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Some Advice to the Newly Pagan

Well, that was a very special experience, I'm sure. Now let me ask you a question.

If you'd just met someone, like we've just met today, would you start by telling them about your most intimate sexual experience?

No, of course you wouldn't. Well, that's what you've just done.

Look around the yard here. Every single one of these people that you see here has had experiences like yours, every single one.

You're new to this community, and you feel like you have something to prove. I understand that. Out there, experiences like the one that you've just told me about make you special; they make you stand out.

But this isn't there. Here your experience doesn't make you different; it makes you just like everybody else.

One more thing: experiences like the one that you've had are gifts, intimate as sexual experiences. They're for holding close, not for handing out to strangers like me. You've had power given to you; don't go throwing it away.

To All Those Just Now Discovering Paganism:

Welcome to the real world.

If your experience is anything like what mine was 50 years ago, you're feeling a lot of excitement right now, and a sense of homecoming.

But you're also wondering: What am I getting myself into? Is this stuff for real? Am I fooling myself?

Well, I can only speak for myself, but let me tell you this much: The longer you do it, the realer it gets.

Yesterday, I took down Yule. (Up here in the North, we still keep the old, Long Yule.) Earth, the Sun: these are the heart of Yule, of course. Boxing things up, taking the tree out, I found myself thinking back to Midwinter's Eve, and to what we did then: the fire, the greens, the dancing.

Carrying the boxes upstairs, seeing through the southern windows that strong young Sun shining down on the snow-covered Earth, I melted with love. I couldn't help but think: This just gets realer and realer all the time. At this point, I couldn't be anything else, even if I wanted to; and why ever, for gods' sakes, would I want to be something else?

At this point in your pagan career, my friend, you're gathering up pieces. Some fifty years on, I find myself beginning to have a sense of how all those pieces fit together. The inner integrity of their pattern—what philosophers call “depth coherence”—simply takes my breath away.

Welcome home, new pagan. You're not deceiving yourself; you're not walking into a fantasy.

So it begins. My Facebook feed has officially become at PantheaCon feed, interrupted only by an occasional Bernie - Hillary banter. Today l join a couple thousand folks at one of the most well known and diverse Pagan festivals.

I arrived a day early and already ran into more old and new friends than I can count. But it wasn't always like that. PantheaCon was my first large Pagan event and I went by myself, knowing hardly anything about the convention. In retrospect, here's a few things I'd do differently (or not), if I were a new Pagan coming to PantheaCon.

I’m new to Wicca/Paganism, and I’ve been going to some public events to try to meet people and learn more. The problem is people at the events all seem to know each other, and they barely notice me. Should I try something different, or give up?

First of all, it’s awesome that you’re putting yourself out there and trying to get to know people in your area. That’s a scary thing to do for many people, so give yourself props for taking the initiative.