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Thrift is a Pagan value

In a fascinating post that examines the impact of free events on the economic viability of the Pagan community, Sable Aradia uses the tongue-in-cheek subheading of, "Pagans are . . . Thrifty" to drive home a point about one of the ways we struggle with financial issues.  What she means is that we're cheap.  While I won't take exception with that -- heck, I come from a long line of tight-fists which I could probably trace back to the invention of money itself -- I do wish she would take another look at what the word actually means.

I think she would find that thrift is a sincerely Pagan value.

The word stems from þrift, a Norse word meaning "thriving condition, prosperity."  The Institute of American Values defines thrift as "the ethic and practice of wise use."  Intentional spending falls under its purview, but the word includes all manner of disciplined conservation of resources.  While the thrifty person intentionally chooses when not to spend eir money, the cheap person chooses not to spend even if it is to eir detriment, or that of those e cares about.

Thrift is a value which encourages more savings and less accumulation of debt.  The result is more money at one's fingertips, where it can be channeled into cataloging an elder's wisdom, getting a bard to a conference, or defending religious equality under the law.  It flows into another value that I daresay is near universal under the umbrella of Paganism:  supporting community.

Thrift also inspires recycling, upcycling, reuse, and living outside of the purely consumer culture.  Spending more on a higher-quality item because it will replace many inferior ones that would be tossed in the trash over its lifetime.  Not buying something at all if the perceived need is based purely in an emotion of the moment.  Tree huggers are thrifty, and so are adepts.  The roots of the word are Heathen, and the practice is very much in keeping with the Delphic maxim, "give a pledge and ruin in near," among many others.  Magical and earth-focused Pagans deepen their practice with thrift; I can't think of any sort of Pagan who couldn't do the same.

I support the idea of a healthier relationship with money in the Pagan community.  Many of use have seen money used to work serious mischief, and some of use want nothing to do with it.  While I respect that understand that choice, I walk a different path.  I have felt shame when I have needed to ask for a scholarship to a festival or money to solve a serious domestic problem, but no more:  that shame stemmed from my lack of generosity when times weren't so tight, from judging others who needed a hand, from being cheap, not thrifty.  I am not controlled by fear of scarcity any longer.  I am thrifty, but I am not cheap.

The Boy Scouts listed "thrift" first among its values when the organization first formed.  It dovetails quite nicely with leave no trace, a value which the scouting movement shares with many Pagan ones.  Isn't it time we reclaim this value as our own?

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Tagged in: money thrift values
Terence P Ward is a business writer and journalist who blogs under the rather cumbersome moniker of True Pagan Warrior.  He can generally be found at home, tending to his gardens and the many demands of his cats; in the alternative, follow TPW on Facebook. 

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