Do what sings out

[sabrinamari]

I like this quote from ixtli_awakening, who affirmed this while talking about some conflicts she encountered between Asatru traditionalists and Wiccans drawn to the Norse gods:

"...syncretic practice is not inherently stronger or weaker, better or worse, than orthodoxy of any flavor. i firmly believe that the point of all this woo stuff is to have a relationship with, and an understanding of, the gods, worship and communion. if that takes a form which you genuinely believe is a "traditional" and "original" ritual pulled out [of] a particular culture's antiquity; great, have fun, go nuts. [B]ut don't mark off points for "seriousness" because one happens to be pluralistic or syncretic in practice."

For me, the goal is this: do what you are meant to do, in the way that most calls to you. Act from the core of your being, in those ways that sing to you most. Whatever it is that works for you will add beauty to the world. And finally, be tolerant of whatever sings to other people. Diversity makes more beauty.

Comments

[spiffnolee.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear!

btw, if the ancients could be syncretic, why can't we?

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[angiedub.livejournal.com]

Ooh and the ancients WERE syncretic. Look at the Catholic church: it's BASICALLY the same from country to country and culture to culture, but each area adds its own flavor to the liturgy. And it co-opted from older traditions.

I don't think there's any such thing as a "pure" practice, no matter what religion or faith you are, because we're all influenced by the world around us. Unless we live under rocks. *snert* I'm not overfond of living under rocks myself. Too mushroom-ish.

What sang to me today was this: http://angiedub.livejournal.com/47144.html

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed it!

[roy-batty.livejournal.com]

The guys who step into the octagon of modern MMA fighting practice an eclectic syncretism of arts. I dare anyone to accuse them of not being serious (and committed) to the fighting arts and sciences.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

Many moons ago, several members of Vingolf went to Iceland. In asking the Icelandic Asatruar about seidhr and related magical practices, they were told to read the literature and hang out with Wiccans. This was reported to me with great glee.

Anyone who's spent time looking at how religions emerge and sustain themselves knows that they're all about evolution; some of them (or their adherents) just have a hard time accepting facts and evidence around that. Strikes me that it's about the authoritarian-liberal spectrum, where some people feel the need to hang on to concrete certainties most especially when they're really not.

There's great merit to knowing a system well and immersing in it. On the other hand, I'm willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of my ancestors couldn't read, didn't have access to the kind of historical and theological materials we do today, and just wandered round incorporating whatever was useful without once thinking they were not good and faithful members of their religious and cultural groups.

Show me a time and place where people haven't grabbed any new and useful way of doing things and added them to their religious practice, and I'll eat my hat. As a very wise woman once noted to great approval at a blot at my apartment, "The gods aren't trapped like flies in amber. If they can evolve, so can we."

Here endeth the lesson from the poster child of syncretism.

[the-smith-e.livejournal.com]

People tend to be drawn to Asatru for the life practices and beliefs as much or more than the mysticism. At least, in the US. They also seem to draw more people drawn to strong lines of interpretation and there is a difference between hard recon types and others.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

And there are so many regional variations. My experiences at the East Coast Thing showed up very big cultural splits between east coasters, west coasters, and midwesterners, with the first group very interested in seidhr and spaework and overlaps with other Pagan groups, the east coasters open to those things, and the midwesterners quite averse to all three. That's broadly speaking, of course.

At one point, an east coaster was trying to let people know about a seidhrworking, and there was a really obvious difference between those who considered it an integral part of Asatru (whether they were personally interested or not) and those who were aggressively and loudly against it expressing their revulsion and anger that it was being presented as having anything to do with Asatru. It was kind of fascinating.

[the-smith-e.livejournal.com]

I have seen midwesterners be quite fundamentalist online. I have also dealt with East Coast people telling me someone I knew was spending too much time with Wiccans. The amusing thing was, I was in a coven at the time and he was not. I am not now and would not be again but I take oaths as important.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

We can bond over the Wiccan-Asatru thing! I was in Sabri's coven at the same time as being a founder member of an Asatru fellowship. The fellowship members and other Asatruar in the area often hung out and did ritual with B* people - quite a few had either been in B* or been shepherded towards Asatru by B* people (mostly Cat and Geo).

At one East Coast Thing, a bunch of us were sitting round a fire when someone I didn't know made a comment about Wiccans being "pathetic", at which point my fellowship and members of other groups we'd good relationships with burst out laughing and pointed out how ridiculous this was. Poor lad was mortified.

He wasn't the only one who came out with such silliness, though it seemed that most people there either had been Wiccan, had Wiccan partners, or had good mates who were Wiccan, so it was made clear that it was Not Cool to make such comments. The priceless part was the expressions on the faces of those who did when they realised that I was one of the people they'd been slagging off. The back-pedalling was kind of hilarious.

[the-smith-e.livejournal.com]

Well, my wife and a number of friends are Wiccan or at least certainly not Norse. I read to a lot of Asatru as one of them but I go by Heathen as I find dogmatic arguments tedious and I am equally informed by philosophy.

Do you recommend ECT? What is there for kids?

[showingup.livejournal.com]

It's been years since I've been. When we went, it was quite diverse, very friendly, there was a whole children's track - things like sock puppet making and storytimes and art and so on, and it was at Camp Netimus where the place was clean and well kept and the staff were so friendly and kind. And the food was good and veggie-friendly.

I'd certainly recommend ECT as it was 5+ years ago, and I'm assuming it's as much fun now as it was then.

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

::applauds::

I would add a caveat: approach traditions that you wish to syncretize with using the Vodou watchwords of "Honor" and "Respect".