Pagan Book Section

[eiblyn]

So we have a fairly limited selection of pagan books here. They get new ones occasionally, but it's usually just the same old basic level drivel that I've glanced through and thrown down in disgust or things that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Anything that has goth in the title or has the title written in a font not easily read is right out of consideration. Today we had roughly 8 hours to kill so I went and sat down with one of the books that I had no interest in reading, but that they seem to keep ordering copies of, so someone must be buying them. I was reading through and finally managed to put my finger on what it was that made me so uneasy about the book. This book is on druids and the modern druid religion. So why should the first section of this book be on magic and the powers that druids have? It makes absolutely no sense to give someone the axe before they've learned to swing it and it is dangerous!! It scared me actually, because the ethics and spiritual aspects of druidism/druidry were the last section of the book. It seems that more and more books are following this trend. It saddens me. Plus it really makes the whole of paganism look trite. I hate to say this, but when the biggest focus of our beginner books seem to be on "powers" and "magic(k)," then we are missing out on a lot. And we create an environment where people aren't given the tools they need to make positive decisions for the well-being of themselves and others. That's how people get themselves into messes they don't know how to get out of. It is hard to come to any path solely through books and stumbling in the dark; this is even more difficult when those sources you can get your hands on are full of crap and when your religious texts have less guidance for your conscience than Spiderman does there's something amiss.

Incidentally, anyone have some decent suggestions of higher level books to read? I wish I could trim down what I'm looking for, but I'm not sure what it is myself. Maybe if you all make suggestions, I can look and find something that pulls.

Comments

[eiblyn.livejournal.com]

I could write a book on this *chuckles*. But realistically, things have been better and worse for us than for others I've read about. A lot of the difference in our experiences have been that I grew up military, so I fully understand why, how and when official complaints have to be made or when the power of the civilian is just enough to make things better. elvnsword is also in a non-combat MOS which seems to make a lot of the difference.

As far as overt Christian activity, yes. It's there. It's everywhere. Some things are simple like my husband's NCO consistently standing up in family support group meetings to talk about the church options and the company first sergeant or chaplain offering prayers before group events. These are almost always done to "Father God" or some such, as opposed to more neutral terms, like "Creator," that I find inoffensive. I dealt with the NCO by calming joking to the head of the support group that the next time he stood up and made that announcement, I was going to stand up and announce we were hosting an open circle and it was a bring-your-own-baby event. She had a word with him about it privately and it stopped. Some things have been more derogatory. The chaplaincy informed my husband and I, erroneously, when we first got here that we were not authorized to practice Wicca or perform pagan rituals in our own home, because it is government property, as there is no "distinctive faith group leader" approved on post for paganism or Wicca. We combated that by providing regulations and were later told unofficially that he was simply passing on the guidance given him by his superior. They backpedaled though and that particular chaplain educated himself after the Jewish member of our company confronted him on warning elvnsword about animal sacrifice being unacceptable while in the military but not saying a word to him about it.

elvnsword's chain of command has overall been supportive. I can't help thinking though that some of it is because elvnsword has been seen to file unofficial EO complaints with the EO sergeant to get his point across. He also happens to have some very aware and compassionate officers. They have prevented his NCOs from taking part of his leave time when he gets a pass for religious events and they've counseled NCOs on the inappropriateness of making comments relating to a person's worth because of religion.

We had quite a few issues when we first got here. There were comments made about how elvnsword and I couldn't have a solid marriage because we aren't Christian. There were also comments on how elvnsword must have questionable morals. There were also some instances where a very poor soldier was commended for being a good soldier based solely on his or her church attendance. elvnsword made unofficial EO complaints about these comments and proved through his actions that the allegations against us were completely unfounded. We have been some of the first people to offer help to anyone who needed it, including those who made those comments about us. It sparked an opportunity for respectful questions about our beliefs and how those play out in our lives. It also has brought on a slew of "You are more Christian than most Christians I know." To which elvnsword replies, "I will take that as the compliment it was clearly meant to be. Thank you."