"In Season" Trends in Paganism,Witchcraft
Are there any incorporated practices in neo-wicca, Paganism,etc that seem to come and go like fashion?
Lately I've begun to wonder! It seems like everyone is really big on spirit guides and totems right now. I don't remember seeing them this prevalent a few years ago.
Know of any other "trendy" practice incorporation that fluctuate through the times?
Also, not saying these practices are any less valid, just concerned a lot of people may be jumping to them when they're peeking in popularity.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Makoons on -
If I may interject a bit of something, I did a write-up on "totems" some time ago I'd like to share with anyone interested in the traditional meaning behind these animals:
http://realpagan.net/group/firstnationsspirituality/forum/topics/sp...
I personally am seeing a lot of "Spirit Animal" claims being made by people who don't really understand the concept as well as they should. Some do, which is great. A lot of people seem to think that a Spirit Animal is simply an animal they like a lot or identify with in some arbitrary way. One of my spirit animals is the crow...which has nothing to do with any affinity for the bird. I don't even particularly like the little beasts...but they have messages for me and lessons to teach me.
I feel like a lot of people appropriate First Nations cultural beliefs because its harder to find someone to defend them...not because no one will, but because our presence in the "Pagan" community is limited.
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Permalink Reply by Alorer Stefanos (The Gecko) on -
I might add something later, but for the time being, I think this discussion might be relevant. :) http://realpagan.net/forum/topics/trendingdeity-1
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Permalink Reply by Melissa on
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Yeah, I used to belong to an online study group and the organizer of the group is doing the whole spirit animal thing right now. She said she discovered her spirit animal through guided meditations. According to your wonderfully informative link, she may not know as much as she thinks. It's really unfortunate. She has a decent youtube following and may be leading some astray. Here's link to one of her blogs, she also does youtube videos : http://charliesaysgo.com/2011/11/06/quest-animal-guide-spirit-guide/
@Alorer- I read that a few days ago! Very good read!
Makoons said:
If I may interject a bit of something, I did a write-up on "totems" some time ago I'd like to share with anyone interested in the traditional meaning behind these animals:
http://realpagan.net/group/firstnationsspirituality/forum/topics/sp...
I personally am seeing a lot of "Spirit Animal" claims being made by people who don't really understand the concept as well as they should. Some do, which is great. A lot of people seem to think that a Spirit Animal is simply an animal they like a lot or identify with in some arbitrary way. One of my spirit animals is the crow...which has nothing to do with any affinity for the bird. I don't even particularly like the little beasts...but they have messages for me and lessons to teach me.
I feel like a lot of people appropriate First Nations cultural beliefs because its harder to find someone to defend them...not because no one will, but because our presence in the "Pagan" community is limited.
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Permalink Reply by Makoons on
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ay yai. Honestly, and I know I've written on this issue before, it irritates me that most of the people who openly claim they have a "spirit guide" are lead around by someone named "dancing bear" who wears a headdress, is very traditional, and comes from a time long ago. Why is no one's spirit guide some white guy named Hank? Or even a more modern version of a First Nations person? I think it's rather convenient.
I am not a disbeliever in Spirit Guides though I don't believe I have one of my own. It just irritates me that so many "spirit guides" are ancient Natives...the same way their totem animals are always something majestic like an eagle or a panther, and their spirit names are "red thunder woman" and not something more modest.
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Permalink Reply by john s. -
LOL! No kidding. It's a lot like the whole reincarnation craze when I was a kid. There were all these people going around claiming to be Egyptian princesses and folks from "Atlantis" no less. No old farmers, peasants or fishermen being reincarnated just fancy, important souls. Now I believe in reincarnation, but just how many Cleopatras can there be really?
I think that people often see things in their meditations that (be it spirit guides or past lives) that are really more figments of their subconscious mind. I do have several spirit guides that I have worked with over several years (some human and some animal) none of which are what you would call "majestic" or even Native American. I guess I'm always behind the trends!
Makoons said:ay yai. Honestly, and I know I've written on this issue before, it irritates me that most of the people who openly claim they have a "spirit guide" are lead around by someone named "dancing bear" who wears a headdress, is very traditional, and comes from a time long ago. Why is no one's spirit guide some white guy named Hank? Or even a more modern version of a First Nations person? I think it's rather convenient.
