

- Morgaine Inanna TriplemoonMar 10th, 12:19pm



ps. You talk of how it doesn't matter if the story is true or false, but if it uplifts ones spirts...well, i personally think it DOES matter if it's declared to be "true" but has been changed, altered, or is in fact a myth. That's like saying that lying is ok as long as it makes us happy, to stretch this ideology further.
This story DIDN"T uplift my spirits. It raised alarm bells. And i would much rather hear a story declared to be and verified "true" than a fake that was designed to raise pro-life rhetoric. The same way you don't call "Hansel and Gretel" or "Cinderella" a true story, nor can you call a narrative that has a sloppy source and has been changed. It's poor scholarship.

I am curious to hear more about your welsh tradition...Plant Y Ynys Afallanau. I have heard of "Sisterhood of Avalon" and was once a member,but have not heard of your group. I also would like to know why your tradition chooses to use the term "Reverend Mother" , if you are able to share, out of sheer curiosity, as I have only ever heard this term used in Catholic terminology to refer to the status of a nun who is the leader of her order, i.e. Reverend Mother or Mother Superior.
You mention you are ordained in a welsh reconstructionist tradition. May i ask where you recieved your ordination and what your lineage is, if you are able to share? Again, just curious, my first High Priest of the now lapsed tradition "Circle of the Goddess" was from Wales and a member of several traditions in the past, i'm curious to know if it stems from one of his.

I'm not meaning to appear offensive, I just often hear titles and traditions on the Internet and are curious to hear where they come from..with all of those different folks that are out there on the web, i've found it never hurts to ask.

Namaste!"

follow up..fee, fi, fo fum..I smell a troll in covenspace pagandom?

[metisbutterfly.livejournal.com]

hahahahahha..sorry
Look under her "dislikes" if you want a good chuckle.."Dishonesty and hypocrisy"..LMAO.

I also wonder about her mental health. She said she nearly drowned in a pool as a child and it awakened her psychic abilities. Sounds a tad like a mystic christian suffering saint story (look up audrey santo if you want a disgusting example of this)


BTW, a quick "google" on her "tradition" raised nothing but my eyebrows. I could be wrong, but it looks like she ordained herself Grand Poohbah Mother Whatever and this "tradition" has no roots. Which would REALLY piss Welsh Reconstructionists off, as they can be quite the "high episcopagans" and it is a lineaged tradition.

My first HP as i mentioned to her was Welsh and was ordained by a few different traditions, including Welsh Reconstructionist and Golden Dawn. If only dear Scarlet were reading this post to shred her illusionary ideas to ribbons...

[(Anonymous)]

"I also wonder about her mental health. She said she nearly drowned in a pool as a child and it awakened her psychic abilities. Sounds a tad like a mystic christian suffering saint story..."

Well...actually, a period of painful ill health or lifethreatening illness is very very common as a prelude to sainthood, shamanhood, and other high spiritual attainments. (See Underhill's "Mysticism", especially the second half.)

But this doesn't mean every narrow medical escape awakens a saint, or we'd be up to our armpits in 'em.

7 League Boots

[lenora-rose.livejournal.com]

Er, no. You aren't. I do think changing the denomination and religion attached is offensive, and I'd think the same if someone swapped out the pagan deities and made it Christian. If real people are involved, you don't do that. It's not reflecting a universal truth about how all faiths touch the creator. It's bending *someone else's life* to your purpose without their consent.

I'm also with morgaine_inanna on the disturbing "pro-life" aspects. (Technically, the mother in the story could be pro-choice, actually, but the tone of the story has that propaganda feel.)