I am not a disbeliever in Spirit Guides though I don't believe I have one of my own. It just irritates me that so many "spirit guides" are ancient Natives...the same way their totem animals are always something majestic like an eagle or a panther, and their spirit names are "red thunder woman" and not something more modest.
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Permalink Reply by Megan Herrod -
I think there are a lot of "fads" that go through paganism...
I do think people have spirit animals, spirit guides and more... but I don't know that I have one. Through time I have had experiences with particular animals that I would consider spiritual and symbolic, and Ilearn from animals... but most of them have been pretty understated.
The animals I am connected to the most spiritually are cattle, hawks, a raven (in childhood), and a particular cat. Ironically, I eat beef, am allergic to cats and don't especially LIKE them, and the time when I felt "connected" to the raven was long before I was pagan and it might have been "cool"The animals, and even the spirits we connect to are less often "fancy""powerful" and "cool", than they are seemingly random, and dull. My animal relationship is somewhat correlated to the deity I am most connected to... and I feel that she sends me "messages" symbolically through the animals, that would be harder to convey through speech. She is a goddess that seems to value the experience of the senses and emotions, rather than straightforward lessons of "right/wrong". She guided me towards a path which bought me closer to her "messengers"- a place I really would rather not live, but next to a cow pasture, with a hill behind us that a hawk nests upon... with cats - ugh.
I don't call them totems though, or anything like that, which would be inaccurate. Giving these animals a title doesn't increase or decrease their role or importance in my spirituality- and I think that if it were important for me to classify them, my goddess would make indication of it.
Butr back to the point, are "spirit animals" (or the search for them) a fad?-- somewhat. I think that people also will gather around a common idea for a time - which doesn't mean that thier ideas and experiences aren't longstanding or aren't true, necessarily. Like others have said, these guides are not usually, or at least not always "The late great standing bear eagle with pounding fists of the wannabe tribe" and the animals may be "cool" symbols, like wolves, bears, tigers, eagles... but could be a pig, a field mouse... The animals that don't have cultural significance to us, may still have a deep well of symbolic meaning and truths to teach us. So, although I won't say that you are a "liar" if your spirit guide is a shimmering white lion that told you all the secrets of the universe... When you later tell me that you are the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter of a great witch who was the last of a line of seven generations of the druidic sisterhood of the leo- which descended directly from nefertiti... well- I might become a little skeptical... haha.
-Megan
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Permalink Reply by Makoons
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I really liked a lot of what you had to say here, Megan, and I want to reiterate that I am by no means saying I automatically disbelieve everyone who makes these claims. Some of my spirit names sound rather "majestic" as sometimes that just happens. It just discourages me when *everyone* claims to have a name or animal like that.
My favorite part of what you said was "Giving these animals a title doesn't increase or decrease their role or importance in my spirituality..." which I think is so true. I think someone could feel a kinship in some way with a wide variety of animals, just in a different way or with a different understanding. When you call something by a certain name, that's what it should be. That's not what it *has* to be in order to be "legitimate", but if you're going to call something by a name the name should be accurate.
But the argument of the importance of titles is where a lot of people get mixed up. I think without realizing it a lot of these "fads" originate with people just wanting to feel a part of something. They think that if they can call their relationship to a cat a "spirit" or "totem" animal, that it makes their beliefs more legitimate. The sad part is that, of course, this isn't neccessary. Your spirituality is yours and doesn't need a title...it's just easier to have one. So people get into arguments over this when really it could be solved by someone just having enough faith and confidence in *themselves* to not need the name-recognition that comes with these "fads."
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Permalink Reply by Melissa
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Ithink that's very well-put! My main concerns of these "fads" is that they may not be doing them for the right reasons, naming them incorrectly, and possibly being offensive to Native American culture (or any other culture you may draw from). That's definitely not to say that these subjects (totems,familiars, spirit animals/guides) are not valid whatsoever.
Thank you everyone for your generous input so far!Makoons said:
I really liked a lot of what you had to say here, Megan, and I want to reiterate that I am by no means saying I automatically disbelieve everyone who makes these claims. Some of my spirit names sound rather "majestic" as sometimes that just happens. It just discourages me when *everyone* claims to have a name or animal like that.
My favorite part of what you said was "Giving these animals a title doesn't increase or decrease their role or importance in my spirituality..." which I think is so true. I think someone could feel a kinship in some way with a wide variety of animals, just in a different way or with a different understanding. When you call something by a certain name, that's what it should be. That's not what it *has* to be in order to be "legitimate", but if you're going to call something by a name the name should be accurate.
But the argument of the importance of titles is where a lot of people get mixed up. I think without realizing it a lot of these "fads" originate with people just wanting to feel a part of something. They think that if they can call their relationship to a cat a "spirit" or "totem" animal, that it makes their beliefs more legitimate. The sad part is that, of course, this isn't neccessary. Your spirituality is yours and doesn't need a title...it's just easier to have one. So people get into arguments over this when really it could be solved by someone just having enough faith and confidence in *themselves* to not need the name-recognition that comes with these "fads."
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Permalink Reply by Megan Herrod
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Makoons said: "I think without realizing it a lot of these "fads" originate with people just wanting to feel a part of something. They think that if they can call their relationship to a cat a "spirit" or "totem" animal, that it makes their beliefs more legitimate."
I think it is wanting to belong, and a desire to "matter" to the world that is so terribly and seductively tempting to people. I think we all want to be important, especially those of us who feel that we are living a dreary, boring, less than spectacular existence in this life. I can admit, I have been doing some genealogy, and it is kind of sad to look back on generations of "nobodies" -generations of people who are remembered only by gravestones and census records. So why are spirit guides, totems and animals so seductive? Even if you are a burger flipper at McDougals, and your parents were both boring middle of the road folks... descended from the same... You *could* be cleopatra reincarnated... or maybe between shifts you are consulting with the world soul... maybe you matter a whole lot more than anyone would imagine AND nobody can disprove or prove a spiritual experience.
Of course I think everyone is important... I just think that the famed and fortunate are noticed by the rest of us MORE than the "simple" people and beings of this world. A workhorse that drives a plow in the field matters at least as much as a prized stallion upon which a king rides. The danger in falsifying a spritual experience, is when it is used as a "qualification" to make someone superior to others... the modern day version of having "divine right" is "My spirit guide/animal/totem initiated me in the ancient ways and therefore you MUST heed what I say." It happens, too often.
But if someone wants to say that he or she is a follower of the queen of the butterflies, who am I to judge? It could be true... until they claim that gives them some sort of special right, or special knowledge that affects OTHER people... that's when I start to care more.
-Megan
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Permalink Reply by Katarina Ana ( panther woman) -
I have always known my spirit animal was a panther.I met a native american shaman once and he looked at me after haveing just met me and said your spirit animal is panther.Coincedence? I dont believe so.Things depicting panthers have always shown up in my life.Just because your not native american doesn't mean you know nothing.And I have only seen a real panther once , a cub in a zoo.Does that mean that because it didnt come to me and behave strangely that Im wrong.NO!They have always come to me in dreams and guided meditations.I wasnt searching for them couldnt have cared less.But it happened and you can scoff all you want,but that doesnt make what you think and say any more valid that what I think and say.Who can PROOVE other wise?
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Permalink Reply by Melissa
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That's a pretty cool experience with the shaman man. What tribe was he apart of?
Katarina Ana ( panther woman) said:
I have always known my spirit animal was a panther.I met a native american shaman once and he looked at me after haveing just met me and said your spirit animal is panther.Coincedence? I dont believe so.Things depicting panthers have always shown up in my life.Just because your not native american doesn't mean you know nothing.And I have only seen a real panther once , a cub in a zoo.Does that mean that because it didnt come to me and behave strangely that Im wrong.NO!They have always come to me in dreams and guided meditations.I wasnt searching for them couldnt have cared less.But it happened and you can scoff all you want,but that doesnt make what you think and say any more valid that what I think and say.Who can PROOVE other wise?
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Permalink Reply by Katarina Ana ( panther woman)
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I dont rember for sure But I think it was one of the onieda tribes.
